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"The Young Riders" Season 1
Jan. 3rd, 2011 04:23 pmABC premiered a show in 1989 that I remember watching when I was just a youngster. I recently found it again on Netflix and have greatly enjoyed trekking through the first season via Instant Play. "The Young Riders" focuses on a Pony Express station near Sweetwater, Nebraska, and the men and women who survived the harsh western frontier just before the Civil War.
The pilot episode opens with a young man named The Kid (played by Ty Miller) who, with his only possession a horse bought with money won by going the distance with a professional fighter, stumbles across a sign that says
Wanted
Expert Riders
Young, Skinny, Wiry Fellows
Orphans Preferred
Must Be Willing To Face Death Daily
After signing on, The Kid receives "[a] Bible for your soul, money for your wallet" and makes his way to the station. He and the other new recruits are taught the tricks of the trade by former Texas Ranger Teaspoon Hunter (Anthony Zerbe). Teaspoon isn't sure all of the guys are fit for Express duty, especially cocky young James Butler Hickok (Josh Brolin) and William F. Cody (Stephen Baldwin), who seem more interested in gun-fighting and showing each other up than the serious business of mail delivery and survival.
Others at the station include Ike (Travis Fine), a mute horseman who speaks Indian sign with the help of Kiowa half-breed Buck (Gregg Rainwater), and Lou, a "puny but spry" bespectacled girl masquerading as a boy, played by Yvonne Suhor. Watching out for this rough and tumble group is Emma (Melissa Leo), a tough young woman who has been abandoned by her husband and insists that the Riders "[are] not orphans while I'm around." Rounding out the main cast is Brett Cullen, who plays U.S. Marshall Sam Cain, peacekeeper of Sweetwater, who happens to be sweet on Emma.
The Riders face adversity from outlaws, Indians and their own natures. In the pilot episode Lou is shot during a robbery and The Kid discovers her secret. An attraction grows between them and he vows to keep mum on her gender for the sake of her younger siblings, whom she is working towards rescuing from the orphanage she ran away from. Most of the stories in the first season are centered on The Kid or Jimmy Hickok, though every main character receives attention and character development and at least one centric episode of their own.
Like any Western, you are sure to run across the bad as well as the good. There are often gun battles which leave many wounded or killed, and our Riders are not immune from such injuries. The violence is rarely gory, however, and from our characters is usually portrayed as an unavoidable conflict. As Marshal Cain says, "Out here you've got to grow up fast or not at all." There's also a fair amount of swearing. Ladies of the night are occasionally on screen, though they are not given a prominent place.
After the pilot was shot and production was given a thumbs up, filming moved to Tucson, Arizona. Having lived there at different times in my life, I love spying familiar rugged mountainsides and the saguaro, cholla and ocotillo cacti, and joshua trees. It may not be authentic for Nebraska but it is beautiful. Speaking of suspension of belief, it takes some on the part of the viewer to believe that Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody ever served at the same Express station, or that after one week our Riders wouldn't have been strung out all along the territories between St. Joseph, MO, and Sacramento, CA. Somehow in the show they always end up back in Sweetwater.
What I like most about the show is the closeness of these Rider friends. They quickly forge into a family and the guys love horsing around with each other. That's not to say there are never conflicts, but they do have a foundation together. There's lots of good horse riding on the part of the actors as well as stand-in doubles, and I am impressed with the use of background music, as it was still finding its way into shows in the late 80's. The writing is a tad predictable in the pilot but improves as we move through the season.
Season 1 is available on DVD, while Seasons 2 and 3 are not for sale anywhere but are able to be watched on Netflix. I don't quite understand how that works but I'm not complaining as I dig into more of this fun and adventuresome series. It's one we enjoy as a family and has won a place in our hearts as we've galloped back into the old west together.
The pilot episode opens with a young man named The Kid (played by Ty Miller) who, with his only possession a horse bought with money won by going the distance with a professional fighter, stumbles across a sign that says
Wanted
Expert Riders
Young, Skinny, Wiry Fellows
Orphans Preferred
Must Be Willing To Face Death Daily
After signing on, The Kid receives "[a] Bible for your soul, money for your wallet" and makes his way to the station. He and the other new recruits are taught the tricks of the trade by former Texas Ranger Teaspoon Hunter (Anthony Zerbe). Teaspoon isn't sure all of the guys are fit for Express duty, especially cocky young James Butler Hickok (Josh Brolin) and William F. Cody (Stephen Baldwin), who seem more interested in gun-fighting and showing each other up than the serious business of mail delivery and survival.
Others at the station include Ike (Travis Fine), a mute horseman who speaks Indian sign with the help of Kiowa half-breed Buck (Gregg Rainwater), and Lou, a "puny but spry" bespectacled girl masquerading as a boy, played by Yvonne Suhor. Watching out for this rough and tumble group is Emma (Melissa Leo), a tough young woman who has been abandoned by her husband and insists that the Riders "[are] not orphans while I'm around." Rounding out the main cast is Brett Cullen, who plays U.S. Marshall Sam Cain, peacekeeper of Sweetwater, who happens to be sweet on Emma.
The Riders face adversity from outlaws, Indians and their own natures. In the pilot episode Lou is shot during a robbery and The Kid discovers her secret. An attraction grows between them and he vows to keep mum on her gender for the sake of her younger siblings, whom she is working towards rescuing from the orphanage she ran away from. Most of the stories in the first season are centered on The Kid or Jimmy Hickok, though every main character receives attention and character development and at least one centric episode of their own.
Like any Western, you are sure to run across the bad as well as the good. There are often gun battles which leave many wounded or killed, and our Riders are not immune from such injuries. The violence is rarely gory, however, and from our characters is usually portrayed as an unavoidable conflict. As Marshal Cain says, "Out here you've got to grow up fast or not at all." There's also a fair amount of swearing. Ladies of the night are occasionally on screen, though they are not given a prominent place.
After the pilot was shot and production was given a thumbs up, filming moved to Tucson, Arizona. Having lived there at different times in my life, I love spying familiar rugged mountainsides and the saguaro, cholla and ocotillo cacti, and joshua trees. It may not be authentic for Nebraska but it is beautiful. Speaking of suspension of belief, it takes some on the part of the viewer to believe that Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody ever served at the same Express station, or that after one week our Riders wouldn't have been strung out all along the territories between St. Joseph, MO, and Sacramento, CA. Somehow in the show they always end up back in Sweetwater.
What I like most about the show is the closeness of these Rider friends. They quickly forge into a family and the guys love horsing around with each other. That's not to say there are never conflicts, but they do have a foundation together. There's lots of good horse riding on the part of the actors as well as stand-in doubles, and I am impressed with the use of background music, as it was still finding its way into shows in the late 80's. The writing is a tad predictable in the pilot but improves as we move through the season.
Season 1 is available on DVD, while Seasons 2 and 3 are not for sale anywhere but are able to be watched on Netflix. I don't quite understand how that works but I'm not complaining as I dig into more of this fun and adventuresome series. It's one we enjoy as a family and has won a place in our hearts as we've galloped back into the old west together.
