I've gotten hooked on this TV Western series from 1989-92. It's about a Pony Express Station in Kansas, the six young riders assigned there, the tough but understanding former Texas Ranger station boss, and for the lady who keeps house and cooks for them. She also has an on-going romance with the local town marshall.
Two of the riders are historical figures who have some tenuous association with the Pony Express, William F. Cody and James B. Hickok. The others are a teen from Virginia known only as "the kid"; a bald and mute youth; a half-white half-Kiowa youth who has been friends with the mute youth from their early days; and a quiet, slender rider whom you quickly find out is a girl hiding from an abusive past.
Anthony Zerbe plays "Teaspoon" Hunter, the station boss and does a terrific job as boss, teacher, mentor, and father-figure to this unlikely group of young people growing up learning and performing a demanding job under the looming shadow of the upcoming Civil War. They also get involved in a lot of situations which require them to use firearms. Which they do very well.
A few characters change between seasons 1 and 2 but nothing is really lost since the new characters fill in very well. And in the third season they pick up a new young lad, rebellious and full of himself, named Jesse. Who happens to have a bank-robbing older brother named Frank. He is not a rider however, just a hanger-on who manages to become one of the group.
There is a great deal of chemistry between these characters, not to mention a lot of friendship and more than their share on inter-personal friction. The stories rotate between the characters although Hickok seems to have a big share of the load in the story line. Both he and Cody show the men they are growing up to be later in life.
It only ran for three seasons but it is starting all over again this Wednesday or Thursday on the Starz Encore Western channel. Episodes start at 8:00pm Eastern Time - no breaks for ads.
If you like westerns, try this one. I don't think you will be disappointed.
Two of the riders are historical figures who have some tenuous association with the Pony Express, William F. Cody and James B. Hickok. The others are a teen from Virginia known only as "the kid"; a bald and mute youth; a half-white half-Kiowa youth who has been friends with the mute youth from their early days; and a quiet, slender rider whom you quickly find out is a girl hiding from an abusive past.
Anthony Zerbe plays "Teaspoon" Hunter, the station boss and does a terrific job as boss, teacher, mentor, and father-figure to this unlikely group of young people growing up learning and performing a demanding job under the looming shadow of the upcoming Civil War. They also get involved in a lot of situations which require them to use firearms. Which they do very well.
A few characters change between seasons 1 and 2 but nothing is really lost since the new characters fill in very well. And in the third season they pick up a new young lad, rebellious and full of himself, named Jesse. Who happens to have a bank-robbing older brother named Frank. He is not a rider however, just a hanger-on who manages to become one of the group.
There is a great deal of chemistry between these characters, not to mention a lot of friendship and more than their share on inter-personal friction. The stories rotate between the characters although Hickok seems to have a big share of the load in the story line. Both he and Cody show the men they are growing up to be later in life.
It only ran for three seasons but it is starting all over again this Wednesday or Thursday on the Starz Encore Western channel. Episodes start at 8:00pm Eastern Time - no breaks for ads.
If you like westerns, try this one. I don't think you will be disappointed.
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