The Alaskans
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| The Alaskans | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Western |
| Directed by | Leslie Goodwins Richard Gordon Charles F. Haas Jesse Hibbs Leslie H. Martinson William A. Seiter Richard Sinclair Robert Sparr Herbert L. Strock Jaques Tourneur George Waggner[1] |
| Starring | Roger Moore Dorothy Provine Jeff York Ray Danton Frank DeKova |
| Theme music composer | "Gold Fever" by Mack David and Jerry Livingston[2] |
| Composer(s) | Max Steiner |
| Country of origin |  USA |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 37 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
William T. Orr[3] |
| Producer(s) | Barry Ingster Harry Tatelman Charles Trapnell |
| Editor(s) | David Wages Robert B. Warwick |
| Location(s) |  California |
| Running time | 60 mins. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Picture format | 1.33:1 monochrome |
| Audio format | monoaural |
| First shown in | Sundays at 9:30pm |
| Original run | 4 October 1959 – 19 June 1960 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | appears to have shared scripts but not characters or settings with: Maverick Bronco Cheyenne Sugarfoot |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Alaskans is a 1959 television series set in the port of Skagway, Alaska during the 1890s. The show features Roger Moore as "Silky Harris" and Jeff York as "Reno McKee", a pair of adventurers intent on swindling travelers bound for the Yukon Territories during the height of the Klondike Gold Rush.[4] Their plans are inevitably complicated by the presence of "Rocky Shaw" (Dorothy Provine), "an entertainer with a taste for the finer things in life".[5]
The show lasted for just one year, and is principally notable for being Moore's first regular work on American television.
Contents |
[edit] Relationship with Maverick
The Alaskans is closely related to the series Maverick through broadcast and production.
Maverick was a lead-in for ABC's Sunday night of western dramas. For the 1959-60 season, Sundays began with Colt .45 and Maverick, went to Lawman and The Rebel, and concluded with The Alaskans.[6]
This may have influenced the career path of Roger Moore. The same year that The Alaskans was canceled, James Garner decided to leave Maverick. Moore became, under protest[7], Garner's replacement, playing Bret Maverick's cousin Beau in the fourth season of Maverick.
Maverick and The Alaskans were also related through script, if not narrative. The two shows were not part of the same fictional world, as evidenced by a lack of crossovers between the two. Because of the 1960 Writers Guild of America strike, however, Maverick inherited a certain amount of scripted material from The Alaskans. Moore bristled at the lack of originality in Maverick scripts: "An old Bronco script would interchange with an Alaskans or Maverick. In some cases, even the dialogue stayed unchanged."[7] In 2007, Moore indicated that the "script-sharing" went both ways, saying of The Alaskans: "Quite often I realized that we were filming Maverick scripts, with the names changed."[8]
Since the show has not been available to home audiences for over 40 years, independent verification of either claim is difficult. However, The Alaksans may have drawn from other series, as well. One viewer has detailed which specific Maverick, Sugarfoot and Cheyenne episodes spawned clones on The Alaskans.[9]
[edit] Roger Moore's views
For Roger Moore, the series is memorable for being "my most appalling television series ever". In particular, he found that attempting to recreate Alaskan exteriors on a studio backlot in California made for disagreeably hot work days.[10] The show also caused some marital strife for the actor when he had to admit to wife Dorothy Squires that he had fallen in love with co-star Dorothy Provine.[7]
[edit] Cast
- Roger Moore as Silky Harris
- Dorothy Provine as Rocky Shaw
- Jeff York as Reno McKee
- Ray Danton as Nifty Cronin
- Frank DeKova as Fantan
[edit] References
- ^ Sir Roger Moore's official site
- ^ Classic TV Themes entry for The Alaskans
- ^ Classic TV Archive entry on The Alaskans
- ^ Episode World's synopsis of The Alaskans
- ^ The Alaskans at TVDays.com
- ^ The Rebel at tvobscurities.com
- ^ a b c http://www.roger-moore.com/roger-moore-charity13.htm Moore, Roger and Ken Roche. "The Roger Moore Story". TV Times Extra. Independent Publications, Ltd. 1972.
- ^ Moore answer to a June 2007 question on his official website
- ^ WBTV Posse forum thread, giving parent episodes on other programs and their children on The Alaskans. Free registration required to view.
- ^ http://www.roger-moore.com/roger-moore-charity12.htm Moore, Roger and Ken Roche. "The Roger Moore Story". TV Times Extra. Independent Publications, Ltd. 1972.
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