{"id":13735,"date":"2011-01-31T06:00:43","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=13735"},"modified":"2013-01-17T18:44:47","modified_gmt":"2013-01-17T23:44:47","slug":"on-the-road-again-the-great-road-tv-shows-of-the-1960s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=13735","title":{"rendered":"On the Road Again: The Great “Road” TV Shows of the 1960s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>Guest blogger Rick29 writes:<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a \u201croad\u201d TV show? Well, it\u2019s a TV series where the protagonist travels from place to place\u2014sometimes because he\u2019s being chased, sometimes because he\u2019s chasing someone (or something), and sometimes because he\u2019s trying to find meaning in life. A TV series where the hero has a home base, such as Paladin\u2019s (Richard Boone) San Francisco hotel in Have Gun Will Travel<\/a>\u2014doesn\u2019t count. No, in a \u201croad\u201d show, the hero has to be constantly on the move. It also doesn\u2019t count if traveling is a part of the protagonist\u2019s job, as in Wanted: Dead or Alive<\/a>, where Josh (Steve McQueen) goes to various places tracking down his quarry as a bounty hunter. Now that we\u2019ve defined the genre, here are my picks for the most memorable \u201croad\u201d shows of the 1960s:<\/p>\n

1.The Fugitive <\/a>(1963-67)<\/p>\n

David Janssen <\/a>spent four seasons on the road as Dr. Richard Kimble, a physician wrongly convicted of killing his wife. Kimble escapes during a train crash and tries to find the elusive one-armed man who may be the actual murderer. Barry Morse<\/a> is the only other regular, portraying Kimble\u2019s \u201crelentless pursuer\u201d Lt. Philip Gerard. A clever updating of Les Miserabl\u00e9s<\/a>, the series benefits from brilliant writing, Janssen\u2019s low-key performance (his slight smile is understated acting at its finest), and consistently strong guest stars. This may be one of the first TV series to intersperse a continuing storyline with stand-alone stories: some episodes focus on Kimble trying to prove his innocence; others focus solely on the characters that Kimble meets along the way.<\/p>\n

2.Route 66<\/a> (1960-64)<\/p>\n

Stirling Silliphant created this \u201croad\u201d show about two young men driving across America in search of \u201csomething\u201d. The protagonists are college-educated Tod Stiles (Martin Milner<\/a>) and street-smart Buz Murdock (George Maharis<\/a>). They take to the road when Tod\u2019s businessman father dies unexpectedly and leaves a pile of debts. Once Tod pays them off, all that remains of his inheritance is his father\u2019s Corvette. Shot on location throughout the U.S., Route 66 is a portrait of the country in the early 1960s\u2014the big cities, the rural towns, the motels, the factories, and the docks. Silliphant wrote the majority of the scripts, which often sounded like stage plays\u2014but very good ones. Tod and Buz frequently took a back seat to the guest stars\u2019 characters; in fact, in some episodes, the two stars were downright peripheral to the plot!<\/p>\n

3.The Invaders <\/a>(1967-68)<\/p>\n

Architect David Vincent (Roy Thinnes<\/a>) accidentally sees a flying saucer land and learns that human-looking aliens are plotting to take over the world. Unfortunately, no one believes David. It doesn\u2019t help that the aliens glow orange and disappear when they die! For its first half-season, this reverse variation of The Fugitive (both were exec produced by Quinn Martin) benefits from inventive stories (e.g., in the episode \u201cThe Mutant\u201d, Suzanne Pleshette <\/a>is an alien who feels emotions\u2026unlike the majority of her race). In the second and final season, Vincent linked up with other believers to form an organization to fight the alien intruders and the show became less interesting (though there were still a few standout episodes).<\/p>\n

4.Run for Your Life (1965-68)<\/p>\n

Ben Gazzara <\/a>played Paul Bryan, a successful lawyer who learns that he has a terminal illness and only two years to live. He quits\"Rod<\/a> his job and goes on the road to live life to its fullest. This TV series was spun off from the episode \u201cRapture at Forty-Two\u201d on the anthology series Kraft Suspense Theater. Gazzara received Emmy nominations for two of the series\u2019 three seasons. Martin Milner, from Route 66, guest starred on a couple of the episodes. Roy Huggins, who created The Fugitive (and many other shows), produced Run for Your Life.<\/p>\n

5.The Loner (1965-66)<\/p>\n

Rod Serling<\/a> created this “adult Western” that downplayed action in favor of human interest stories. Like The Twilight Zone<\/a>, the series had a social conscience, this time in the form of hero William Colton (Lloyd Bridges<\/a>), a former Union officer searching the West for a meaningful existence. This wasn\u2019t the first Western about a drifter nor the last. Nick Adams<\/a> played an ex-Confederate soldier roaming the West in The Rebel (1959-62), which featured a title tune sung by Johnny Cash<\/a>. In the late 1960s, Walter Brennan<\/a> and Dack Rambo<\/a> looked for Dack\u2019s father (who abandoned his son as an infant and became a gunfighter) in The Guns of Will Sonnett<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Honorable Mentions:<\/p>\n

Then Came Bronson<\/a> with Michael Parks<\/a> (in a role not unlike Buz on Route 66) riding his motorcycle throughout the country; The Immortal with Christopher George as a race car driver being pursued by those who want his blood\u2014literally, because it contains antibodies that prevent aging.<\/p>\n

Rick29 is a film reference book author and a regular contributor at the Classic Film & TV Caf\u00e9 (<\/em>http:\/\/classic-film-tv.blogspot.com\/<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and on Facebook). He\u2019s a big fan of MovieFanFare, too, of course!<\/em><\/p>\n

What’s your favorite “road” TV show of the 1960s? Sound off in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest blogger Rick29 writes: What\u2019s a \u201croad\u201d TV show? Well, it\u2019s a TV series where the protagonist travels from place to place\u2014sometimes because he\u2019s being chased, sometimes because he\u2019s chasing someone (or something), and sometimes because he\u2019s trying to find…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9691,"featured_media":13736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1511,1510],"coauthors":[3819],"class_list":["post-13735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-articles","tag-tv-shows-of-the-1960s","tag-tv-shows"],"yoast_head":"\nGreat TV Road Shows of the 1960s<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Great TV Road Shows of the 1960s: TV shows where the protagonist travels from place to place are explored. 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