Don Cornelius dies at 75; creator of 'Soul Train'

Don Cornelius dies at 75; creator of 'Soul Train' from the L.A. Times.

DESDINOVA'S LIST OF TV GREATEST WESTERNS

Recently, Salon had a list of what they considered TV's Greatest Western. It was a Top Ten list with some entries that I felt didn't belong because they didn't take place in the old West (McCloud and Firefly). Also, I feel that the list should have only included regular series and left out the mini-series, Lonesome Dove. They could have also included Centennial, The Sacktetts or those Kenny Rogers' Gambler movies.
So after reading that, I feel inclined to give you my list of my 15 favorite TV Westerns of the past. I'm going to include the shows I have watched thanks to DVD or reruns, so some of the more recent shows will not be included. Besides this is a "retro" sight (for the most part).

1. Gunsmoke (1955-1975): The king of the adult TV Westerns came from radio and went on to be one of TV longest running shows. Marshal Matt Dillon, Chester, Miss Kitty and Doc, along with Quint, Dooley and Festus became icons of the TV Western.

2. The Virginian (1962-1971): Based on the Owen Wister novel, The Virginian was the closest thing to a big screen "Big Sky"-style Western on TV every week. In color with great on-location scenery, good scripts, a big orchestral theme song by Percy Faith and 90 minutes long episodes, The Virginian was actually the third most successful TV Western behind Bonanza, yet I place it second for its effort. The last season, renamed The Men from Shilo, left the "Big Sky" Western-style behind for a "spaghetti Western"-style complete with facial hair, dusters, wide brimmed hats, an animated title sequence and Ennio Morricone music.

3. Bonanza (1959-1973): First color Western and the second most successful TV Western.

 4. The Wild Wild West (1965-1969): If Paladin was the Western version of the literary James Bond, James T. West (played by Robert Conrad) was the Western version of the movie James Bond. He had exploding buttons, hidden Derringer in his sleeve and megalomaniac enemies. Paved the way for the steampunk literary genre movement of the 1990s.

5. Have Gun-Will Travel (1957-1963): If Matt Dillon was the Phillip Marlow of the Old West, Paladin was the first James Bond of the Old West. Based on the Ian Fleming novel description of Bond, Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow created a Western hero that was different than other TV Western heroes of the day. Paladin was dressed in all black while working and wore a tux at his home in the San Fransisco Hotel Carlton. He was a West Point grad who quoted Shakespeare, Socrates, Keats and Shelley. He carried business cards and charged a fee for his services. The business cards and his holster both had a chess knight on them. He saved Oscar Wilde's life, hunted a Sasquatch in Colorado, man-eating tigers in India and fought ninjas. The opening music was by Bernard Hermann and the closing theme was by country singer Johnny Western.

6. Rawhide (1959-1966): Besides featuring the first African-American cowboy, played by Raymond St. Jacques, this show is best known for a great theme song by Frankie Laine and Clint Eastwood as ramrod Rowdy Yates.

7. Kung Fu (1972-1975): With Alias Smith & Jones, Kung Fu was the last successful show of the original wave TV Westerns. David Carradine played Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin monk searching the Old West for his half brother Danny Cain. Caine didn't need a gun because he was a master of martial arts. First Asian hero of a Western.

8. Alias Smith & Jones (1971-1973): A hip comedy Western about two Kansas long-haired outlaws trying to achieve amnesty while still being wanted from the law. Inspired by the success of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Love that country-rock incidental music and the film edit that made Kid Curry/Thad Jones (Ben Murphy) look like the fastest gun in the West.

9. Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958-1961): Steve McQueen played a bounty hunter. Nuff said!

10. Maverick (1957-1962): One of the first "comedy" Westerns featuring an anti-Western hero. Lazy, cowardly, smart-mouthed gambler played by James Garner. His brother, Jack Kelly, and Southern cousin, played Roger Moore, were just as bad. The show even poked fun at other Westerns like Gunsmoke and Bonanza.

11. The Lone Ranger (1949-1958): The "Masked Man" and "his faithful Indian companion" rode from radio to TV to become the first Western produced for TV. A syndication effort in the 70s and a toy line by Gabriel introduced The Lone Ranger to Generation X.

12. Big Valley (1965-1969): Other than Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Big Valley is the only Western to feature promanent female characters getting involved in the action. Many have dismissed Big Valley as a Bonanza knock-off, however, Big Valley seems to be more mature. Victoria Barkely (Barbara Stanwick) lives on a big ranch with her three sons, preppy lawyer Jared (Richard Long), hot-headed ranch foreman Nick (Peter Breck), baby Eugene (Charles Briles, who disappeared after the first season) and sexy daughter, Audra (Linda Evans). Add to this group Heath (Lee Majors), "the Bastard" son of Victoria's husband, who spends much of the show fighting with half-brother Nick or coming very close to making out with half-sister Audra or beating up the bad guy who tore Audra's blouse. I'm not sure but I bet this was the first TV show to feature the use of the word "bastard." Victoria is probably the only TV mom to be handy with a gun.

 
13. Wagon Train (1957-1965): The only TV Western than can claim a connection to legendary Western movie director John Ford. Wagon Train was inspired by a film called The Wagonmaster, which like Wagon Train, starred Ward Bond. Ford also directed one episode. The show even managed to continue with on after Ward Bond's death and Robert Horton left in a dispute with producers, with John McIntyre and Robert Fuller taking over. The real focus of the shows were rarely Bond or Horton (pictured), but the major guest star of the week.

14. Cheyenne (1955-1963): This was the first hour long dramatic TV series, as well as the first hour long Western. Clint Walker played Cheyenne Bodie, "a tall, handsome stranger" who traveled from town to town helping others. There was an obvious sexual undercurrent to this early entry into the "adult" Western boom of the late 50s. Cheyenne had a knack for attracting two women per show, probably because he was also the first man on TV to be shirtless most of the time.

15. The Rifleman (1958-1963): Chuck Conners plays Lucas McCain, the fastest man with a rifle in the West, who prefers to raise his young son and tend to his ranch. The Rifleman helped pave the way for the "family-oriented" Westerns such as Little House on the Prairie and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which focused more on a moral or message than action. The interesting thing is that The Rifleman was created by Sam Peckinpah, best known for violent "cutting edge" Westerns of the late 60s and 70s. Conners character was the first single parent on TV.

Some thing I wanted to point out with this list is that while many older people frequently lament the disappearance of the Western from TV as "good family entertainment," many of the "adult" Westerns broke ground as dramatic television as to what could be shown and themes that could be presented. Many of these shows featured stories that tackled such subjects as tolerance, domestic violence and poverty, which when tackled on current TV shows "upset' the people who are usually bemoaning the loss of the Westerns.

Now, let's see KYTV's Ethan Forhetz come up with his list of great TV Westerns. In the words of Gil Favor from Rawhide, "Head'em up - Move'em out!" 

LOOKING BACK ON FIVE YEARS OF BLOGGING

As many of you know, I have decided not to continue updating the original blog, Desdinova the Super Villain of the Ozarks, because it is too much trouble to work on two blogs at once. Also I deleted some of the post because they were either irrelevant, outdated or contained broken links to articles that are no longer available. I also deleted some that could keep me from further employment in the local media.

When I started this blog, I was one of the most hated people on the Internet in the Ozarks. It started off with my comments on the Missouri Radio Message Board and Ron Davis' Chatter blog. I decided to create a "voice" for my persona. I based it part on the character of Ronnie the Z-Man from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (top) and Stewie from Family Guy (bottom). I used the name Desdinova the Eternal Light at first.

My legend began after several skirmishes with someone calling himself Talk Radio Guy. I also believe this person was making anonymous comments on Chatter blog. This Talk Radio Guy would get mad when I made jokes about a local talk radio show host.

I had been considering setting up my own blog, but I decided to go ahead with it after I made a comment on Ron's blog about a photo of this talk radio show host that was in the News Leader. I'll admit the comment was rather mean and nasty, but I will go to my grave feeling absolutely no remorse for posting that, because this talk radio show host (as well as some of the scummy ones I've been forced to work with) was known for saying rather heartless things about people. He supposedly cried on the air about this. The bad part some of my co-workers (They didn't know it was me) were angry that someone would do such a thing. Many people were for some reason upset with Ron over this. I think some thought that Ron was Desdinova also. They also thought I was a rival talk show host (He isn't as funny as me).

So I created a blog of my own where I created a persona of a hip, liberal, megalomaniacal, mad scientist. A scary but fun person much like British rocker/political activist Screaming Lord Sutch (above).

I was going to delete all of the earlier post until I reread the post that people hated the most and realized that not only are they great satirical humor, but anyone who was offended by this stuff would have to be STUPID.

The infamous face of Desdinova was something I originally designed for a character based on the Italian super-criminal-hero Diabolik (above). It is a altered photo from a site that sells bondage clothes. The model doesn't realize he is the face of most hated blogger in the Ozarks.

The "voice" of Desdinova was a mix of famous movie actors, who played villains, as well as cartoon villains. Apparently, the talk radio crowd here in the Ozarks didn't grown up watching Saturday morning cartoons, old movie serials or horror films like I did, or they would have realized that I wasn't a mad scientist with a giant robot and zombie soldiers that lived under Park Central Square. I was told by a friend who works at Springfield Police Department that there were people calling them asking why "they hadn't arrested Desdinova yet."

I would like to pay tribute to those who I channeled while writing my post on the old blog. The first two inspired my "evil" laugh (Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!)

 

Count Von Count from Sesame Street

 

Krankor from Prince of Space

Boris Karloff as Fu Manchu

Claude Rains as the Invisible Man

Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu

Dr. No

Dr. Evil from Austin Powers

The Crimson Ghost

Alex from Clockwork Orange

Freddy Kruger

Lex Luthor from Superman

Simon Bar Sinister from Underdog

Vincent Price

Coffin Joe

Victor Buono

Peter Cook as Lucifer/Mr. Spiggot in Bedazzled

Blofeld from James Bond

Darth Vader

Dr. Strangelove

Dr. Smith from Lost In Space

Skeletor from He-Man

Dr. Meirshultz from Maniac

Some people ask, "Shouldn't you apologize to some people. I still maintain that most of my targets deserved it. There is only one person deserving an apology.  Her name is Melinda and I used a school photo she gave me in 9th grade to illustrate some of my post. I have since switched the photo with a photo of a pretty girl from a 50's yearbook I found on-line. There is only one photo of Melinda left on the blog, because the post wouldn't make sense with the other photo (Someone on a message board linked to the photo thinking it was childhood photo of Paris Hilton-there is a slight resemblance). That post also mentions people thinking I was "the rival talk radio show host" of that "talk radio show host" I poked fun at. That could get me a visit from the FBI. 

Robert Hegyes, Epstein of ‘Welcome Back Kotter’ Fame, Dead at 60

Robert Hegyes, Epstein of ‘Welcome Back Kotter’ Fame, Dead at 60: Robert “Bobby” Hegyes, best known for playing Juan Epstein on “Welcome Back Kotter,” died in his Metuchen, N.J. home today. He was 60. Courtesy of ABC News. I always thought that it would fun to go to school with the Sweathogs. Unfortunately, I went to school with rednecks and Republican kids that hated me. "Dear Mr. Kotter: Please excuse, my son, Juan. He has passed away."

James Farentino dies at 73; prolific TV actor

James Farentino dies at 73; prolific TV actor

BEST OF DESDINOVA: I HAVE MY OWN BLOG!!! AND NONE OF YOU CAN STOP ME!!!

Desdinova - Super Villain of the Ozarks: I HAVE MY OWN BLOG!!! AND NONE OF YOU CAN STOP ME!!!

This is how I started my blog five years ago today, amid the aftermath of the ice storm. 

Dick Tufeld dies at 85 - Variety

Dick Tufeld dies at 85 - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety