Sierra (TV series)
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| Sierra | |
|---|---|
| Genre | police drama |
| Created by | Jack Webb |
| Starring | James G. Richardson Ernest Thompson Susan Foster Jack Hogan Michael Warren |
| Theme music composer | Lee Holdridge and John Denver[1] performed by Denny Brooks[2] |
| Composer(s) | additional music by John Denver |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 14 (13 + 1 movie) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Jack Webb Robert A. Cinader |
| Location(s) |  California and Wyoming (Yosemite Nat. Park) |
| Camera setup | multi-camera |
| Running time | 60 mins. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Picture format | 1.33 : 1 color |
| Audio format | monoaural |
| Original run | 12 September 1974 – 24 December 1974 (full-length movie; series actually cancelled on 12 December 1974) |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Emergency! |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Sierra was a short-lived 1974 television crime drama series focusing on the efforts of National Park Service rangers to enforce federal law and to effect wilderness rescues. The program aired on NBC and was packaged by Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited for Universal Television. John Denver wrote the show's theme song.
Contents |
[edit] Setting
The show derived its name from its setting, the fictional Sierra National Park, a part of the U.S. National Park Service. In reality, exteriors were filmed at Yosemite National Park.[3] The tenth episode, The Urban Ranger, established that the park also existed within the same fictional world populated by the characters of Emergency!, its sister Mark VII show. The series was spun off as a backdoor pilot epsiode of Emergency!.[4][5]
[edit] Cast
Like many Mark VII Limited television dramas, the show centered on a pair of leads in a public service job, backed up by a supporting cast of characters from within the same organization. In this case, the leads were James G. Richardson as Ranger Tim Cassidy and Ernest Thompson as Ranger Matt Harper. The cast was rounded out by their boss, Chief Ranger Jack Moore (Jack Hogan), and fellow rangers Julie Beck (Susan Foster) and P. J. Lewis (Michael Warren).
[edit] Cancellation
The show was cancelled after only three months, one of the first casualties of the 1974-75 television season. It has been claimed this was because its "mountain theme" was too similar to that of The Waltons,[1] which was its direct competition on CBS. Unusually, the show's final outing was in fact a modified version of its previously-unaired pilot, "The Rangers".[6]
[edit] External links
Sierra at the Internet Movie Database
