| Branded | |
|---|---|
| Format | Western |
| Created by | Larry Cohen |
| Starring | Chuck Connors John Howard William Bryant |
| Opening theme | "Branded" by Dominic Frontiere and Alan Alch |
| Composer(s) | Dominic Frontiere |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 48 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Harris Katelman (1965) |
| Producer(s) | Cecil Barker (1965) Andrew J. Fenady |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | The Branded Company (1965) Goodson-Todman Productions Sentinel Productions |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | January 24, 1965 – September 4, 1966 |
Branded is a Western series which aired on NBC from 1965 through 1966, sponsored by Procter & Gamble in its Sunday night 8:30pm Eastern Time period, and starred Chuck Connors as Jason McCord, a United States Army Cavalry captain who had been drummed out of the service following an unjust accusation of cowardice.
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The opening title credits scene of the each episode of the series was a depiction of McCord's cashiering: his hat is pulled off, his epaulets are torn from his uniform, his buttons are pulled off, and his saber is broken, while a drum plays over Dominic Frontiere and Alan Alch's theme song: "Branded, scorned as the one who ran. What do you do when you're branded, and you know you're a man? Wherever you go for the rest of your life you must prove ... you're a man." He is then sent out of the fort where this occurred, and the gates are closed behind him.
In the series, McCord traveled throughout the Old West, continually confronted by people who refused to believe his notorious reputation for cowardice was undeserved, requiring him to prove them wrong.
John M. Pickard, formerly of the related series, Boots and Saddles, appeared in six episodes as General Phil Sheridan. Notable guest stars included Chris Alcaide, Russ Conway, Burt Reynolds, Don Collier, Burgess Meredith, John Carradine, Pat Conway, Janet De Gore, Chad Everett, I. Stanford Jolley, June Lockhart, Gregg Palmer, Dolores del Río, and Lee Van Cleef.
Created by Larry Cohen, the show was co-produced for most of its run by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions in association with Sentinel Productions, Inc. Goodson-Todman was primarily known not for Westerns or dramatic shows, but almost exclusively for game and panel shows such as What's My Line? and The Price is Right. Present-day US rights to Branded came into the ownership of King World before it became CBS Television Distribution, making Branded one of the very few Goodson-Todman properties that FremantleMedia neither owns nor distributes. Many stations that carry Branded today usually schedule the program alongside another King World-distributed program about drifters in the Old West, Aaron Spelling's The Guns of Will Sonnett, which starred Walter Brennan alongside Norman "Dack" Rambo.
The series followed Connors's highly popular series The Rifleman, but it did not have that show's longevity, lasting only 48 episodes divided between only two seasons, the first in black and white, the second in color.
| Episode # | Episode title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | "Survival" | January 24, 1965 |
| 1-2 | "The Vindicator" (pilot) | January 31, 1965 |
| 1-3 | "The Test" | February 7, 1965 |
| 1-4 | "The Rules of the Game" | February 14, 1965 |
| 1-5 | "The Bounty" | February 21, 1965 |
| 1-6 | "Leap Upon Mountains..." | February 28, 1965 |
| 1-7 | "Coward, Step Aside" | March 7, 1965 |
| 1-8 | *"The Mission" (part one) | March 14, 1965 |
| 1-9 | *"The Mission" (part two) | March 21, 1965 |
| 1-10 | *"The Mission" (part three) | March 28, 1965 |
| 1-11 | "The First Kill" | April 4, 1965 |
| 1-12 | "Very Few Heroes" | April 11, 1965 |
| 1-13 | "One Way Out" | April 18, 1965 |
| 1-14 | "That the Brave Endure" | April 25, 1965 |
| 1-15 | "Taste Of Poison" | May 2, 1965 |
| 1-16 | "Price Of A Name" | May 23, 1965 |
*In color
| Episode # | Episode title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 2-1 | "Judge Not" | September 12, 1965 |
| 2-2 | "Now Join the Human Race" | September 19, 1965 |
| 2-3 | "Mightier Than the Sword" | September 26, 1965 |
| 2-4 | "I Killed Jason McCord" | October 3, 1965 |
| 2-5 | "The Bar Sinister" | October 10, 1965 |
| 2-6 | "Seward's Folly" | October 17, 1965 |
| 2-7 | "Salute the Soldier Briefly" | October 24, 1965 |
| 2-8 | "The Richest Man In Boot Hill" | October 31, 1965 |
| 2-9 | "Fill No Glass For Me" (part one) | November 7, 1965 |
| 2-10 | "Fill No Glass For Me" (part two) | November 14, 1965 |
| 2-11 | "The Greatest Coward On Earth" | November 21, 1965 |
| 2-12 | "$10,000 For Durango" | November 28, 1965 |
| 2-13 | "Romany Roundup" (part one) | December 5, 1965 |
| 2-14 | "Romany Roundup" (part two) | December 12, 1965 |
| 2-15 | "A Proud Town" | December 19, 1965 |
| 2-16 | "The Golden Fleece" | January 2, 1966 |
| 2-17 | "The Wolfers" | January 9, 1966 |
| 2-18 | "This Stage Of Fools" | January 16, 1966 |
| 2-19 | "A Destiny Which Made Us Brothers" | January 23, 1966 |
| 2-20 | "McCord's Way" | January 30, 1966 |
| 2-21 | "Nice Day For A Hanging" | February 6, 1966 |
| 2-22 | "Barbed Wire" | February 13, 1966 |
| 2-23 | "Yellow For Courage" | February 20, 1966 |
| 2-24 | "Call To Glory" (part one) | February 27, 1966 |
| 2-25 | "Call To Glory" (part two) | March 6, 1966 |
| 2-26 | "Call To Glory" (part three) | March 13, 1966 |
| 2-27 | "The Ghost Of Murietta" | March 20, 1966 |
| 2-28 | "The Assassins" (part one) | March 27, 1966 |
| 2-29 | "The Assassins" (part two) | April 3, 1966 |
| 2-30 | "Headed For Doomsday" | April 10, 1966 |
| 2-31 | "Cowards Die Many Times" | April 17, 1966 |
| 2-32 | "Kellie" | April 24, 1966 |
Timeless Media Group released both seasons of Branded on DVD in Region 1 in 2004-2005. Season 1 was released on August 3, 2004,[1] while season 2 was released on February 8, 2005.[2] On February 16, 2010, Timeless Media Group released Branded: The Complete Series, a 6-disc box set featuring all 48 episodes of the series as well as several bonus features.[3] Three minutes are missing from each segment.