Never saw this show during the original run. I've started watching it on the Encore Western channel. I have a question about the owners. During it's run, the owners seemed to have changed from time to time. I think the first was Lee J. Cobb. There were others. How did they explain it. Also, was there any relation between the various owners. Appreciate it.
shareHi! This will give a quick overview and I will try to fill in more details later
When the series began Shiloh was owned by(and had been built by) Judge Henry
Garth who lived there with his daughter Betsy. After a couple of seasons or
maybe toward the end of the second season, Lee J. Cobb's health was failing
and his appearances became sporadic. He was always away on a trip but referred
to in about every episode. Then they had Betsy get married and move away and the
Judge moved as well handing over day-to-day operations to Morgan Starr played
excellent charcter actor John Dehner. Starr was aboard for about seven episodes.
When the next season began we find Shiloh has been sold to John Grainger who
was portrayed by Charles Bickford. He brought with him his niece Jennifer (Diane
Roter). Unfortunately in real life Mr. Bickford was also in poor health and
Shiloh was handed over to his brother, Clay Grainger (John McIntire) who had a
wife,Holly(played by McIntires real-life wife actress Jeanette Nolan). Living
with them were their young adult grand children Stacey(Don Quine) and Elizabeth
(Sara Lane). This arrangement was relatively stable through season number eight,
with the exception of the disappearance of the character Stacey who seemed to
ride off into sunset so to speak and was never mentioned again that I heard. He
was on for a couple of good seasons though and had great chemistry with James
Drury and Doug McClure. The final season (#9) saw the show change it's name to
"The Men of Shiloh" and I am not really familiar with that season yet. Hope
this has provided some useful info!
"Can I ask a dumb question?"
"Better than anyone I know!"
Hey Debrajosbo... A few minor corrections:
Lee J Cobb did the series for 3 years (less in the last because he was working on other projects). Diane Roter played Judge Garth's niece. Roberta Shore (Betsy) got "fired" (according to her) for getting married without the bosses permission.
The whole Betsy/Jennifer thing was poorly handled, and the actress playing Jennifer never had much charisma.
John Dehner did 5 or 6 shows at the end of the 3rd season (I think) as the "boss" of the ranch because The Virginian didn't want to be (Garth supposedly went to state as appointed Governor). While I always adored Dehner, I did not care for him in this setting (since the episodes he did were about *him* rather than about the guys in the bunkhouse).
Charles Bickford came in (when Garth supposedly sold Shiloh, which was mentioned in the first episode of Season 4, I believe), with his two grandchildren (Elizabeth and Stacey, as you note). Then Bickford died and John McIntyre (and his wife Jeanette Nolan) came in, first as Bickford's brother and sister-in-law, which then changed (season 5?) to being Bickford's son and daughter-in-law (and the granddaughter's aunt and uncle).
Confused yet?
Never saw the final season (Men from Shiloh), so have no clue how they wrote that situation.
I did not remember Diane Roter being there with Lee J. Cobb. You're right about her "charisma". I'm sure she was a lovely person though. Even though my time line was off, I had always thought Lee J. Cobb left due to poor health. I got some of it right! Was there ever any explanation of Stacey's sudden disappearance? If so, I missed it. Yes, the whole deal with "first the brother, then the son" thing was so convoluted I didn't even attempt to go there, but you hit the high points great!
"Can I ask a dumb question?"
"Better than anyone I know!"
Most of the above information is right on. I have been lucky enough to have seen every epiosde of the Virginian and The Men From Shiloh.
The first Owner was Judge Henry Garth played by Lee J. Cobb. Oficially he was the owner for the complete first three seasons and thru 20 episodes of season 4. He was on the show less and lees at time went by. He hated the part he had and did not like television. The show never needed him and I'm glad he left. He did have some good shows, but who wants a guy to stay who hates the show.
John Dehner took over in Episode 21 of Year 4 in a episode called Morgan Starr. That was the name of his character on the show. He was the owner for the final 10 episodes of Season 4. He was my favorite. I love John Dehner!
Charles Bickford took over as owner for all of Season 5 and thru 7 episodes of Season 6. Bickford died in real life and was replaced by John Mcintire.
John Mcintire took over as owner in Episode 8 of Season 6 and lasted as owner thru the end of Season 8.
The final Season, Season 9 has the Virginian name changed to The Men From Shiloh. Stewart Granger took over as the owner. Lee Majors joined the cast. Doug Mcclure and James Drury rounded out the cast of the final year. Each week the stories really focused on one person for the most part. A lot of the stories did not take place on Shiloh ranch at all. The show was still very good in my opinion, but it was different.
I hope this helps.
I don't even think that they mentioned Stacy after Don Quine left. At least "Granddad" got mentioned as having "gone back East" or some such, but Stacy was just forgotten.
It was sad because I did like his character, particularly after Trampas got over his issue with the owner's grandson living in the bunkhouse. Then there was Stacy maturing in one episode (they led you to believe that he was a problematic person in his first episode, but he never was).
I just posted a simila question! You, more-or-less answered me. Thanks for the post.
Lee J. Cobb is one of my favorite actors; he should have gotten an award for 'The Exorcist' and '12 Angry Men'. I am sorry that I won't be seeing any further "Virginian" episodes with him.
"What do you want me to do, draw a picture? Spell it out!"