NEW SHOW TONIGHT! They face frontier of the 1850s - 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙉𝙀𝙒 𝙇𝘼𝙉𝘿
Debuting 50 years ago right before the season premiere movie of 𝙆𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙁𝙪 was 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙇𝙖𝙣𝙙 on ABC, that brought the incredible story of Swedish immigrants settling in Minnesota to life. Based on the classic 1972 film 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨 and its sequel 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙇𝙖𝙣𝙙, this short-lived series captivated audiences with its beautiful portrayal of the American dream, family, and perseverance.
The series starred Bonnie Bedelia, Scott Thomas, Kurt Russell, Debbie Lytton, and Todd Lookinland as the Larsen family. The show was filmed on location in California and central Oregon, and theme song vocals provided by John Denver. Though critically acclaimed, the series was the third period drama featuring "warm, virtuous people" on the air that year, in addition to The Waltons on CBS and the just debuted 𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙚 on NBC. It was also in a tough Saturday lead-in timeslot against NBC hit 𝙀𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮! and 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 on CBS.
The show failed to gain the ratings necessary to keep it on the air, and it was booted after only six airings, leaving the remaining seven filmed episodes unseen. I find no evidence it was ever rerun, and given that this was the pre-VCR days of 1974, any home recordings would have to be on pre-VCR formats like U-Matic or Cartrivision, none of which have ever seem to have surfaced, making the series truly...ForgottenTV.
