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Alias Smith and Jones

American Western series

Field	Value
image	"Alias Smith and Jones" Title Card.jpg
caption	Alias Smith and Jones title card
genre	Western
creator	Glen A. Larson
starring	{{Plainlist
narrated	{{Plainlist
theme_music_composer	Billy Goldenberg
composer	{{Plainlist
country	United States
language	English
num_seasons	3
num_episodes	50
list_episodes	List of Alias Smith and Jones episodes
executive_producer	Roy Huggins
producer	{{Plainlist
cinematography	{{Plainlist
camera	Single-camera
runtime	45–48 minutes
company	{{Plainlist
network	ABC
first_aired
last_aired
related	{{Plainlist

Pete Duel
Ben Murphy
Roger Davis
Roger Davis
Ralph Story
Billy Goldenberg
Robert Prince
Pete Rugolo
John Andrew Tartaglia
Glen A. Larson
Jo Swerling Jr.
William Cronjager
Gene Polito
John M. Stephens
Universal Television
Universal/Public Arts Production
The Young Country

Alias Smith and Jones is an American Western television series that originally aired on ABC from January 1971 to January 1973.

Plot

Cast and characters

In the early morning hours of December 31, 1971, series star Pete Duel died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 31. He was reportedly suffering from depression and had been drinking heavily when he shot himself. Upon learning of Duel's death, executive producer Jo Swerling Jr. initially wanted to end the series, but ABC refused. Swerling later stated:

ABC said, "No way!" They said, "You have a contract to deliver this show to us, and you will continue to deliver the show as best you can on schedule or we will sue you." Hearing those words, Universal didn't hesitate for a second to instruct us to stay in production. We were already a little bit behind the eight ball on airdates. So, we contacted everybody, including Ben (Murphy), and told them to come back in. The entire company was reassembled and back in production by one o'clock that day shooting scenes that did not involve Peter — only 12 hours after his death.

Series writer, director, and producer Roy Huggins contacted actor Roger Davis (who provided narration for the series, and who had also appeared in episode 19 "Smiler with a Gun") the day of Duel's death to fill the role of Hannibal Heyes, and actor/voice man Paul Frees came in to loop Duel's unfinished ADR on "The Men That Corrupted Hadleyburg". Davis was fitted for costumes the following day, and began reshooting scenes Duel had previously completed for an unfinished episode the following Monday. According to Swerling, the decision to continue production so soon after Duel's death was heavily criticized in the press at the time.

Production

Joan Hackett played a character called Clementine Hale; a character with the same name appeared in two Alias Smith and Jones episodes, played by Sally Field.

Universal contract player Ben Murphy was offered to the producers because he was considered a Paul Newman lookalike.

Parts of the television series were filmed at Castle Valley and Professor Valley in Utah.

Episodes

Main article: List of Alias Smith and Jones episodes

Home media

The entire series has been released on DVD.

DVD set	Episodes	Company
Alias Smith and Jones: Season 1	15	Universal Home Video
Alias Smith and Jones: Seasons 2 & 3	35	Timeless Media Group
Alias Smith and Jones: The Complete Series	50	Timeless Media Group

Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the complete first season of Alias Smith and Jones in Region 2 on June 11, 2007.

Original tie-in novels

References in other works

References

(2008). "The Show Must Go on: How the Deaths of Lead Actors Have Affected Television Series". McFarland.
episode 33, "The Men Who Corrupted Hadleyburg"
Yoggy, Gary A.. (1995). "Riding the Video Range: The Rise and Fall of the Western on Television". [[McFarland & Company.
[[Glen A. Larson]], audio commentary on ''Alias Smith and Jones'', Season One, Disc One, the pilot, Universal DVD, 2007.
(2010). "When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah". Gibbs Smith.
[http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/shows/Alias-Smith-Jones/613 DVD release info] {{webarchive. link. (2015-11-22 at [[TVShowsOnDVD.com]])
Lacey, Gord. (2006-12-12). "Alias Smith and Jones - Heyes and Curry become Smith and Jones this Feb!".
Lambert, David. (2010-03-11). "Alias Smith and Jones - TMG's Seasons 2 and 3 Release Gets Closer Date, Lower Price and Package Art".
Lambert, David. (2010-08-30). "Alias Smith and Jones - All 3 Seasons Come Together for The Complete Series 10-DVD Set".
(11 June 2007). "Alias Smith And Jones - Series 1 - Complete [DVD] [1971]".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1970s-western-(genre)-television-series 1971-american-television-series-debuts 1973-american-television-series-endings abc-movie-of-the-week american-broadcasting-company-western-dramas american-english-language-television-shows historical-television-series television-series-by-universal-television television-series-created-by-glen-a.-larson television-series-set-in-the-19th-century television-shows-filmed-in-utah television-shows-set-in-wyoming

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