Kentucky Jones

NBC

Drama Comedy
English     6     1964     US

Overview

Kentucky Jones is a half-hour comedy/drama starring Dennis Weaver as Kenneth Yarborough "K.Y. or Kentucky" Jones, D.V.M., a recently widowed former horse trainer and active rancher, who becomes the guardian of Dwight Eisenhower "Ike" Wong, a 10-year-old Chinese orphan, played by Ricky Der. Harry Morgan, previously of the CBS sitcoms December Bride and Pete and Gladys, was featured in the series as Seldom Jackson, a former jockey who assists Dr. Jones. Cherylene Lee appears as Annie Ng, Ike's friend. Arthur Wong portrays Mr. Ng, Annie's father. Keye Luke stars as Mr. Wong, a friend of Dr. Jones. Nancy Rennick appears as Miss Throncroft, a social worker. Kentucky Jones, which ran on NBC from September 19, 1964, to September 11, 1965, was the first of Weaver's four series, the most successful having been McCloud, since he left the role of the marshal's helper Chester Goode on CBS's western classic Gunsmoke, starring James Arness. Richard Bull, who later portrayed the henpecked storekeeper Nels Oleson on NBC's Little House on the Prairie, appeared twice on Kentucky Jones as Harold Erkel in episodes entitled "The Victim" and "The Return of Wong Lee".

Similar

My Friend Flicka is a 39-episode western television series set at the fictitious Goose Bar Ranch in Wyoming at the turn of the 20th century. The program was filmed in color but initially aired in black and white on CBS at 7:30 p.m. Fridays from February 10, 1956, to February 1, 1957. It was a mid-season replacement for Gene Autry's The Adventures of Champion. Both series, however failed in the ratings against ABC's The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. After the initial Friday airing, viewers could still find the series on CBS Saturdays at 7 p.m. Eastern during March 1957, on Sundays at 6 p.m. from April to May 1957, and on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. from June to August 1957. NBC carried the program in color at 6:30 p.m. Sunday from September to December 1957 and at 7 p.m. Sunday from January to May 1958. In subsequent years, the series aired mostly on Saturday mornings on all networks. The Disney Channel ran it on Monday evenings in the mid-1980s. Over the years many viewers were unaware that the series produced episodes for only a single season. My Friend Flicka starred native Canadian Johnny Washbrook as Ken McLaughlin, a boy devoted to his horse Flicka, Swedish for "little girl", but actually an Arabian sorrel named Wahana. Gene Evans played the authoritarian father Rob McLaughlin, a former U.S. Army cavalry officer. Anita Louise was cast as the gentle-spirited mother, Nell. Frank Ferguson portrayed Gus Broeberg, the loyal ranch hand. Flicka is based on a novel by Mary O'Hara, written at the Remount Ranch, located between Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyoming. Some Internet sites say that the series is set in Montana, where some of the filming was done. The majority of the filming, however, was at Fox Movie Ranch. My Friend Flicka holds the distinction of having been the first television series filmed by 20th Century Fox. A 1943 film, My Friend Flicka, starred Roddy McDowall as Ken.

More info
My Friend Flicka
1955