The Oregon Trail is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from September 21 until October 26, 1977, except its pilot episode that aired the previous year. The series was filmed in the Flagstaff, Arizona area.
Synopsis
In the pilot, Evan was recently widowed and remarried. Evan's father was also recently widowed. Beginning with the series, the second wife was too dead; Evan's love interest now being Margaret Devlin. The father character was dropped and the scout character (Luther Sprague) was added.
Cast
Rod Taylor as Evan Thorpe
Andrew Stevens as Andy Thorpe
Gina Marie Smika as Rachael Thorpe
Blair Brown as Jessica Thorpe (pilot) Darleen Carr as Margaret Devlin (main season) Douglas Fowley as Eli Thorpe (pilot) Charles Napier as Luther Sprague (main season) Tony Becker as William Thorpe
Episodes
Production
Terry Wilson (Bill Hawks in Wagon Train) served as production supervisor on the series, and series stars Rod Taylor and Charles Napier co-wrote the theme song, "Oregon Bound", with singer Danny Darst.
The budget for the series was a reported $380,000 an episode.
NBC cancelled the show after six episodes, but the remaining seven episodes were later aired on BBC 2 in the UK, and the entire series was shown in the UK on BBC1, from November 1977 to January 1978.
Release
Broadcast
NBC broadcast a single, 90-minute pilot episode in 1976. The series then ran 13 episodes during the 1977-1978 season.
Home media
On April 13, 2010, Timeless Media Group (TMG) released the show on six DVDs, running 750 minutes. The set includes 14 original episodes, including the feature-length pilot and the six episodes that did not air on NBC.