A Man Called Shenandoah (1965-1966): The Complete Series [Blu-ray review]

Western television existed before the Yellowstone universe. Today, we take a look at Warner Archive’s release of A Man Called Shenandoah: The Complete Series. Originally airing on Mondays on ABC, it was a short lived series about a man who couldn’t remember his true identity. Treated by a doctor and given the name Shenandoah, he roams the frontier hoping the find his true identity. Given that A Man Called Shenandoah barely lasted a season, the answers never came.

McCoy and Spock both starred on show before joining Starfleet

My favorite thing about old network TV dramas is seeing the sheer volume of guest stars. Cloris Leachman, Ed Asney, DeForest Kelly, Leonard Nimoy and even Martin Landau shows up in the series. If I’m not mistaken, I saw Scotty in an episode too! I don’t know if this was exciting in 1965, but by the end of the series it starts feeling like later era Smallville. You get a bit of fan service, there’s an out of place song and it’s onto next week. Not exactly thrilling, but I guess that’s why it got cancelled.

What I love about A Man Called Shenandoah is how much the lead’s actions mattered. He constantly screws up and sometimes kills the people who could actually resolve his quest. Other big shot shows like The Big Valley were fighting for survival, so I get why ABC was losing confidence in A Man Called Shenandoah rather fast. When you have stories based on resolving a quest, attention goes by pretty fast. People want quick resolutions in a way that films provide better than shows.

But, what Shenandoah improved as a film? There’s half a mountain of archival backlog of forgotten Westerns that tackled similar trappings and you’ve never heard of them. Hell, your grandparents and parents probably forgot they exist. So, what’s the resolution? When watching the series, you’ll see that they lost the way of the plot by the end of Disc 2. There are only so many new strangers Shenandoah can meet before someone is bound to do something that helps him. If you don’t do it, then you’ve just made Kung-Fu with a brain damaged white guy daring God to let the elements kill him.

The Space Race effectively killed the Western’s appeal

One of the things that never ceases to fascinate me is watching history change in our entertainment. As a comics nerd, we trace this switch over to DC’s Showcase series in the late 50s revamping its World War II era heroes with a Sci-Fi bent. Green Lantern now has ties to aliens, The Flash was created by a lab experiment gone awry and no new heroes were Western based. By the time Wagon Train died and A Man Called Shenandoah started, the Space Race was on and the kids were swept up in Beatlemania. For a generation that sat in front of TVs with cap guns and silver stars, they had now discovered pop music and martians.

In that sense, A Man Called Shenandoah was doomed to hold the attention of a migrated youth and it was too cliche to entice older viewers. Is the series well acted? Does Robert Horton carry the series and could’ve done more in future seasons? Of course to both, but sometimes a narrative grows too long. When you pick up the Warner Archive Blu-ray, you’ll notice two things. The first being the stunning restoration of the original camera negatives. The second being how half of the first season has utterly no point. They are side quests to side quests for our RDR2 players out there.

A Man Called Shenandoah was a victim of the time

A Man Called Shenandoah suffered from the zeitgeist. Meaning you couldn’t have a weekly programmer of watching an amnesiac stumble through the West learning clues for 5-6 years. At the time, this was a television landscape where only Gunsmoke was getting by in that regard. If you’re not familiar with Gunsmoke, imagine the comfortable bubble that The Simpsons has enjoyed for decades and then Gunsmoke’s appeal will make more sense.

The mid 1960s was a fascinating time in TV. The Golden Age had ended and the big revolutionary changes to American TV were about 7-8 years away. Lots and lots of major studios were moving out of TV, as newer entities were diving in at smaller and smaller budgets. The more things change, the most they stay the same? It’s funny to see parallels moving to the past and away from it. But, that’s the kind of thing that smacks you in the brain watching shows like this. The history is more fascinating than many episodes.

Robert Horton liked to sing

Robert Horton was a major theater actor before he landed Wagon Train over at NBC. Seeing the decline of the TV Western, Horton wanted to get back to his roots and away from the Western drama. That lasted all of three years, but A Man Called Shenandoah at least let him sing again! That’s got to count for something.

Horton’s story is very similar to many of the era. A theater act that goes to Hollywood does TV and a few movies. Learns what he doesn’t like and then learns he’s been a little typecast and returns to what works. He wasn’t quite a Rick Dalton, but he wasn’t super far off from there.

Warner Archive brings Shenandoah to Blu-ray

Warner Archive brings A Man Called Shenandoah with no special features. However, the A/V Quality is pretty sharp with a crisp 1080p transfer made from 4K restorations of the original camera negatives. It’s pretty stunning and comes with a crisp DTS-HD 2.0 mono track to support it. I dig it, but I only recommend a purchase to the big Western TV fans.

A Man Called Shenandoah: The Complete Series comes to Blu-ray uncut for the first time via Warner Archive. Pick it up at MovieZyng!

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