One of the interview questions I’ve seen for writers is “Which TV show from your childhood would you like to see brought back and why?”
Of course, you know it’s going to be a Western! I’d like to see Alias Smith and Jones brought back, though, with a comparable writer similar to the one they had back then. This was a show from 1969 to 1971, so only three seasons, but it had a lot to offer.
The plot should be familiar to anyone who’s read my stories: a couple of outlaws trying to go straight. The catch on the show was that they were still wanted in Wyoming until the governor decided to grant them amnesty, so they were still chased around by posses and sheriffs and bounty hunters.
The writing on this show was great. It had a lot of humor along with the action, and the characters were well-delineated and different from one another, not cardboard cutouts like so many shows. Of course, we’d have to find some good actors if we rebooted the show, because one of the main actors died suddenly and was just replaced with another guy with no explanations. However, I feel certain we could find someone who could fill their boots for a modern show.
If you like old Westerns with a lot of action, clever gimmicks, and humor, check out Alias Smith and Jones. They still show it on the METV channel and METV+ or you could just purchase the DVD set.