Wide Country

Earl Holliman and Andrew Prine were in their heyday in the early 60s when this series was showing. The plot was simple: a professional rodeo cowboy, Holliman, was shepherding his kid brother, Prine, while having various kinds of adventures along the way. The life of a rodeo cowboy was very peripatetic, as it still is, because they basically work the circuit of big shows, many of which are in large urban centers. This aspect of this career line made for a good plot line of human interest stories of the somewhat overprotective brother who keeps trying to convince his younger sibling of the value of doing something other than being a rodeo cowboy. Holliman, with his square-jawed rugged good looks, was a good counterpart to the somewhat dreamy idealistic Prine, often cast with an interesting guest actor like Slim Pickens or John Dehner. Too bad they can't write stories now like they did back then as this unremarkable little series was quite entertaining.