# Branded (TV series)

Branded is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1965 through 1966. It was sponsored by Procter & Gamble in its Sunday night, 8:30 p.m. Eastern time period. The series is set in the Old West, following the end of the American Civil War. The show starred Chuck Connors as Jason McCord, a United States Army cavalry captain who had been court-martialed and drummed out of the service following an unjust accusation of cowardice.

## Overview

The opening title credits of each episode in the series feature a depiction of McCord's cashiering with the stripping of rank shoulder patches and his Light Cavalry Saber broken in two. McCord retained the handle of his broken saber with attached pommel. He had the remaining blade sharpened into a long knife, which he used in many episodes. McCord is sent out of the fort where this ceremony occurred, and the gates are closed behind him. Although the exact date of McCord's cashiering is never given, events and people depicted in episodes place the events of the series itself as sometime during the first administration of President Ulysses S. Grant (1869–72) and after William Seward negotiated the Alaska purchase. The name and location of the fort are also not given.
In the pilot episode, "The Vindicator", McCord is confronted by a newspaper reporter (Claude Akins) who wants a follow-up story on the Bitter Creek massacre. McCord refuses to cooperate. He knows that General James Reed, McCord's mentor, was on a peace mission to meet representatives of the Cheyenne nation at Bitter Creek. His unit of 31 men was attacked by a group of renegade Indians known as Dog Soldiers. During the attack, McCord realized that the old general had taken leave of his senses. McCord assumed command, but it was too late. McCord was wounded in the battle and left for dead, the only survivor. He remained in a coma for 10 days after the attack. McCord was later hauled before a court-martial for desertion, convicted and drummed out of the Army.
The reporter tracks down a widow of the Bitter Creek massacre (June Lockhart). Her husband was third in command and had written several letters questioning Reed's mental state. Those letters would have been enough to grant McCord a new trial and possibly exonerate him, but McCord convinced the widow to burn the letters to protect Reed's reputation. McCord feared that if Reed's reputation were damaged, certain people in Washington, DC, would try to start a new war with the Apaches. McCord chose never to speak about what really happened at Bitter Creek.
He traveled throughout the Old West, continually confronted by people who refused to believe his innocence, requiring him to prove them wrong.
John M. Pickard appeared in six episodes as General Phil Sheridan. Other notable guest stars included Chris Alcaide, Russ Conway, Don Collier, Burgess Meredith, John Carradine, Pat Conway, Alex Cord, Janet De Gore, Dolores del Río, Chad Everett, I. Stanford Jolley, Martin Landau, June Lockhart, Warren Oates, Gregg Palmer, Larry Pennell, Burt Reynolds, Lee Van Cleef, Dick Clark, Bruce Dern and Michael Rennie.

## Production

Created by Larry Cohen, the show was co-produced for most of its run by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions (which later folded ultimately into Fremantle), more widely associated with their productions of various game shows, in association with Sentinel Productions. Current distribution rights are possessed by CBS Television Distribution, the successor in interest to original distributor KingWorld, who had purchased Leo A. Gutman in 1984. Historically, stations that air Branded have paired it with another Western series, the early Aaron Spelling production The Guns of Will Sonnett; this series, which starred veteran Western actor Walter Brennan in the title role, is also distributed by CBSTD, under Gutman, the show was part of Chuck Connors' Great Western Theatre. The series was originally syndicated internationally by ABC Films, and then Firestone Film Syndication, who later go on to distribute many Goodson-Todman game shows.
Parts of the series were filmed at the Kanab movie fort and Kanab Canyon in Utah.
The series followed Chuck Connors's series The Rifleman, but it did not have that show's longevity, lasting only 48 episodes over two seasons. For the first season, 13 episodes were shot in black-and-white; the three-part story "The Mission" was shot in color. The second season of 32 episodes was made entirely in color.
Andrew J. Fenady served as the producer, later executive producer, on the series. Fenady was also the producer of The Rebel.

## Episodes
### Season 1 (1965)

All episodes in black-and-white except for the three-part episode, "The Mission," which was made in color
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | "Survival" | Richard Whorf | Larry Cohen | January 24, 1965 (1965-01-24) |
| 2 | 2 | "The Vindicator" | Joseph H. Lewis | Larry Cohen | January 31, 1965 (1965-01-31) |
| 3 | 3 | "The Test" | Leonard Horn | John Wilder & Jerry Ziegman | February 7, 1965 (1965-02-07) |
| 4 | 4 | "The Rules of the Game" | Lawrence Dobkin | Larry Cohen | February 14, 1965 (1965-02-14) |
| 5 | 5 | "The Bounty" | Harry Harris | Larry Cohen | February 21, 1965 (1965-02-21) |
| 6 | 6 | "Leap Upon Mountains..." | Harry Harris | Andrew J. Fenady | February 28, 1965 (1965-02-28) |
| 7 | 7 | "Coward Step Aside" | Harry Harris | Story by : Larry Cohen Teleplay by : John Wilder & Jerry Ziegman | March 7, 1965 (1965-03-07) |
| Guest star: Johnny Crawford, Connors's co-star from their earlier series, The Rifleman ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "The Mission" | Bernard McEveety | Story by : Larry Cohen Teleplay by : Jameson Brewer | March 14, 1965 (1965-03-14) |
| 9 | 9 | "The Mission" | Bernard McEveety | Story by : Larry Cohen Teleplay by : Jameson Brewer | March 21, 1965 (1965-03-21) |
| 10 | 10 | "The Mission" | Allen Reisner | Frank Chase | March 28, 1965 (1965-03-28) |
| 11 | 11 | "The First Kill" | Alex March | Frank Chase | April 4, 1965 (1965-04-04) |
| 12 | 12 | "Very Few Heroes" | Bernard McEveety | John Wilder & Jerry Ziegman | April 11, 1965 (1965-04-11) |
| 13 | 13 | "One Way Out" | Bernard McEveety | Jameson Brewer | April 18, 1965 (1965-04-18) |
| 14 | 14 | "That the Brave Endure" | Ron Winston | Story by : Michael Dunn Teleplay by : Michael Dunn & John Wilder & Jerry Ziegman | April 25, 1965 (1965-04-25) |
| 15 | 15 | "Taste of Poison" | Ron Winston | Story by : Larry Cohen Teleplay by : William Putnam & Nicholas Rowe | May 2, 1965 (1965-05-02) |
| 16 | 16 | "Price of a Name" | Leonard Horn | Story by : Larry Cohen Teleplay by : Nicholas Rowe | May 23, 1965 (1965-05-23) |
* ↑ Broadcast in color
* ↑ Parts One, Two and Three of the color episode "The Mission" were later released as a movie titled Broken Sabre, with new footage. According to Western Clippings, the re-edited movie version ends with Jason "regaining his commission and resuming his army career," thus giving an ending to the series. It also ends with Jason asking a woman to marry him and she says yes. The movie was released to theaters in 1965.

### Season 2 (1965–66)

All episodes in color
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 17 | 1 | "Judge Not" | Vincent McEveety | Jerome B. Thomas | September 12, 1965 (1965-09-12) |
| 18 | 2 | "Now Join the Human Race" | Harry Harris | Ken Pettus | September 19, 1965 (1965-09-19) |
| 19 | 3 | "Mightier Than the Sword" | Vincent McEveety | Frank Chase | September 26, 1965 (1965-09-26) |
| 20 | 4 | "I Killed Jason McCord" | Larry Peerce | Joseph Hoffman | October 3, 1965 (1965-10-03) |
| 21 | 5 | "The Bar Sinister" | Larry Peerce | Jack Paritz | October 10, 1965 (1965-10-10) |
| 22 | 6 | "Seward's Folly" | Larry Peerce | George W. Schenck & William Marks | October 17, 1965 (1965-10-17) |
| 23 | 7 | "Salute the Soldier Briefly" | Lee H. Katzin | Frederick Louis Fox | October 24, 1965 (1965-10-24) |
| 24 | 8 | "The Richest Man in Boot Hill" | Larry Peerce | Elon Packard | October 31, 1965 (1965-10-31) |
| 25 | 9 | "Fill No Glass For Me" | Vincent McEveety | Frederick Louis Fox | November 7, 1965 (1965-11-07) |
| 26 | 10 | "Fill No Glass For Me" | Vincent McEveety | Frederick Louis Fox | November 14, 1965 (1965-11-14) |
| 27 | 11 | "The Greatest Coward on Earth" | Lee H. Katzin | Nathaniel Tanchuck | November 21, 1965 (1965-11-21) |
| 28 | 12 | "$10,000 for Durango" | Larry Peerce | Jerome B. Thomas | November 28, 1965 (1965-11-28) |
| 29 | 13 | "Romany Roundup" | Lee H. Katzin | Story by : Lou Shaw Teleplay by : Lou Shaw & Jameson Brewer | December 5, 1965 (1965-12-05) |
| 30 | 14 | "Romany Roundup" | Lee H. Katzin | Story by : Lou Shaw Teleplay by : Lou Shaw & Jameson Brewer | December 12, 1965 (1965-12-12) |
| 31 | 15 | "A Proud Town" | Larry Peerce | Paul L. Freedman | December 19, 1965 (1965-12-19) |
| 32 | 16 | "The Golden Fleece" | Lee H. Katzin | Jay Selby & Jessica Benson | January 2, 1966 (1966-01-02) |
| 33 | 17 | "The Wolfers" | Larry Peerce | Frank Paris | January 9, 1966 (1966-01-09) |
| 34 | 18 | "This Stage of Fools" | Lee H. Katzin | Ken Trevey | January 16, 1966 (1966-01-16) |
| 35 | 19 | "A Destiny Which Made Us Brothers" | Allen Reisner | Andrew J. Fenady | January 23, 1966 (1966-01-23) |
| 36 | 20 | "McCord's Way" | William Witney | Borden Chase | January 30, 1966 (1966-01-30) |
| 37 | 21 | "Nice Day for a Hanging" | Allen Reisner | Frank Chase | February 6, 1966 (1966-02-06) |
| 38 | 22 | "Barbed Wire" | Harry Harris | Ken Trevey | February 13, 1966 (1966-02-13) |
| 39 | 23 | "Yellow for Courage" | Harry Harris | Frederick Louis Fox | February 20, 1966 (1966-02-20) |
| 40 | 24 | "Call to Glory" | Allen Reisner | John Wilder & Jerry Ziegman | February 27, 1966 (1966-02-27) |
| 41 | 25 | "Call to Glory" | Allen Reisner | John Wilder & Jerry Ziegman | March 6, 1966 (1966-03-06) |
| 42 | 26 | "Call to Glory" | Allen Reisner | John Wilder & Jerry Ziegman | March 13, 1966 (1966-03-13) |
| 43 | 27 | "The Ghost of Murietta" | William Witney | Frank Paris | March 20, 1966 (1966-03-20) |
| 44 | 28 | "The Assassins" | William Witney | Jameson Brewer | March 27, 1966 (1966-03-27) |
| 45 | 29 | "The Assassins" | William Witney | Jameson Brewer | April 3, 1966 (1966-04-03) |
| 46 | 30 | "Headed for Doomsday" | Edward Ludwig | Peter Barry | April 10, 1966 (1966-04-10) |
| 47 | 31 | "Cowards Die Many Times" | Bernard McEveety | Frank Chase | April 17, 1966 (1966-04-17) |
| 48 | 32 | "Kellie" | Marc Daniels | Frank Chase | April 24, 1966 (1966-04-24) |

## Home media

Timeless Media Group released both seasons of Branded on DVD in Region 1 in 2004–2005. Season 1 was released on August 3, 2004, and season 2 was released on February 8, 2005. On February 16, 2010, Timeless Media Group released Branded: The Complete Series, a six-disc box set featuring all 48 episodes of the series and several bonus features. More-recent prints cut for syndication are used for the set, and as a result, three minutes are missing from each episode. Broken Saber (the film re-editing of "The Mission Parts One, Two, And Three") is not included.

## Merchandise

A tie-in board game called Branded Game was released by Milton Bradley in 1966.

## Impact on popular culture

Branded is referenced in the Coen Brothers 1998 film, The Big Lebowksi. The Dude (Jeff Bridges) and Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) have tracked down a teenager named Larry Sellers to his home, believing the boy stole money from a ransom package they were to deliver. Walter has learned that Sellers's father is Arthur Digby Sellers, who must live in an iron lung, and that the older Sellers wrote 156 episodes of Branded. Upon entering the house and seeing the older Sellers in an iron lung, Walter acts with uncharacteristic humility and respect, in large part because of the reverence in which he holds Branded; before exploding into misdirected violence against a stranger's car after an obscene interrogation of Larry fails to elicit any response from the affectless boy. Arthur Digby Sellers is a fictional character, and there were less than 50 episodes of Branded, not 156.
Major League Baseball player Ron Perranoski appeared in a 1965 episode of Branded, while he was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Series star Chuck Connors had played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949.