Men From Shiloh

I know this is an old post, but yes he did and it's not as bad as people let on. Is it as good as the earlier seasons? No, in my opinion, but if you give it some time it grows on you and actually there are some stand out episodes, and I like Lee Majors character and some of the guest stars i.e. Burgess Meredith. Of course it has The Virginian and Trampass are in it, but I think the weakest link in my opinion is Stewart Granger I like him as an actor, but he just seems out of place, and I know he character is supposed to be, but I just didn't really care for his character that much. The theme song is different not as good as the original, but it does grow on you especially if you like Clint Eastwood westerns after all it's the same composer who did The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and it has that feel.

However, when it comes down to it it's really personal preference, but I did enjoy it even though it took several episodes to get me into it since it was so different, but The Virginian as a show changed had always changed quite a bit over the years, and I think it's one of the things which kept it interesting as a show.

I think it's worth giving it a chance :)

I hope this helps,

Bob

The show changed formats because the NBC executives were unhappy with season 8 finish at #30 in the ratings despite the fact that figure was a slight improvement over season 7. NBC had a new successful series called "The Name of The Game" that used a rotating star format so they decided The Virginian might benefit using that format.

NBC decided to keep The Virginian and Trampas as rotating stars while adding two new characters played by Granger and Majors. The new format meant the ranch would not be the center of the show and therefore the current cast was no longer needed and were fired.

Granger and Majors signed deals that set up separate production teams that meant no episodes where the stars would share equal screen time except the first episode that introduced the Granger character. Majors and McClure never appeared in an episode together and Drury only did a couple with the new stars.

Frank Price the executive producer of the glory years of the series came back to run season nine but refused to allow his name in the credits for several reasons that included his disagreement with the changes in the show by NBC brass.

Season nine finished in the low 20s but NBC had tired of the show and probably of Drury constant demands to keep the quality of the show top notch.

If you are interested, Paul Green wrote a book about the show titled The Virginian: The TV Series. Amazon sells it in kindle or paperback and it is a real insight to the backstory of the show.