I'm sure I speak for a lot of folks in my age bracket who grew up in the 1950's when I say that it was probably the greatest time ever to be a kid. Saturday mornings spent with The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, Wild Bill Hickok, Sky King, and yes - Sergeant Preston of the Yukon! As another reviewer for this series mentions, the values of a generation were formed by the honesty and integrity of these heroes of the silver screen. Watching these stories today takes one back to a simpler time, and granted, even though things are a lot more complex today, any single episode of any of these shows helps one put things in proper perspective when it comes to telling right from wrong.
In many respects, one could categorize 'Sergeant Preston' as a TV Western, in fact, it's included in Harris M. Lentz's 'Television Westerns Episode Guide' for all Western series airing from 1949 to 1996. Just like many other non-traditional Western series are included, such as 'Circus Boy', 'Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin' and 'My Friend Flicka'. The common denominator for all these shows is an unerring principal that good triumphs over evil and honesty is the best policy.
"Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" aired from September 1955 to September 1958, a three season total of seventy eight shows. It's star was Richard Simmons, somewhat ironic in retrospect as most people today would associate that name with the exercise and weight loss guru who seems to pack on the pounds as he ages. Other than Roy Rogers, Sergeant Preston is the only principal Western TV character I can think of that had two animal sidekicks. Roy of course had Trigger and Bullet, while Preston had Yukon King and Rex. Apparently, King had a much better agent as he appeared in every show, while Rex was primarily featured in the first season with twenty appearances.
Recently I've watched a handful of episodes, and with the passage of time, one's expectations wind up taking a hit as it were. The stories are relatively simplistic, sometimes even goofy. Don't take this the wrong way, the same can be said of a couple of my other favorite childhood hero series, The Lone Ranger and Superman. It's just the way things were back in the early days of TV with unsophisticated stories pretty much pitting the good guys versus the bad guys with the white hats always on the winning side. Or in the case of Sergeant Preston, the guys in the red coats. Speaking of which, when I saw these episodes back in the day, it would have been on a black and white TV, but some of the shows I've seen recently were done in color, or at least what passed for color with a somewhat muddied and muted palette.
In any event, I can still look back on Sergeant Preston as one of my boyhood heroes with a fond memory. Simmons' character was a staunch, no nonsense individual that commanded respect and admiration, and if it weren't for all that snow and ice, I'd want to follow right in his footsteps.
In many respects, one could categorize 'Sergeant Preston' as a TV Western, in fact, it's included in Harris M. Lentz's 'Television Westerns Episode Guide' for all Western series airing from 1949 to 1996. Just like many other non-traditional Western series are included, such as 'Circus Boy', 'Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin' and 'My Friend Flicka'. The common denominator for all these shows is an unerring principal that good triumphs over evil and honesty is the best policy.
"Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" aired from September 1955 to September 1958, a three season total of seventy eight shows. It's star was Richard Simmons, somewhat ironic in retrospect as most people today would associate that name with the exercise and weight loss guru who seems to pack on the pounds as he ages. Other than Roy Rogers, Sergeant Preston is the only principal Western TV character I can think of that had two animal sidekicks. Roy of course had Trigger and Bullet, while Preston had Yukon King and Rex. Apparently, King had a much better agent as he appeared in every show, while Rex was primarily featured in the first season with twenty appearances.
Recently I've watched a handful of episodes, and with the passage of time, one's expectations wind up taking a hit as it were. The stories are relatively simplistic, sometimes even goofy. Don't take this the wrong way, the same can be said of a couple of my other favorite childhood hero series, The Lone Ranger and Superman. It's just the way things were back in the early days of TV with unsophisticated stories pretty much pitting the good guys versus the bad guys with the white hats always on the winning side. Or in the case of Sergeant Preston, the guys in the red coats. Speaking of which, when I saw these episodes back in the day, it would have been on a black and white TV, but some of the shows I've seen recently were done in color, or at least what passed for color with a somewhat muddied and muted palette.
In any event, I can still look back on Sergeant Preston as one of my boyhood heroes with a fond memory. Simmons' character was a staunch, no nonsense individual that commanded respect and admiration, and if it weren't for all that snow and ice, I'd want to follow right in his footsteps.