| The Young Pioneers | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Western/family/drama |
| Based on | Young Pioneers by Rose Wilder Lane |
| Developed by | Blanche Hanalis (developed for television by) |
| Directed by | |
| Starring |
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| Opening theme | Dominic Frontiere (instrumental) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 3 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | |
| Producers |
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| Running time | varied – 97 and 47 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | April 2 – April 16, 1978 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
The Young Pioneers was a trial-run ABC Western television series about young newlyweds who settle in the Dakota Territory during the 1870s. If the first three episodes had received good ratings the series may have found a place on the network’s fall lineup.[1]
The series was based on the plot of Rose Wilder Lane’s 1933 novel Let the Hurricane Roar, which was reissued as Young Pioneers[2] though the main characters names came from her novel Free Land.[3]
In March 1975 the television film Young Pioneers was watched by 40 million viewers,[4] so in December 1975 a second film Young Pioneers' Christmas continued the story of homesteaders Molly and David Beaton, and served as a pilot for a planned ABC series.[5] The Young Pioneers series aired on Sundays at 7 p.m.[6] The first episode was a two-hour movie, followed by two sixty-minute episodes.[7]
- ^ Lee Margulies, Trial Run for Young Pioneers, The Los Angeles Times, April 1, 1978, page 32
- ^ Rose Wilder Lane, Young Pioneers, Bantam Book, 1976
- ^ Rose Wilder Lane, Free Land, pages 1, 13, The World Publishing Company, 1945
- ^ Spend Christmas with 'Young Pioneers' Dec. 19, Lebanon Daily News (Lebanon, PA), December 11, 1976, page 26
- ^ "Young Pioneers", The Reporter-Times (Martinsville, Indiana), December 6, 1975, page 16
- ^ 'Young Pioneers' new family western, News-Journal (Mansfield, Ohio), April 2, 1978, page 78
- ^ Earl Hamner’s new series, The Salt Lake Tribune, April 2, 1978, page 48