The Roy Rogers Show is an American western television series starring Roy Rogers. 100 episodes were broadcast on NBC for six seasons between December 30, 1951 and June 9, 1957. The episodes were set in the prevailing times (1950s) rather than the old west. Various episodes are known to be in the public domain today, being featured in low budget cable television channels and home video.

Overview

The show starred Roy Rogers as a ranch owner, Dale Evans as the proprietress of the Eureka Café and Hotel in fictional Mineral City, and Pat Brady as Roy’s sidekick and Dale s cook. Brady s Jeep Nellybelle at times had a mind of her own and sped away driverless with Brady in frantic pursuit on foot. Animal stars were Roy s Palomino horse Trigger and his German Shepherd Bullet, the Wonder Dog .

As with many other Western films of the 1930s–1950s, the Roy Rogers Show featured cowboys and cowgirls riding horses and carrying six-shooters, but unlike traditional westerns, the series had a contemporary setting with automobiles, telephones, and electric lighting. No attempt was made in the scripts to explain or justify this strange amalgamation of 19th-century characters with 20th-century technology. Typical episodes followed the stars as they rescued the weak and helpless from the clutches of dishonest lawmen, con artists, bank robbers, claim jumpers, rustlers, and other bad guys .

In addition to traditional Western plot themes such as cattle rustling and bank robberies, the program featured more contemporary topics, including gun safety and conservation of natural resources. Many of the shows expressed a moral, and several preached a Christian message.

Episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	23		December 30, 1951	June 15, 1952
2	15		September 7, 1952	June 28, 1953
3	14		October 11, 1953	March 14, 1954
4	18		September 12, 1954	May 22, 1955
5	15		October 9, 1955	March 24, 1956
6	15		October 21, 1956	June 9, 1957

Production

Interior shots for the show were filmed at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio, with much of the outdoor action footage filmed on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California The program was originally sponsored by General Foods (Post Cereals and Jell-O). The show s theme song, “Happy Trails”, was written by Dale Evans and sung by her and Rogers over the end credits of each episode.

The show received an Emmy nomination in 1955 for Best Western or Adventure Series, but it lost out to the syndicated Stories of the Century, an anthology series starring and narrated by Jim Davis. The series finished #27 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1951-1952 season and #30 for 1954-1955.

Related merchandise

The show was merchandised for the youth market with comic books, playsets, cowboy and cowgirl costumes, toy pistols, longbows, and many other items. In 1957, 2 million copies of each comic book were sold. A related comic strip was syndicated to 186 newspapers.

Reruns

From January 1961 until September 1964, CBS broadcast reruns of The Roy Rogers Show on Saturday mornings. As of 2019, episodes are seen on Retro Television Network, World Harvest Television and The Cowboy Channel.

Year	1951
ReleaseDate	1951-12-30
Plot	The Double R Ranch featured “The King of the Cowboys” Roy, his “Smartest Horse in the Movies” Trigger, “Queen of the West” Dale, her horse Buttermilk, their dog Bullet, and even Pat’s jeep, Nellybelle.
Awards	Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy, 1 nomination total
Stars	Dale Evans, Roy Rogers, Trigger
Series Produced by	Jack Lacey,Roy Rogers,Larry Kent,Arthur Rush,Jason H. Bernie,Daniel Winkler,Bob Henry
Series Music by	Frank Worth,Lou Bring,Nat Farber
Series Cinematography by	Joe Novak,Lester White,Clyde De Vinna,William Bradford
Series Film Editing by	J.R. Whittredge,Richard G. Wray,James W. Graham,John Sheets,Harold E. McGhan,John B. Moss,Irving Berlin,Bruce B. Pierce,Jack Gleason,George Gale
Series Set Decoration by	Victor A. Gangelin
Series Makeup Department	Mildred Burns,Steve Drumm,Roy Stork,David Newell,Robert Littlefield,Art Dupuis,Dan Greenway,Pat McNalley,Howard Smit,Don L. Cash
Series Production Management	Arthur Rush,Larry Kent
Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Nathan Barragar,Robert Vreeland,Arthur J. Vitarelli,William A. Calihan Jr.,Roy Wade,Harry Mancke
Series Art Department	Tom Coleman,Robert Eaton
Series Sound Department	John K. Kean,John R. Carter,Rex Lipton,Fred Lau,Lambert E. Day,Art Klein,Marvin I. Kosberg,Howard Miller,Marshall Pollock
Series Special Effects by	Ivan Arnold
Series Stunts	Whitey Hughes,Glenn H. Randall Sr.,Boyd Red Morgan,Wally West
Series Camera and Electrical Department	Wilbur Kinnett,Robert Merry
Series Costume and Wardrobe Department	Tommy Thompson
Series Editorial Department	Fred R. Feitshans Jr.,Irving Berlin
Series Music Department	Frank Worth,Helen Sneddon,Josef von Stroheim,Nat Farber
Series Script and Continuity Department	Leslie H. Martinson,Violet McComas,John Banse,Don McDougall,Ted Schilz,William J. Hole Jr.,Fred Applegate,Lee Martinson,Betty Andrews,Dolores Rubin
Series Additional Crew	Glenn H. Randall Sr.,Tom Hargis,Larry Kent,Arthur Rush,Jerome H. Stanley
Genres	Family, Western
Companies	Roy Rogers Productions
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ImDbRating	7.1
ImDbRatingVotes	695
Keywords	actor name in series title,palomino horse,boy horse relationship,horseback riding,horse owner