| rdfs:comment | - The show started off as a 1970 TV movie called "The Young Country" and it premiered on ABC on January 5, 1971. On December 31, 1971, Pete Duel died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 31. After learning about his death, executive producer Jo Swerling Jr. wanted to cancel the show, but ABC refused, threatening to sue if the show wasn't delivered on schedule.
- Alias Smith and Jones is a Western television series that ran on ABC from 1971 to 1973. It was created by Glen A. Larson; and produced and directed by Roy Huggins, who also co-scripted most of the episodes, giving the show an unusual level of consistency for the time. Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Alias Smith and Jones.
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| abstract | - The show started off as a 1970 TV movie called "The Young Country" and it premiered on ABC on January 5, 1971. On December 31, 1971, Pete Duel died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 31. After learning about his death, executive producer Jo Swerling Jr. wanted to cancel the show, but ABC refused, threatening to sue if the show wasn't delivered on schedule. Production for the series continued soon after Duel's death which caused some heavy criticism in the press and his role was taken over by Roger Davis. The show continued for 17 more episodes, but it never regained its popularity after Duel's death and on January 13, 1973, it was cancelled after 3 seasons and 50 episodes.
- Alias Smith and Jones is a Western television series that ran on ABC from 1971 to 1973. It was created by Glen A. Larson; and produced and directed by Roy Huggins, who also co-scripted most of the episodes, giving the show an unusual level of consistency for the time. Alias Smith and Jones starred Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Kid Curry, two highly successful bank and train robbers. However, the American West of the 1880s is being transformed: safes harder to crack, and posses harder to elude. They decide to try for amnesty; but the state governor—with reservations about two such notorious criminals—offers only a provisional promise, if they can stay out of trouble. In the meantime, since they are still wanted, they assume aliases: Heyes becomes "Joshua Smith", and Curry becomes "Thaddeus Jones". Inevitably, despite their best intentions, they must rely on Heyes' safecracking, cardsharping skills and Curry's fast draw to get themselves out of trouble. The series was inspired by the success of the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which starred Paul Newman and Robert Redford. There were a number of similar themes, not least of which was the fact that the two historical outlaws had themselves attempted to receive amnesty at one point. The series also featured a group of outlaws called the Devil's Hole Gang, based on the historical Hole in the Wall Gang. As well, "Kid Curry" had been the nickname of Harvey Logan, an associate of the real Butch Cassidy. (However, unlike the TV version, the real Kid Curry was a cold-blooded killer). Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Alias Smith and Jones.
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