What Might've Been: Sierra (1974)

It's safe to assume that by 1974, Jack Webb was no longer a reliable source for programming for NBC.

Adam-12 was entering its final season. Emergency! was starting its 4th. Chase & Hec Ramsey had been cancelled at the end of the 1973-4 season.

So Webb decided that his next project would move out of Los Angeles proper, and into the forest.

Sierra shined a spotlight on a group of forest rangers working in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains. Nice idea, wrong night of the week. Couldn't air it in back of Emergency! on Saturday because that was also a movie night. Thursday was a problem. NBC was trying to fill the vacancy created by the termination of Flip Wilson's variety show. Problem was, as the season began, Sierra was matched against The Odd Couple (also in its final season) and The Waltons.  Ballgame. NBC went back to the variety well after Sierra was cancelled, trying out Mac Davis and Gladys Knight & The Pips for short stints.

Following is a sample clip, a crossover with Emergency!, as Randolph Mantooth & Kevin Tighe guest star as firemen John Gage & Roy DeSoto, respectively. The theme song was written by one of the more prolific hit makers of the decade, John Denver, who also composed the theme for ABC's The New Land:



Michael Warren (billed as Mike Warren here) would later resurface on Hill Street Blues, which was far more successful, and spent most of its run on the other side of the Thursday block.

Rating: B.