Nichols (TV series)

Nichols
Title card screenshot
Also known as	James Garner as Nichols
Genre	Western
Created by	Frank Pierson
Written by	Juanita Bartlett Gene L. Coon Jack Curtis Theodore J. Flicker Robert Foster Bud Freeman Marion Hargrove James L. Henderson Buck Houghton George Kirgo Ken Kolb Benjamin Masselink Frank Pierson Sam Roeca Frank Telford Shimon Wincelberg William Wood
Directed by	John Badham Paul Bogart Ivan Dixon Danny Haller Jeremy Kagan Gerd Oswald Frank Pierson Peter Tewksbury William Ward William Wiard
Starring	James Garner Margot Kidder Stuart Margolin Alice Ghostley
Composer(s)	Bernardo Segall
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	23
Production
Executive producer(s)	Meta Rosenberg
Producer(s)	Frank Pierson
Cinematography	Lamar Boren
Running time	60 mins. (approx)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	September 16, 1971 – March 14, 1972

Nichols (also known as James Garner as Nichols) is an American Western television series starring James Garner broadcast in the United States on NBC during the 1971-72 season. Set the fictional town of Nichols, Arizona, in 1914, Nichols differed from traditional Western series of the era. The main character, a sheriff, rode on a motorcycle and in an automobile rather than on the traditional horse. The hero did not carry a firearm and was generally opposed to the use of violence to solve problems, preferring other means. Margot Kidder portrayed Ruth, the love interest/barmaid of Nichols.

Overview

Nichols (no first name was ever given) arrived back in the town founded years before by his family only to learn that it had been taken over by another family, the Ketchams, who functioned basically as a gang. Their matriarch, "Ma" Ketcham (Neva Patterson), soon blackmailed Nichols into serving as the town's sheriff, which carried little real authority (as the Ketchams largely ran things), but considerable danger. Ma's son Mitch (Stuart Margolin) was assigned to be Nichols' deputy, either in spite or because he was none too bright, none too honest, and something of a bully. Nichols (James Garner) soon found a love interest in Ruth (Margot Kidder), a barmaid, who worked for Bertha (Alice Ghostley), the bar's proprietress. Nichols' main concern was not usually law enforcement but rather a way of getting rich with little effort.

The series did not do well in the ratings and was retitled James Garner as Nichols in October 1971 in an attempt to capitalize on the star's popularity. The low ratings also resulted in the decision by the program's producers to kill off the title character. The greedy, but pacifist Nichols was shot down, to be avenged by his identical twin brother Jim Nichols (also portrayed by Garner), who arrived in town and administered justice in a more stereotypical (and it was hoped, more popular) Western fashion. This solution would have made recasting and retitling the program unnecessary while allowing for considerable changes. However, the episode in which the first Nichols was murdered proved to be the final one; before it aired, NBC cancelled the series, rerunning the earlier episodes during the summer of 1972.

Cast

• James Garner as Nichols/Sheriff Jim Nichols
• John Beck as Ketcham
• Alice Ghostley as Bertha
• Margot Kidder as Ruth
• Stuart Margolin as Deputy Sheriff Mitch Mitchell
• Neva Patterson as Ma Sara Ketchum
• M. Emmet Walsh as Gabe McCutcheon

Guest stars

• Val Avery
• William Christopher
• Scatman Crothers
• Jack Elam
• Steve Forrest
• Jennifer Gan
• Bo Hopkins
• Rance Howard
• Don Keefer
• Strother Martin
• Ricardo Montalban
• John Rubinstein
• Robert F. Simon
• Tom Skerritt
• Susan Tyrrell
• Joyce Van Patten
• Anthony Zerbe

Episodes

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate
1-1	"Nichols"	September 16, 1971
1-2	"The Siege"	September 23, 1971
1-3	"The Indian Giver"	September 30, 1971
1-4	"Paper Badge"	October 7, 1971
1-5	"Gulley vs Hansen"	October 14, 1971
1-6	"Deer Crossing"	October 21, 1971
1-7	"The Specialists"	October 28, 1971
1-8	"Peanuts and Crackerjacks"	November 4, 1971
1-9	"Ketcham Power"	November 11, 1971
1-10	"The One Eyed Mule's Time Has Come"	November 23, 1971
1-11	"Away the Rolling River"	November 30, 1971
1-12	"Where Did Everybody Go?"	December 7, 1971
1-13	"The Marrying Fool"	December 28, 1971
1-14	"Eddie Joe"	January 4, 1972
1-15	"Zachariah"	January 11, 1972
1-16	"The Unholy Alliance"	January 18, 1972
1-17	"Slight of Hand"	February 1, 1972
1-18	"Wings of an Angel"	February 8, 1972
1-19	"About Jessie James"	February 15, 1972
1-20	"Fight of the Century"	February 22, 1972
1-21	"Man's Best Enemy"	February 29, 1972
1-22	"Wonder Fizz Flies Again"	March 7, 1972
1-23	"All In the Family"	March 14, 1972

Syndication

Nichols was broadcast on American Forces Network Television in Germany in the early 1980s.

References

• Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows

External links

• Nichols at the Internet Movie Database
• Nichols at TV.com
• Nichols at epguides.com