''Dirty Sally'' was a humorous western television series about a hard-drinking cantankerous old woman and a young former outlaw traveling to the California gold fields in a wagon pulled by a mule named Worthless. The series consisted of 14 half-hour episodes that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Fridays, 8:00 to 8:30 p.m., from January 11, 1974, to July 19, 1974.

Jeanette Nolan Jeanette Nolan (December 30, 1911 – June 5, 1998) was an American actress. Nominated for four Emmy Awards, she had roles in the television series '' The Virginian'' (1962–1971) and ''Dirty Sally'' (1974), and in films such as ''Macbeth'' ...

played Sally Fergus and

Dack Rambo Norman Jay Rambo (November 13, 1941 – March 21, 1994), professionally known as Dack Rambo, was an American actor, widely known for his role as Walter Brennan's grandson Jeff in the series ''The Guns of Will Sonnett'', as Steve Jacobi in the ...

played Cyrus Pike in this '' Gunsmoke'' spin-off.Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946 – Present'' (Seventh Edition), Ballantine Books, 1999, page 262. Guest stars included

John McIntire John Herrick McIntire (June 27, 1907 – January 30, 1991) was an American character actor who appeared in 65 theatrical films and many television series. McIntire is well known for having replaced Ward Bond, upon Bond's sudden death in Novem ...

Tim McIntire Timothy John McIntire (July 19, 1944 – April 15, 1986) was an American character actor, probably best known for his starring roles as Alan Freed in the film ''American Hot Wax'' (1978), as singer George Jones in the television movie ''Stand ...

, Jackie Coogan, and Kathleen Cody. Nolan was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role in the series. During the 16th season of ''Gunsmoke'' a two-part episode entitled "Pike" was broadcast on March 1 and March 8, 1971. Dirty Sally, an old woman who collected bottles and other discarded items to sell, found outlaw Cyrus Pike, who had been shot. Sally nursed Pike back to health and tried to protect him from the men who wanted him dead. After "Pike" was aired, the ''Gunsmoke'' office received more mail about the episode then any other segment in the series' history. The character of Dirty Sally was brought back during the next season of ''Gunsmoke'' in an episode entitled "One for the Road" and a decision was made to spin the character off into a new series. ''Dirty Sally'' was produced by the CBS Television Network at the CBS Studio Center in Hollywood. John Mantley was the executive producer, Leonard Katzman the producer, and Jack Miller was creator and story consultant. All three were on the production team for '' Gunsmoke''. During the show's short run, Pike was anxious to reach California, but their journey was often delayed by Sally becoming involved with the problems of people they met along the way.

Episodes

References

{{reflist CBS original programming 1974 American television series debuts 1974 American television series endings 1970s Western (genre) television series American television spin-offs Gunsmoke