''High Mountain Rangers'' was an American adventure drama series about a group of highly trained wilderness

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

/law enforcement officers in Tahoe, Nevada. It starred

Robert Conrad Robert Conrad (born Conrad Robert Falk; March 1, 1935 – February 8, 2020) was an American film and television actor, singer, and stuntman. He is best known for his role in the 1965–1969 television series ''The Wild Wild West'', playin ...

as Jesse Hawkes and also starred his two sons, Christian Conrad and Shane Conrad. Robert's daughter Joan was the executive producer. 12 episodes were broadcast, from January 2 until April 9, 1988 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 Entertainmen ...

, before the show was cancelled. The series also had a spin-off titled ''

Jesse Hawkes ''Jesse Hawkes'' is an American action television series that on CBS aired from April 22 until May 27, 1989. The series is a spin-off of ''High Mountain Rangers''. Premise Jesse Hawkes and his two sons track down criminals in San Francisco with t ...

''. The series was centered on Jesse Hawkes, an ex-

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

who started the High Mountain Rangers 35 years before the pilot. He retired after hauling his long-time nemesis, murderous criminal mastermind T.J. Cousins, to justice. Spared the death penalty on a legal technicality, Cousins instead was given life imprisonment without eligibility for parole. Meanwhile, Jesse's eldest son Matt tries out for the HMRs and eventually becomes the team's #2 Ranger...after Merlin (guest star Rick J. Porter as Ranger "Merlin" Pierce) who succeeded Jesse as director. Then Cousins gets broken out of jail by a drug dealer needing his mountain skills, and fatally ambushes Merlin. Now, as the team's third director, Matt urges his father out of retirement to help the Rangers recapture Cousins.

Cast

Each Ranger had a CALL SIGN (ie TOP GUN, MERLIN, FLYING TIGER); this was used whenever the HMRs were in the field. *

as Jesse "Top Gun" Hawkes *

Christian Conrad Christian Conrad (born 17 November 1931) is a Swiss former ice hockey goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus ...

as Matt "Flying Tiger" Hawkes *Shane Conrad as Cody Hawkes *

Russell Todd Russell Todd Goldberg (born March 14, 1958) is an American former film and television actor. Early life and career Todd graduated from Troy High School in 1976 and later attended Syracuse University where he studied filmmaking but dropped out ...

as Jim "Flash" Cutler *Pa Neumüller (billed as P.A. Christian) as Robin "Frostbite" Kelly *Timothy Erwin (Robert Conrad's real-life son-in-law) as Izzy "the Pocatello Kid" Flowers *Eugene Williams as Tim "Black Magic" Hart *Tony Acierto as Frank "White Eagle" Avila *Guest star Rick J. Porter as Ranger "Merlin" Pierce

Episodes

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, tt0094477 1988 American television series debuts 1988 American television series endings Television shows set in Nevada Television shows set in California 1980s American drama television series English-language television shows CBS original programming Lake Tahoe