''Sierra'' is a

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

television

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

series focusing on the efforts of

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

rangers to enforce

federal law Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join in a federation, delegating their individual sovereignty and many po ...

and to effect

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

rescue Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or the urgent treatment of injuries after an accident or a dangerous situation. Tools used might include search and rescue dogs, mounted search and rescue ho ...

s. The program aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

and was packaged by

Jack Webb John Randolph Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, Television director, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Joe Friday, Sgt. Joe Friday in the Dragnet (franchise) ...

Mark VII Limited Mark VII Limited was the production company of actor and filmmaker Jack Webb, and was active from 1951 to his death in 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with Universal Television; most of them aired on the NBC television networ ...

for

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...

. The show's theme song was written by

Lee Holdridge Lee Elwood Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is a Haitian-born American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. A 18-time Emmy Award nominee, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two News & Documentary Emmy Awards, and one ...

(music) and

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

(lyrics).

Robert A. Cinader Robert A. Cinader (November 10, 1924 – November 16, 1982) was an American television producer best known for his work on two NBC series packaged by actor/producer Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited, '' Adam-12'' and ''Emergency!'' The latter show in ...

, executive producer of Mark VII's ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing the two short-lived situatio ...

'' (which partially inspired this show), handled this program also.

Setting

The show derived its name from its setting, the fictional Sierra National Park, a part of the U.S. National Park Service. In reality, exteriors were filmed at

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

."Sierra" (1974) at imdb.com
/ref> The tenth episode, "The Urban Ranger", established that the park also existed within the same fictional world populated by the characters of ''

,'' its sister Mark VII show. The two paramedic characters from ''Emergency!'', played by

Kevin Tighe Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicized from , an ...

and

Randolph Mantooth Randolph Mantooth (born Randy DeRoy Mantooth, September 19, 1945) is an American actor who has worked in television, documentaries, theater, and film for more than 40 years. A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he was discovere ...

, also appeared in ''Sierra'' "The Urban Rangers".

Cast

Like many

television

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

s, the show centered on a pair of leads in a

public service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

job, backed up by a supporting cast of characters from within the same organization. In this case, the leads were James G. Richardson as Ranger Tim Cassidy and

Ernest Thompson Ernest Thompson (born Richard Ernest Thompson; November 6, 1949) is an American writer, actor, and director. He won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for '' On Golden Pond'', an adaptation of his own play of the same name. Early l ...

as Ranger Matt Harper. The cast was rounded out by their boss, Chief Ranger Jack Moore (

Jack Hogan Jack Hogan (born Richard Roland Benson Jr.; November 24, 1929) is an American retired actor. He is most notable for the role of PFC William G. Kirby on the 1960s television show ''Combat!'' Biography Born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Hogan ...

), and fellow rangers Julie Beck (Susan Foster) and P. J. Lewis ( Michael Warren).

Episode list

Season 1 (1972)

TV movie (1974)

Cancellation

The show was cancelled after three months, mainly due to the popularity of ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book ''Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 film ...

,'' which was its direct competition 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 ...

. The series finale aired on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

as a modified version of its previously-unaired pilot episode, ''The Rangers.''

References

External links

* {{Jack Webb/Mark VII Limited 1970s American crime drama television series NBC original programming Television series by Universal Television Television series by Mark VII Limited 1974 American television series debuts 1974 American television series endings Television shows set in California Television shows set in Wyoming