''The Quest'' is an American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

series which 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 ...

from September to December 1976. The series stars

Kurt Russell Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began acting on television at the age of 12 in the Westerns on television, western series ''The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (TV series), The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters'' (19 ...

and

Tim Matheson Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor and director. Some of his best-known acting roles include the title character of the 1960s animated ''Jonny Quest'' TV series, Eric "Otter" Stratton in the 197 ...

. The pilot episode aired as a television movie on May 13, 1976.

Overview

Tim Matheson Kurt Russell The Quest 1976

Two brothers Morgan (Kurt Russell) and Quentin Bodine (Matheson) are seeking the whereabouts of their long-lost sister, Patricia, thought to be held by the

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

. The siblings were separated after their parents were killed during an "Indian massacre". Morgan, known as "Two Persons", was a captive of the Cheyenne for eight years until he was freed by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. Quentin was taken to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where he was educated as a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. After their reunion, the pair journey together over thousands of miles across the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

and the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

in search of Patricia; hence, the title ''The Quest''.

Cast

Main

as Morgan 'Two Persons' Beaudine *

as Quinton Beaudine *

Brian Keith Brian Keith (born Robert Alba Keith, November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family film '' The Parent T ...

as Tank Logan *

Keenan Wynn Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn (July 27, 1916 – October 14, 1986) was an American character actor. His expressive face was his stock-in-trade; and though he rarely carried the lead role, he had prominent billing in mos ...

as H.H. Small

Guest actors

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

Rayford Barnes Rayford Barnes (October 23, 1920 – November 11, 2000) was an American film and TV character actor from Whitesboro, Texas. Early years Barnes was born in Dallas, Texas, and attended the University of Texas. He acted in plays at the universit ...

* Bibi Besch *

Neville Brand Lawrence Neville Brand (August 13, 1920 – April 16, 1992) was an American soldier and actor. He was known for playing villainous or antagonistic character roles in Westerns, crime dramas, and ''films noir'', and was nominated for a BAFTA Aw ...

Susan Dey Susan Hallock Dey (born December 10, 1952) is a retired American actress, known for her television roles as Laurie Partridge on the sitcom ''The Partridge Family'' from 1970 to 1974, and as Grace Van Owen on the drama series '' L.A. Law'' from ...

Erik Estrada Henry Enrique Estrada (born March 16, 1949) is an American actor and police officer. He is known for his co-starring lead role as California Highway Patrol officer Francis (Frank) Llewelyn "Ponch" Poncherello in the police drama television series ...

* I. Stanford Jolley *

Gary Lockwood Gary Lockwood (born John Gary Yurosek; February 21, 1937) is an American actor. Lockwood is best known for his roles as astronaut Frank Poole in the film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968), and as Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell in the '' Star ...

Pamela Sue Martin Pamela Sue Martin (born January 5, 1953) is an American actress, who is best known for starring as Nancy Drew on the television series ''The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries'' and as socialite Fallon Carrington Colby on the ABC soap opera ''Dynas ...

Don Meredith Joseph "Dandy" Don Meredith (April 10, 1938 – December 5, 2010) was an American football quarterback, sports commentator, and actor. He spent all nine seasons of his professional playing career (1960–1968) with the Dallas Cowboys of the Nat ...

Hal Miller Sir Hilary Duppa Miller (6 March 1929 – 21 March 2015) was a British Conservative Party politician. Early life He was the son of Lieutenant-Commander Jack Duppa-Miller, GC, and Barbara Miller (née Barbara Buckmaster, daughter of the fir ...

* Cameron Mitchell *

Read Morgan Read Lawrence Morgan (January 30, 1931 – April 20, 2022) was an American film and television actor. He was known for playing the role of Sergeant Hapgood Tasker in the American western television series ''The Deputy''. Life and career Morg ...

Judson Pratt Judson Pratt (December 6, 1916 – February 9, 2002) was an American film, television and theatre actor. He was known for playing Billy Kinkaid in the American western television series ''Union Pacific''. Early life Pratt was born in Hingh ...

Pernell Roberts Pernell Elven Roberts Jr. (May 18, 1928 – January 24, 2010) was an American stage, film, and television actor, activist, and singer. In addition to guest-starring in over 60 television series, he was best known for his roles as Ben Cartw ...

Morgan Woodward Thomas Morgan Woodward (September 16, 1925 – February 22, 2019) was an American actor who is best known for his recurring role as Marvin "Punk" Anderson on the television soap opera ''Dallas'' and for his portrayal of Boss Godfrey, the sungla ...

* Cheryl Smith Unaired Episode 14

Episodes

A pilot movie aired on May 13, 1976 as a preview of the upcoming series; it received strong ratings, placing in the top 20 programs for the week. The first regular series episode was broadcast on September 22 with an extended 90 minute runtime to recap events from the pilot. ''The Quest'' aired at the 9/10 p.m. Wednesday timeslot, deliberately targeting an adult audience after the failure of the family-oriented western ''Sara'' earlier in 1976. It ran opposite ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by Aa ...

'' on ABC, also debuting that fall, and ''The Blue Knight'' on CBS.

Background and production

Development

The series was created by Tracy Keenan Wynn, son of

, who also made two appearances on the series. David Gerber served as the executive producer. Gerber intended to duplicate the "gritty realism, ... attention to detail, character and authenticity" of ''Police Story'' in the first prime time western since the end of ''Gunsmoke''. It was the only western scheduled for the upcoming fall 1976 television season.

Filming

Much of the filming was in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Cancellation

Consistently low ratings, coupled with the fact that Westerns had fallen out of favor with networks and audiences, contributed to the demise of the series. NBC confirmed reports that ''The Quest'' had been canceled during its first season on December 7, 1976, and the final episode aired on December 29, 1976. Four of the fifteen episodes produced never aired in the US.

Release

Home media

While the entire series has not been released on DVD, a two-part episode, "The Longest Drive", was released on Region 1 DVD by

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...

in 2005. The television film which served as the series' pilot episode was also released on DVD by Sony in 2011.

Syndication

, ''The Quest'' airs on the classic TV network Get TV on Sunday afternoons, including the four episodes that were not originally aired. The series is currently available for streaming online on

Crackle Crackle or crackling may refer to: Foods * Cracklings, the tissue remaining after lard and tallow have been extracted from animal fats ** Pork rinds in American English, pork scratchings in British English when served in small pieces as a snac ...

, while its two-part episode, "The Longest Drive" is currently available for streaming online on

Tubi Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...

Reception

David Eden, reviewing the series for the ''

Albuquerque Journal The ''Albuquerque Journal'' is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of New Mexico. History The ''Golden Gate'' newspaper was founded in June 1880. In the fall of 1880, the owner of the ''Golden Gate'' died and Journal Publishing Company was c ...

'', compared the chemistry between Russell and Matheson to ''

Starsky and Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a ''Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired by th ...

'' and praised the acting, script, and production, but concluded the series was not refreshing because it repeated "too many tired story lines from old Westerns".

Awards

Grady Hunt Grady Hunt (May 16, 1921 – May 5, 2013) was an American costume designer. He was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards in the category Outstanding Costumes for his work on the television programs ''Columbo'', ''The Snoop Sisters'', '' The ...

was nominated for the

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in costume design for a drama or comedy series for his work on ''The Quest''. One episode, "Hatcher's Drive" won a

Spur Award Spur Awards are literary prizes awarded annually by the Western Writers of America (WWA). The purpose of the Spur Awards is to honor writers for distinguished writing about the American West. The Spur awards began in 1953, the same year the WWA wa ...

in 1976 from the

Western Writers of America Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction, the more than 600 current members also include historian ...

for script writers Katharyn Powers and Michael Michaelian. The writers tied with "The Macahans" by Jim Byrnes for '' How the West Was Won'' on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

References

External links

* (TV Movie – Pilot film) * (TV Series) * (DVD Release) * (DVD Release) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Quest (1976 TV series), The 1976 American television series debuts 1976 American television series endings 1970s American drama television series English-language television shows NBC original programming 1970s Western (genre) television series Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows set in Arizona