The country comedy-music group Riders in The Sky might be known to some for their work on one of the "Toy Story" movies, but in 1991, the band was given a half-hour Saturday morning series on CBS, the first band to land a Saturday morning gig on the network since the Hudson Brothers 17 years earlier.
And, just like the Hudsons, the Riders lasted just 1 season. A big reason why was because network programmers didn't know where to put the show. When the season started, it aired at 8 am (ET), but low ratings bumped it down to the lunch time death zone.
The use of puppets and claymation, the latter particularly in the show open, suggested it was influenced in part by Pee-Wee's Playhouse, which had ended a 5 year run. The Riders already had a few albums under their collective belts, and this series helped promote the "Harmony Ranch" CD, which came out a few weeks before the series.
I never saw the show, so there's no rating. We'll take a look at a sample:
I think we can see how it bombed with some of the sets. Stan Kirsch, later of Highlander, was one of the kids on the show.
2 comments:
Same here; I never saw this show, though I was aware of it. I wonder what (if anything) these guys are up to nowadays?
Still playing, I think.
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