Nichols (TV series)

Nichols
James Garner in title card screenshot
Also known as	James Garner as Nichols
Genre	Western
Created by	Frank Pierson
Written by	Juanita Bartlett Gene L. Coon Jack Curtis Theodore J. Flicker Robert Foster Bud Freeman Marion Hargrove James L. Henderson Buck Houghton George Kirgo Ken Kolb Benjamin Masselink Frank Pierson Sam Roeca Frank Telford Shimon Wincelberg William Wood
Directed by	John Badham Paul Bogart Ivan Dixon Danny Haller Jeremy Kagan Gerd Oswald Frank Pierson Peter Tewksbury William Wiard
Starring	James Garner Margot Kidder Stuart Margolin Alice Ghostley
Composer	Warner Bros. Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 16, 1971 (1971-09-16) – March 14, 1972 (1972-03-14)

Nichols (also known as James Garner as Nichols) is an American

Although Nichols' first name was never spoken aloud, his army induction papers, seen in the opening moments of the pilot episode, gave "Frank" as his first name (also the first name of series creator Frank Pierson).

Premise

After 18 years in the army, Nichols decides to quit after the introduction of a new, deadlier type of machine gun. He comes back to the town founded by his family to learn that it has been taken over by another family, the Ketchams. At the end of the pilot episode, matriarch Ma Ketcham (Neva Patterson) blackmails Nichols into serving as the town sheriff, a position which carries little actual authority but considerable danger. Nichols' personal concern is not usually law enforcement but rather finding a way to get rich with very little effort.

Ma Ketcham's oldest son, known simply as "Ketcham" and played by John Beck, is constantly butting heads with Nichols. The role of Ketcham was greatly reduced after the first few episodes. Toward the end of the first season, Beck, still a series regular, appeared in two episodes in the completely unrelated role of Orv, who gets Nichols into trouble with his schemes. In effect, Beck was playing a double role, but only Nichols and Mitch mention his resemblance to Ketcham in the first of the two episodes.

Mitch Mitchell, played by Stuart Margolin (who would later team with Garner again on The Rockford Files and Bret Maverick). is assigned to be Nichols' deputy, either in spite of or because he is none too bright, none too honest and something of a bully. Nichols' girlfriend Ruth (Margot Kidder), whom he meets after his return to town, is a barmaid at Salter's Hotel.

Behind-the-scenes

Nichols marked the first time since Maverick that Garner had worked with Warner Bros. After suing Warner over Maverick, Garner was banned from the lot by Jack Warner.^[1]

Garner wore three different hats in the main with his costumes during the course of the series: a cavalry hat, a striped cap for riding motorcycles, and finally an approximate duplicate of his black cowboy Maverick hat. One episode, "Fight of the Century," was more or less a remake of the second half of the Maverick episode "Stampede," with Garner trying to persuade a genial animal-loving giant into fighting a professional in a

The series did not do well in the

When interviewed for Emmy TV Legends, Garner indicated that Nichols was one of his favorite roles. In the interview he indicated that the failure of the show was due to a presentation of the show to executives at Chevrolet. The car company had originally offered to sponsor the show in full but, after the screening of the pilot, a wife of one of the executives complained that Nichols was not Maverick, the popular series that Garner starred in from 1957 to 1961. As a result, Chevrolet indicated they would only sponsor half the show forcing Garner, Warner and NBC to hunt for other sponsors in a very competitive market.^[2]

Garner said that, despite the low ratings of the series, Nichols had better ratings than any show launched the following season on NBC and that the ratings for the series steadily improved which gave Garner, Warner and his producers hope that the show would be renewed.^[2]

Garner discovered

While the motion picture The Americanization of Emily (1963), written by Paddy Chayefsky, remained Garner's favorite of his own work, he often noted that Nichols was his favorite of his several television series.

Cast

• James Garner as Frank Nichols/Jim Nichols
• Margot Kidder as Ruth
• Neva Patterson as Sara "Ma" Ketcham
• John Beck as Ketcham/Orv
• Stuart Margolin as Deputy Sheriff Mitch Mitchell

Recurring characters:

• John Harding as Salter, owner of Salter's Bar (10 episodes)
• James Lee Reeves as Fearless (8 episodes)
• Luis Delgado as Luis (7 episodes, 3 uncredited)
• M. Emmet Walsh as Gabe McCutcheon (6 episodes)
• Barbara Collentine as Charlotte, the telegraph operator (6 episodes)
• Stefan Gierasch as Doc Bernstein (5 episodes)
• Richard Bull as Thatcher (5 episodes)
• James Beach as Bob Sanders (4 episodes)
• William Christopher as Niles (4 episodes)
• William Paterson as Perkins, the town banker (4 episodes)
• Paul Hampton as Johnson, a con artist and thief (3 episodes)
• Alice Ghostley as Bertha, owner of a rival tavern to Salter's (2 episodes)

Episodes

* The 10th episode titled "Bertha" with guest star Alice Ghostley was telecast on NBC on November 18, 1971, instead of the originally scheduled episode "Away the Rolling River." "Bertha" was the last episode in the program's Thursday time slot.^[3]

Home media

On September 10, 2013,

Syndication

Nichols was broadcast on American Forces Network Television in Germany in the early 1980s. "Nichols" was also broadcast in Iran, specifically in Isfahan, during 1978. "Nichols" is currently broadcast on the

References