Best of the West was a sitcom airing on ABC from September 1981 through August 1982. The Old West spoof featured the misadventures of Sam Best, a Civil War veteran (played by Joel Higgins) who becomes a marshal in Copper Creek after accidentally scaring off an incompetent gunfighter called the Calico Kid.

Sam's family was made up of his Southern belle wife, Elvira (played by Carlene Watkins) and his smart-mouthed son, Daniel (Meeno Peluce). The cast also included Leonard Frey as the villain Parker Tillman, Tom Ewell as the drunken town doctor Jerome Kullens, and Tracey Walter as Tillman's clueless, but kind-hearted henchman, Frog Rothchild Jr.  

The brave marshal, the evil saloonkeeper who "owns" the town, the drunken old sawbones--Best of the West was a rollicking spoof of the cliches of TV Westerns.

"Best" was Sam Best, a Civil War veteran from Philadelphia who journeyed west in 1865. With him were his ten-year-old son Daniel and his new wife Elvira, a Southern belle whom he had met while burning her father's plantation to the ground. Fluttery Elvira and smart-mouthed Daniel were not exactly at home on the rough-and-tumble frontier.

Elvira did her best to tidy up their new cabin, though. Dabbing daintily at the floor with a broom she sighed, "I just can't seem to get the dirt off this floor"--to which Sam deadpanned, "It's a dirt floor." And from city kid Daniel came: "I want you to understand, Dad, I'm never going outside.

But Sam's problems weren't confined to home. First there was the Calico Kid, an incompetent gunfighter who terrorized the town until Sam accidentally drove him off, thereby earning himself the job of town marshal.

A more continuing source of aggravation was Parker Tillman, the villainous proprietor of the Square Deal Saloon (and of most of the rest of Copper Creek). Though his fastidious, prissy demeanor seemed totally out of place in the West, Tillman had his manicured fingers in every racket imaginable. When his construction company put up the new jail, the building promptly collapsed; when the townspeople had to fight a flood, he rented them shovels. Also in the cast was Tillman's dim-witted henchman Frog, bawdy mountain woman Laney Gibbs, and--of course--drunk old Doc Kullens.

Starring Joel Higgins, Carlene Watkins, Meeno Peluce and Tracey Walter   In its short run, the show managed to feature an impressive array of guest stars. The list of noted actors and actresses who appeared include:

* Dixie Carter in Episode #19 - "The Pretty Prisoner"
* Andy Griffith in Episode #4 - "The Reunion"
* Al Lewis in Episodes #5 and #6 - "They're Hanging Parker Tillman, Parts 1 and 2"
* Christopher Lloyd in Episode #3 - "The Calico Kid Returns" and Episode #14 - "The Calico Kid Goes to School"
* Richard Moll in Episode #2 - "The Prisoner"
* Slim Pickens in Episode #2 - "The Prisoner"
* John Randolph in Episode #10 - "The Railroad"
* Betty White in Episode #16 - "Mail Order Bride"
* Chuck Connors in Episode #13 - "Frog's First Gunfight"

Special Offer:  Complete series of 22 episodes on  5  quality brand name DVD's at a cost of US$29.00 including free postage.

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Best of the West Episode Guide

1. Pilot

Guest star: Brad Sullivan (Lance)

Sam arrives in town with the intention of running the general store. However, after he turns down the protection racket he runs into all kinds of trouble.

2. The Prisoner

Guest star: Slim Pickens (Sheriff), Richard Moll (Prisoner), Patrick Cranshaw (Bob) Writer:

Sam has to face an prisoner's outlaw brothers after the sheriff who was taking him in takes sick on his way through town.

3. The Calico Kid Returns

The new cook at Square Deal Saloon is the Calico Kid. He has sworn not to kill anything he can't eat ever again.

4. The Reunion

Elvira's die-hard Confederate father stays at the Square Deal Saloon while he is in town. His wife is trying to patch things up their daughter. She married a Yankee!

5. The New Jail

Guest star: Patrick Cranshaw

Sam's image as a lawman quickly loses it's edge after he manages to shoot himself in the leg. And the jail falling down around him doesn't help much either.

6. They're Hanging Parker Tillman (Part 1)

Guest star: Frank Marth (Kincaid), Jonathan Banks (Hombre), Al Lewis (Judge)

Sam goes out on a limb and manages to save Tillman from a lynch mob. At the trial, his mixed up testimony has him back at the end of a rope.

7. They're Hanging Parker Tillman (Part 2)

Sam infiltrates an outlaw band to try to prove Tillman is innocent of cattle rustling.

8. The New Marshal

Sam loses his badge in a special election to Tillman's squeaky clean candidate.

9. Daniel's First Love

Daniel is just as surprised as anyone when a few innocent kisses leads to a shotgun wedding.

10. Laney in Love

Guest star: Kevin Scannell (Tom)

Laney is smitten with a smoothie who bids high for her at a social. But he turns out to be a real low-down heel.

11. The Railroad

Sam and Tillman work very hard to try to convince the railroad to come to Copper Creek.

12. A Man, a Woman, and a Horse

Sam doesn't pay any attention to the signs of discontent from Elvira until the day he comes home and finds her packed to leave.

13. Frog's First Gunfight
Guest star:  Chuck Connors   (Amos Skinner) , Barbara Babcock [Merilee]

Frog meets a woman who was recently jilted by her boyfriend. However neither of them is aware that he wants her back.

14. The Calico Kid Goes to School

The Calico Kid has reformed and decides he would like to be a U.S. Marshal. But the job requires a third-grade education which the Kid doesn't have.

15. Tillman Held for Ransom

Tillman has been kidnapped and the kidnappers are demanding a ransom. But the citizens of Copper Creek have no intention of paying the ransom. They don't even want to try to rescue him.

16. Mail Order Bride

Guest star: Ronald F. Hoiseck (Sven), Erik Holland (Olaf), Betty White

Doc's mail-order bride is a little more than he expected. She has a vivid personality and a past which matches it.

17. The Cave-In

Elvira and her stepson are exploring an abandoned outlaw cave, unaware that it is booby-trapped to collapse.

18. Daniel Fights a Bully

Daniel's refusal to fight a relentless bully ends up with Sam having to fight the bully's father.

19. The Pretty Prisoner

Sam is handcuffed to his prisoner for an overnight journey. His prisoner is a flirtatious female outlaw.

20. Elvira's Old Beau

21. Sam's Life Is Threatened

22. The Funeral

Guest star: Darrell Zwerling (Fredericks), Alan Autry

Sam and Tillman try to foil a holdup by holding a funeral for Frog. Instead of Frog, the coffin contains the $20,000 the thieves are after.

    Most fans of the cult sit-com series TAXI think that the next smash success connected to the writers, directors, and producers was CHEERS. They are right - for CHEERS was a greater success than TAXI was. But in between, in 1981, the same group tried a historical western sit-com called BEST OF THE WEST. Although very clever and funny the series only lasted one year. Somehow the forces that made TAXI and CHEERS work just were not in the cards for this series.

There has been, at this time, only two spoof westerns that worked on regular television: MAVERICK in the 1950s and F-TROOP in the 1960s. The former had a marvelous satiric edge, enhanced by it's star James Garner's easy-going characterization. The latter had a good ensemble led by Forrest Tucker, Larry Storch, Ken Berry, and Melody Patterson, as well as a healthy amount of slapstick. In between there had been other attempts at westerns mixed with comedy. That great series, BONANZA (on many occasions) demonstrated a wicked comic edge (frequently using the talents of stars Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon to unexpected results). GUNSMOKE had also been funny in some episodes centering on the character of Festus. Although basically serious THE WILD WILD WEST had comic moments connected to Ross Martin's disguised personalities. There was a series (which lasted a year) called PISTOLS AND PETTICOATS, that starred Ann Sheridan as the head of a family - all of whom were expert shots. Unlike BEST OF THE WEST, PISTOLS failed after a year principally because Sheridan died and left a gaping hole in the series. There was also LAREDO with Nevil Brand, and RANGO with Tim Conway in the late 1960

BEST OF THE WEST was the story of how Sam Best (Joel Higgins), his southern belle wife Elvira (Carlene Watkins), and their son Daniel (Meeno Peluce) go settling in a western community (it turns out to be in or near Colorado in one episode) after the American Civil War. Sam was a Union officer who met Elvira when he was forced to burn down her father's (it turns out to be Andy Griffith's) plantation. Now, twelve years or so after the war ended, they are moving to the great plains. The first episode shows how they have been rooked a bit by the man who sold them their homestead, Parker Tillman (Leonard Frey), who is the conniving swindler - rich guy in the series. Tillman's associate and henchman is Frog Rothschild (Tracy Walter). Actually for all his evil intentions, Tillman is somewhat inept. In one episode he is trying to unload a "worthless" gold/silver mine on two Norwegian brothers who are miners. It turns out, after he sells them the property, it is true that the mine has no gold or silver - but it is rich in copper! As for Frog, he tries to help his boss - despite his greatest problem: a lack of brains.

There were two other regular characters in the show: Valerie Bromfeld as Lanie Gibbs, and Tom Ewell as Doc Kullens. Lanie was a "Calamity Jane" type, and Ewell was a somewhat shakier (and more realistic) version of Milburn Stone's "Doc Adams" in GUNSMOKE. One late episode on the show had Ewell awaiting a mail order bride played by Betty White, who turned out to be a perfect match for him - but also turned out to be socially impossible (she was a prostitute). The concluding moments of the episode were wonderful, as they realize they have an hour before she leaves the town, and nothing to do - so why not do a little business with each other? As the episode ended, we see Ewell following White upstairs.

The episodes managed to capture the time period better than some more realistic shows. In one of them a railroad is trying to find the better route and has narrowed it between the town the characters live in, and nearby Denver. Frey keeps belittling Denver, even wondering who ever thought up such a stupid name for a city. In another moment that was particularly funny the four leads (Higgins, Watkins, Bromfeld, and Ewell) have the misfortune to be asked by Peluce, "What was the cause of the Civil War?" It happens to be his history homework.

Higgins starts off about the evils of slavery in the south, angering Watkins who says it was Yankee arrogance. This leads to an argument between them just as Bromfeld and Ewell show up. Bromfeld, born and raised in the west, talks about the rivalry of the older sections for the newly conquered western lands, while Ewell brings up the matter of economics and the high versus low tariff. In the end you have four grown-ups arguing a historical/political matter, and Peluce more confused than ever. So have American historians been since 1865.

An occasional visitor in the series was Christopher Lloyd as a gun slinger (originally hired by Frey to get Higgins), who turned out (fitting the series) to be a gourmet cook. There was also a marvelous moment when Chuck Connors (accidentally insulted by Higgins), demands satisfaction in a gunfight, which ends in the saloon - turned by Frey at that moment into a catered birthday party for a kid, with balloons descending on the heads of Connors and Higgins.

As you can see it was a wild comic show - but like HE AND SHE and other good shows it did not pick up an audience, and if was canceled after a year. I don't even think it has been shown in reruns.

These episodes are all converted from PAL Beta tapes onto VHS Tapes and then to DVD. I have only gone to the extreme length of offering these episodes for sale because old recordings made in the USA are generally terrible and this series does not appear to available in any quality anywhere else. I have recorded these episodes with care and have used no compression.

Initially I only converted this program for myself but when I found that it was not available anywhere else I decided to share this treasure with the rest of the world.

Also I have learnt that it appears this TV show will never be aired again by it's producer or ever released officially. If I am wrong could the official representative of the owner please contact me immediately and I will cancel this listing.  This series is apparently unavailable in any form at this quality anywhere else in the world. More than 25 years after it was shown on free to air TV - that is a disgrace!

Although the picture is obviously sourced from tape it has converted very well [PAL is generally better than NTSC] and each episode has been converted at standard dvd rate- so over 800 megabytes per 24 minute episode - no further compression. Sound and picture are clear for this fantastic action/comedy series.

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Make sure your equipment will play PAL disks [most will]. No refunds but I will replace any faulty disks [replacement postage cost of USD$5 applies]. I verify and test all disks before shipping so all DVD's are shipped in perfect, brand new condition. I ship as many cases as I can but package [including padded envelope, cases and disks] must be under 250 grams. Safe delivery to you at a reasonable postage cost is my first priority. 

I have a perfect Paypal and Ebay record. Payments by Paypal unless you live in Australia and contact me. You will love this series and it may never be available again elsewhere. However I hope my actions prod the series producer to finally release this series to a DVD box-set. Alternative postage options including insurance may be available at cost on request from you.

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