Brrumm . . . Brrummm . . . Brrummm.
The drums roll ominously as the blue-uniformed soldiers march across the parade ground of the log fort. Over the beat of the drums can be heard a song:
All but one man died
There at Bitter Creek,
And they say he ran away
BRANDED.
Chuck Connors, inspiration for the lyrics, is the hero of Branded, the new NBC Western which replaces The Bill Dana Show this Sunday, Jan. 24. The scenes above show him being drummed out of the service after being accused of cowardice. They will be shown at the opening of each episode, a la The Fugitive, as Connors attempts, with deeds of derring-do, to prove himself some day in the eyes of his comrades.
Stripped of all his rank,
Stripped of all his pride,
Still he holds his head up high
BRANDED
Larry Cohen, the 29-year-old TV writer and former NBC page who created Branded, says, "My intellectual concept of the show is that it's like a Shakespearean tragedy. You must have a great man to experience true tragedy. That's why I like Chuck Connors so much in this part. He's so big-he's the tallest underdog in the West. I think the new trend in television is the character in a situation week after week, instead of a character like Lawrence Preston in The Defenders getting someone else out of, a situation every week but not being directly involved himself. The Fugitive broke the ice, but this isn't like The Fugitive-because Connors isn't chasing a one-armed man."
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