I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

terrible... so disappointed.

A Disappointing Continuation

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Back in 1850 Los Angeles was a small city not worth much of anything and that year that California was admitted as a state the action was up north. San Francisco was where the action was. Blessed with one of the finest natural harbors in the world, it was the Pacific gate way for people going around Cape Horn to get to the gold fields. San Francisco was as sleepy a place as Los Angeles was then until gold was discovered. The population grew exponentially so much so California achieved statehood in what was then record time.I would think that a series about those brawling times in San Francisco was a natural. But the Californians failed after two seasons. The hero protagonist was Richard Coogan as upright marshal Matt Wayne who brought law and order to the place where vigilantism was perfected.Sean McClory was in the series also as a newspaper editor and his Irish brogue fit right in because many a soul from Ireland was going there. The two were a good team.Sad to say The Californians failed to find an audience. It debuted at a time when the three networks were deluged with westerns.It got lost in the shuffle and it wasn't the best series, but not bad.

I remember the theme song. I have almost no memory of the show. Just as well. So much, so bad. Adam Kennedy is a pretty boy with zero acting ability playing a largely unsympathetic character. Good concept but poor writing. Wicked city. Corrupt cops and politicians. Honest citizens organize as vigilantes - until the second season. Sean McClory in the lead might have pulled it off. Instead, the first season cast gets fired and an honest cop fights the vigilantes who have taken the law into their own hands. Even if the show had been better, it was up against "The $64,000 Question" and didn't stand a chance with either cast or concept. But there's still the theme song.

It began as a unique series: a Western set totally in San Francisco and starring not yet another lawman but a newspaper man. Engrossing and different in its first year with the heavy set McClory doing an intelligent and fine job. I gather the ratings were disappointing because as the second year dawned Richard Coogan appeared as a better dressed version of Matt Dillon. (There was quite a height and facial resemblance between Coogan and James Arness.) Suddenly "The Californians" was little more than a clone Western not as well done as those from the Warner Brothers' staple stable. And then it was gone. Yet that theme song echos yet in what passes for my mind; fine tune although lyrics that rhyme "poor" with "cure" must be questioned.