Richard Coogan as Marshall Matt Wayne
and Carole Matthews as Wilma Fansler

Series Description

The Californians TV show was a 30 minute western action series on NBC about Dion Patrick who went out West seeking gold and found a town that was being run by a bunch of brutal crooks. He ended out becoming a reporter for the local newspaper and he also joined a group of men who had grown tired of the crooks who were running their town. They decided to fight for their city as vigilantes until formal and effective law enforcement reached the old West.

The Californians Cast

Adam Kennedy .... Dion Patrick (1957-1958)
Sean McClory .... Jack McGivern (1957-1958)
Richard Coogan .... Matthew Wayne (1958-1959)
Herbert Rudley .... Sam Brennan (1957-1958)
Nan Leslie .... Martha McGivern (1957-1958)
Howard Caine .... Schaab (1957-1958)
Arthur Fleming .... Jeremy Pitt (1958-1959)
Carole Matthews .... Wilma Fansler (1958-1959)

The Californians Trivia

The Californians TV show was set in San Francisco in the 1950s. Most people probably don't remember Arthur Fleming in his role as Jeremy Pitt on The Californians TV show but many more are sure to remember him as Art Fleming, the first host of the Jeopardy TV game show! Art hosted the hit series from 1964 to 1975!

In the middle of the first season, Matthew Wayne arrived in San Francisco and was elected Sheriff. The two main members of the vigilantes, Patrick and McGivern were slowly phased out of the show and Wayne became the new main character.

By season 2 Wayne's job title had changed from Sheriff to City Marshal. He lead a fifty man police force and the emphasis was still on fighting the evil criminals who still felt that they should run the city. Wayne also got a love interest who was a widow who ran a gambling establishment.

The Californians began in the Tuesday night at 10PM time slot. That had it in competition with CBS's amazingly popular game show, "The $64,000 Question". In March it was moved to 9PM but that put it in competition with another highly-rated CBS game show, "To Tell the Truth". The new slot may have been worse than its original slot because it initially followed one of NBC's best shows, "Love That Bob".