I was just a young lad of eight when Branded came out. It was on Sunday night, my parents bowling night. My little brother and I would drive my older brother crazy (hey, it was our jobs) getting us to bed, and we'd always promise to go if he let us watch the Branded opening. I also remember the parody of the theme song, but with slightly different words. I believe it went a little something like this:Stranded, stranded on the toilet bowl What do ya do when you're stranded And there's none on the roll.You take it like a man And you wipe it with your hand...Stranded, stranded on the toilet boooowl.Thank you, thank you very much.

I very well remember "Branded" from the 60s. The theme song and the opening scenes, when Jason McCord is cashiered from the army for cowardice, remain in my memory, and especially the outtakes, when the man assigned to tear off McCord's epaulets kept trying and trying, but they just wouldn't tear off! How well I remember Chuck Connors breaking up (everybody else in the scene did, too!). However, this is one of those series when the main character somehow meets up with just about everybody famous who ever came west, including Edwin Booth and George Armstrong Custer (who knew the truth about Bitter Creek and wondered how long McCord was going to cover for his officer). It only lasted two seasons, but I'd certainly watch it again if I had the chance. (Personally, I always thought that Jason McCord DID "run away!")

I won't say it was the cream of the crop of TV westerns, as far as production goes, but it's premise was...I disagree most strongly with the first comment, McCord did try to clear his name many times, just not at the cost of others, and McCord, a wronged man, a pariah, would indeed, have to drift from town to town. If he stayed too long he would likely be strung from a tree...I too watched this on late night TV, in fact it's still on the New York City ABC affiliate, as a late night time filler.That's an undeserved legacy.In the current climate of turning past TV series into big-budget films, this is a no-brainer.I'd be interested to know if the property's being sought after.They'd be morons not to include theme song somewhere, it is really stunning.

Even though this series is rarely shown in some areas,Chuck Connors follows up on his "Rifleman" series with a western that only ran two seasons on NBC-TV from January 24,1965-April 23,1966 producing 48 episodes and afterwards was never heard from again..until now. "Branded" was the type of show that gave Chuck Connors astounding ability to pass as both hero and villain,but in this one he is regarded as a coward for deserting his troops during an Indian attack,and that is just half on if,but we viewers know differently. I had a chance to check out one of the episodes watching a late night flick on TV,and in this episode Connors is captured by hostile Indians,gagged and bound while being forced to duel to the death,and in another one Connors fights off a gang of outlaws who want to turn him in for money which they want to hang him,but he manages to escape from great danger(this episode was in black and white). All of the scenes have Connors barechested and this a far cry from his days as Lucas McCain on "The Rifleman". However some of the episodes were in color(and they're on videocassette),and it was that macho crap that underlay some westerns and this was one of those shows that didn't last very long.NOTE: During the show's first season,the episodes were shot in black and white(1965-66)while the second season episodes were in color(1966). The show was produced by NO other than game show veterans Mark Goodson and Bill Todman(the guys behind "The Price Is Right")and this was their first try at a weekly series(and the last time they will ever do so).