Customer Reviews

Frontier Circus - The Complete TV Series - 26 episodes!

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This box set contains all 26 episodes of this somewhat obscure western filmed in 1961-62. The episodes appear to be complete, and have nice picture quality and sound. If you remember the show like I do , you'll enjoy this set.The show is similar to Wagon Train in that as the circus arrives in a new destination the main cast members ( Richard Jaeckel, John Derek, Chill Wills) get to interact with the guest cast. So each episode has a differant focus. The shows have strong scripts, and good acting. Packaging is first rate also. Timeless is doing a great job with their TV westerns. I'd love to see them release The 1961 NBC Civil War Show The Americans, or The Gray Ghost .

On a Thursday night in September of 1962, a nine-year-old boy sat in front of his television eagerly awaiting another episode of this entertaining series. However, another program aired in its place, and "Frontier Circus" had, evidently, journeyed too far on its trek west and dropped off into the Pacific Ocean. In the spring of 2010, the Thompson & Travis Circus suddenly reappeared, and that boy, now 57, was very pleased to see its return. That child enjoyed the heroic acts of the two younger leads (John Derek and Richard Jaeckel), but the adult appreciates the folksy charm of Chill Wills and is glad that Timeless Media chose to rescue the series, finally, from the depths of wherever it had disappeared for so long.

Frontier Circus was shown here in England from 1961 to 1962 on BBC television. But sadly back then I never got to see a complete episode because I was seven years old and was packed off to bed each week before it finished. So after 48 years it's good to finally see complete episodes. It was a good "Wagon Train" type western with the different focus of a travelling circus providing quite a wide variety of stories. But one word of warning, once you hear the theme music you will have a job to get it out of you head, it is a catchy circus march that stays with you from the first time you hear it. Apart from muffled sound on the first episode, all the other episodes are fine with good picture and sound quality. As with most American series of the time there is an impressive list of guest stars, but Frontier Circus also had the bonus of three familiar movie actors playing the leads and Chill Wills, John Derek and Richard Jaeckel make a strong cast. A forgotten western series worth seeing again.

Frontier Circus - The Complete TV Series - 26 e TV episodes! Some time ago, I became fed up with the constant bombardment of TV commercials, and those annoying "bugs" in the lower portion of the screen screaming at you during a show. So, I canceled my satelite. The money I would have spent on services, I now buy DVD's (with none of the above annoyances). Good Choice...I'll never go back! I am discovering a world of Great programs. Frontier Circus is one of the best surprises ever. I had never heard of it, but tried it based on the reviews on Amazon. There is a whole world of great ""New/Old entertainment out there! This is one of them! Please bring back more of these old shows. (by the way, the quality was phenominal, too).

I remember this show when it was on. Quite enjoyable and the circus setting set it apart from the westerns and private eyes shows . I always liked Chill Wells performance. It's on my list after I acquire a couple of other Timeless Media DVDs. I'm putting this as 5 stars to counter the person who got upset as it was listed as color. Mistakes happen so don't blame the vendor (Amazon) or the show. Timeless could have given them the wrong information.

This is an obscure one. "Frontier Circus" ran on CBS for 26 (hour-long) episodes during the 1961-62 broadcast season; I don't recall ever seeing it turn up in syndication. Technically it is a western; shot in black and white two years after Bonanza had begun bringing color westerns into America's living rooms, which gave it little chance for success.

The networks were desperately seeking a gimmick to distinguish their offerings from the mass of television westerns getting air time in 1961. CBS remembered that "Circus Boy" had been a modest success in a 30 minute format for two seasons (1956-1958). And Disney had just done well with their January 1960 theatrical release of "Toby Tyler (or Ten Weeks with a Circus)". So they made a series about a circus traveling around the Old West in the 1880's.

Character actor Chill Wills (who had been the voice of "Francis, The Talking Mule") plays Colonel Casey Thompson who runs the T&T circus with Ben Travis (John Derek before he married Ursula Andress, Linda Evans, and Bo Derek). Richard Jaeckel plays T&T advance man Tony Gentry (sort of a Rowdy Yates of the circus set).

The show was an interesting blend of circus acts, Indian fights, and shootouts with assorted bad hombres.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

When this series was shown on the BBC around 1962 as a movie fan I was familiar with the three leads. Richard Jaeckel I knew from Guadacanal Diary, The 3-10 To Yuma (original version) and Cowboy with Glenn Ford and Jack Lemon. John Derek had appeared with Huhphrey Bogart in Knock On Any Door and with James Cagney in the largely forgotten western Run For Cover but his biggest role was with Charlron Heston in The Ten Commandents.Chill Wills of course was a veteran of countless westerns. So this series had a strong cast and an unusual setting for a western and it deseves a wider audience. A worthwhile addition to any western fan's collection.

Hi, Greetings from Costa Rica, Central America. Quality of dvds is excellent and all original black and white. This TV series show brings to me great memoirs, when I used to see it, together with my father ( I was 9 years old by that time), in my country, around 1963, all sunday nights between 6 pm and 7 pm, before going to a mass at 7:30 pm, in a Catholic Church in San Jose called Iglesia del Carmen. My father and me (or I, I am not a grammar expert) were very fanatics of this great show and after each episode finished at 7:00 pm. we inmediately have to left to go to Catholic Mass. Sometimes we were in deep trouble because the TV Channel Station put this show a little time-delayed and we have to loose part of the episode in order to get on time to mass. We were very sorry when this happened once in a while. Now that my father has gone away to heaven (I hope) I still remember of my father and of this great show. As a kid I really lived each show personally. Now that I could finally bought it I give thanks to God that I could rescue all this memoirs from NOWHERELAND. Thank you Amazon for selling this great motivating show rescued from 1960's TV great magnificent ERA. I looked for this show -for more than 10 years- waiting that it would be finally put on DVD and now my dreams have become reality By the way ,back in 1963, when this show was passed for spanish-speaking audiences in our latinamerican countries, this tv series show was called "ODISEA DEL CIRCO", this name would be probably more familiar to spanish - speaking audiences.

It's always great to again see some of the shows from years past that were fun and family friendly. They need to release more of this type for those of us that are disappointed in the fare being offered on Television today.

"Frontier Circus" was a western that aired on CBS in the 1961 season. A circus traveling through the untamed west. An interesting concept.