Leslie Stevens, Stoney Burke, and Quinn Martin Productions

TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 689.2: Dore Page, author of Leslie Stevens Goes to Hollywood: Daystar Productions, Kate Manx and the Making of Private Property, talks to Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter about Stoney Burke (ABC, 1962-1963), the “art house” look at the lives of 20th-century rodeo riders starring Jack Lord, Bruce Dern, and Warren Oates and produced by Leslie Stevens that ABC canceled after one season—despite garnering a 38 share—partly because the show was considered too ethereal for sponsors to get behind. Other topics this segment include how Warren Oates’ character on Stoney Burke can be considered a forerunner to Angel Martin (the character that Stuart Margolin later played on The Rockford Files), and how Stevens came to pattern his independent production company, Daystar Productions, after Quinn Martin Productions once Stevens decided to focus on developing projects for television. Leslie Stevens Goes to Hollywood is available through McFarland Books.