Bruce Campbell's Short-Lived Sci-Fi Western Was Fox's Answer To Indiana Jones

Throughout the 1980s, the "Indiana Jones" film series was one of the major players in the entertainment scene, with Harrison Ford's charismatic performances as Indy rivaling his other role as Han Solo filling seats and selling merchandise. Naturally, every other film and television producer wanted a piece of the action. In the early 1990s, Fox executive Bob Greenblatt went as far as to get the writers of "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade," Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse, to make a new show for him for primetime television. The result was "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.," a combination Wild West and science-fiction-action show starring Bruce Campbell.

"The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.," commonly abbreviated to just "Brisco," was an exceptionally ambitious series, depicting the adventures of the son of a legendary marshal as he works as a bounty hunter in an anachronistic Wild West setting with elements of sci-fi and steampunk, which could've helped to endear it to those who don't normally like the western genre. Sadly, the show only lasted one season of 27 episodes, but while the production was difficult, its showrunners and cast do have fond memories of it. 

"The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." followed the titular character (played by Bruce Campbell), a Harvard-educated lawyer who travels to the western frontier to work as a bounty hunter after his father, a legendary U.S. marshal, is murdered by a notorious bandit. The hunt for this bandit sets off a mystery centered around an orb that bestows those who touch it with superhuman abilities, with Brisco utilizing various other sci-fi gadgets along the way. Brisco also picks up a posse of allies, including fellow bounty hunter Lord Bowler (played by Julius Carry), Brisco's boss Socrates Poole (played by Christian Clemenson), and love interest Dixie Cousins (played by Rutherford).

Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse pulled double-duty as scriptwriters and showrunners for "Brisco," resulting in a hectic and difficult production. However, Cuse has gone on record that his work on the show was one of his favorite moments in his career, giving credit to Campbell for bringing the cast together. Campbell himself has said that the year he worked on "Brisco" was the best and also most physically exhausting in his entire life.

The series, sadly, didn't make much of a splash, only lasting a single season. Still, among those who watched it live in the '90s, it maintains a good reputation as entertaining television, and it's available for paid streaming on YouTube. Coincidentally, Harrison Ford would star in a Wild West sci-fi film himself, but that didn't work out either.