TV COP WEEKEND GUEST - JAMES REASONER

When most folks of my generation think about the TV cop shows they watched as a kid, probably the ones that come to mind most often are series like DRAGNET (the original version), HIGHWAY PATROL, and M SQUAD. I was certainly aware of all those shows and saw episodes of them from time to time, but the first TV cop show I remember watching on a regular basis is one many of you likely have never heard of: SHERIFF OF COCHISE.
I know what you’re thinking. “Cop show, not Western.” But SHERIFF OF COCHISE was a cop show. It centered around the modern-day (in this case, 1957) adventures of Frank Morgan, the sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona. As such, the stories usually involved gangsters, car chases, and shootouts, often with Tommy guns. The action in many episodes was almost non-stop, making it very attractive to bloodthirsty little tykes like me, and the southwestern setting made it different from all the other cop shows on the air.
SHERIFF OF COCHISE was a syndicated series that ran for one season. It seems like I watched it for years and years, but I’m sure they were just showing the same batch of episodes over and over. Interestingly enough, it was created by songwriter Stan Jones, who wrote the classic “Ghost Riders in the Sky” and who also portrayed Frank Morgan’s deputy in some of the episodes. Morgan was played by John Bromfield, a somewhat stiff but competent leading man who’d starred in a few mid-Fifties features. After one season, the character of Frank Morgan gave up his job as sheriff and became a United States Marshal responsible for the entire state of Arizona, leading to a name change for the series. It became (you guessed it) U.S. MARSHAL and ran for two more seasons under that title. When it ended, John Bromfield retired from acting to become, of all things, a commercial fisherman.
Since it was produced by Desilu, the production values on SHERIFF OF COCHISE were pretty good. A few episodes are available on DVD, as are a few from its successor U.S. MARSHAL, and as of this writing, an episode of SHERIFF OF COCHISE guest-starring a very young Michael Landon as a boxer can be found on YouTube. There were quite a few guest stars who went on to become bigger names, such as Charles Bronson.


As much as I watched this show, I must have seen every episode several times, but I don’t remember much about them except that I enjoyed them. Watching the few episodes that are available now, I still find them entertaining and like the mixture of southwestern settings and big city cop action. It’s an odd series, but worth watching. Maybe someday the entire series will be released on DVD.