The Monroes

The Monroes was an unfortunately short lived series that never found its audience in the year it was on television. My guess is the expense of shooting the show completely on location in Wyoming was a factor in its cancellation.

The Monroe family had homesteaded a piece of ground that was in the middle of a pair of feuding cattle barons. This is reminiscent of the plot of the classic William Wyler western, The Big Country. The barons were the British Liam Sullivan, a very proper English gentleman, but who was rich and employed people who made sure he got his way. And the other group was headed by Robert Middleton who was a self righteous fellow a whole lot like Burl Ives from The Big Country.

There was no organized law around, these two guys made the law wherever their territory was. Adding to that was that The Monroes were orphans. Eldest son Michael Anderson, Jr. and eldest daughter Barbara Hershey barely teens themselves try to keep their younger siblings Keith and Kevin Schultz and Tammy Locke together as a unit. If this was civilization, they'd have been dumped on some relative or sent off to an orphanage.

Both Sullivan and Middleton would love to buy them out, but the kids stand their ground and attempt to make a home in the wilderness. The Monroes was a beautifully photographed family show and it was unfortunate it wasn't given more of a chance.

Underrated TV western that sadly only lasted a season. The sweeping vistas on location in the Grand Teton National Park were memorable. Nice theme song by David Rose, who would later do "Little House on the Prarie". Michael Anderson and Barbara Hershey were creditable as the older siblings, while the younger ones were thankfully un-precocious! All and all among the more realistic westerns of the era. One of the twins, Kevin Schultz, would go on to portray Tom Sawyer in live action/cartoon "New Adventures of Huck Finn" later in the 1960s. My folks loved the big white Great Pyrenees dog so much that our next dog was a Great Pyrenees! In answer to an earlier reviewer, the dog's name was Snow.

Lived in the little town of Jackson, Wyoming at the time they shot this series here. They filmed this series mostly in Grand Teton National Park until the weather got too cold in the late fall and then they went back to LA and rebuilt the cabin set on a sound stage which you could easily tell. The location shots had a wide view of the Teton range with few trees and the interior sets had all these trees with a painted vista of the Tetons. That is also when the ratings went downhill on the latter episodes and ABC axed this show. It was quite neat to see the major guest stars fly in and out of Jackson and Barbra Hershey was actually very cordial. The little Twins on the series were cute as well. Anyway a good western.

A wonderful series! A beautiful theme song by David Rose, gorgeous scenery and great characters portrayed by Ron Soble, Ben Johnson and Liam Sullivan. However, the only reason I feel in love with this series was the incredibly handome James Westmoreland who portrayed Ruel Jaxon ( a fabulous cowboy name!), who is one of Major Mapoy's ranch hands. I was thirteen years old and I made sure I never missed an episode. I wrote Mr. Westmoreland a fan letter and he graciously set me a glossy 9 x 11 photograph and a very kind note thanking me for taking the time to write him a letter and for appreciating his performances on The Monroes. Both items were personally written to me and autographed. Over fifty years later, I still treasure these items. Purchased the DVD set and I am enjoying it as much as I did many years ago. Very enjoyable! Would love to see more programs like this back on the air

I was only ten/eleven, but remember this series as though it was yesterday. I think any girl my age at the time would have loved to be one of the Monroe family. It never occurred to me that they would have a hard life! It was a very romantic adventure and it was a shame it didn't last longer. I loved this brilliant series and will never forget it as one of my childhood loves.

If course at ten, I was deeply in love with Michael Anderson Jr. and Barbara Hershey has always been one of my favourite actresses, although even as I watched Hannah and her Sisters, I still associated her with the Monroes!