Sierra was a short-lived 1974

1974 in television

The year 1974 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1974.For the American TV schedule, see: 1974-75 American network television schedule.-Events:...

 television crime drama series focusing on the efforts of National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

 rangers

Park ranger

A park ranger or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Different countries use different names for the position. Ranger is the favored term in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Within the United...

 to enforce federal law

Federal law

Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join together in a federation, surrendering their individual sovereignty and many powers to the central government while...

 and to effect wilderness

Wilderness

Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...

 rescue

Rescue

Rescue refers to responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or prevention of injury during an incident or dangerous situation....

s. The program aired on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 and was packaged by Jack Webb

Jack Webb

John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...

's Mark VII Limited

Mark VII Limited

Mark VII Limited was the production company of actor, producer, and director Jack Webb, and was active from 1951 to 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with Universal Television; most of them aired on the NBC television network in the U.S....

 for Universal Television

Universal Television

Universal Television is the television production arm of the NBCUniversal Television Group, and by extension, the NBC television network...

. John Denver

John Denver

Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...

 wrote the show's theme song. Robert A. Cinader

Robert A. Cinader

Robert A. Cinader was an American television producer best known for his work on two NBC series packaged by actor/producer Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited, Adam-12 and Emergency!...

, executive producer of Mark VII's Emergency!

Emergency!

Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...

(which partially inspired this show), handled this program also; Bruce Johnson produced.

Setting

The show derived its name from its setting, the fictional Sierra National Park, a part of the U.S. National Park Service. In reality, exteriors were filmed at Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...

. The tenth episode, The Urban Ranger, established that the park also existed within the same fictional world populated by the characters of Emergency!

Emergency!

Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...

, its sister Mark VII show. The series was spun off as a backdoor pilot episode of Emergency!.

Cast

Like many Mark VII Limited

Mark VII Limited

Mark VII Limited was the production company of actor, producer, and director Jack Webb, and was active from 1951 to 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with Universal Television; most of them aired on the NBC television network in the U.S....

 television dramas, the show centered on a pair of leads in a public service

Civil service

The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....

 job, backed up by a supporting cast of characters from within the same organization. In this case, the leads were James G. Richardson as Ranger Tim Cassidy and Ernest Thompson as Ranger Matt Harper. The cast was rounded out by their boss, Chief Ranger Jack Moore (Jack Hogan

Jack Hogan

Jack Hogan is an American actor, born November 25, 1929 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He was born Richard Roland Benson, Jr. He is most notable for the role of PFC William G...

), and fellow rangers Julie Beck (Susan Foster) and P. J. Lewis (Michael Warren

Michael Warren (actor)

Michael Warren is an American TV actor and former college basketball player, best known for playing Officer Bobby Hill on the NBC television series Hill Street Blues.-College basketball career:...

).

Cancellation

The show was cancelled after only three months, one of the first casualties of the 1974-75 television season. This occurred largely because of the popularity of the third season of The Waltons

The Waltons

The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...

, which was its direct competition

1974-75 United States network television schedule

This was the television schedule on all three commercial United States television networks for the fall season beginning in September 1974. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with a few exceptions, such as Monday Night Football....

 on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

. The ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 entry in the same time slot, Paper Moon

Paper Moon (TV series)

Paper Moon is a short-lived situation comedy which aired on ABC during the fall of 1974, starring Christopher Connelly and Jodie Foster in the roles of Moses Pray and his presumed daughter, Addie...

also failed at midseason. Unusually, the final series episode aired on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...

as a modified version of its previously-unaired pilot episode, The Rangers.