The Big Picture
- The Quest is a 1976 American Western television series starring Kurt Russell and Tim Matheson.
- The show focused on two long-lost brothers searching for their sister in the Old West, with contrasting backgrounds and personalities.
- The Quest had a lasting impact on Kurt Russell's career, inspiring him to star in several successful Western films.
When we put the name Kurt Russell together with the Western genre, magical things happen. The actor has certainly put his own unique spin on the horse opera, always leaving us wishing that he'd made a few more. But long before he played Wyatt Earp or got himself cast in a certain Quentin Tarantino movie, Russell was the star of his own short-lived Western television program. That's right, before he was a theatrical bigshot, Russell was a leading man on the small screen in a series simply titled, The Quest.
Don't be fooled though, this show shouldn't be confused with the modern fantasy-themed reality series of the same name. Instead, Russell's The Quest was set in the Old West, following two long-lost brothers (Russell and Matheson) on a quest to find their long-lost sister. The show aired briefly in 1976, and despite its quick cancelation, it's actually pretty solid.
The Quest
WesternThe Quest follows Morgan "Two Persons" Beaudine, a former frontier scout torn between his rugged profession and a deeper, personal mission. After surviving captivity with Native Americans, he sets out on a perilous journey across the American West to find his long-lost sister, Patricia. Along the way, he encounters an array of characters, including his brother Quentin, a doctor, who joins him in this search. As they traverse the dangerous, lawless landscape, Morgan grapples with the internal conflict of his past.
Release Date May 13, 1976 Cast Kurt Russell , Tim Matheson , Brian Keith , Keenan Wynn , Cameron Mitchell , Morgan Woodward , Neville Brand , Art Lund Main Genre Western Seasons 1 Creator(s) Tracy Kennan WynnWhat Is 'The Quest' About?
The initial premise behind The Quest was an admirable one. After the events of the infamous rural purge, Westerns just weren't popular anymore with television audiences. Many considered them outdated or perhaps even too simple-minded, and so the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) got rid of the vast majority of their Western and other rural-themed programs. Exceptions included The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, and, briefly, The Quest itself. In the wake of dozens of urbanized and modern cop drama shows that had flooded the airwaves, series creator, Tracy Keenan Wynn, and executive producer, David Gerber, had a very specific take on the Western they hoped to share.
The series itself took place in the 1890s and followed the recently reunited Beaudine brothers, who had been separated as children after a Native American raid. Quinton, played by Matheson, was later taken to California and became a doctor by trade. He was urbanized in his youth, in stark contrast to Russell's character, Morgan. Morgan, who often goes by his Cheyenne name, "Two-Persons," was taken by the Natives for eight years, where he learned everything there was to know about survival. When the Union Army freed Morgan, he was eventually found by his brother, and they were reunited in pursuit of their younger sister, Patricia, who had likewise been separated from them. This is the famed "quest" that the Beaudine brothers are on, though in true Western fashion, most episodes of the series follow a variety of different concepts and storylines. Nevertheless, it was their never-ending pursuit of their kin that always pushed The Quest's narrative forward.
From the get-go, The Quest aimed to pull in new audiences. There was an obvious appeal to those who loved shows like Gunsmoke and Bonanza (Russell appeared in two episodes of the former and Matheson was a recurring character in the latter's final season), but because of the show's unique characters, there was potential for audiences of shows like Police Story to tune in. NBC executive, John J. McMahon, took the notion a step further, hoping the series would tell "realistic" stories that 1970s viewers would relate to, albeit with the Old West setting (via The Odessa American). The juxtaposition between the brave and simple Morgan "Two-Persons" with the complicated and educated Quinton was a smart one. "We basically took John Wayne’s movie, The Searchers, and remade it as a TV show," Matheson recalled decades later. "It was an attempt to reboot the Western, to reach a younger audience and not make Native Americans the enemy."
'The Quest' Ran for Less Than a Season Before It Was Canceled
There's some debate as to why exactly The Quest was canceled. When NBC had finished the two-part pilot film, they turned it into a 90-minute television feature billed, The Quest. This hour-and-a-half Russell/Matheson adventure aired on May 13, 1979, later appearing in the Top 20 of all television programs based on Nielsen ratings at the time (via The Decatur Daily). It was this boost in ratings that likely pushed the network to greenlight The Quest as a continuing series, with Russell and Matheson returning to their leading roles for another 13 episodes. And no wonder, as the pilot film was a strong opener to the uniqueness of this specific series. As Two-Persons and Quinton learn to work together, the pair wrestle with their differences (a frontier man vs. a city boy) as they pursue the only family they have left. The Quest was followed by The Quest: The Longest Drive (later re-edited into the two-part episode, "The Longest Drive") and later, with The Captive: The Longest Ride II, an expanded version of the show's first aired episode, "The Captive." With a compelling new Western concept (and room to improve), it seemed like NBC had a real hit on their hands. Unfortunately, television can be a cutthroat kind of business.
From September 22, 1976 to just after Christmas, The Quest aired on Wednesday nights on NBC. One reviewer compared the show somewhat unfavorably to Starsky and Hutch, noting that the series doesn't do anything all too different from some of the most famous TV Westerns that came before it. The show's declining ratings were just another sturdy nail in the Western's coffin. In their book, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present, Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh explained what they thought about the show's cancelation. "The season before had seen not a single Western on prime-time network television, for the first time in more than 20 years," they noted. "There was plenty of action and violence on The Quest, but it could not compete with the pulchritude on ABC's new entry opposite it, Charlie's Angels." With plenty of other action-packed and sexy shows out there, The Quest didn't stand a chance.
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This isn't to say that Kurt Russell and Tim Matheson didn't get their due, however. The NBC Western was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design for a Drama or Comedy Series," and series writers, Katharyn Powers and Michael Michaelian, were awarded the Western Writers of America award for "Best TV Script" for the episode, "Hatcher's Drive." While The Quest was recognized for its good character work and costume design, it was canceled before it could even finish its first season. Only 11 episodes of the show aired on television, with the final four left un-aired by NBC. It wouldn't be until years later when The Quest was acquired for reruns by networks like GetTV that those last episodes would be aired in the United States.
Kurt Russell Has Built a Strong Western Legacy Over His Career
CloseAlthough The Quest didn't end the way either Kurt Russell or Tim Matheson had likely planned, it didn't kill the Western, either. The genre continued to come and go on television well into the 21st century, and even now, it has picked up steam once more. Russell wouldn't revisit the genre again until 1993, when he starred as the infamous Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, which solidified Russell's appeal as a Western star and emphasized his range as an actor. Earp was a vastly different (and arguably more complex) character than Two-Persons, and Russell played the part masterfully. While he was still learning the acting ropes in The Quest, Tombstone is one of his most notable performances, and for good reason.
After that, Russell took some more time off from horse operas until 2015, when he starred in the horror Western, Bone Tomahawk. This picture only further pushed the limits of what the genre could do, terrifying audiences in the process. That same year, Russell found his way into Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, which was his final Western project to date. Looking back, if anything could be said about The Quest, it's that it pushed past the usual "large and in charge cattle ranch owner" trope, instead trying something completely different. Sure, it shared some common themes with other TV Westerns from before, but almost every Old West series does. Though the show was ultimately short-lived, it was never dull, and both Kurt Russell and Tim Matheson did a fine job bringing the Beaudine brothers to life.
The Quest: The Longest Drive is available to stream on Tubi in the U.S.
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