"Lonesome Dove: The Series" was Canada's answer to "Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman". The series was a spin-off of the incredibly successful mini-series "Lonesome Dove", which was based on a novel by author Larry McMurtry. The series was a light-hearted, hour-long show which aired once a week sporadically for nearly two years, yet only managed to produce roughly one viable season.
LD:TS followed the life of one Newt Dobbs Call. Although played in the mini-series by actor Rick Schroder, it was Canadian Scott Bairstow who made the role his own. It's ironic that LD:TS launched Bairstow into stardom, because he wasn't their first choice. The role was written for Canadian actor Jaimz Woolvett (look-alike brother of Gordon Michael Woolvett, also an actor, and probably the more well-known of the duo), but after another studio tied him up in red tape, Woolvett was unable to take the part. (In 1996, Woolvett won a $3.2 million lawsuit against Neverland Studios for interfering in him not being able to take the LD role.) Whereas much of the mini-series had focused on the relationship between Newt and his father, Woodrow Call, the series focussed solely on Newt, with occasional mentions of his father and a guest shot or two. The main focus of the series was Newt's misadventures as he struggled to maintain his homestead, and his relationship with Hannah Peale, the pretty young daughter of the local newspaperman.
When Newt married Hannah at the beginning of the series, he took on more than just her. He also took on her father, Josiah Peale, who ran the newspaper, her brother, Austin Peale, who was naive and pretty unworldly, and local saloon owner Francis Clay Mosby, who had an obsession with Hannah because she looked like his dead wife. Bairstow wasn't the only one flung into stardom by his brief time spent in the town of Curtis Wells. The series also took two fairly unknowns and pushed them into well-received serieses of their own. Paul Johansson, who played Austin, went on to do "Beverly Hills, 90210", a couple Ed McBain made-for-TV mystery movies, and most recently, "Highlander: The Raven". Eric McCormack, who played the bearded, twang-voiced Clay Mosby, has gone on to become a major player in the American market with his role of Will Truman, Grace's gay roommate, in the hit NBC series "Will & Grace". Other notable alumni included in the series were Christianne Hirt (Hannah), Dihann Carroll (Ida), and Paul Le Mat (Josiah).
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