Walking Tall (TV series)

Walking Tall
Genre	Drama
Written by	Lee Sheldon
Directed by	Alf Kjellin
Starring	Bo Svenson Walter Barnes Harold Sylvester Courtney Pledger Jeff Lester Heather McAdam Rad Daly
Composer(s)	Edd Kalehoff
Country of origin	USA
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	7
Production
Executive producer(s)	David Gerber
Producer(s)	Mel Swope
Production location(s)	Newhall, Santa Clarita, California
Cinematography	William Gereghty
Editor(s)	Bob Fish Richard Freeman Rod Stephens
Running time	60 min
Production company(s)	Columbia Pictures Television
Distributor	NBC
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	January 17 (1981-01-17) – June 6, 1981 (1981-06-06)
Chronology
Related shows	Walking Tall (1973 film) A Real American Hero (1978 TV film)

Walking Tall is an American television drama series that ran on NBC in 1981 for one season of seven episodes. The first 5 episodes aired Saturday nights at 9:00 p.m. (opposite the ABC series The Love Boat). The last 2 episodes aired Tuesday nights at 10:00 p.m. (opposite ABC's Hart to Hart). NBC reran all 7 episodes from April–June 1981. This one-hour show was a continuation of the 1973 film Walking Tall, which was based on the life of McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser. In this series, Pusser is the sheriff of the fictionalized McNeal County, Tennessee, fighting criminals each week in 1969.

Bo Svenson played Pusser, whom he had played before in Walking Tall Part 2 (1975) and Walking Tall: Final Chapter (1977). (Brian Dennehy played Pusser in A Real American Hero in 1978 on CBS).

The rest of the cast included:

• Walter Barnes as Carl Pusser
• Harold Sylvester as Deputy Aaron Fairfax
• Courtney Pledger as Deputy Joan Litton
• Jeff Lester as Deputy Grady Spooner
• Heather McAdam as Dwanna Pusser
• Rad Daly as Michael Pusser

L.Q. Jones appeared in one segment as John Witter, Pusser's long-time nemesis.

Guest stars included Robert Englund, William Windom, Chuck Connors, Merlin Olsen, Ralph Bellamy, Gail Strickland, James MacArthur, and Art Hindle.

The theme song "Walking Tall" was sung by Brad Mercer. At the time, Svenson was the highest-paid actor in a television series.

Episodes

Nº	Title	Directed by:	Written by:	Air date
1	"The Killing of McNeal County's Children"	Alf Kjellin	Stephen Downing	17 January 1981 (1981-01-17)
Sheriff Buford Pusser investigates when two teenagers are hospitalized after smoking potent PCP cigarettes.
2	"The Protectors of the People"	Daniel Haller	Donald R. Boyle	24 January 1981 (1981-01-24)
Racial tensions inflame in McNeal County when three Ku Klux Klan members impersonate black men and attack a white girl.
3	"Kidnapped"	John Florea	Paul Savage	31 January 1981 (1981-01-31)
Bank robbers take Sheriff Pusser's father hostage.
4	"Hitman"	Alf Kjellin	Robert E. Swanson	7 February 1981 (1981-02-07)
Sheriff Pusser goes against his childhood friend, now a paid assassin assigned to murder Buford.
5	"Company Town"	Harvey S. Laidman	Lee Sheldon	14 February 1981 (1981-02-14)
Sheriff Pusser investigates the disappearance of a miner who has inflamed his bosses with vocal complaints about low wages and unsafe working conditions.
6	"Deadly Impact"	Alexander Singer	Gregory S. Dinallo	24 March 1981 (1981-03-24)
After an old friend is murdered by chemical company workers dumping excess toxic waste, Sheriff Pusser teams up with a whistle-blowing company employee to solve the case.
7	"The Fire Within"	Phil Bondelli	Lee Sheldon	31 March 1981 (1981-03-31)
Sheriff Pusser butts heads with an idealistic priest who learns of a gunrunning ring during confession, but whose vows prevent him from sharing his knowledge with the law.

• These air dates are from the book "Television Drama Programming: A Comprehensive Chronicle, 1980-1982", by Larry James Gianakos (Scarecrow Press, 1983, hardcover).
• TV GUIDE, 1981 issues

DVD release

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 on March 7, 2006.

External links

• Walking Tall at IMDb
• Walking Tall at TV.com
• Walking Tall at epguides.com