Cariboo Country (TV series)

Cariboo Country is a Canadian television drama series which aired on CBC Television between June 1960 and September 1960, then from 1964 to 1966. Scripts for the series were written by British Columbia journalist, playwright, and politician Paul St. Pierre (1923–2014).

Plot
Cariboo Country dealt with the rancher Smith, whose first name is never mentioned (Hughes), his wife Norah (Carlson), and their son Sherwood (Davies, Cherrier), as well as their neighbours in the Chilcotin region of British Columbia. Smith and his family struggle to operate their small ranch near the fictional town of Namko. Other featured characters included Namko storekeeper Arch MacGregor (Stidder); cattlemen Ken Larsen (Marsh) and "Frenchie" Bernard (Golland); and Indigenous Chilcotin people such as Ol' Antoine (Chief Dan George), Young Alexander (Charlie Louis), Sarah (Jean Sandy), and Phyllistine (Nancy Sandy).

Production
Two 1958 anthology dramas from CBUT Vancouver served as prototypes or pilots for the series: "The Window at Namko" (Spectrum series) and "Justice on the Jawbone" (Vancouver Playbill series).

The first complete Cariboo Country series (1960) consisted of 13 episodes produced on video in the CBUT Vancouver studio and kinescoped for national distribution. They were broadcast on CBUT from June 16 to September 8, 1960. Episodes were directed by Frank Goodship, Philip Keatley, and Len Lauk.

The series returned in 1964, with a larger budget, and continued until 1966. This iteration of the series was produced on film, with location shooting in Richmond and in the Chilcotin. Philip Keatley directed all 16 episodes. The series was broadcast nationally on the CBC anthology series The Serial.

Two related programs were broadcast nationally in the Festival series. The first was an hour-long version combining parts 1 & 2 of "The Education of Phyllistine" (1965), which won a Canadian Film Award for best television film of the year. Its success led to production of the standalone hour-long episode "How to Break a Quarterhorse" [sic], which was also broadcast on Festival (1966).

Book and film adaptations
Starting in 1965, Paul St. Pierre adapted some of his Cariboo Country teleplays into novels. The episode "Boss of the Namko Drive" was adapted into a book of the same title for younger readers and high school English classes. The best-known novel adaptation is Breaking Smith's Quarter Horse (1966).

The latter novel was in turn adapted into a theatrical feature film by Walt Disney Productions, with its setting switched to the northwestern United States. Smith! (1969) starred Glenn Ford (Smith), Nancy Olson (Norah), Chief Dan George (Ol' Antoine), and Dean Jagger (Judge). Michael O'Herlihy directed the feature.

In 1983, St. Pierre published Smith and Other Events: Tales of the Chilcotin, a collection of short stories based on several of his Cariboo Country teleplays.