Fresh off the stagecoach from Harvard, Sheriff John Henry Hoyle and his reluctant Deputy Eli introduce the emerging science of forensics to hunt down the Wild West’s most dangerous criminals.
Quick Draw is a 2013-14 television series created by Nancy Hower and John Lehr for Hulu. Lehr stars in, and Hower directs, this partly improvised comedy Western. The show follows Harvard graduate John Henry Hoyle who becomes the sheriff of Great Bend, Kansas, in 1875.
The show was Hulu's third original scripted program. It premiered online on August 5, 2013.
This TV series provides examples of:
- A Degreein Useless: Subverted as most things Hoyle has learned at Harvard seem to come in handy in his career as sheriff. He even got a B+ in shooting.
- Big Bad: Cole Younger is pretty much the default villain most weeks, and if he isn't, he's looming over the town.
- Brains and Brawn: Hoyle and Eli's dynamic in a nutshell.
- Bullet Dancing: Played with extremely comically. In one episode, Hoyle is so lackidaisical in a duel, that he lets his opponent fire off more shots while pointing out how poor of a shot he is. His deputy, Eli, is dancing around in fear.
- Clean Up the Town: Some of the disgruntled villains have targeted Hoyle because he's made the town more difficult to carry out illegal activity. This implies he must be doing something right.
- Cloud Cuckoolanders Minder: Eli and Shank curb some of Hoyle's idiosyncracies to some extent. Honey might also play this role for her prostitutes who can be off the wall (particularly Wanda).
- Foil: While he might not have the aim, forensic skills, or educational background of Hoyle, Sherrif Marshall Givens is more down-to-business.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Sheriff Hoyle has some by dint of actually using the sights on his guns.
- Improv: The shooting scripts for the show by Nancy Hower and John Lehr were mostly story outlines with few lines of dialogue and the actors built around it.
- Leaningonthe Fourth Wall: In one episode, the stand-up duo Frangela provides color commentary of a shoot-out as it's occuring.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Pearl's brother seemed like a dim businessman who hid a level of craftiness in his brilliant plan to drive a wedge between Honey and Pearl so he could rob the bank.
- Once per Episode: Hoyle mentioning that he went to Harvard, usually in relation to learning some niche skill relevant to solving the episode's plot.
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Stunt Casting: Although the show never had big-name guest stars, one episode features comic duo Frangela doing color commentary of a shoot-out as it's occuring. - Utopia: The neighboring town of Nicodemus is implied to be one of these. It's played with comedically because of how difficult it would be to build such a town in the Old West, and there's a bit of Anachronism Stew in Nicodemus's design in terms of the town's socio-economic principles.
