The Young Riders was a Western TV series that ran on ABC 1989-1992. It focused on a group of Pony Express Riders under the care of a quirky former Texas Ranger called Teaspoon Hunter. The show played some liberties with history, and the Western legends to-be Wild Bill Hickok (Jimmy), Buffalo Bill (Cody), and Jesse James were all among the main characters. During the show, hothead Jimmy Hickok became increasingly troubled by his reputation, while class clown Cody could be seen starting his showbiz career in tiny steps by acting in a theater production and writing stories about his rider friends. Jesse James joined the group in season 3 as a young boy.
The other riders were Kid (unrelated to "Billy The..."), who came from a small farm in Virginia, disguised girl Lou, Indian half-breed Buck, his mute best friend Ike, and by the second season Noah, claimed to be first black regular on a Western TV show (The Outcasts co-starred a black man 1968-1969 season
on ABC; you could even make a case for Silas on The Big Valley). The station house was cared for by housekeeper Emma Shannon in the first season and Rachel Dunne in the second and third. US Marshal Sam Cain also featured in the first season.
The characters spent more time fighting bad guys than delivering mail, a course of action facilitated in the second season when Sam left the show and Teaspoon took over his job as marshal, deputizing the riders whenever he needed to.
Now available on Hulu & the terrestrial channel Get TV.
This show provides examples of:
- Bar Brawl: And barn brawl, and store brawl... pretty much every building in Sweetwater gets busted up at one point or another.
- Berserk Button: Jimmy's gets triggered by any man who Would Hit a Girl.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Teaspoon can be rather... eccentric. He's introduced by rising soaking-wet out of a watering trough and drying his face with a horse's tail.
- Clueless Deputy: Barnett
- Conveniently an Orphan: Historically correct, since the Pony Express policy stated "orphans preferred".
- Dark and Troubled Past: Everyone.
- Dumb Struck: Ike.
- Girl of the Week
- Grand Finale
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Buck's mother was Kiowa, but his father was white. He was raised in his mother's village with her family. Less friendly characters (Thompkins, for example) often use the slur "half-breed" to describe him.
- Historical Domain Character: Jimmy, Cody, Jesse James
- Hollywood History
- Irony: The show lasted longer than the Real Life Pony Express.
- Killed Off for Real: Ike and Noah.
- Long-Lost Relative: Considering the riders are all orphans, Emma was once married, and Teaspoon has had his, er, dalliances, one of these will crawl out of the woodwork from time to time. Don't expect these characters to last long.
- Love Triangle: Sam and Emma begin the series already romantically involved, but Jimmy still has the hots for her.
- Miss Kitty: Rachel, Charlotte
- No Name Given: Kid. Not even his brother calls him by his first name.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Too often to count, many times said word-for-word.
- Our Lawyers Advised This Trope: Several episodes, especially in the first season, begin with a disclaimer that it is not based on the film Young Guns.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Cody. A combination of Hoist by His Own Petard and Butt-Monkey.
- Pony Express Rider: Well, yah.
- Put on a Bus: Sam and Emma, with Emma getting a Hotter and Sexier replacement in Rachel.
- Retired Outlaw: Elias Mills
- Sweet on Polly Oliver: Kid.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Lou cut her hair, dressed in men's clothing and adopted the name "Lou" in place of "Louise" so she could get a job on the Pony Express and save up enough money to buy a house for herself and her two siblings. The boys find out pretty early on, and Emma figures it out on her own sometime later. Teaspoon finds out eventually.
- Team Dad: Teaspoon.
- Team Mom: Emma, and later Rachel.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Lou and Rachel.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Lou is a tomboy- disguised as a young man, who also likes to dress in more feminine clothes when she gets the opportunity to do so.
- U.S. Marshal: Retired hitman Sam. In seasons two and three, Teaspoon.
- The Wild West: Gunfights, saloons, wild Indian chases, mail delivery...
- Wretched Hive: Like a lot of Old West towns in real life, Sweetwater can come across this way at times.
- Young Gun: Jimmy.
Episodes of this series provide examples of:
- Abusive Parents: "Bad Blood."
- A-Cup Angst: Lou and Rachel don't get along at first, due to Lou resenting the guys ogling Rachel.
- The American Civil War: "Till Death Do Us Part."
- Bears Are Bad News: "Decoy", starring Bart the Bear As Himself.
- City Slicker: "Bulldog"
- Femme Fatale: "Blind Love" "Fall from Grace"
- Gambit Pileup: In "Star Light, Star Bright", it's difficult to tell who's conning who until the end. In a Christmas Episode, no less.
- Haven't You Seen X Before?: When Kid has to look under Lou's shirt to tend a bullet wound:Lou: What's the matter, Kid? Ain't you ever seen a girl before?
- Littlest Cancer Patient: "The Littlest Cowboy."
- Miscarriage of Justice: "Hard Time" "Blood Money"
- Miss Kitty: "Goodnight, Sweet Charlotte"
- Raised by Natives: "Pride and Prejudice"
- Rape as Drama: "Bad Blood" "The Keepsake" "Goonight, Sweet Charlotte"
- Self-Surgery: "The Man Behind the Badge" - Sam uses a hot blade to cauterize a bullet-wound in his thigh after he goes on the run from Van Dorn.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: "Decoy"
- Skinny Dipping: How Teaspoon discovered that Lou was really Louise.
- Taking the Bullet: "In the Presence of Mine Enemies" "Fall From Grace"
- You Killed My Father: "Old Scores."
