7cb1d79195 The adventures of Sam Cade, sheriff of rural Madrid County. Sam Cade is the tough but sensitive sheriff of sprawling Madrid County located somewhere in the American Southwest. Between chases and shootouts, episodes deal with a number of relevant '70s issues such as the plight of the American Indian. This series has a strong cast & good production. What happened that it ran so short a time? CBS was a big piece of the problem. This series was on the network which had given itself a black eye with the over hyped western dud Lancer. After such a terrible entry, folks ignored this entry because they were afraid it would be just as bad.<br/><br/>Then, CBS put it on late Sunday evenings. This time slot back in the three network days was a kiss of death for almost any program. As a matter of fact, Johnny Carson's quip concerning this show in a monologue on The Tonight Show then: "According to the latest Nielson ratings it dismayed CBS to find out that more than 90 percent of households tuned to Cades County on Sunday nights are using the program as a night light." Carsons pot shot at the show is a little cruel, but the program was canceled in one season. I find it astounding that "Cade's County" was on the air for only one season. (When re-run I believe it was called "Sheriff of Madrid", Madrid being the county seat of Cade's county.) Although it was never specified in which state the county existed, everything pointed to Arizona or New Mexico. Ford provided a mature, compassionate hero who was correctly unbending on matters of right and wrong but willing to help people: the ideal lawman. Edgar Buchanan, an actor whom I personally found irritating in most roles, was a fine foil for Ford. As Ford was in his forties there was no hint of Buchana as old mentor so the dynamics were a bit unusual, as though Marshall Dillon's deputy Chester had been twenty years Dillon's senior. Ford's Jeep ripping through the desert landscape was a treat. In one standout episode Bobby Darrin demonstrated acting powers even beyond what he demonstrated in the motion picture "Captian Newman, M.D." The theme song was and is superb.
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