Rousters, The

1 9 8 3 – 1 9 8 4 (USA)
13 x 60 minute episodes

This NBC series was an action-adventure-comedy about a carnival based in Los Angeles, peopled by an amazing assortment of clowns, freaks and buffoons.

Chad Everett starred as Wyatt Earp III, the great-grandson of the legendary gunman. He was head roustabout and bouncer of the Sladetown Carnival, handy with his fists and an OK guy. He also worked as a bounty hunter on the side to keep the family’s law enforcement legacy alive.

His ma, Amanda (Maxine Stuart,) couldn’t fry an egg to save her life and babbled constantly about the great Earp legend, even though Wyatt kept discovering that most of it was baloney.

Wyatt’s brother Evan (Jim Varney) was a self-styled mechanical genius who was dumber than a two-dollar dog and kept “fixing” things so they never worked again.

Balancing this off-the-wall crowd were Slade (Hoyt Axton), the carnival’s owner; Michael (Timothy Gibbs), Wyatt’s son; and Ellen (Mimi Rogers), who ran the school for the carny kids and also tamed wild beasts.

NBC had high hopes for the series but yanked the show after only six weeks. The remaining seven were burned off during the summer.

Wyatt Earp III
Chad Everett
Evan Earp
Jim Varney
Ellen Slade
Mimi Rogers
Amanda Earp
Maxine Stuart
Michael Earp
Timothy Gibbs
Jack Slade
Hoyt Axton

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