The New Land (1974)
Forgotten TV is reader/listener supported. This article or podcast may contain affiliate links to Amazon or other retailers. As an affiliate, Forgotten TV earns royalties from these purchases, at no extra cost to you.
NEW SHOW TONIGHT! They face frontier of the 1850s – The New Land
Debuting September 14, 1974, right before the season premiere movie of Kung Fu was The New Land on ABC, that brought the incredible story of Swedish immigrants settling in Minnesota to life. Based on the classic 1972 film The Emigrants and its sequel The New Land, this short-lived series captivated audiences with its beautiful portrayal of the American dream, family, and perseverance.
The series starred Bonnie Bedelia, Scott Thomas, Kurt Russell, Debbie Lytton, and Todd Lookinland as the Larsen family. The show was filmed on location in California and central Oregon, and theme song vocals provided by John Denver (video below). Though critically acclaimed, the series was the third period drama featuring “warm, virtuous people” on the air that year, in addition to The Waltons on CBS and the just debuted Little House on the Prairie on NBC. It was also in a tough Saturday lead-in timeslot against NBC hit Emergency! and All in the Family on CBS.
The show failed to gain the ratings necessary to keep it on the air, and it was booted after only six airings, leaving the remaining seven filmed episodes unseen. I find no evidence it was ever rerun, and given that this was the pre-VCR days of 1974, any home recordings would have to have been on pre-VCR formats like U-Matic or Cartrivision. Not even any clips of this series seem to have ever surfaced, making it truly…Forgotten TV.
