After Gunsmoke, Star Dennis Weaver Joined The Sequel To One Of TV's Greatest Westerns

Dennis Weaver was no stranger to cowboys and horses, having played Chester Goode on CBS' "Gunsmoke" for nine years. But even after spending so much time protecting Dodge City on television's longest-running Western, Weaver was not ready to hit the dusty trail and abandon the genre. He went on to join the sequel series to the genre-revitalizing Robert Duvall Western "Lonesome Dove."

The continuation, titled "Lonesome Dove: The Series" featured Weaver in the role of the historic cowboy showman William "Buffalo Bill" Cody. He operated a traveling performance company that toured across the old West, eventually making its way to Europe. 

In contrast to the limping, clean-cut lawman that Weaver portrayed on "Gunsmoke," Buffalo Bill is an eccentric frontiersman with a messy, graying mullet and a flair for the theatrics. But the natural comedic presence and Western charm that he carried in "Gunsmoke" shined once again through his portrayal of Buffalo Bill.  

Buffalo Bill appears in five episodes, including the pilot, titled "O Western Wind: Part 1." He comes across Newt Call (Scott Bairstow) in a field and joins him for biscuits and some coffee to nurse his drunkenness, falling off his horse and stumbling to the food. After Newt rushes off to aid a woman whose stagecoach is being robbed, Bill comes riding behind him and effortlessly helps fend the bandits off.

"Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show" is the 16th episode of the series, and the final to showcase Weaver as the famous performer. In the episode, Newt Call and his wife Hannah Peale (Christianne Hirt) travel to see Bill's show just as he's run out of resources to fund the operation and pay his performers. Newt and Hannah offer the local bank their ranch as collateral to secure a new loan for Bill. After a mysterious fire at the set thwarts their show plans, the three try to solve the crisis.