Series Description

The Empire TV show was a 60 minute western drama series on NBC about the owners, manager, and ranch hands on the Garret Ranch during the 1960s.

Empire Cast

Richard Egan .... Jim Redigo
Terry Moore .... Connie Garret (Episodes 1-21)
Ryan O'Neal .... Tal Garret
Anne Seymour .... Lucia Garret (Episodes 1-21)
Charles Bronson .... Paul Moreno (Episodes 1 and 22-32)
Warren Vanders .... Chuck Davis (Episodes 17-32)

Empire Trivia:

The Garret Ranch was located in New Mexico and it was a whopping 500,000 acres huge!

When Empire ended it "spun-off" the "Redigo TV Show". Jim Redigo left the Garret Ranch to purchase a much smaller ranch of his own. Since Empire ended normally at the end of a season and Redigo started normally at the beginning of the very next season and in Empire's old time slot, some sources do not credit Redigo as a separate series. They say that Empire merely changed its name and slightly changed its storyline. Most, however, agree that the difference in storylines is as great as most spinoffs.

The Empire TV show aired in the United Kingdom under the title, "Big G".

Jim Redigo was not your typical ranch manager. He had a Master of Business Administration degree!

The Empire TV show had a few problems that made it unlikely to get good ratings. First, it was not a traditional western because it took place in the 1960s long after gunfights, cattle drives, train robberies, and the other elements that made western series so popular. Secondly, Empire had some pretty major competition in its time slot. ABC was airing the fast-paced, fun drama series, "Hawaiian Eye" and CBS was broadcasting "The Red Skelton Show".

Jim Redigo had a romantic interest in Connie Garret but Connie and her mother Lucia disappeared about 2/3 of the way through the season. Charles Bronson who had appeared in the first episode was brought back as Paul Moreno, a tough guy ranch hand.

Empire was filmed at the Eaves Movie Ranch located at 105 Rancho Alegre Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico and also at Storrie Lake located in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Richard Egan was asked if he regretted leaving movies where he could play many different roles for a TV series where he had to portray the same character over and over again. Richard responded that there really wasn't much difference between the two for most actors. He said that most big movie stars essentially play the same role in all their movies. As an example, he asked how different were the roles that Humphrey Bogart played in all his movies, or Clark Gable, or Jackie Cooper?

The Empire TV show had several well-known stars of the day appear on the series as guest stars. They included Robert Vaughn ("The Man from U.N.C.L.E."), Inger Stevens ("The Farmer's Daughter"), Robert Culp ("I Spy"), Claude Akins ("Movin' On"), and Telly Savalas ("Kojak").