The BEST episodes written by Harold Swanton
#1 - The Weight of Command
Wagon Train - Season 4 - Episode 18
Bill and Major Adams plan on going hunting with a friend but when he is not home they suspect a renegade party of Cheyenne who have broken the peace treaty and the wagon train may be their next target.
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#2 - Body in the Barn
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - Season 2 - Episode 32
Bessie Carnby and her daughter Camilla have been feuding with their neighbors Henry and Samantha Wilkins. In order to patch things up Bessie invites them over for dinner. Samantha refuses to go, but Henry goes and tries to act friendly. Later, he disappears and Bessie sees Samantha digging a hole in her barn. Bessie accuses Samantha of murder and calls the police. The police dig up the hole and find a badly decomposing body. Samantha is executed for the crime, but later Henry returns claiming he went out to sea. He has inherited his wife's money and marries Camilla. Bessie realizes she has been tricked and, feeling guilty over having sent an innocent Samantha to her death, decides to bring Henry to justice by poisoning herself and making it look like he is responsible.
#3 - To Make This Place Remember
The Virginian - Season 2 - Episode 2
Judge Garth is convinced to go to Arapaho, Wyoming, by Roseanna Dobie (Joan Blondell), an old friend. Her son is dead and although it is claimed he had died when thrown off a horse, actually, an old friend of the Judge's, rancher/lawyer Frank Sturgis (John Dehner), had led a group of 13 men who had lynched John Dobie for allegedly beating to death a young woman who had rejected his advances. Roseanna (Joan Blondell) claims her son's innocence and demands his name be cleared by an "after the fact" trial. To clear their names and consciences, the Judge manages to get Sturgis to be the prosecutor and to participate in a "trial" with the 12 others involved in the lynching, including the dead girl's father, as the jury and the Judge as defense attorney.
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#4 - The Nellie Jefferson Story
Wagon Train - Season 4 - Episode 27
When actress Nellie Jefferson joins the wagon train, her incessant demands for special treatment come to grate on Hale and Hawks, but Wooster is totally smitten with her. Meanwhile a fanatical man from her past is following her, talking about how she will meet her fate like the biblical Jezebel.
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#5 - The Long Shot
Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 1 - Episode 9
Heavily indebted Charlie Raymond is hired to accompany a British visitor on a trip across the USA, and looks for a way to take advantage of his employer.
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#6 - The Danny Benedict Story
Wagon Train - Season 3 - Episode 10
He says his name is Tom Smith but a young man Major Adams meets on the trail refuses to join the wagon train and won't say why. When he does find out he meets an old friend and why the boy is so tortured.
#7 - The Larry Hanify Story
Wagon Train - Season 3 - Episode 17
On his deathbed, Joe asks Flint to look after his 17-year old son Larry Hanify and get him to California. There was one catch. His latest escapade put him in jail awaiting trial for armed robbery.
#8 - The Candy O'Hara Story
Wagon Train - Season 4 - Episode 11
Gabe Henry and his son have been sorely missing the female touch over five years now. Finding a wife during a stopover is his top priority but his choice is known to Major Adams and he does not approve.
#9 - The Hunters
Little House on the Prairie - Season 3 - Episode 10
Pa decides to take Laura hunting with him. When Charles and Laura are getting settled down for the night, Laura trips over her dad's gun and sets it off. Charles is badly wounded. Laura runs to get help, but the only person she can find is a blind person, Sam. Since Sam just recently became blind, he knew his way around somewhat. After getting lost a few times, Sam and Laura finally find Mr. Edwards' home. Mr. Edwards gets a doctor, who saves Mr. Ingalls. Thanks to Laura, Sam learned that just because he was blind didn't mean he had to stay at home and do nothing.
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#10 - The Talking Machine
Little House on the Prairie - Season 2 - Episode 13
Laura and Nellie are rivals for the affections of a classmate's heart. The two polar opposites are after Jason, the new kid at school who is into inventions. Both of them have crushes on Jason, but Jason - who is into inventions and electricity - only has feelings for Laura...
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#11 - The Case of the Sulky Girl
Perry Mason - Season 1 - Episode 5
Fran Celane feels her uncle, Edward Norton, is too restrictive as the executor of her father's spendthrift trust. He also wants her to wait 18 months until her 25th birthday before she gets married. Arthur Crinston, Edward Norton's attorney, arrives to meet with Mr. Norton but is told to return at 11pm. When he returns, they meet for a few minutes and as he is leaving, Mr. Norton asks him to take his secretary, Donald Graves, to pick up some papers. As they drive away, Mr. Graves looks back at the house and sees someone attack Edward Norton. They return to find Edward Norton dead and Rodney Gleason, Fran's fiance, is identified as the assailant. Rodney Gleason is accused of the murder.
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#12 - Throw a Long Rope
The Virginian - Season 1 - Episode 3
A homesteader (Jack Warden) accused of rustling narrowly escapes hanging by local ranchers led by Major Cass (John Anderson), an event that is observed by Shiloh hands including the Virginian. However, the homesteader is severely injured, and the Virginian helps him work his farm during off hours. After some investigation into the rash of cattle rustling, the Virginian decides to defend the man against the Major and the other ranchers including Judge Garth.
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#13 - If I Should Wake Before I Die
Little House on the Prairie - Season 1 - Episode 6
After her friend dies, Miss Amy, an old lady, convinces the Ingalls and Doc Baker to help her stage her own death. Amy thought this was the only way to get her family to come and see her.
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#14 - The Case of the Madcap Modiste
Perry Mason - Season 3 - Episode 22
After one of the biggest names in fashion is poisoned after embarassing her husband on TV, the husband is not rightly the prime suspect.
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#15 - I'll Ride The Wind
Little House on the Prairie - Season 3 - Episode 12
Mary and John have fallen deeply in love and want to get married, but John has a problem. He must decide if he will accept a scholarship and go to college or stay with Mary. At first Mary doesn't want him to go until she and John both realize that he must take the scholarship to try to make his dreams of becoming a writer a reality.
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#16 - The Will Santee Story
Wagon Train - Season 4 - Episode 31
The Santee family---Will, his mother, and his younger sister---join the wagon train under a false surname. They have been forced out of town after town because of a terrible thing a family member did. They confide in Hale, Hawks, and Charlie, who agree to keep their secret from the others on the train. But it soon comes out anyway, and things get complicated when Will falls for a young woman from the wagon train.
#17 - Premonition
Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 1 - Episode 2
A famous pianist returns to his home town to find the man who murdered his father.
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#18 - Bang! You're Dead
Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 7 - Episode 2
Young Jackie Chester is ostracized by his fellow playmates because he doesn't own a toy gun like theirs. Upset at being left out, he finds a gun in his Uncle's suitcase - unaware he has a real revolver ... and it's loaded.
#19 - Reunion '78
Gunsmoke - Season 1 - Episode 20
Belle Archer recognizes Jerry Shand and hides her face. Jerry has a grudge against Andy Cully, a paunchy hardware drummer. At the Long Branch Jerry is beating Andy up. Matt's ready to lock Jerry up. Andy bails him out. On the street Andy apologizes and offers Jerry $600. Jerry knows Andy is a murderer. Andy pulls a gun. Jerry shoots him. Belle sees it all from her window. Andy was really Bloody Bille Ashley one of Quantrill's raiders. He killed Jerry's father and carried his Ma from Lawrence, Kansas. Matt looks for Andy's gun. Matt tells Kitty they need a witness. They see Belle in her room. Belle says she didn't see anything. Belle watches from her window as they prepare for a hanging. Jerry says Quantrill took his girl Ellie and I haven't seen her since. Just then Matt brings in Belle (Ellie). She says Andy drew first. As Jerry rides past her window, he calls to Ellie. Belle says Ellie's gone, goodbye.
#20 - Portrait of Jocelyn
Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 1 - Episode 28
When Mark Halliday and his new wife unexpectedly see a portrait of Halliday's first wife, it is only the first in a series of disturbing developments.
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#21 - The Twelve Hour Caper
Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 7 - Episode 34
A disgruntled employee hatches a plan, with the help of two professional thieves, to steal a shipment of negotiable bonds. Will he get away with a clean sweep?
#22 - The Case of the Red Riding Boots
Perry Mason - Season 4 - Episode 11
Ann Farwell is miserable over the separation of her parents. Things aren't made any better when her father starts seeing Rita Conover, a scheming woman half his age. When Rita turns up dead both Ann and her mother think the other committed the crime which causes Perry great difficulty in defending the ranch hand who's been charged.
#23 - Anniversary Gift
Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 5 - Episode 6
Sick of his wife's menagerie of strange and high-maintenance animals, a frazzled husband decides to get her the perfect present - a highly poisonous coral snake.
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#24 - Coyote Moon
Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 5 - Episode 4
A wily professor gets his revenge when he spots the hitchhikers who robbed him of all his valuables and decides to take them on the ride of their lives.
#25 - The Jeremy Dow Story
Wagon Train - Season 4 - Episode 14
When the wagon train passes through town, habitually drunk Jeremy Dow finds that his past has caught up with him. His choices: continue running, or face the demons from his past when he is confronted with this wife and son on the train.
#26 - Summer Shade
Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 6 - Episode 15
The witches of Salem are getting younger by the year, and for nine-year-old Kate Kendall this isn't a problem as she has a new playmate for the summer. Parents Phyllis and Ben are altogether more concerned, and consult the local Reverend on the subject of exorcism.
#27 - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 5 - Episode 13
Moments before he's set to swing from the end of a Union rope, a Southern supporter reflects on the sabotage attempt that brought him there and sees a possibility for freedom.
#28 - Museum Piece
Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season 6 - Episode 25
Dark secrets lie at the heart of a private Indian museum, with one particular exhibit telling a sinister story of seduction, betrayal and murder.
#29 - The Iron Butterfly
Bonanza - Season 13 - Episode 10
Hoss takes the blame when a visiting actress kills her former boyfriend. The ex-boyfriend's father, a senator, sets out to destroy the Cartwrights and the Ponderosa as retaliation, for the killing of his son.
#30 - The Clementine Jones Story
Wagon Train - Season 5 - Episode 5
Clementine Jones is in the process of being thrown out of a town when a bank robbery occurs. One of the fugitives ends up joining the wagon train on the same wagon as one of the bank robbers is trying to escape on.
#31 - The Sam Livingston Story
Wagon Train - Season 3 - Episode 36
Abigail has lost her driver to the better paying mines. Her new driver says he owns a bank and a pig. The ride West reveals another side of him that takes at least the pig to change both heart and mind.
#32 - The Mark of a Man
The Virginian - Season 4 - Episode 30
The Virginian and Trampas arrive at the Medicine Bow saloon just as young Johnny Younce (Barry Primus) stumbles out. Johnny looks in the window of a tailor shop owned by Jake (Harold J. Stone) which contains a sign ‘the clothes make a man."" Johnny proceeds to break the window and goes on a rampage even trying to burn down the town with a thrown lantern. He is subdued by the Virginian but hits his head on a wagon and gets a concussion. At the jail Doctor Stanton (Bill Quinn) says Johnny can not be left alone so the Virginian volunteers to take Johnny to Shiloh to recuperate until his trial. The Virginian learns that Johnny had been working at the saloon but had been fired for unclear reasons. He also learns Johnny had come to town the year before looking for his Aunt Emily but found she was Lily Duvall (Jean Willes) who ran the local bordello and never visited her again. He also will not tell the Virginian or Emmett Ryker why he went on his rampage. At Shiloh it is clear Jennifer Sommer
#33 - The Lonnie Fallon Story
Wagon Train - Season 5 - Episode 19
Cowboy Lonnie Fallon is in love with Kathy Jennings---but her strict father forbids the relationship.
#34 - The Shiloh Degnan Story
Wagon Train - Season 6 - Episode 8
An officer Chris knows is found near the wagon train near death. He tells Chris that a passage in the bible describes him and his commander - Shioh Degnan. Chris returns him to Fort Bannerman to the Army where the truth is revealed.
#35 - Tread The King's Shadow
Hawaii Five-O - Season 10 - Episode 12
McGarrett becomes involved in a love triangle between a young local man, a rich girl and her father who hates the Hawaiian origins of the boy.
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