rising ride across the plains, with him getting  everything and then some out of his horse and showing the tension  throughout his body, was no act. Just before filming this scene (the  last of the season), James Arness (qv) learned that the series  wasnt on the fall schedule and reacted accordingly. When the show  was renewed a few weeks later (CBS boss William Paley (I) (qv)  returned from vacation and personally ordered it back on), he liked  the film so much that he had the producers use it as the opening of  each show, which they did in place of the famed gunfight.