The Adventures of Champion (TV series)

Did You Know?

• The dog credited as 'Blaze' in the series was identified by animal trainer Bob Blair as J.R., the same dog that had the title role in The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.
• Twenty-three episodes were released on DVD by Film Chest Media in 2014 on three discs.
• A PAL version containing 23 episodes was released in a six-disc collection by Elstree Hill Entertainment in 2005.

Background and production

The horse featured in the series was known as Television Champion, or TV Champ, and was owned by Gene Autry, who had owned several celebrity horses named Champion over the years. TV Champ had a chestnut coat, blond mane and tail, four white stockings, and a broad white facial blaze, and appeared with Autry in films and television during the 1950s; unlike the fictional horse, TV Champ was a gelding. The series was filmed by Flying A Productions on location in California, including Vasquez Rocks for the introduction and episodes, and the Andy Jauregui Ranch at Placerita Canyon, Newhall, for several exteriors.

Related shows

The television program used characters similar to those in the 1949–50 radio serial The Adventures of Champion, which featured a young Ricky West raised by his adoptive Uncle Smoky and accompanied by his German Shepherd, Rebel. The Gene Autry Show, a western/cowboy television series, aired for 91 episodes on CBS beginning in 1950, and The Adventures of Champion was a prime time spinoff for the 1955–1956 season.