Rod Serling is a genius, and most all of his scripts bear his own persona, even if they are not written by him exclusively. After the huge success of The Twilight zone it wasn't easy for Rod to top it off with something better or at least as good but I think he managed just that with The Loner.
It's a story of a civil war veteran, played beautifully by Lloyd Bridges, who is traveling around, helping people in distress and trying to find a purpose in life after four senseless years of lives taking. I have to admit the strongest feature of this series was not the scripts per se, although most of them are engaging and thought-provoking to say the least, but the dialogues the scripts are provided with - this is the most well-written TV series I've seen in a while. Add some of the finest performances and absolutely excellent main musical theme by maestro Jerry Goldsmith in there and you'll get a sure hit on your hands but somehow this show was cancelled after its only season of 26 episodes and was forgotten ever since.
So what happened? Some critics supposed the show was too serious for a Western series, the others found it too boring to stick around for but I'd say The Loner's main problem is that it lacks direction and its little stories of the week didn't really go anywhere besides some lonely thoughts scattered all over the episodes, along with great one-off performances by guest stars, such as Leslie Nielsen or Bridges' own sons, Beau and Jeff. The universe of The Loner is limited to one-two episodes, usually ending abruptly and by the next episode he's already onto his next adventure. I admit his moral standards are high and his strong personality and beliefs lead the plots but in the end it doesn't work as a big concept but just as a bunch of stories you would tell your children to before they go to bed.
Whereas Maverick was also mostly a "story of the week" show it had its own atmosphere, its own little world, multiple characters, this big family who helped each other out and fought the injustices. The Loner is a one man show on the other hand, he doesn't rely on anyone and fights the injustices all by himself but it doesn't feel like this world of his is thorough and maybe, had the show been renewed for a second season, we would've seen the show grow stronger and wider but judging by what we have I cannot say this is a complete and whole body of work but rather an anthology of stories revolving around one character. Maybe that's why the show got cancelled, because Rod Serling was so used to telling all those different stories but not in one big piece.. well, we'll never know.
