TV Talk exclusive: 'Wild West Chronicles' creator Gary Tarpinian reveals true untold stories of the West

‘Wild West Chronicles” on INSP tells true stories of the American West dramatized by actors portraying legendary figures of the time.

Real lives resurrected from our American past define the exciting historical docudrama series “Wild West Chronicles” on INSP, the network’s top-watched series. The series host, formidable gunslinger-turned-wordsmith Bat Masterson, regales us with actual stories dramatized by actors portraying the time’s legendary figures—with season 3 returning on April 6. The “Wild West Chronicles” creator Gary Tarpinian once again spoke to the Idaho Press exclusively about what to expect.

Annie Oakley is one of the historical people whose stories are told on the upcoming season of “Wild West Chronicles” on INSP.

INSP’s crackling good anthology series follows the legendary Bat Masterson (Jack Elliott), once a lawman who traded his sheriff’s badge for a pen to become a newspaper reporter. This lawman of the late 1800s now guides us as a New York-based reporter. Each week, Masterson gathers the true stories and shapes the subject matter with profiles of Western notables such as Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok, Bass Reeves, Butch Cassidy, Stagecoach Mary and Emmett Dalton, to name a few. Masterson gathers the facts and tells our tale, which actors reenact in authentic period costuming, arms and an on-point production design that seamlessly immerses the viewer into the moment.

Tarpinian, whose MorningStar team created the series, was ecstatic to share that his hit series earned a fourth season as it continues to unearth forgotten personalities larger than life, the unsung characters of the American West. According to INSP, a premiere date for season 4 will be announced later this year.

In each episode, Masterson tracks eyewitnesses who share vivid memories of events punctuated by the hardship and lawlessness these remarkable characters lived with — from fearless lawmen, entertaining personalities to vicious criminals and moments in time that showed how volatile the West was, even in mineral-rich Idaho, where the infamous 1892 Mine Wars came to life in “Wild West Chronicles” season 2. A few notable Black cowboys will get their stories told this season, as Bass Reeves and George McJunkin proved fascinating in their multifaceted reign on the range.

In a previous interview with the Press, Tarpinian described his series as “scripted true stories” in adherence to the historical facts and what happened. He said: “And all the stories are meticulously researched and recreated as the shows we create for NOVA, Discovery, and Nat Geo.”

Tarpinian and his wife Paninee Theeranuntawat’s production company is MorningStar Entertainment, where their slate of content melds education with entertainment. Their past production resume includes the 2009 cult-favorite hit “Deadliest Warrior,” for Spike TV. They have also produced “Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force” and “Mysteries Decoded” for The CW, and the top-rated specials: “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence” for History and PBS “Nova’s Hindenburg: The New Evidence.”

The Idaho Press spoke this week to Gary Tarpinian ahead of season 3 of his “Wild West Chronicles” for INSP:

You work with so many networks. Why INSP for “Wild West Chronicles”?

Gary Tarpinian: INSP network features the Western TV shows and films we grew up with, and knowing that, we went to the network and said, ‘we know everyone loves the West. We believe that people will love to hear the real stories of the West.’ So this was how we pitched ‘Wild West Chronicles.’ They asked us, ‘How can you make this show a little different than all those great shows you made for discovery, History and A&E, and Nat Geo?’

We proposed a new idea. We said, ‘Well, why don’t we eliminate the on-camera experts? We will script everything, but we will still have the same attention to detail we are known for, ensuring every fact is right. The timeline is correct. So when we tell these stories, these are the actual people and the timeline. We use them whenever we can find the exact words these historical characters have said.

We love telling these authentic stories and the real people you may have never heard of.

Season three is coming up. Which featured notables can you talk about?

Gary Tarpinian: Among them, we always like to do a Bat Masterson story because Bat’s the face of the show. And this is a true story about how he broke someone out of jail and was saved by Buffalo Bill, an old friend of his.

One episode on the third season of “Wild West Chronicles” tells the story of Annie Oakley and how Buffalo Bill felt she was getting too big for her britches.

We are doing a story on Annie Oakley, who, at a point in her career, she was the biggest star in the world. No one made more money touring. She would’ve been like Beyonce today. So she’s the biggest star in the world. But Buffalo Bill felt she was getting too big for her britches, and he wanted to put her in her place in terms and the response of her demanding more money or becoming a partner.

So he brought in a cute young girl named Lillian Smith, a trick-shot artist, to intimidate Annie, like, ‘if you don’t want to stay with me, I’ve got a younger, cuter version of you.’ So it’s a great story, and it’s all true. So we have another excellent account about Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr— aka Belle Star, and lawman Bass Reeves.

One of the best things about this series for INSP is that we get to tell the record straight and tell people stories they have yet to hear. We’ve all heard about Billy the Kid, Jesse James and Wyatt Earp. Still, we wanted to tell a story about Bass Reeves, who a lot of people, a lot of historians, believe was the most remarkable lawman of the Old West.

Still, he was hardly written about because he’s African American and he had been born into slavery. But he’s this unique story with so many significant cases that he had. And in this particular one, Belle Starr is the most notorious female outlaw in the Oklahoma territory. Still, no one can seem to touch her until finally, Judge Parker, the famous hanging judge, says to Bass, ‘can you get her?’ And he goes, ‘yes, sir.’ And he got her.

But we love doing this because people want to hear the stories they haven’t heard before. So we love talking about Bass Reeves. Another one we are very proud to bring to the audience is the accurate tale and true story of George McJunkin, another African American cowboy born into slavery who later discovered these fossilized bison bones. He became a great cowboy and is in the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

He led cattle drives with 3,000 cattle. And that was incredible and unusual at the time because he was the boss with twenty-odd white cowboys working for him. But they respected him so much. There was no question they all admired him. He taught himself science and became an amateur archaeologist and historian. He was infinitely curious. He finds these bones, and in with the bones are things that look like arrowheads. And then, he starts his investigation and discovers that these bones belong to an ice age bison that died 10,000 years ago. So at the time, most scientists, archeologists and paleontologists believed that man came across the Bering Sea to Alaska from Asia around 3000 years ago. Well, what George’s discovery did was elongate the timeline. He changed history by showing that man had come here 7,000 years before anyone had thought. Too many people don’t know that story.

What else can we expect?

Gary Tarpinian: This season, we have ‘Gold Rush Detective.’ It was about San Francisco in the 1850s, the first city in America with real detectives, not just policemen or marshals. And so what they did was import detectives from Scotland and London. So San Francisco was the first police department in America that had detectives. They were on the case to find someone that stole gold from a mining camp. So someone had to be the first detective in America. So that’s the story we’re telling there.

How much do you love telling these stories?

Gary Tarpinian: The most exciting thing is that I’ve loved history and have always been passionate about it. I was going to become a history professor until I realized everyone wants to teach history in high school. So the first thing they make you do is to teach math or science for 10 years. And those are my two worst subjects.

So I went, all right, I have got to find another way to do something with history. And I figured out, well, maybe making shows about history is the way to go, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

But these are the greatest stories of all time. They’re timeless, great stories; if you tell them correctly, people will like to hear them and watch them. But we have to be entertaining too, remember. So that’s the key.

Where do you film the series?

Gary Tarpinian: We film in Los Angeles, all over Santa Clarita, north of L.A. There are a lot of these so-called movie ranches where they have standing sets where we shoot things. And we have an art director who loves history as much as I do, and we try to ensure that everything we do regarding the look is accurate from a period standpoint.

The wardrobe has to be period. The sets, the wagons, and even the guns we use are the actual guns from that era. They weren’t made last week. We make everything as accurate as possible, adding to the show’s overall feel. There’s something timeless about the West. No other country or continent had this sort of thing where people all went west — unlike the Cossacks or Ghenghis Khan, who crossed the Asian steppes. But there’s only been one story of the American West pioneers going out, facing all this danger, and somehow persevering and helping us become this great country. It’s the story of America that we’re telling.

By April Neale

Idaho Press

Published April 2, 2023

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