Nichols

- Season 1

(1971)

1914. 18 year U.S. 7th Calvary veteran Nichols returns home to his namesake hometown, Nichols, Arizona. He finds out his mother has died and his family ranch has been taken. Right away gets into trouble and winds up becoming the sheriff.

A Mexican revolutionary, Colonel Alcazar (Ricardo Montalban), makes a unwanted stop to Nichols town with his gang. He needs to have his tooth taken out and replaced. So he holds the whole town hostage. Nichols tries to keep the peace at all costs.

Non-violent Nichols has his hands full when a Indian named "Flying Fox" comes to town claiming he owns the Ketcham's land and has the papers and deed to prove it. Ma Ketcham isn't about to give up without a fight.

An acting troupe arrives in town complete with famous diva (Joyce Van Patten). In choosing a bodyguard, Nichols picks the one man who didn't volunteer - bookworm Fred (John Rubinstein). Fred and Ketcham are both infatuated and Fred spends most of his time trying to avoid a fight with Ketcham.

Gulley and Hansen have been feuding for twenty years. When Ketcham and Mitch goad them into a gunfight to settle the matter, they go too far and things get out of hand.

Apache Juan Garcia has Ketchum, a U. S. Marshal, and others on his heels attempting to prevent the native American from hunting a big buck before the season begins. Nichols has to walk a fine line to keep the peace and somehow skirt the law too.

When Nichols learns the location of a fortune in stolen money, he assembles a gang of specialists to help him heist it.

Hoping to gain some back pay, Nichols challenges an army post from close by to a game of baseball in order to help the town's finance committee.

With Nichols away, Ketcham takes over as deputy sheriff and subsequently abuses his authoritative power, but when two thieves nearly murder him, he has a change of heart.

After an earthquake, Nichols, a young Army vet, and a mule are trapped in a cellar while three armed morons threaten them, thinking they're hiding silver.

An aging hell-raiser tries to enlist Nichols into helping with a train robbery.

When Nichols jails a man who assaulted a girl, his three violent brothers intend to get him out, not by paying the 54 dollar Bill but by agression and damages. With the town unwilling to help, Nichols considers quitting his job.

In the 1914 town of Nichols, Arizona, Sheriff Nichols tries to get to the bottom of an accusation. Ruth marries Charlie (Tom Skerritt) only to learn that is he may be already married to Caralee.

Nichols has to decide whether to return escaped prisoner Eddie Joe (Paul Winfield) back to prison where he is very popular as a prison chef or to help him escape the search of a cruel Marshal.

Nichol's Uncle Zachariah (Strother Martin) comes to town and asks him to dig up some money he had stashed before he went to prison. Nichols doesn't know Zachariah's old cellmates are also after the money.

When Nichols is mistaken for a safe cracker named Fingers, he gets involved with a plot to break into the bank and steal over $400,000 in cash the railroad is storing there.

When Kansas (Bo Hopkins) sees a story in a newspaper about the death of his old friend, Homer the prospector, along with a picture of Nichols wearing only one glove, he tracks him down. Apparently, Kansas and the late Homer have the corresponding halves of a treasure map tattooed on their hands. We see Nichols burying Homer before the opening credits. He now has a paper copy of Homer's half of the map and wants to join up with Kansas and find the hidden booty. Will Nichols' latest get rich scheme go awry like all the others?

Nichols enlists the help of an airplane pilot--who looks exactly like Ketchum--to track down a killer known as the Dutchman.

After an eccentric old woman comes to the town of Nichols claiming that in her youth she nursed a wounded Jesse James after he was shot by the cowardly Bob Ford and that the infamous outlaw is still alive, Sheriff Nichols takes a road trip on his signature motorcycle to confirm or debunk this extraordinary tale. On route he is sidelined by a con man (Jack Elam) who overhears about Nichols quest for James. Eventually, they meet the old gunslinger or do they? At one point on his road trip Nichols disguises himself as a parson. An alternate title for episode 19 is "Man ...

When professional fighter "Gentleman" George Gorman comes to town looking for a fight, Nichols sees a way to make a quick profit.

Nichols has two headaches to contend with. First, he caught a serial killer, who's known for repeatedly escaping from jail. Second, the townsfolk want to euthanize Mitch's menacing mongrel Slump, who's known for biting people.

Nichols and his biplane buddy head to Mexico to rescue an Army Captain's kidnapped daughter.

The episode begins with Nichols amiably asking a troublemaker named Quinn to pay for damages he caused in the saloon. Quinn shockingly blows him away. After Nichols' funeral the town is shocked when his identical twin brother comes to town, seeking justice,

After twenty years in a school back east Bertha's daughter is coming to town. Bertha plans to close down and become "respectable" during her daughter's visit, but instead Nichols convinces her to let him run her place while she's "gone".