The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., often referred to as just Brisco or Brisco County, is an American western television series created by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse, which ran for 27 episodes on the Fox network starting in the Fall 1993 season. Bruce Campbell played the title character, a Harvard-educated lawyer-turned-bounty hunter, who is hired by a group of wealthy industrialists to track and capture John Bly and his gang. Brisco is joined by a colorful group of supporting characters, including Julius Carry as bounty hunter Lord Bowler and Christian Clemenson as stick-in-the-mud lawyer Socrates Poole.
Cuse and Boam intended The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. to be an action-adventure with a modern tone. Anachronisms and pop culture references were intentionally inserted into the series.[2] They wanted the show to be family friendly, so gratuitous violence was minimized, in favor of having the character of Brisco think his way out of dangerous situations. Boam said, In the two-hour pilot Brisco doesn't even once have to shoot his gun. Our violence is cartoonish. There is no pain and suffering. [5]
Bruce Campbell went through five auditions for the role of Brisco County, Jr. before he was hired. In his first audition with the casting director, Campbell decided to spontaneously do a standing flip. The stunt impressed the casting director so much that during each subsequent audition, Campbell was asked to do the flip again. In his final audition, Campbell assured the network executives that if hired for the role, he would work hard to make the show a success.[7] In an interview, Campbell said, It's every actor's dream to play a cowboy, so when this opportunity came up, I mean, yeah, where do I sign? Carleton Cuse said getting Campbell was just one of those collisions between an actor and a script that was just perfect…I can't imagine Brisco having ever existing without him. [2]
Christian Clemenson went to school with Carlton Cuse, but still went through the normal audition channels to get the part of Socrates Poole. Because of the long time commitments involved, Clemenson was apprehensive about pursuing one of the lead roles in a television show. He decided to go for Brisco, saying, The similarities between this show and The Wild Wild West, and my character to that show's Artemus Gordon, was an important hook for me. It was one of my favorite shows growing up, and as soon as I saw that Brisco County was based on the same kind of material and attitude as that show, I called my agent and said, 'I'll do anything I have to do to get this. [9]
