Series regulars or semi-regulars in 'Nichols' from 1970-1982:
- James Garner as Nichols (1971-1972)
- John Beck as Ketcham (1971-1972)
- Margot Kidder as Ruth (1971-1972)
- Neva Patterson as Ma Ketcham (1971-1972)
- Stuart Margolin as Mitch (1971-1972)
1970-1982 Episode Guide for 'Nichols':
(Episodes with dates prior to 1970 aired as reruns.)
Season 1, episode 1
W: Frank Pierson D: Frank R. Pierson
With Paul Hampton (Johnson), John Harding (Salter), John Quade (Scully One), Wayne Heffley (Team Leader), Owen Bush (Conductor), Harry Hickox (Commanding Officer).
James Garner stars as a former cavalry officer who is conned into becoming sheriff of an unruly Arizona town in 1914. He doesn't want to be a lawman, hates violence and doesn't carry a gun. In the opening episode, Nichols returns to the town of Nichols (founded by his family) and finds it controlled by a tough and powerful rancher.
Season 1, episode 2
W: Shimon Wincelberg D: Frank R. Pierson
With Ricardo Montalban (Col. Alcazar), Armand Alzamora (Raoul), Stefan Gierasch (Doc Bernstein), Wayne Heffley (Cavalry Major), Barbara Collentine (Charlotte), Vernon Weddle (Reporter), John Harding (Salter), James Lee Reeves (Fearless).
A notorious Mexican guerrilla leader takes over the town of Nichols while having emergency dental work done. Sheriff Nichols is hard pressed to keep local hotheads from starting a small war with the outlaw.
Season 1, episode 3
W: Robert Foster, Theodore J. Flicker D: Frank R. Pierson
With Michael Tolan (Flying Fox), James Greene (Lou Feeney), Judson Pratt (Trencher), Britt Leach (Clerk), Richard Bull (Thatcher), Eddie Quillan (Agent), William Paterson (Perkins).
When an Indian produces an old deed claiming title to the Ketchum ranch, sheriff Nichols and Ma differ sharply over whether she will give up the property.
Season 1, episode 4
W: Bill Wood D: Paul Bogart
With John Rubinstein (Fred Buckerman), Joyce Van Patten (Arletta McGreevy), Tracy Bogart (Susan), Ray Reinhardt (Duffield), James Beach (Bob Sanders), James Lee Reeves (Fearless).
Sheriff Nichols is forced to put on extra deputies when a famous actress comes to town.
Season 1, episode 5
W: Shimon Wincelberg D: Frank R. Pierson
With Robert Gist (Gulley), Charles McGraw (Hansen), Joe Brown (Minister), Jack Garner (Van Vechten), M. Emmet Walsh (Gabe McCutcheon).
Two aging gunfighters are goaded into a fight despite efforts by Nichols to dissuade them.
Season 1, episode 6
W: Shimon Wincelberg, Frank Pierson D: William Wiard
With Ray Danton (Juan), Gene Evans (Durand), William Bramley (Hemmings), Ted Gehring (Henry), James Lee Reeves (Fearless), Claudio Martinez (Juanito), Joanie Larson (Martha).
Nichols is hard-pressed to prevent trouble when Ketchum and an Apache clash over the Indian's right to hunt deer.
Season 1, episode 7
W: Frank Pierson, George Kirgo D: Frank R. Pierson
With Ralph Waite (Sam Burton), Don Keefer (Burt Lincoln), Michael Baseleon (Willy Brownfur), Henry Beckman (Murphy), Charles Dierkop (Nose), Robert F. Simon (Slade), Poupee Bocar (Carmen), Stefan Gierasch (Doc Bernstein), John Harding (Salter), John Crawford (Marshall).
When Nichols recruits a rugged band of crime specialists to recover stolen money from a fugitive living in Mexico, Ketcham becomes curious and decides to tag along, threatening the sheriff's plans.
Season 1, episode 8
W: Bud Freeman D: Peter Tewksbury
With Med Flory (Cyrus), Wayne Heffley (Major Duncan), Don Newcombe (George Henry), William Christopher (Niles), Richard Bull (Thatcher), M. Emmet Walsh (Gabe McCutcheon), Paul Hampton (Johnson), E.J. Andre (Hargut), Moosie Drier (Brother), Sarah Fankboner (Fan).
Sheriff Nichols tries to raise money for the town treasury by arranging a baseball game between a local group and an Army team.
Season 1, episode 9
W: Robert Foster, Gene L. Coon D: Peter Tewksbury
With John Harding (Salter), M. Emmet Walsh (Gabe McCutcheon), Clifford David (Billings), Alan Oppenheimer (Averrel), Hoke Howell (Ernie), Stefan Gierasch (Doc Bernstein), E.J. Andre (Ed Hargut), James Beach (Bob Sanders), James Lee Reeves (Fearless).
When sheriff Nichols leaves town for a week, Ketcham is appointed acting deputy sheriff and goes on a law and order spree.
Season 1, episode 10
W: Juanita Bartlett D: Robert Butler
With Alice Ghostley (Bertha), William Christopher (Niles), Barbara Collentine (Charlotte), Karl Lukas (Harry Carmichael), Gale Dixon (Lucinda), Eve Bruce (Hazel), Buck Kartalian (Samuel).
Sheriff Nichols becomes a saloon keeper in a desperate effort to raise his share to go into a "sure fire" business venture.
Season 1, episode 11
W: Jack Curtis, Bob Foster D: Gerd Oswald
With Kristoffer Tabori (Frankie), Walter Burke (Hartford), Roy Jenson (Bull), Rayford Barnes (Axel), Jerry Summers (Fred), Lillian Bronson (Old Lady).
During a hunt for silver in an old mining town, Nichols finds himself trapped in a ramshackle mansion with a strange young man and his mule.
Season 1, episode 12
W: Ken Kolb, Jack Curtis, George Kirgo D: Ivan Dixon
With Steve Forrest (Sam Yeager), Stefan Gierasch (Doc Bernstein), Richard Yniguez (Casado), William Paterson (Perkins), John Daheim (Detective).
Sheriff Nichols tries to keep an old Army buddy from robbing a train in order to finance an invasion of revolution-torn Nicaragua.
Season 1, episode 13
W: Buck Houghton D: Daniel Haller
With Jesse Vint (Charlie Springer), Bill Vint (Springer Brother), Alan Vint (Springer Brother), Catlin Adams (Mabel Zimmerman), Paul Hampton (Johnson), Robert Gist (Gulley), Richard Bull (Thatcher), John Harding (Salter), Robert Gibbons (Dentist).
Sheriff Nichols has his hands full when three tough brothers decide to break up the town after the girlfriend of one of them provokes an argument.
Season 1, episode 14
W: Ben Masselink D: Gerald Mayer
With Tom Skerritt (Charley Doyle), Gerald S. O'Loughlin (Roarke), Susan Tyrell (Caralee), John Harding (Salter), Barbara Collentine (Charlotte), Joe Brown (Preacher).
Nichols has mixed emotions when Ruth returns from a trip with a strange fiancee. Nichols is further upset when an angry father arrives with violence in mind.
Season 1, episode 15
W: William Wood, Frank Pierson D: John Badham
With Warren Vanders (Pel DeCarlo), James Daris (Curtiss), Paul Winfield (Eddie Joe), Lou Frizzell (Warden), Scatman Crothers (Jack), Jester Hairston (Melville), Eric Laneuville (Stove Boy).
A New Orleans jazz funeral scene staged and performed by Dixieland great Joe Darinsbourg highlights tonight's episode in which Nichols helps the local chef escape a posse after he's disclosed to be an escaped murderer.
Season 1, episode 16
W: Juanita Bartlett D: Ivan Dixon
With Strother Martin (Zachariah), Marc Lawrence (Prouty), Barry Cahill (Logan), Barbara Collentine (Charlotte), Luis Delgado (Customer), Edward Faulkner (Randall).
Nichols' larcenous Uncle Zachariah arrives in town with $32,000 and two former cellmates hot on his heels.
Season 1, episode 17
W: Frank Pierson, Ben Masselink D: John Badham
With Orwin Harvey (Ray), Jennifer Gan (Gloria), Chuck Hicks (Steve), Liam Dunn (Fingers), William Christopher (Niles), Noam Pitlik (Jack Stone), Ted Gehring (Railroad Executive), Regis Cordic (Tyler).
Nichols, with his usual heroic stand, decides that discretion is the better part of valor and aids in a bank robbery when he's mistaken for a safecracker by a gang of thieves.
Season 1, episode 18
W: Frank Telford, Juanita Bartlett D: Ivan Dixon
With Bo Hopkins (Kansas), Dabbs Greer (Harrigan), Jonathan Lippe (Ralph), Luis Delgado (Luis), William Christopher (Niles), Barbara Collentine (Charlotte), Harvey Johnson (Samuel Bookman), Duncan McLeod (Scrody).
Nichols, lured by the smell of gold, gets involved in a shady gold-mine venture and finds himself faced with a howling mob of angry townspeople.
Season 1, episode 19
W: Robert Foster, Buck Houghton D: Ivan Dixon
With Richard Bull (Thatcher), Chuck Hicks (Dutchman), Val Avery (Jasper), John Crawford (Sergeant Kessler), John Harding (Salter), Jack Garner (Van Vechten), M. Emmet Walsh (Gabe McCutcheon), Richard Stahl (Doc).
Nichols enlists the aid of a luckless barnstorming pilot to locate the hideout of a gang of cutthroats.
Season 1, episode 20
W: James L. Henderson, Samuel Roeca D: William Wiard
With Jack Elam (Marcus A.F. Baxter), Charles McGraw (Jesse James), Fran Ryan (Minnie Dowd), Vincent Van Patten (Grover), Dort Clark (Sheriff), Rance Howard (Deputy), Paul Brinegar (Gaffer), Frank Bonner (Gruber), Charles Knapp (Turpin), Dennis Robertson (Kenneth).
An itinerant con man complicates Nichols' hunt for badman Jesse James.
Season 1, episode 21
W: Marion Hargrove D: William Wiard
With Ray Young (Ernest Hagenstad), Ed Flanders (Harlan B. Flanders), H.B. Haggerty (Gentleman George), Luis Delgado (Luis), Richard Stahl (Doc Bernstein), Harvey Parry (Referee), Florence Lake (Old Lady).
Nichols runs into problems when he helps a fast-talking promoter arrange a heavily-wagered boxing match between a clean-living farm boy and an itinerant professional pugilist.
Season 1, episode 22
W: Bud Freeman D: Anton M. Leader
With Lou Wagner (McKeever), Kelly Thordsen (Jacob Klaus), M. Emmet Walsh (Gabe McCutcheon), John Harding (Salter), Richard Bull (Thatcher), Nora Marlowe (Mrs. Goudge), Olan Soule (Mr. Goudge), Barbara Collentine (Charlotte), Iler Rasmussen (Hector Klaus).
Nichols discovers it's easier to capture than keep a notorious killer-escape artist, especially when Mitchell's dog is on the side of the lawbreaker.
Season 1, episode 23
W: Robert Foster D: Frank R. Pierson
With Priscilla Garcia (Juanita), Jay Varela (Sin Lingua), Ramon Bieri (Cutler), Rayford Barnes (Ellsberg), Val Avery (Jasper), Allyn Ann McLerie (Maggie).
Nichols and barnstorming pilot Orv fly to Mexico on a search for an Army captain's daughter, supposedly kidnapped by revolutionaries.
Season 1, episode 24
W: Juanita Bartlett D: Jeremy Kagan
With Anthony Zerbe (Quinn), Marge Redmond (Juanita), Russ McCubbin (Donnie), John Quade (Zeb), Luis Delgado (Luis), John Harding (Salter), Ray Pourchot (Porky), Chester Grimes (Chuey), Buck Kartalian (Samuel).
The last first-run episode of the season (and of the series -- Nichols will not return in the fall) finds Nichols getting killed trying to arrest a bully during a brawl. Nichols' look-alike brother arrives for the funeral and sets out to apprehend the killer.