Before he was snapping fingers as Thanos or outrunning the cartel in Sicario, Josh Brolin was just a kid in a cowboy hat trying to keep a horse from stepping on his toes. Most people look at Brolin now and see this gritty, Oscar-nominated powerhouse who seems like he was born with that deep, gravelly voice. But if you grew up in the late '80s or early '90s, you remember him differently. You remember him as Jimmy Hickok.
That was the name of his character on The Young Riders, a show that somehow managed to be both a teen heartthrob factory and a surprisingly dark Western. It aired on ABC from 1989 to 1992.
The Wild Bill Nobody Expected
People often forget that Josh Brolin in The Young Riders wasn't just playing some random farmhand. He was playing the legendary Wild Bill Hickok. Or, rather, a very young, very hot-headed version of him.
The show’s premise was simple: a group of young orphans and misfits working for the Pony Express in Sweetwater, Nebraska. It was essentially Young Guns but for the small screen. Brolin’s Jimmy was the resident "bad boy." He had a temper that could set the prairie on fire. Honestly, looking back at those episodes, you can see the seeds of the intense actor he’d eventually become. While his co-star Stephen Baldwin—who played a young Buffalo Bill Cody—was doing the charming, smirking routine, Brolin was often brooding in the corner of the frame.
He played Jimmy for 67 episodes. That's a lot of time in the saddle.
Interestingly, Brolin wasn't just acting the part of a ranch hand. He actually grew up on a horse ranch in California’s Central Coast. When he got the part, he didn't need "cowboy camp" as much as some of the other guys did. He already knew how to handle a horse. But the show wasn't just about riding. It tackled some heavy stuff for a Saturday night slot: racism, the impending Civil War, and the brutal reality of life on the frontier.
Why the Show Actually Mattered
There's a misconception that The Young Riders was just fluff. It wasn't. While it certainly leveraged the "hunk" status of its cast, the writing didn't shy away from the dirt.
The Real Connections
- Mentor Figures: Anthony Zerbe played Teaspoon Hunter, the eccentric station chief. Zerbe became a real-life mentor to Brolin, even helping him with stage roles in New York during the off-season.
- Diverse Stories: The show introduced Noah Dixon (played by Don Franklin) in the second season. This allowed the series to dive into the systemic racism of the 1860s, a move that was pretty bold for a network Western at the time.
- Hidden Identities: Yvonne Suhor played Lou McCloud, a woman who disguised herself as a boy just to get a job as a rider.
Brolin has mentioned in recent interviews, specifically with Cowboys & Indians, that his time filming in Tucson, Arizona, was transformative. He spent a lot of time with the local indigenous communities there. He’s said that those experiences stuck with him long after the cameras stopped rolling, influencing his perspective on Western history.
The "Death Pit" and the End of the Ride
The show was a massive hit at first. It lived in the Top 10 ratings during its first year on Thursday nights. Then, the network moved it to the Saturday night "death pit."
If you know TV history, you know that’s where shows go to die. Ratings dipped, and by 1992, the Pony Express stopped running. Brolin didn't immediately jump into movie stardom after that. In fact, he’s been very open about the fact that he struggled for nearly two decades after his early success in The Goonies and The Young Riders. He even spent a few years as a full-time stock trader because the acting gigs weren't paying the bills.
He didn't "make it" again until No Country for Old Men in 2007. That’s a long time to wait.
The Legacy of Jimmy Hickok
Why does this show still have a cult following? Maybe because it was the last of its kind before Westerns went extinct on network TV for a while. Or maybe it’s because it’s fun to see a young Josh Brolin before he became the face of "Serious Cinema."
If you’re a fan of his later work like Outer Range, you owe it to yourself to find some old clips of him in The Young Riders. He’s leaner, his hair is much more "1980s feathered," but that intensity in his eyes? That hasn't changed a bit.
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Actionable Insights for Fans
- Where to Watch: Look for the show on sub-channels like INSP or streaming services that specialize in classic TV. It’s rarely on the big platforms like Netflix.
- Read the Memoir: Brolin recently released a memoir called From Under the Truck. He talks about his wild childhood and the struggles of his early career. It gives great context to his mindset during the Young Riders years.
- Spot the Cameos: Keep an eye out for guest stars. Everyone from a young Chris Rock to Brian Keith popped up in Sweetwater at some point.
The show might be over thirty years old, but for Josh Brolin, those three years in the Nebraska territory (or, well, the Arizona desert) were the foundation of everything that came after.