| Genre: | Western children's comedy |
| Based On: | Characters created by Riders in the Sky |
| Director: | Gary Halvorson |
| Starring: | Riders in the Sky (band) |
| Narrated: | George McGrath |
| Country: | United States |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 13 |
| Producer: | Chris Plourde, George McGrath, Alan Sacks |
| Location: | CBS Studio Center |
| Editor: | Robert S. Douglas |
| Network: | CBS |
Riders in the Sky is an American live-action, animated children's television series starring Western comedy band Riders in the Sky. It aired on CBS in 1991.
Riders in the Sky was originally pitched as a sitcom in which the Riders moved from a frontier town in the American west to Hollywood, California, with most of the humor of the series coming from the trio being "fish out of water". The idea was unappealing to television executives due to the premise sounding too similar to that of The Beverly Hillbillies, and the show was passed on. Later, producer Alan Sacks developed the idea of a children's show starring the Riders and pitched it to CBS executives, who after seeing the Riders perform, were immediately interested.
CBS assigned George McGrath to write the series, although Sacks would later say, "that was a big mistake, we should have had the Riders writing."[1] The series began taping on July 17 and wrapped up on September 14, 1991, the same day it premiered.
See main article: Harmony Ranch. A few weeks before the series premiered, Riders in the Sky released Harmony Ranch, their second children's album and their first on the Columbia Records label. The album features characters from the show on the cover and takes its name from the Riders' home in the series.
The series has never been officially released on any home media, either physical or digital, due to rights issues. This was revealed while answering a question for the "Youth Wants To Know" article on the Riders in the Sky website, with "Ranger Doug" Green stating that "far too many people have a little piece of that series to make a video viable".[3]