Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (TV series)

Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
Richard Simmons as Sergeant Preston with Yukon King, 1955
Created by	George W. Trendle Fran Striker
Starring	Richard Simmons
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	78
Production
Running time	22–24 minute
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	September 29, 1955 – September 25, 1958

Sergeant Preston of the Yukon was an American drama adventure television series, broadcast between 1955 and 1958. It was based on the radio drama Challenge of the Yukon.

Richard Simmons starred as Sgt. Preston, and was supported by his dog Yukon King and horse Rex, now played by real animals. The dog cast as King was not a husky, however, but a large Alaskan Malamute. Charles Livingstone, who had worked on the radio version, directed several episodes. Though no plotlines seem to have been re-used from the radio show, they were generally built upon the same themes.

Mainly filmed at Ashcroft, Colorado, the series was telecast on CBS from September 29, 1955, to September 25, 1958. The first two seasons were produced by Trendle-Campbell-Meurer, and the show was broadcast in the same time slot as ABC's The Lone Ranger. In its last season, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon was purchased and produced by the Jack Wrather Corporation.

Following a custom of the period, the show took its theme music from the classical repertoire, in this case the overture to Emil von Reznicek's comic opera Donna Diana.

Don Sherwood adapted the series into a comic book series, with scripts by Stan Stunell.

In 1955, the Quaker Oats company gave away land in the Klondike as part of the Klondike Big Inch Land Promotion which was tied in with the television show. Genuine deeds each to one square inch of a lot in Yukon Territory, issued by Klondike Big Inch Land Co. Inc., were inserted into Quaker's Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice cereal boxes.