Season 6 of INSP’s Wild West
Chronicles is just about in the can – or on the chip, or whatever we should
be calling it now. The series examines the lives of real-life westerners, from
legends to the undeservedly obscure, through the eyes of lawman-turned-reporter
Bat Masterson. He’s portrayed by Jack Elliot, and the show is exciting,
entertaining and factually informative without being overtly educational. In
other words, you’ll have fun, and you’ll probably learn something without
intending to.
With each episode built around a
new character, Jack Elliot’s performance as Bat is the glue that holds the show
together. Beyond his notable resemblance to the real man, Elliot is engaging,
amusing, and brings an understated gravitas to the role: without showing
off, you buy him as lawman you wouldn’t want to cross. About a week ago, I
visited him on the Wild West Chronicles set, in a Western movie town
near Chatsworth, and asked him how many times he’d portrayed Bat Masterson so
far.
Henry Parke: When you started in
that role, did you think you still be playing him, six years and six seasons
later?
Jack Elliot: No. Honestly, with the
way most productions go, when we shot the pilot, I was thinking, this will
probably be the last I hear or see of this character, and these people. Then
when we got picked up, it was kind of a shocker, and then we just kept getting
picked up. So every season you kind of think it might be the last one.
Henry Parke: Because in this business, usually it is.
Jack Elliot: <laugh>. Mostly
it is, yeah. Gary (Wheeler), our E.P. (Executive Producer) is really
good about the statistics of how many shows go from season one to a season two,
and it just drops progressively as each season goes by. It's a fraction of a
percent of shows that even go to a season two, let alone a season six.
Henry Parke: Which raises the
question of why does this one keep going on? Why has Wild West Chronicles not
gone away, or jumped the shark?
Jack Elliot: For me it's just the
fact that there's so many stories from the Old West. There's so many great
characters, and moments that we can pull from. Even though it was like a 30-year
period that the Old West was going on, so much happened, so much expansion in
the United States. So many different big characters were alive. So I think just
being able to pull from so many different places has kept it going. And then
also the fans; people love this show. I get fan mail from Northern Ireland,
from all over the world. One of my favorites was a gentleman in his twenties, and he wrote, I just wanna thank you. This show is what my
grandparents and I bond over every week. We meet up on Thursday nights, we'll make dinner. We sit
down and we watch Wild West Chronicles. So thank you for giving us a
reason to get together. <laugh>. I think it kind of resonates with
people. I also think the West, especially the true stories, that is our legacy
as Americans. We haven't been around that long. So to have something that we
can all kind of pull from, it resonates with people.
Henry Parke: When people recognize
you, are there particular episodes that they want to talk about?
Jack Elliot: People love Doc Susie (Dr.
Susan Anderson) which, as you know, is what, Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman
was based on. Different episodes resonate with different people. A good friend
of mine, a pen pal when I was a kid, became an elementary school teacher in New
Orleans. She teaches history, and Wild West Chronicles has become a part
of their curriculum. She said that a lot of the kids were blown away. Some black kids in her class had no idea there were black cowboys. So
just kind of expanding people's world and what the West actually looked like,
which is a lot of different folks.
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Jack Elliot: Very much so. Because
the life he lived was so epic, if you really dive into it, which I have. He was
a renaissance man in the true sense of the word. He kept reinventing himself,
kept trying different things. And I think that's kind of inspirational to
people. It's almost too big for life. Some people can't believe, like you'd be
a cowboy, and a lawman and all of these things for 40 years, and then move to
New York, live on Broadway, write stories and hang out with Teddy Roosevelt. I
think it's a little hard for people to believe.
Henry Parke: He's bigger than life.
Jack Elliot: Truly.
Henry Parke: As you've gone along,
delving into Bat Masterson's life, what sort of things have influenced how you
play him? What things have you picked up that widen your knowledge of him?
Jack Elliot: When I grew up, one of
the things my dad and I bonded over was Westerns; we watched a lot of Western
movies. So I definitely draw from that: it's in my genes at this point, the knowledge.
As an actor, if you've got a body of material available, which Bat does, you
just kind of go through it and take as much as you can. And little pieces will
pop out. Like, oh, he was all about the truth. Oh, he really had a great moral
compass. Just little things like that you kind of pull from and put in your tool
bag as an actor. And then also, as an actor going into this, I was thinking,
Bat is the through-line of this show. How am I gonna keep it interesting? How
am I gonna be somebody that people are willing to come back to every week and
watch? It's not like, oh, here's this guy again. It's like, oh yeah, here's
that crazy uncle telling stories I can't wait to hear. You know? So for me, a
big part of it is is that had to be somebody that people could relate to, that
people found interesting and they looked forward to seeing.
Henry Parke: How about keeping it
interesting for yourself, season after season?
Jack Elliot: For me, it has been
very interesting, as an actor, to be able to sit with it, with him, for this
long. It's like putting on a pair of boots. It's riding a bike again. It really
has become part of my DNA. As an actor, I don't think you can separate yourself
from the characters fully. I think your life informs the character as much as
the character's life informs the character. So I definitely find myself having
a little less tolerance for baloney, <laugh> a little more like ‘just the
facts, ma'am,’ in my daily life. So I definitely, as the human being, Jack
Elliot, I have pulled from Bat, inadvertently. But it's been such a gift. It's
been really cool to get to know him. I've grown with Bat over the years.
Henry Parke: Over the years, as you
have gotten to know him, have you had much input into the scripts?
Jack Elliot: Yeah, actually I wrote a spec script just off the cuff a couple years ago. Because there was a character that I wanted to see portrayed in the show. And we didn't end up using that script, but it gave them an inkling that I knew what I was doing writing-wise, so they offered me a writing gig on season four. I got to actually do my research on John Wesley Harden, and then write an entire episode. I've written two now, but that's about as much input as you can ask for.
Henry Parke: You had pointed out to
me that every episode you have a different guest star you're working with. Do
you have any favorites?
Jack Elliot: You know, as a good father, you can't have any favorites, wink, wink, <laugh>. But Nicole Tompkins, who plays Doc Susie, is one of my favorites. She's been back for two or three episodes now. You know, good acting in a good scene is like sparring, like you're throwing a couple punches, they're throwing a couple punches. So to get to play with somebody like Nicole is always an absolute joy, especially when they come back multiple times. There's been quite a few actors that have come in and just kind of blown everybody's minds. Like, okay, this person is the character, and those always just make the best scenes to shoot, so much fun, because then you find little nuances in the scene. They're comfortable, they're killing it. They know their character, and then you can play with it within the scene and find nuances that you didn't even know were there.
Henry Parke: Anything interesting
coming up in the near future?
Jack Elliot: Well, I'm always
pulling and hoping for a season seven, and from the get-go, they've talked
about a Bat Masterson movie. I keep prodding them with that.
The date for the beginning of season 6 of Wild West Chronicles has not yet been announced, so keep reading the Round-up for updates!
JUNE BIRTHDAYS!
I've had the privilege of interviewing three Western film icons who celebrated birthdays in June. Here are the links to read them.
HAPPY 91ST BIRTHDAY
MONTE MARKHAM!
Here’s my interview with him from the Lone Pine Film Festival!https://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2025/06/happy-90th-birthday-monte-markham-heres.html
HAPPY 86TH BIRTHDAY TO
MARIETTE HARTLEY!
Here's my True West interview with her!
https://www.truewestmagazine.com/article/hartley-of-the-west/
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON WOULD’VE TURNED 90!
Here’s my True West tribute to the
Rhodes Scholar-turned music and movie legend, and my interview with him on the
set of his final Western, HICKOK. That’s where I also shot the picture of him
and his wife, Lisa Marie Meyers.
https://www.truewestmagazine.com/article/kris-kristofferson-a-texan-at-oxford/
AND THAT'S A WRAP!
Please check out the July/August 2026 issue of True West! The cover story by Stuart Rosebrook is When Willie and Waylon Saved Our Country, and my film column, Willie and the Outlaws, takes a look at the Western movies that Waylon and Willie and Kris and Johnny made.
Much obliged,
Henry
All Original Content Copyright June 2026 by Henry C. Parke. All Rights Reserved. Not to be used for A.I. Training.
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