Following Paramount's effort at backstorying "Yellowstone" with "1883" and "1923," the CW expands the "Walker, Texas Ranger" universe with "Walker: Independence." Mashing up the Lone Ranger origin story a bit, apparent Walker matrilineal antecedent Abby Davidson (Katherine McNamara) and her police officer husband Tom are traveling west post-Civil War to escape corruption in Boston and start anew in Independence, Texas. Parking their wagon (improbably toting a large piano) for a romantic interlude proves fatal for Tom, who is shot by an outlaw who goes to assume Tom's new job as Sheriff of Independence; Abby starts on a quest to secure justice for her late spouse, and the genesis of the 21st-century Walker persona is launched. McNamara looks poised to lead the cast as a modernized equivalent of Barbara Stanwyck in "The Big Valley" (1965-69), though an Irish immigrant overlay on her character would have been a nice touch. And, the demands of network tv take the inevitable toll on the authenticity of the female roles - just as "Big Valley's" actresses looked like they sprang from the front cover of "McCall's," WI's female cast gives the vibe of having dropped by from the "Riverdale" set. Outlaw ally Hoyt Rawlins (Matt Barr) seems a bit too refined as a believable gunslinger, but he could weather well. He may be the Walker patriarch, but his current Latina love interest may have to be sidetracked for that to come about. The Independence set can't get away from the little town in the middle of nowhere vibe so many Westerns display; it would take little trouble to show a road junction, river crossing, mining operation or other indicator that most Western towns were founded upon. On the scale of general authenticity, Independence clocks in midway between the storybook set of "Gunsmoke's" (1955-75) Dodge City and the more realistic rough-hewn world of "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (1971). Post-Appomattox the real Independence was a substantial place hosting Baylor University, and more creative writing might have worked that in. A Native American component is introduced early, though inexplicably a band of too-far-East Apaches are pressed into service; a quick read of "Empire of the Summer Moon" (2010) would have provided a wealth of good stories about the more regionally-correct Texas Comanches. New Mexico filming locations stand in for what is ostensibly West Texas, though Independence is located in the somewhat more verdant Austin area. Since CBS pulled the plug on Gunsmoke in 1975, the Western (largely due to genre exhaustion and storyline repetition) has struggled to get back on the small screen; cable production, direct to video, and greater reliance on general 19th-century drama have enjoyed mixed success in reinvigorating the form. Perhaps the prequel approach to the modern era shows will prove of value in continuing a line of dramatization extending back to James Fenimore Cooper.

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