THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
by Terry Kelleher

With hits like Gunsmoke and Rawhide, CBS did mighty well by boots and saddles four decades ago. Today, The Magnificent seven tries to carry on the network's Old West tradition all by itself. Loosely based on the 1960 movie of the same name, the series returned last month after an eight-episode ride in 1998. It's still an unabashed throwback --what foldks used to call a shoot-'em-up. Michael Biehn (Tombstone) leads a group of gunslingers, including a bounty hunter (Eric Close), a ladies' man (Dale Midkiff), a con artist (Anthony Starke), and ex-priest (Ron Perlaman), an eager youth (Andrew Kavovit) and a former slave (Rick Worthy).
They're hired to protect a town whose only obvious attraction is the gorgeous newpaper deitor (Laurie Holden). Speaking of appearances, six of the Seven are blessed with conventionally handsome faces (too often shadowed by huge hats). Only Perlman (Beauty and the Beast) has interestingly irregular features. When this western mostly stays on one story trail --as in the two-parter of Feb. 12 and 19, which finds the Seven guarding a wagon train-- it offers decent entertainment for fans of the genre. When subplots proliferate (in one episode, Close narrowly escaped lynching, while Starke feuded with his mother, and Midkiff sweated over a paternity claim), you may wish the Seven would shrink to a more manageable Two or Three.