This newfangled Western craze that studio executives insist is happening has thus far resulted in more than half a dozen pilots set in the lawless late 19th century, all seemingly the result of an accidental surplus of horses sent to Hollywood backlots. “Who the hell ordered 5,000 horses?” some studio chief no doubt said, his knuckles whitening as he gripped the invoice. “Do you morons have any idea how many Westerns we’re going to have to make now?” Recently added to that ever-growing list is a Fox drama from The Shield writer John Hlavin and Cowboys And Aliens producers Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci—who seem to have definitively proved this summer that, no, we’re not having a Western craze, but whatever—that tells, again, the story of Wyatt Earp, hitting highlights such as the famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral as well as his lesser-known adventures, such as that time he just spent a weekend working on his shed. And in addition to being one of the many, many Westerns on their way to the small screen, it’s also one of many, many Wyatt Earp-related projects currently in the works, including one where he polices a post-apocalyptic America, one where he fights magical shamans to rescue Sitting Bull’s daughter, and another where Harrison Ford looks vaguely pissed off while fighting Al Capone in Prohibition-era New York. Look, it’s either this, or they start slaughtering horses. It’s the humane decision.
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