(episode 2.19) Anne Lockhart – Maureen (episodes 2.6, 7) Barbara Mandrell – Gilda St. Clair (episode 5.04) Colm Meaney – Jake Slicker (pilot) Richard Moll – John (episodes 3.06, 3.28, 3.29) Willie Nelson – Marshall Elias Burch (episodes 5.09, 6.19) Ivory Ocean – Robert E. (pilot) David Ogden Stiers – Theodore Quinn (episode 5.15) Tom Poston – Mysterious 'Dead Man' (episode 2.03) Andrew Prine – Thaddeus Birch (episode 1.09) Fred Rogers – Reverend Thomas (episode 4.19) Kenny Rogers – Daniel Watkins (episode 1.16) Richard Roundtree – 'Barracuda' Jim Barnes (episode 6.21) Hal Sparks – Gentle Horse (episode 3.14) Nick Tate – Martin 'Avishominis' Chesterfield (episode 6.18) Travis Tritt – Zachary Brett (episode 4.14) Casper Van Dien – Jesse (episodes 3.3, 4) Ray Walston – Lucius Slicker (episode 5.08) Craig Wasson – Julius Hoffman (episode 2.18) Jane Wyman – Elizabeth Quinn (episode 1.03) Trisha Yearwood – Choir Director (episode 3.10) Episodes Production Production notes The pilot episode was shot in early 1992 and aired in a two-hour television special on New Year's Day 1993. CBS aired a second, hour-long episode the next night in order to attract and maintain the audience's attention. The pilot served more as a made-for-television movie – or mini-series suggestion – which could either be developed later into a full series or remain as a stand-alone two-hour movie. CBS ordered the show picked up immediately for the full season. However, the show made some imperative casting changes. Several pilot leads and a few of the supporting cast were replaced. Henry Sanders was recast as Robert E. in place of Ivory Ocean as a less folksy hard-nosed working man; Orson Bean replaced Guy Boyd as a more fatherly, cynically-comical Loren Bray; and Colm Meaney was replaced by Jim Knobeloch, a much younger, attractive, and contemptuously stoic Jake Slicker. Likewise, Larry Sellers's character, a Cheyenne brave called Black Hawk (listed under the closing credits as such) who played an auxiliary role as one of Chief Black Kettle's aides and spoke only their language, was quietly retooled into Cloud Dancing, Sully's blood brother and a major recurring character, who, in addition to aiding Black Kettle, plays a large role in quelling the tribulations of the Cheyenne and other neighboring tribes. He also acquired the ability to speak English, allowing him to act as a liaison alongside Sully. His character's name was never spoken on-screen during his first appearance, which can