DEAD MAN'S GUN

John Ritter is ""The Great Mcdonacle"" in the opening episode of the three-part pilot, a shifty trick-shooter who relies on ""smoke & mirrors"" and a little buckshot to provide a decent show, but once he gets his hands on the Dead Man's Gun he realizes he no longer needs any illusions, he's suddenly a crack shot! And when shootists come gunning for him, he has no problem dealing with them, until the Dead Man's Gun has its way!

A con man finds the Dead Man's Gun and the claim to what he believes is a barren mine, which he sells to a half-wit (Matt Frewer), but soon regrets it when the the half-wit shows up in town with gold nuggets to deposit. He quickly convinces his prey that he needs help to properly run the mine, and agrees to be 50/50 partners so long as they agree that if one dies, the survivor inherits the rest, to protect them against claim-jumpers. Of course, he intends to kill the half-wit and inherit the entire mine back, with the help of his beautiful new girlfriend, and run it with the equipment he plans to purchase using money he has gotten from the local loan-shark. Or course, the town lawyer sees right through the con man's plan and threatens not to endorse the partnership agreement unless he is cut in for a share, but the con man simply kills him. But the tables are turned on the con man when the half-wit disappears with the money intended for the mining equipment, and the loan shark get

When two brothers find the Dead Man's Gun on a skeleton, one of them develops a fascination with it and soon is forced to kill the local shootist in a duel. After this, he takes up with a gold-digging harlot, who, along with her shifty friend, urge the young man to continue on his dangerous path, despite the warnings of his older brother to give up his new way of life, and the Dead Man's Gun, before it's too late. The older brother, Will, wants to leave town, but can't leave his brother, so he gets himself a job at the general store, where he falls in love with the owner's daughter. Outlaws come gunning for his younger brother one after another, and all meet the same fate, until he finally kills a gentleman who is interested in his girlfriend. The gentleman's brothers come to town for revenge, but, since his younger brother is wounded, Will protects him by taking his chances with the Dead Man's Gun.

When Leo Sunshine discovers the Dead Man's Gun and is mistaken for a man to be feared, he decides to play along and enjoy his new-found fame. But Wild Joe knows the truth about Leo and the powers of the Dead Man's Gun, and when he catches up to him, Leo realizes that he may have bit off a lot more than he can chew.

Buryin' Sam (Larry Drake) and his partner (W. Pogue) are two dishonest morticians who steal from the dead. They soon begin to fight over their latest find, the Dead Man's Gun, and the hand of a beautiful widow. When he's found out by a widower, Sam kills him, and then, in a drunken stupor, his partner as well. But his partner swears he'll come back, and Sam starts to hear and see strange things. He can't sleep at night or enjoy sex. Sam thinks he needs only to see the body to realize it's all in his head ... or is it?

When a Highwayman comes across the Dead Man's Gun, his job becomes a lot more difficult than he ever could have imagined. His Highway now leads directly into the fires of hell.

A meek store owner seeks adventure in his life, and, after finding the Dead Man's Gun, aspires to become a bountie hunter, even though his friend the shootist tells him to get rid of the evil weapon. He, of course, does not listen, and just when he thinks he's bagged his first outlaw, he falls prey to the Dead Man's Gun.

A mysterious woman tends to get ahead in life by killing off her husbands and taking their money ... but when she comes across the Dead Man's Gun she just might get a taste of her own ""medicine"".

A faith healer arrives in town and begins bilking the people out of their money. But when he lays his hands on the Dead Man's Gun (having convinced a wife-beating, murdering scoundrel to turn his gun over and begin a new life ... little did he know the cad's REAL reason for giving up the gun!), he strangely begins healing people for real! He gets bolder and bolder, eventually killing one of the town's gentlemen in order to steal his wife, by convincing his faithful, God-fearing retarded assistant that the gentleman was evil; then he turns against his own friend and partner when he suggests they get out of town. This is a big mistake. His ex-partner figures out that the faith healer set up their retarded assistant for the man's murder, so he shows up during the faith healer's next sermon and proves that he was planning on running off with the town's church-building money, and that the retarded guy was tricked into commiting the murder. The town then REALLY turns on him when they re

When a woman doctor arrives she is faced with a serious dilemma. Will she be able to save the small town from a mysterious illness, a shady mayor, and the Dead Man's Gun?

A peace-loving man seeks revenge against the men who killed his family in this episode. But will he himself fall victim to the Dead Man's Gun in the process?

There's nothing quite like a women scorned. Kate Jackson is out for vengeance in this exciting episode, and she just might get it with the help of her new gun ... The Dead Man's Gun!

Aaron Freemont (Meat Loaf) is a lonely and awkward man, but when his mail order bride finally arrives in town he grows much happier with her, and falls in love. But when he comes across the Dead Man's Gun, will he be able to defeat the evil that comes along with it, save his new wife, and convince her to love him in return?

Will the rambling predictions of a mysterious Fortune Teller come to pass, or can a man still save himself from the clutches of the Dead Man's Gun? Of course, when you're dealing with the Dead Man's Gun, it's pretty easy to predict what's going to happen. You'll probably die.

without acknowledgement to Edgar Allen Poe's ""The Facts In The Case of M. Valdemar"", this bizarre tale is of a womanizing hypnotist who falls for the wife of a dying millionare. She persuades the hypnotist to use his talent to ease her husband's suffering. But as hubby sinks deeper and deeper into death, the hypnotist sees an opportunity to achieve fame by keeping conssciousness and motor nerves alive in a corpse, at the same time arresting decay, and creating an immortal dead man! Only after the wife finds out that she can't inherit anything as long as her husband is still considered alive, and the hypnotist finds out he can't remove the hypnotic state do things start to literally fall apart! The twist ending is particularly gruesome and ironically fitting

Marty (JoBeth Williams) is a woman stagecoach robber with a sordid past. When she comes across the Dead Man's Gun she considers using it for the evil purpose of revenge, but will she be able to sort out her past without ruining her future with a new man?

A photographer, seeking fame and fortune, discovers that action follows the Dead Man's Gun and decides to follow it to reap the benefits. But after winning aclaim for capturing an amazing picture of the execution of 14-year old outlaw ""Little Boy Dawkins"", he goes further and crosses the line ... but it's a mistake getting directly involved with the Dead Man's Gun.

Joe Wheeler is a dead man ... or is he? Either he's dead, or he's back and looking for revenge against his enemies. The lines tend to get skewed when you're dealing with the Dead Man's Gun!

When a no-good gambler comes across the Dead Man's Gun, he convinces himself that he just can't lose. But we all know that when you deal with the Dead Man's Gun, you're in for a surprise. In the biggest game of his life, the tables get turned on our gambling friend.

When his cavalry platoon is ambushed by Indians with red bandanas in a corn field, Lt. Matthew Ryan cowardly hides and watches them, including the man who saved his own life, Sgt. O'Connor, get slaughtered. After the bloodbath he picks up the Dead Man's Gun from O'Connors corpse, and heads back to the fort. Asked about what happened, he obviously lies, claiming that he heroically fought the Indians but everyone else was slaughtered despite his actions. He is believed, but when one of the troops believed dead returns to the fort and tries to tell the truth about Lt. Ryan, the commanding officer believes that the soldier himself is the one who ran off and is trying to cover his own behind. Lt. Ryan simply agrees, and watches in silence as the innocent man is hanged. He believes his ordeal is over, but the commander has one more job for him before they move out - to return to the battle site and bury the other men. He reluctantly agrees, and when they arrive and enter the field he s

When the Reverend Jeremiah Early (Tim Matheson) comes to town he plans on taking them for all the money he can and splitting, until he spots a beautiful woman. With the help of the Dead Man's Gun he does way with her man so he can have her for himself, framing his good-natured, religious, retarded assistant for the murder. In the meantime, he discovers that, while in possession of the Dead Man's Gun, he can suddenly perform real miracles and actually heal the people who come to him. But will his other assistant turn back from his evil ways and reveal the Reverend for what he really is before it's too late for the town? Of course he will, with the Dead Man's Gun.

Stuart ""Snake Finger"" Aikens (Matt Craven) is a professional safe-cracker by trade, who's had no use for a weapon until he finds the Dead Man's Gun. The Sheriff hot on his heals has no hope of catching this tricky thief, who is right under his nose, trying to get at the latest ""unbreakable"" safe through the bank owner's disinherited daughter and grandson. Using them, he gets access to the bank, but his trickery backfires when the boy locks himself in the air-tight safe. Only Snakefinger has the ability to break the child out before he suffocates, but will he blow his cover to help another person? If he does, will the Sheriff forgive him?