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The Life of Riley

Episode 2

Cobblestones (test pilot #2)

Jim recruits Harmon and Oz to cobble together a plan for a long overdue project.

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The Life of Riley

Cobblestones-Full Episode Apr 18, 2016

Trailers / Free Content

Episode 1

Country Scholars - Etiquette

Young scholars visit Riley's Farm and learn a few things about 18th century etiquette.

Trailers / Free Content

Ep 1 - Country Scholars Feb 6, 2016

Trailers / Free Content

Episode

Fall Afternoon with Jim Tavaré & The Bost Family Traditions

It's a foot stompin' good time when Jim Riley is joined at the Old Wilshire packing shed by British actor, comedian and Courage cast member Jim Tavaré, his wife Laura and the Bost Family Traditions bluegrass band.

Trailers / Free Content

Fall Afternoon - Tavaré Oct 1, 2015

Tavern Talk

Episode 6

Richard Hanna - Part 2

In part 2, Mr. Hanna talks with Jim more about his service in World War II, whether we should have dropped the bomb, his postwar days as a tommy gun-toting adventurer and the current threats to American freedom.

Tavern Talk

Richard Hanna - Part 2 Aug 25, 2015

Tavern Talk

Episode 6

Richard Hanna - Part 1

World War II veteran and longtime friend Richard Hanna drops by the Hawk's Head Tavern to talk with Jim about growing up during the Great Depression and his service in the war.

Tavern Talk

Richard Hanna - Part 1 Aug 5, 2015

Ballad Mongers — A Free DVD Offer

In the 18th century, traveling minstrel pitch men would stand on a perch at fairs and musters and sing a song.   If the country folk took a fancy to the the tune he sold them a copy printed on a broadside. We need some ballad mongers. Do you have a platform? Are you up on the soap box quite […]

A Year Making It, A Year Yelling About It

Yesterday (and this morning) have been sort of hopping on the distribution front. We have a European network interested.  (They all speak English over there, unlike here in the states) Ben Shapiro, the guy who was the youngest syndicated columnist in America at age 16 and who graduated from Harvard Law at 23 years old, […]

Thinking Outloud about Distribution Again

Next week, we’ll have a few meetings with “channel” distributors so I’m just writing this all down to see if I understand it: 

Clothing the Past

As I sit down to write this post, I think of the title I have been given in regards to this show: Costumer. And while we are indeed creating costumes, to take us back to a time and place little known to us, we are creating the clothing that these people wore all the time. […]

The Press

Like any profession, the media has its share of rogues and whores.   A few years ago, a production company came out here (Riley’s Farm) and promised us they intended to film a simple reality show featuring a family who loved visiting our farm.   That was just about the last true statement they made in our brief history […]

When Evil Wears Good Manners

If Courage, New Hampshire, were, well, Courage, Virginia, we might have a more flamboyant royal governor for the show, but this being New Hampshire in 1770, we have one John Wentworth (right) to study, and he’s just that — an interesting study.  The enemies of the Wentworth family, in New Hampshire, called his extended kin “The […]

Executions and Hangings 1769

A trip through the New Hampshire Gazette, starting with December, 1768, including a report, in some detail, on the hanging and burning of Susannah Lott “..Last week a Court-Martial was held on board His Majesty’s Ship Mermaid, for the Trial of some Sailors for Desertion;  two were sentenced to be flogged from Ship to Ship, & another […]