One Of Hulu's First Ever Shows Was A Western Comedy Created By A Star Trek Star

"Star Trek: Voyager" introduced Nancy Hower's Ensign Samantha Wildman in the fourth episode of the show's second season, "Elogium" (which first aired in 1995). Described as a xenobiology expert during her introduction, the character was named after Samantha Wildman, a real-life young girl who, after dying in a tragic accident, had donated life-saving organs to co-writer Jimmy Diggs' wife. Hower's character would go on to give birth to her daughter, Naomi, in the 1996 episode "Deadlock," which was a dramatic wrinkle for "Voyager." Recall that the premise of the series was that the U.S.S. Voyager was lost in space, 70 years from Earth. This meant Wildman's daughter — who was half human and half Ktarian — would have to be raised in space. 

Naomi was the one who ended up playing a major role on the show (as a young girl, Naomi was portrayed by Scarlett Pomers), while Samantha only appeared in eight episodes total. She didn't have much of a character arc, either, other than she had to balance being a parent with being a Starfleet officer. After the second season of "Voyager," she only popped up once per season, all the way through season 6. 

Hower, meanwhile, would go on to have a much more fascinating career outside of the "Star Trek" franchise, mostly in the music industry. For example, she was the frontwoman and songwriter of the alternative rock bands WENCH and STELLA, even opening for Meat Loaf once. She also played Yitzak in a 2001 production of the famous rock musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and wrote several stage musicals and indie films throughout the early 2000s (with her credits including "The Wizard of Id," "City Limits," and the Enron biopic "Memron"), in addition to co-creating the sketch comedy series "10 Items or Less." "Voyager" was a visible gig for Hower, but she was always busy. 

Then, in 2013, Hower teamed up with actor John Lehr to create "Quick Draw," a comedy/Western TV series that incorporated a lot of improvisation to boot. Fun trivia: "Quick Draw" was also the first original, full-length scripted comedy series distributed by Hulu.

"Quick Draw" was cut from the same cloth as 1990s-era Western/comedy shows like "Legend," "Jack of All Trades," and "The Adventures of Brisco Country, Jr." Its main character was Sheriff John Henry Hoyle (Lehr), a recent Harvard graduate who moves to the small Western town of Great Bend, Kansas, to become the sheriff. Hoyle is a city boy, unaccustomed to the wilds of Kansas, and he introduces the locals to the idea of forensics in the hopes of using science to capture dangerous rustlers.

With a premise like that, "Quick Draw" could have been an earnest historical investigation show, but Hower and Lehr opted for broad comedy. The Hoyle character was whiny and silly, and everyone in town hated him. The series' language was modern and colloquial, and a lot of its humor was derived from Lehr's comedic social awkwardness. As the show's tagline put it, "It takes a brave man to be this clueless."

The series ran, perhaps surprisingly, for more than a single season. Recall that Disney had yet to acquire a majority stake in Hulu in 2013 (that wouldn't happen until 2019), and it was branching out for the first time. It even announced "Quick Draw" and a second original series, "The Awesomes," at the same time. Although it wasn't a "Ted Lasso"-sized hit, "Quick Draw" was the show that Hulu chose to invest in, allowing it to run for 18 episodes over the course of its two seasons.

"Quick Draw" also aired an additional eight mid-season "webisodes," which were released exclusively online and were straightforward mixology classics hosted by Lehr and a real bartender named Lavinia Webb. The mixology episodes taught the viewer how to create genuine 19th-century cocktails. Lehr tried to joke around with Webb, but she would have none of it.

"Quick Draw" sauntered off the airwaves in October of 2014, instantly becoming an oddity in the Hulu library. Few of the Hulu shows released in the early 2010s are remembered at all, ultimately becoming victims of streaming ambitions and low publicity. Meanwhile, Hower put the feather in her cap and kept on working.