Your Top three western series (1 Viewer)

[Dave Scarpa]

With westerns all over the dial and on video, I thought this might be a good topic. I’ve been a fan of westerns for a long time before they exploded all over our screens again.

my favorite top 3 westerns would be

Have Gun , Will Travel

A perfect vehicle for Richard Boone , his portrayal of knightly gun for hire Paladin is the stuff of westerns. The morality plays were a perfect platform for writers like Gene Roddenberry.

The Rifleman

chuck conners was the first hero toting a youngster on his adventures and the chemistry between him and Mark Crawford is fantastic. Thrown in the venerable Paul Fix , perfection

Gunsmoke s1-6

my preference leans toward the half hour first six seasons. These stories were leaner, and focused on the denizens of Dodge City, more than the later anthology feeling hour shows. Plus give me Chester over festus all day long

you’ll notice my taste lean toward 30 min shows but I love me some hours shows. My honorable mentions

Rawhide
Tales of Wells Fargo
The Big Valley
Wanted Dead or Alive

western fans your Favs ?

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Not a big fan of tv westerns but i did like The Wild, Wild, West which was more espionage than a western.

 

[Steve Armbrust]

Although I have a fondness for the old westerns of my childhood, particularly Gunsmoke, Have Gun, and Johnny Ringo (he had a 7-shooter!!!), I've really likes some of the modern westerns:

Hell on Wheels -- I think they did a great job of updating a lot of old western cliches.
Warrior -- More of a martial arts show, but set in the old west days
Yellowstone -- Modern day, but Kevin Costner is still a cowboy.

 

[ScottHM]

Gunsmoke (30 minute episodes)
Maverick (first three seasons)
Bonanza (first few seasons)
---------------

 

[Bryan^H]

Discovering new series all the time so my list changes.

Right now:

3. The Virginian.
The overlong 77 minute format makes this a tough sell to a lot of people. But I reall enjoy it. At best many of the episodes are fantastic, and make for a fully satisfying evening of classic TV viewing. At worst, there are quite a few episodes that feel padded, and being mediocre, to just bad. Leaving the question of why it ever had to exceed the typical 1 hour run time n the first place.

2. Death Valley Days. I just discovered this late last year. I specifically got at a STARZ subscription to watch it. The HD remaster of this series is nothing short of a miracle. It looks beautiful. The episodes go by quickly, thanks mainly to the well written, and "no fat" runtime of 25 minutes. Anthology series, based mainly on many true accounts of the Old West. Wish this was available to purchase in high defenition digitally, but once again, classic TV and digital aren't exactly the best of friends.

1. Gunsmoke.
I'm not the biggest fan of the Black, and white episodes because I feel the chemistry of the main characters is a bit off. Burt Reynolds even said as much as the reason he got fired was on account of poor acting. Chester, Quint, and Thad were all just OK in my opinion.

With Festus, Newly, Doc, Kitty, and Matthew Dillon, in the majority of the color seasons, I think the show improved quite a bit. A well oiled machine that hits all the right notes of drama, comedy, and action. Sure there are still bad episodes, but overall series is just an amazing detour of escape, in a world that needs it more than ever.

 

[RBailey]

Have Gun, Will Travel, Rawhide and LAWMAN from Warner Brothers. John Russell, Peter Brown and Peggie Castle are great in this series. I prefer it to Gunsmoke. Would love to see the Colt .45 series again to see if it's as good as I remember.

 

[fdabbott]

Colt 45 with Wayde Preston. Paradise/Guns of Paradise with Lee Horsley (1988), Trackdown with Robert Culp, Yancy Derringer with Jock Mahoney and the rare Tales of The Texas Rangers with Willard Parker (1955).

 

[GlennC]

High Chaparral, The Virginian and Maverick

 

[aphanicsnarl]

Maverick
The Rifleman
Gunsmoke
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your turn

 

[ponset]

1) GUNSMOKE Both TV and Radio versions.
2) MAVERICK. James Garner episodes. Nothing against Jack Kelly, most of my favorites episodes have
Kelly and Garner paired together or against each other.
3) HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL.

 

[Walter Kittel]

There is plenty to choose from, so I'll just mention these...

The Rifleman - One of my favorites growing up. Part of the appeal was the atypical weapon that McCain employed, plus the fact that Chuck Connors was not a small man. The early years were probably my favorite seasons, in retrospect. At the time I did not realize that the rifle wasn't manufactured until after the period in which the show as set; but that's television for you.

Kung Fu - Not your typical Western to be sure. I watched this religiously when it first aired in the early '70s. I really enjoyed the overall aesthetic of this show from the use of a fractured time narrative at times, to the cinematography that showcased nature and the land. The martial arts were pretty cool also.

Hell on Wheels - Agree with Steven that this series did a pretty good job of putting a bit of a spin on Western tropes. Another show that I though was really well photographed in terms of capturing the landscapes plus incorporating some interesting lighting in some of the settings of the show. Liked all of the casting in this show. One of my favorite contemporary Westerns.

- Walter.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

I am going to post this to get a question answered.

So I grew up in CT, pretty much the only western I remember was either Wild, Wild West, Daniel Boone, Gunsmoke or Bonanza. I am excluding anything prime time, new run, like Little House, etc. I am talking about the old ones.

In 1998 I moved down to TX, and in the afternoon, daytime there was like 4 hours of westerns, stuff I hadn't seen before. Rawhide, Branded, How the West Was Won, etc.

There was a series I can't remember the name of. The theme was the grandfather and the grandson were traveling in search of the father. They would have some kind of adventure in each new town in their pursuit. Lots of times, IIRC, they might have just missed him.

 

[RBailey]

I am going to post this to get a question answered.

So I grew up in CT, pretty much the only western I remember was either Wild, Wild West, Daniel Boone, Gunsmoke or Bonanza. I am excluding anything prime time, new run, like Little House, etc. I am talking about the old ones.

In 1998 I moved down to TX, and in the afternoon, daytime there was like 4 hours of westerns, stuff I hadn't seen before. Rawhide, Branded, How the West Was Won, etc.

There was a series I can't remember the name of. The theme was the grandfather and the grandson were traveling in search of the father. They would have some kind of adventure in each new town in their pursuit. Lots of times, IIRC, they might have just missed him.

THE GUNS OF WILL SONNETT (1967-1969) with Walter Brennan and Dack Rambo.

 

[joshEH]

The marked lack of Deadwood in this thread is very unsettling.

 

[Timothy E]

Maverick
Have Gun, Will Travel
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I'm not a big Western fan but I do enjoy "Laramie".

 

[BobO'Link]

Maverick
The Rifleman
Have Gun Will Travel

 

[LouA]

Hey Dave , you came up with a question that’s difficult for me -
I love TV Westerns, how do I choose 3 ?
Have Gun Will Travel was probably my favorite.
After that : Gunsmoke, Yancy Derringer , Bonanza, Restless Gun,
The Texan , Wagon Train, Frontier Circus, The Rebel, Rifleman - probably forgot one or two.
Where do you put shows like Gray Ghost and Casey Jones?
I’d like to mention that I bought just about every set released by Timeless, SF , or anyone else on DVD - so I’m a big fan of the genre!

 

[SuperClark]

Bonanza-first 6 seasons
Lawman
Laramie
HGWT
Gunsmoke -first 6 seasons
Life & Legend Wyatt Earp
Tales Wells Fargo
Maverick
Wild Wild West
Cisco Kid
Roy Rogers show
Laredo
F Troop))))

 

[jayembee]

Classic Westerns:

Have Gun, Will Travel
Maverick
[Walt Disney's] Zorro

Modern[ish] Westerns:

The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Deadwood
Hell on Wheels

I'm really digging the Yellowstone prequel series 1883, too.

Special shout-out to Justified and Longmire, which are modern-day crime dramas, but decidedly Western in tone.