Popular western tv shows have been a staple of television for decades and were some of the first programs to gain popularity. Today we take a look at the Top 10 Western tv shows of all time.
10: Wagon Train (1957)
Wagon Train is an American Western series that aired on the NBC television network, 1957–1962 and then on ABC, 1962–1965. Wagon Train first aired on September 18, 1957, and would eventually place the TV show in the number one spot in the Nielsen Ratings.
The series format attracted big-name guest stars who would appear in major roles as travelers in the large wagon train or in the settlements they passed by or visited. It initially starred Ward Bond as the wagon master, later replaced upon his death in 1960 by John McIntire, and Robert Horton as the scout, subsequently replaced by Scott Miller and Robert Fuller.
9: Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958)
Wanted: Dead or Alive stars Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons in 1958–61. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–59 western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television.
The show ran for three seasons and 94 episodes and topped out as the 9th most-watched show during its run.
8: Have Gun - Will Travel: (1957)
Have Gun – Will Travel is an American Western series that was produced and originally broadcast by CBS on both television and radio from 1957 through 1963. The television version of the series was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons, and it is one of the few shows in television history to spawn a successful radio version. That radio series debuted November 23, 1958, more than a year after the premiere of its televised counterpart.
This series follows the adventures of a man calling himself “Paladin” taking his name from that of the foremost knights in Charlemagne’s court. He is a gentleman investigator/gunfighter who travels around the Old West working as a mercenary for people who hire him to solve their problems.
7: Cheyenne (1955)
Cheyenne was an American Western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1962. It was the first hour-long western, and was the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season.
The show starred Clint Walker, as Cheyenne Bodie, a physically large cowboy with a gentle spirit in search of frontier justice who wanders the American West in the days after the American Civil War.
6: Deadwood (2004)
Deadwood aired on HBO 2004 to 2006 spanning 36 episodes. The series is set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, before and after the area’s annexation by the Dakota Territory, and charts Deadwood’s growth from camp to town. Deadwood features a large ensemble cast headed by Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane, playing the real-life Deadwood residents Seth Bullock and Al Swearengen, respectively.
After several years of discussion and pre-production, Deadwood: The Movie began filming in October 2018. The film is set ten years after the end of the third season and premiered on HBO on May 31, 2019.
5: Rawhide (1959)
Rawhide is an American Western TV series starring Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood. The show aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959, to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965, until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes. Spanning seven and a half years, Rawhide was the sixth-longest-running American television Western
Set in the 1860s, Rawhide portrays the challenges faced by the drovers of a cattle drive. Most episodes are introduced with a monologue by Gil Favor (portrayed by Eric Fleming), trail boss.
4: Bonanza (1959)
Bonanza is an American western television series that ran on NBC from 1959 to 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, Bonanza is NBC’s longest-running western and ranks overall as the second-longest-running western series on U.S. network television (behind CBS’s Gunsmoke), and within the top 10 longest-running, live-action American series. In 2002, Bonanza was ranked No. 43 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
The show chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, headed by the thrice-widowed patriarch Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene). He had three sons, each by a different wife: the eldest was the urbane architect Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts) who built the ranch house; the second was the warm and lovable giant Eric “Hoss” Cartwright (Dan Blocker), and the youngest was the hotheaded and impetuous Joseph or “Little Joe” (Michael Landon)
3: The Rifleman (1958)
The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black and white, in half-hour episodes. The Rifleman aired on ABC from September 30, 1958, to April 8, 1963, as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first prime time series on US television to show a single parent raising a child.
The series centers on Lucas McCain, a Union Civil War veteran, and widower. McCain had been a lieutenant in the 11th Indiana Infantry Regiment, and he had received a battlefield commission at the Battle of Five Forks just before the end of the war. Having previously been a homesteader, McCain buys a ranch outside the fictitious town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory, in the pilot episode. He and his son Mark had come from Enid, Oklahoma, following the death of his wife, Margaret (nee Gibbs), when his son was six years old.
2: The Virginian (1962)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury, Doug McClure, and Lee J. Cobb, which aired on NBC television network from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. It was a spin-off from a 1958 summer series called Decision. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television’s first 90-minute Western series. The series 9 season run put it at the third longest-running western series.
1: Gunsmoke (1955)
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. When aired in the United Kingdom, the television series was initially titled Gun Law, later reverting to Gunsmoke.
The television series ran for 20 seasons from 1955 to 1975 and lasted for 635 episodes. At the end of its run in 1975, Los Angeles Times columnist Cecil Smith wrote: “Gunsmoke was the dramatization of the American epic legend of the west. Our own Iliad and Odyssey, created from standard elements of the dime novel and the pulp western as romanticized by [Ned] Buntline, [Bret] Harte, and [Mark] Twain. It was ever the stuff of legend