As a kid, I never cared much for westerns. As I mature, I regret being so unwilling to partake as a youth. The first cowboy show I did watch, and even caught a few episodes as a kid, was The Rifleman. Even as a kid more interested in monsters than oaters, that dynamic opening and triumphant theme music had me hooked. The basic premise of the show was simple. Lucas McCain was a fast gun who wanted only to live in peace and raise up right his young son. I think this was the first show where I saw Alan Hale Jr. as a guest star. Anyway, the show was a hit in it's day, and remained extremely popular in reruns for decades. In fact, the show is still popular with local stations across the country.
Here's one I really wish I'd gotten into as a kid, for I am a fairly recent arrival to fandom for one of the most popular television westerns ever aired, Bonanza. Bonanza was another series exemplified by a strong cast, good scripts, and very moral characters. The show was based around the adventures of the Cartwright family, wealthy land-owners who operated from the massive Ponderosa ranch. Lorne Greene played father Ben, always there to help his sons Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe. Michael Landon became a super-star as the youngest of the Cartwrights, though it's hard sometimes to really pick a favorite of the bunch. I was belatedly introduced to the series when early episodes fell into public domain and found themselves onto an assortment of DVDs from smaller distributors. A show I very much wish to get in it's official season releases, the series ran for a very long time (I think I read 14 years).
If I had to pick a favorite western TV series now, it'd probably be The Texan. Rory Calhoun (has there ever been a better name for a cowboy star?) stars as Bill Longley, a former soldier who rides from town to town across the ever-developing post-Civil War West. He continually falls into trouble, despite his being the most level-headed sort. All man, but caring, Longley was usually the last, best hope in whatever situation he found himself in. The show could be highly dramatic, suspenseful, or even light-hearted comedy, and an amazing assortment of guest stars helped out along the way. (In one of my favorite episodes, Longley takes the place of a traveling preacher in order to clean up a town where rough customers have declared open war against any member of the cloth. Prevented from taking along his guns, Longley is harassed by a couple of drunks in the town saloon. They force Longley to turn the other cheek as they strike him before Longley notes that his Lord not only turned the other cheek, but also drove out the money-changers from the temple. In short order, Longley mops the floor with the bums. This puts some starch in the town's collective spine and they side with Longley. Look for Yvette Vickers as a young lass smitten with our hero.) Though the show was good, it ran but two seasons and didn't see a lot of airtime afterward (possibly The Texan wasn't sold for syndication). Some episodes have been lost, but the remaining 70 have been collected into a DVD release. Unfortunately, this release isn't the strongest. About half the episodes look really great, but the other half are reproduced much too bright (the result is that half of the show looks like it was transferred from very nice film prints, the rest as if they were recorded from television). Still, this a very minor detraction, and frankly I'm glad to see the show available in any form!
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