Ten Classic Television Western Series

Westerns and television was a match made in heaven during the 1950s and 60s. The genre was still popular in theaters, and it was a no-brainer that it would also follow suit on the small screen. In the movies, you could almost always tell the good guys from the bad guys. Those on the side of right wore white hats and fancy, sometimes almost dandified clothing. When guns went off, they created clouds of smoke that today would irritate the EPA. Six-shooters often fired ten shots or more before they needed reloading. During a fight, the actors would rarely lose their hats.

When television became the dominant form of entertainment in America during the 50s, writers began to expand on the idea of creating new types of hero characters for their Western shows. Some of the lead characters dressed in somber clothing, and a couple never carried a pistol, depending instead on a rifle. Story lines began to center on the characters' private lives instead of just being the old style "shoot-em ups". One hero even wore a mask, although he had the requisite white hat. Saddle up, pardner, and let's ride into the world of the television Western.

The Rifleman (ABC, September 30, 1958-April 8, 1963) Chuck Connors portrayed Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford was his son Mark. What set "Rifleman" apart was that Lucas was a widower raising his son alone on his North Fork, New Mexico ranch. McCain was vaguely referred to as a Civil War veteran, yet the series was set in the mid 1880s, which would have put him barely out of diapers during that war. All that was forgiven, however, because of the great writing that showcased violence is not always the answer, an unusual moral lesson for a Western of that period.