What are the greatest western/cowboy television shows of all time?

Gunsmoke, particularly the first 5 or 6 seasons; by the late 60s when it was in color it got hokey & silly.

The obvious ones are Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and Rawhide.

Two of my favorites when I was young were Laredo and High Chaperral. They may not be as good as I remember, but that's true of most areas of my life.

Just for the record, I like hokey and sillly.

The Rifleman
Paladin
Wanted Dead or Alive
Wagon Train

All listed so far were good. I'm partial to Bonanza since my mom went to school with Dan Blocker for a while.

Gunsmoke . . . Mister Dillon

This one originally aired on tv although not a weekly series... Lonesome Dove. Pure greatness that came close to matching the written word of McMurtry.

Nguyen One Soon said:

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All listed so far were good. I'm partial to Bonanza since my mom went to school with Dan Blocker for a while.

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Was gratified to see it's his son Dirk Blocker playing Det. Hitchcock on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Have Gun, Will Travel
The Virginian
Maverick

Agree on most already on here. My tops from those listed are Bonanza, Rifleman, Gunsmoke, and Maverick (nice add!).

My only add is not a true western, but still fits the genre and a favorite growing up... Wild, Wild, West.

Also would add Alias Smith and Jones.

Knight Bear said:

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My only add is not a true western, but still fits the genre and a favorite growing up... Wild, Wild, West.

Also would add Alias Smith and Jones.

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Those were two of my favorite shows when I was a kid. I wanted to be Jones with the fast draw.

Laramie

Like all of these.

My favorites are Gunsmoke, The Rifleman and Rawhide. Currently I record and watch episodes of Wagon Train and Wanted Dead or Alive to see what I missed when I was kid. Some episodes of Wagon Train were overtly Christian with preaching, hymn singing and Bible reading, The Rifleman, like The Andy Griffith Show, shared life lessons at the end. The early episodes of Gunsmoke (black & white, especially the 30-minute versions), featured a politically-incorrect Matt Dillon who was very direct with flying fists. Rawhide had great character interplay. Also, a lot of these old westerns had guest actors who would go on to become very well-known in their own right.

I've always been partial to the anti-hero western, Maverick. Bret admitted he was the second slowest gun in the West....."Only my brother is slower." The premise with other western series plots was a serious situation, but never impossible. With Maverick the situation was always impossible but never serious. What other western series would allow its hero to be pursued by a love-sick camel for an episode?

The storylines and writing were excellent for the first 3 seasons but fell off after James Garner left the show.

1. Gunsmoke I used to watch it with my grandmother on Sunday nights waiting for my parents to pick me up. Hard to believe it was over 50 years ago.

2, Bonanza Like it even more now. Ben C reminds me of my dad.

3. High Chaparral Victoria is hot.

Limited IQ Redneck in PU said:

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1. Gunsmoke I used to watch it with my grandmother on Sunday nights waiting for my parents to pick me up. Hard to believe it was over 50 years ago.

2, Bonanza Like it even more now. Ben C reminds me of my dad.

3. High Chaparral Victoria is hot.

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Gunsmoke ran on Saturday nights until 1967(I think) and switched to Monday night until 1975. Bonanza followed by The High Chaparral was on NBC Sunday night. Bonanza was preceded by Walt Disney at 6:00 PM which made for some damn good TV watching on Sunday night. I don't think I've watched episodic TV on NBC since Hill Street Blues, LOL.

Must have been Saturday nights then. '67 is about the right year. I was in 1st grade.