I'm a big fan of old TV westerns. My favorite will always be Gunsmoke. I grew up with that. Now with streaming, I'm getting to see some other series for the first time. Currently watching The Texan starring Rory Calhoun on the Roku channel. It only lasted 2 seasons, but I think it was very well done. Some good guest stars too here and there. The one I'm watching today has Brian Donlevy and Richard Jaeckel. The characters and stories are always interesting for a half hour show. From Desilu Studios. Hope to discuss other TV westerns will those of you who are fans too.
Count me in on the discussion. My personal favorite is Rawhide, and I've watched the Lone Ranger quite a bit over the years. Tombstone Territory, and Branded are also enjoyable. I haven't seen the Texan, do you recommend it?
RF
The only three I recall following were The Lone Ranger,
The Wild Wild West, and The Gene Autry Show. I sent
away for Mr Autry's autograph once but whether or
not he actually signed remains an open question, lol!
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/640x480q70/923/wF7XZm.jpg)
Quote from: Rex fury on April 09, 2025, 03:13:06 PMCount me in on the discussion. My personal favorite is Rawhide, and I've watched the Lone Ranger quite a bit over the years. Tombstone Territory, and Branded are also enjoyable. I haven't seen the Texan, do you recommend it?
RF
I love Rawhide. I've seen most of the episodes and they're great. Been watching some Tombstone Territory also, which I hadn't seen much before. Branded was also good, along with Chuck's The Rifleman. I would definitely recommend The Texan. Rory Calhoun's character is very cool.
Quote from: Sir Masksalot on April 09, 2025, 03:26:36 PMThe only three I recall following were The Lone Ranger,
The Wild Wild West, and The Gene Autry Show. I sent
away for Mr Autry's autograph once but whether or
not he actually signed remains an open question, lol!
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/640x480q70/923/wF7XZm.jpg)
Hopefully the signature is legit, lol. I've seen those 3 series too. I remember The Wild Wild West first run. Loads of fun. And The Lone Ranger was always an afternoon staple here in the suburbs of Philly. Good stuff.
Tales of Welles Fargo is another great series. Left handed gun, Dale Robertson is awesome.
Although a fan of Westerns, have seen so few TV ones. As a kid, The Lone Ranger was a fave. Caught some Gunsmoke, Bonanza and The Big Valley here and there -- but never did see Rawhide. I have some catching up to do!
Wagon Train, along with Maverick were a few of my favorites, also liked Have gun will Travel and The Rebel, also liked too The Lone Ranger after getting home from school. Also remember watching Lawman and Bat Masterson. Great shows all.
I like all those too guys. I have the complete dvd sets of Gunsmoke and Have Gun, Will Travel. Also, Wanted Dead or Alive with Steve McQueen. I watch many of these series on my discs and also on stations like MeTV and Grit. Pluto and Tubi have a lot on demand too.
I sent away for Mr Autry's autograph once but whether or
not he actually signed remains an open question, lol!
That's really interesting. I inherited a small, Tom Mix signed photo from my dad. It's mounted in this odd tin frame and reads " To my straight shooter pal, John..."
I always assumed the that this was some sort of Ralston premium which wasn't really signed by Mix. However it is personalized to my dad? Anybody know anything about this?
There's another signed item from The Lone Ranger ( a bread company give away). I can definitely say that's not authentic!😜
I'll give The Texan a viewing!
RF
I'm a big western fan; Death Valley Days, Sky King, The Lone Ranger, Wells Fargo, just to name a few.
When I was a small boy in OK, my dad took me to the Sky King Circus where I met the "king" himself, Kirby Grant! He was the first celebrity I'd ever seen, let alone met. (It was also my first circus!)
Another I enjoyed as a lad: Wild, Wild West.
I really, really need to revisit that one!
Quote from: Paul L on April 11, 2025, 12:04:32 AMI'm a big western fan; Death Valley Days, Sky King, The Lone Ranger, Wells Fargo, just to name a few.
When I was a small boy in OK, my dad took me to the Sky King Circus where I met the "king" himself, Kirby Grant! He was the first celebrity I'd ever seen, let alone met. (It was also my first circus!)
I watch some Death Valley Days online and they're very good. I forgot all about Sky King. I remember seeing some probably as reruns on Saturday mornings as a kid. That's cool that you met the King.
Quote from: Doh! on April 11, 2025, 12:15:17 AMAnother I enjoyed as a lad: Wild, Wild West.
I really, really need to revisit that one!
Me too. My son bought me the complete dvd set years ago. I need to break it out.
We always watched Gunsmoke, Bonanza, High Chapparal, Laredo, and Wild, Wild West (among others) when I was a kid in the '60s. My favorite was Wild, Wild West.
I, too, need to break out my WWW DVDs and revisit the great episodes. Trying to watch them on PLUTO TV is too frustrating with the abusive amount of annoying commercials they bombard you with. Makes you thankful you bought those DVD sets years ago. Btw, James West was a real badass!
We used to go to Florida every Summer for vacation and we visited a theme park called Six Gun Territory in Ocala a few times. I remember one vacation in the late '60s Six Gun Territory had Peter Brown from Laredo as a guest. As I remember he was drunk and flirted with my mom the whole time. My favorite Ranger on Laredo was Joe Riley played by William Smith.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Gun_Territory
Laramie was another show that I highly recommend. They showed it on the Grit channel for awhile. Hopefully, they'll run it again soon.
Quote from: horrorhunter on April 11, 2025, 02:14:10 PMWe always watched Gunsmoke, Bonanza, High Chapparal, Laredo, and Wild, Wild West (among others) when I was a kid in the '60s. My favorite was Wild, Wild West.
I, too, need to break out my WWW DVDs and revisit the great episodes. Trying to watch them on PLUTO TV is too frustrating with the abusive amount of annoying commercials they bombard you with. Makes you thankful you bought those DVD sets years ago. Btw, James West was a real badass!
We used to go to Florida every Summer for vacation and we visited a theme park called Six Gun Territory in Ocala a few times. I remember one vacation in the late '60s Six Gun Territory had Peter Brown from Laredo as a guest. As I remember he was drunk and flirted with my mom the whole time. My favorite Ranger on Laredo was Joe Riley played by William Smith.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Gun_Territory
I believe Robert Conrad did mostly all of his own stunts. Jim West was really cool.
So, Peter Brown was a wolf, lol. I've seen lots of Laredo too. He was also in another good series called Lawman with John Russell.
Quote from: Lunkenstein on April 12, 2025, 02:24:29 PMI believe Robert Conrad did mostly all of his own stunts. Jim West was really cool.
Yeah, Jim West was always one of my favorite characters. He was using Kung Fu before Kung Fu was all the rage with the Martial Arts Craze. I think they called it "Gung Fu" on
WWW. The show was supposed to be a Western/Spy hybrid, but I like how they worked a lot of Horror/Sci-Fi elements into it. Lots of spooky cemeteries and dungeon-like settings along with high tech gadgetry (Dr. Loveless had already invented television and aircraft in episode #3 "The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth"). And there was always an abundance of hot girls as well. ;D
Robert Conrad said in one of the intros on the DVD set he did all of his stunts, he insisted on it even though the producers wanted to use stuntmen. I remember him saying he hurt himself pretty bad in a fall when a chandelier he was swinging on broke. But he was right back at it soon after. Robert Conrad was a badass in real life.
TV Westerns?!! They (or Topps Flags of the World) were the first bubble gum trading cards to which I was exposed in the schoolyard entering first grade in 1958. They've been among my very favourite card sets ever since. I've had a NM set for over forty years:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/99bb7367-93c1-4dde-b301-ce461668eeaa.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/ba21d05f-b4a9-4b3a-8859-25a1e1703a87.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/011d8494-b1f9-4206-ace6-3e98b55fd2ae.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/2a7ddb41-d49b-44af-994b-2e226ac887c4.png)
8)
I still need both the Bazooka and Blony variants of the five cent wrapper though....
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/3ea9aa6e-256f-4862-8d18-b646ef08f941.jpg) (Sadly not mine.)
:(
Wow, those are very cool. Never had any western cards, just Monster and baseball mostly.
Watching The Texan, season 1, Ep 24. It has Lon Chaney Jr as a guest star.
And it was another good episode. I really like the closing theme music for this show.
Opening and closing themes:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mbW7EwFej0U&pp=ygUeVGhlIHRleGFuIHR2IHNob3cgZW5kaW5nIHRoZW1l (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mbW7EwFej0U&pp=ygUeVGhlIHRleGFuIHR2IHNob3cgZW5kaW5nIHRoZW1l)
I believe the closing theme is from a stock studio library from what I've read.
Quote from: Lunkenstein on April 22, 2025, 11:47:24 AMWow, those are very cool. Never had any western cards, just Monster and baseball mostly.
I've also had a set of Topps
Round-Up from 1956 for nearly 25 years:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/3320f2cc-73a0-487e-87dc-fc779fd32da0.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/e4725a42-ab84-4a76-8a7e-ac95daa610db.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/b64ecd28-e013-4e2d-99fd-69b9842d32d5.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/5c473943-490e-46bb-9b6c-8eebac67c94d.png)
Once again, the one cent wrapper is the only wrapper I have:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/7baf29ea-34d8-4c4b-81fb-7d043be1eed9.png)
:)
Wow! I can almost smell the bubblegum...
As with everyone else here, Wild, Wild West was a favorite. My wife and I watched/re-watched the entire series a couple of years ago. Great fun!
I grew up watching The Lone Ranger every afternoon (re-runs in the '70s). I have them all now, but I've tried twice to start them from the beginning, and I never have made it past episode 20 or so. I need to just get in the habit of watching one every now and then.
My favorite Western is The Rifleman. A great show with great characters. Chuck Connors was fantastic in the title role, too. It's so much fun watching them now to see all of the guest stars in the episodes. I had no idea until I rewatched from the beginning several years ago that Sam Peckinpah was involved in the series in the beginning, writing and directing several episodes.
My wife and I also watched How the West Was Won a few years ago. That was a really good series starring James Arness, Fionnula Flanagan, and Bruce Boxleitner.
For more recent Westerns, I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Paradise (starring Lee Horsley), The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr, The Lazarus Man (starring Robert Urich), and, though not set in the West, the 1994 series Hawkeye, with Lee Horsley and Lynda Carter.
I'm just now working my way through Wild Wild West. I've watched the first three episodes so far. Lone Ranger is awesome, I watch episodes from that series every few months just for nostalgia.
RF
The Rifleman and Have Gun- Will Travel are my 2 favorites right after Gunsmoke. Chuck Conners and Johnny Crawford are so great as father and son. And yes, lots of great guest stars.
Also, I watched Chuck Conners again recently in Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966). That is a great film. So many good actors and it's pretty violent. I remember seeing it as a kid and being very into it.
I have the all the Gunsmoke seasons with Chester on DVD. They are still fun today. I didn't care for the later shows without Dennis Weaver.
I also have the first 3 seasons of Death Valley Days, with the original host. I wish they would issue all the others with that host. I have not bothered to get the later shows with Ronald Reagan.
Born in 1946, I was a child of the 1950's. Every third show on TV was a western when I was a kid.
Quote from: Monsters For Sale on August 17, 2025, 05:01:00 PMI also have the first 3 seasons of Death Valley Days, with the original host.
"The Old Ranger" :)