{Poll} - Best TV Western ever!

[Ptah]

I left Breaking Bad off the list.

11 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Time expired
	The Roy Rogers Show
	0 (0%)
	Kung Fu
	0 (0%)
	F Troop
	0 (0%)
	The Big Valley
	0 (0%)
	Little House on the Prairie
	0 (0%)
	Gunsmoke
	3 (27%)
	The Rifleman
	0 (0%)
	The Lone Ranger
	1 (9%)
	Bonanza
	1 (9%)
	How could you forget _______?
	6 (55%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[OriginalGeek]

1. Wanted: Dead or Alive

Steve McQueen maaaaan!

Also big fans of Wild, Wild West, Maverick and Alias: Smith and Jones.

[Ptah]

5. I liked Maverick/Rockford

[OriginalGeek]

10. I wanted a Pontiac Firebird because of Rockford

LONG before I saw Smokey and the Bandit.

[Brother Buzz]

60. Maverick/Rockford (James Gardner) was my favorite, too

Jack Kelley, not so much. By the time Roger Moore and then Robert Colbert (he replaced Gardner) joined the cast, the series was in a slide.

James Gardner owned the show and the studio was crazy to let him go.

Watching the Maverick show was not unlike watching the beginning of a three Stooges film to see if Curly or Shemp was in it. I was a happy boy when James Gardner appeared.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

61. I liked the Maverick episodes where they lampooned other westerns.

Like Gunsmoke and Bonanza.

[Brother Buzz]

63. The entire program was a spoof on westerns. Hell, the star (James Gardner) was a self-avowed coward

I'm unreliable. I'm a terrible shot. And I do mean this most sincerely... I have been, for as long as I remember, a coward. - Bret maverick

[randr]

2. Rawhide-for the theme song alone

[Ptah]

6. Rawhiiiiiiiiiiide!!

[cyberswede]

30. +1

Best cover evah!

[HarveyDarkey]

35. Rowdy Yates, Jesús

some of the best characters ever. The best theme song too, although it easily becomes stuck in your brain.

[trof]

71. YESSS!

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

3. Sky King

Out of the clear blue of the western sky comes Sky King, a WWII naval aviator-turned rancher, who flies his twin-engine Cessna high above the Arizona plains. Accompanying Sky on his adventures are his nephew, Clipper and his teen niece, Penny.

[Ptah]

12. Great addition!

[Brother Buzz]

70. He was also in the naval reserve

One episode, he was training with his naval reserve unit. Another episode, he landed the Songbird on an aircraft carrier off the Baja peninsula without a tailhook, only a naval aviator could do that.

Oh, Clipper disappears early in the series. Who needs that dude when you have that heartthrob, Penny?

[applegrove]

4. "Justified"

[Ptah]

13. I enjoy Elmore Leonard.

I hope that show is on Netflix.

[applegrove]

15. It is a great show.

[hlthe2b]

39. That is a GREAT show...

[Mosby]

7. wild wild west

[Ptah]

14. Off the wall stuff!

And they traveled in a great railroad car!

[hlthe2b]

38. Oh, I loved that as a kid... and what a crush I had on Robert Conrad...

(and his tight tight britches....LOL)

[geardaddy]

79. This^

[graywarrior]

8. Hell On Wheels

[Ptah]

16. That looks fun from what Google says.

[petronius]

26. I just watched the first season on Netflix over 3 days - really quite enjoyable!

Some predictable bits, and a couple of jarring modern and/or teaching moments, but I'm definitely stoked for season 2...

[graywarrior]

33. Anson Mount, the lead actor, posts a lot of info on his fb page

He's very funny, smart, a good writer and leans left for sure.

[msu2ba]

9. Brisco County Jr. n/t

[Ptah]

18. I'm hooked = Harvard-educated lawyer-turned-bounty hunter

Tell me more!

[harmonicon]

46. The orbs come from outer space. (nt)

[msu2ba]

80. Bruce Campbell does...

...tongue-in-cheek as well as anyone in the business. Think of it as a sci-fi, western action comedy with witty dialogue, memorable villains like John Bly and Pete (You touched Pete's piece) Hutter and an ongoing story arc.
Well worth a rental or season purchase!

[Justice wanted]

81. YES!!!!!

[turtlerescue1]

11. Palladin

" a gun will travel...."

[Ptah]

17. Have Gun, Will Travel

[turtlerescue1]

48. yeah

[Graybeard]

54. A big +1 for Richard Boone.

A great show with literate scripts (some by pre-Star Trek Gene Roddenberry). Directors the likes of Andrew McLaglan and Ida Lupino. Music by Bernard Herrmann. First rate all the way.

[Brother Buzz]

57. Trivia quiz: What was Palladin's first name?

Wire

[Graybeard]

69. Believe it or not...

...at the time there were people who thought it was!

.... ....

[Sky Masterson]

19. The Cisco kid!

Oh, Pancho!
Oh, Cisco!

[Ptah]

20. He was a friend of mine!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

21. Another vote for Sky King and Penny

[Ptah]

23. I wish I remembered Sky King

[twizzler]

22. How could you forget

Alias Smith and Jones?
Short lived but I really liked it.

[Ptah]

24. If I had fourty-five choices on a DU poll,

Alias Smith and Jones would still be off the list!

[cyberswede]

31. LOL - loved that show!

...Pete Duel eps were best, of course.

[Tom Ripley]

25. Branded

He was innocent...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

27. How could you forget__________Paladin???

Richard Boone was my hero!

[Graybeard]

68. Paladin was a great hero to play.

Richard Boone was perfect in the part of Paladin (no first name).
Paladin was a graduate of West Point who quoted Shakespeare and Lord Byron.
He was a gourmet chef who could also live in the wild on only roots and berries.
He earns his living as a hired gun but always says how much he hates ever using his gun. (Of course by the end of each show he invariably does.)

I have rented all of Seasons 1-2-3 and will soon start on Seasons 4 & 5 recently released on DVD.

[haele]

28. Legend, with John DeLancie as a Nicoli Tesla type in the Wild West (TM).

Last edited Sat Aug 4, 2012, 11:54 PM - Edit history (1)

And (Richard Dean Anderson - wrong Dean!) as the penny-dreadful writer that became a steampunk type superhero. Delicious fun for the first ten episodes, but it didn't have anywhere to go (no hook like working for the Secret Service, or something like that) and fizzled out before it started going downhill too badly.
Briscoe County, Jr. - the final season had Timothy Leary as a guest star before he died... Also ended before it got too forced.

Acutally, I think there was a thoughtful network late-night western in the 90's called "The Life and Times of or someone or other&quot I want to say William Bird, but that's not it) - can't quite remember it about weary sheriff of a small wayside town in 1870's-1880's western Kansas/Nebraska. Very realistic, and sympathetically gritty, in sort of a Lonesome Dove style. Wish I could remember it - I think it was CBS, and it aired around 10 pm on Wednesdays or Thursdays one summer. Apparently, they filmed 12 episodes, but only aired 8.
Too much talking, the sheriff wasn't young or handsome, no wise-cracking doctor or established town drunk to balance him with, too many horsedroppings, not enough cleavage (except for the fat older woman that supplimented her income as a laundress), only one "hooker with a heart of gold" and certainly not enough gunfire.

I really liked it. Quite the antidote to "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman".

Haele

[BootinUp]

29. I voted for Kung Fu

because otherwise I would never be able to vote for it.

Second Place Big Valley.

[cyberswede]

32. The Big Valley

Peter Breck rocked!

[MiddleFingerMom]

34. Duh.

.
.
.
Deadwood.
.
.
.

[hlthe2b]

37. I loved Deadwood... Still pisses me off that they cancelled it without any kind of finality.

[Patiod]

51. The only consolation is that the actors are EVERYWHERE

Like Justified. And of course the ubiquitous William Sanderson.

[OriginalGeek]

55. Hi, I'm Larry and this is my brother Darryl

and this is my other brother Darryl...


I love that guy. And as mad as I am about Deadwood being gone I gotta say Justified makes up for it.

[Patiod]

59. It's said that the writers wear rubber bracelets that say WWED?

"What would Elmore do?" I love that man. I think it's gotten away from some of its more absurdist roots, and become more of a serious show, which is kind of a shame. Although cutting a guy's arm off and then teasing him with it is sort of Leonardesque.

[hlthe2b]

36. Not sure I can pick just one... But you left off "the Virginian"

First 90 minute tv series filmed in movie style. Beautiful scenery and gave us an unnamed lead character (the Virginian)--and Trampus.

[Enrique]

40. Lonesome Dove

i realize some will say it doesn't count

[Art_from_Ark]

41. My favorite was The Wild Wild West

but I also liked this one

[Yavin4]

42. How Can You Fucking Cocksuckers Forget Fucking "Deadwood"?

Fucking cocksuckers.

Note: My cursing in this post is an homage to Deadwood which was known for a lot of swearing. It's not my intention to insult anyone. If you've ever seen Deadwood, you would understand why I used the language that I did. Please don't take it personally.

[Patiod]

49. I know, right?

We loved that show so much we drove 9 hours out of our way on vacation just to spend a day in Deadwood. As we enterd the city limits, I said to my SO "go ahead - you've been waiting for 9 hours" and he opened the window and yelled out "Welcome to Fucking Deadwood!"

[kwassa]

83. I still quote Al Swearingen, full of deep and very profane wisdom.

My all-time #2 series, after The Wire.

[grilled onions]

43. Rather Partial to Wagon Train

It was a realistic view of life on the"road" when this country's interstate was little more then a prairie.

[pipi_k]

66. That's the one I was trying

to think of!

They advertised 20 Mule Team Borax, as I remember. Olivia Dehaviland

[Doc_Technical]

44. No one has mentioned "Laredo"?

My vote goes to "The Loner"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058822/

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

45. My favorite as a kid was Law Of The Plainsman starring Michael Ansara

Michel Ansara, the husband of I Dream of Jeannie's Jeannie was a great actor, very charismatic. The show was an off-shoot of The Rifleman where Ansara's character was introduced in an episode. Ansara played Sam Buckhart, a Harvard-educated Native American who goes back to the frontier to serve as a U.S. Marshall. It was one of the few shows featuring a Native American hero.

&feature=player_detailpage

[SixString]

47. The High Chaparral.

[BootinUp]

53. Cameron Mitchell was a cousin of mine.

Good show from what I have seen of it.

[CherokeeDem]

82. Love love loved this show....

My mother adored Blue and one night she fell asleep before the ending...when she woke up she asked what happened and my Dad told her, "They shot Blue." She was devastated...he let her go until the next morning before he told her otherwise. She didn't talk to him for a full day. I think my mom liked this show better than we did.

Me? I named my first dog, a long-coat chihuahua Don Manolito Montoya II.

Also, Maverick....James Gardner my favorite actor of all time!

[Iggo]

50. Deadwood...

...by a goddam motherfucking mile.

[Populist_Prole]

77. + 81,963

You said it man.

Can't believe just you and few others mentioned this great series.

[baldguy]

52. Firefly.

It's a Western .... IN SPAAAAAAAAACE!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

56. And IIRC, Roddenberry originally pitched Star Trek as "'Wagon Train' to the Stars"

[barbtries]

58. i can only remember bonanza

so that's what i put.

[ohiosmith]

62. Zane Grey Theater.

[Bucky]

64. Wild, Wild West (which was really a sci-fi show), followed closely by...

a split decision for second place:

Brisco County Jr
and
Little House on the Prairie

[Shrek]

65. Alias Smith and Jones n/t

[pipi_k]

67. Not sure if it's one of the best, but...

how about "Broken Arrow".

I had a crush on Cochise

[Angry Dragon]

72. Have Gun, Will Travel

Bat Matterson
Wanted: Dead or Alive

[SteveG]

73. My choice as well.

My Dad would let me stay up for it on Saturday night back in the 1950's.

[El Supremo]

76. I agree

Gunsmoke second

[rurallib]

74. I'll go with Maverick.

[Honeycombe8]

75. That was tough! I went with Gunsmoke. But I ALMOST went with Bonanza. Tough call. nt

[chemenger]

78. The Outcasts

was a short-lived Western genre television series appearing on ABC in the 1968-69 season. The series co-starred Don Murray and Otis Young, and is probably most notable for being the first television Western with a black co-star and the first bi-racial Western action team.

[pokerfan]

84. Dusty's Trail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty%27s_Trail

[ArnoldLayne]

85. The Big Valley