TV shows...Best Westerns of all time

- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Votes: 31,844
- Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Sam Elliott, Grady Lee Richmond, Elisha Cuthbert

Ashton Kutcher's Netflix series was Western cowboy comedy, with a few surprising threads of serious drama. The series followed the story of Colt, a washed-up football star who returns to his hometown in Colorado, where he lived with his father and brother. According to James Poneiwozik in the New York Times, it wa certainly a prodigal son story, and an interesting mishmash of styles, from the multi-camera production and live studio audience to the more-serious story lines that dealt with very real and relatable family dynamics.

- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Votes: 1,761
- Starring: Doug McClure, James Drury, Lee J. Cobb, Sara Lane

The third-longest running Western (behind “Gunsmoke” and “Bonanza”), “The Virginian” was TV's first 90-minute Western. It follows the story of a lawman who comes to the Wyoming Territory in the 1890s.

- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Votes: 1,954
- Starring: Jay Silverheels, Clayton Moore, John Hart, Chuck Courtney

Marked by his mask and his trusty steed, Silver, the Lone Ranger was a former Texas Ranger who battled the bad guys in the Old West. “The Lone Ranger” actually got its start in radio back in 1933. It came to television in 1949 and starred Clayton Moore. The series was ABC's first big hit of the early 1950s, according to History.com.

- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Votes: 4,110
- Starring: Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, Whitey Hughes

Before there was the Secret Service, there was James West and Artemus Gordon, a gunslinger and inventor, respectively. The characters in the show “The Wild Wild West” served under Ulysses S. Grant to keep the peace and thwart evil in the rough-and-tumble American West. Because of the series' spy nature, equipped with disguises and gadgets, critics have likened it to the James Bond of the West, as noted by Neil Genzlinger in the New York Times obituary of Robert Conrad, who played Jim West.

- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Votes: 638
- Starring: Stanley Andrews, Robert Taylor, Ronald Reagan, Dale Robertson

The second-longest-running Western series (it ran for 18 years), “Death Valley Days” was a narrated story told by the Old Ranger, regaling the audience with the tale of America's movement West and the settling of the great frontier. Ronald Reagan had a stint as the Old Ranger for a time, and starred in a 1965 episode, as well. According to Medium's Jeremy Roberts, many analysts say that this series helped Reagan secure his political career as governor of California.

- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Votes: 2,395
- Starring: Richard Long, Peter Breck, Lee Majors, Linda Evans

Set on a ranch in California in the mid-late 1800s, the one-hour episodes followed the lives of the Barkley family as they worked to defend their home. Unlike other Westerns at the time, what set “The Big Valley” apart was that the family was led by a woman, Victoria Barkley, played by Barbara Stanwyck. This, wrote David Browne in the New York Times, made the 1965 series ahead of its time.

- IMDb user rating: 7.9
- Votes: 1,311
- Starring: Clint Walker, Clyde Howdy, Chuck Hicks, Lane Chandler

“Cheyenne,” which debuted in 1955, made its mark on the Western scene by being the first hour-long drama to run for more than one season. It told the story of Cheyenne Bodie, a kind-hearted cowboy wandering the West in the years following the American Civil War. It inspired many spinoffs and crossovers, and won the 1957 Golden Globe Award for Television Achievement, according to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Votes: 1,741
- Starring: James Arness, Bruce Boxleitner, Kathryn Holcomb, William Kirby Cullen

Actor James Arness made his name in “Gunsmoke,” but later went on to star as Zeb Macahan in “How the West Was Won.” The plot follows Macahan after the start of the Civil War, when he is forced to care for his brother's children as they make their way west. It was an expanded version of the film of the same name, which premiered in 1963 to a lackluster review from The New York Times.

- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Votes: 677
- Starring: Hugh O'Brian, Jimmy Noel, Ethan Laidlaw, Bill Coontz

“The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” was a television series credited with reviving the story of one of the now-iconic personalities of cowboy culture, according to Courtney Campbell in Wide Open Country. Airing in 1955, premiering just four days before "Gunsmoke," it is the very first television Western that was written for adults. For six seasons, the 30-minute program told the story of Wyatt's adult life, from his role of town marshal in Kansas to the final episodes based in Tombstone, Arizona Territory.

- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Votes: 860
- Starring: Robert Fuller, John Smith, Spring Byington, Dennis Holmes

Set in 1870s Wyoming, “Laramie” was the story of Slim Sherman and his brother, who work to save their family ranch after their father dies. The two main stars of Laramie were John Smith and Robert Fuller, but according to TV.com, the show's many guest stars were big figures in the world of Hollywood Westerns.

- IMDb user rating: 7.9
- Votes: 4,813
- Starring: James Arness, Milburn Stone, Amanda Blake, Ken Curtis

Based on a long-running radio program, “Gunsmoke” was one of the longest-running television Westerns of all time. It ran for 20 seasons. It followed Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) who set out to protect Dodge City, Kansas, from outlaws.

- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Votes: 2,951
- Starring: Guy Williams, Gene Sheldon, Henry Calvin, Don Diamond

The handsome patrician Don Diego de la Vega, from the Spanish California era, has a secret: it's his alter ego, the masked swordsmen, Zorro. Teamed up with his butler, Bernardo, the two protected their countrymen from the Spanish in 19th century Mexico. The show starred Guy Williams, who was born Armand Catalano. His father was an avid fencer who helped him prepare for the role, according to his obituary in The New York Times.

- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Votes: 2,256
- Starring: Frank McGrath, Terry Wilson, Robert Horton, John McIntire

If you were an Oregon Trail kid, chances are “Wagon Train” would have been right up your alley, as well. The long-running Western TV series followed a wagon train heading west in the years following the Civil War. Each episode shifted focus to a different member of the wagon train, and along the way they battled the elements, Native Americans, and the human condition. The year Wagon Train debuted, five other Westerns ranked among the top 10. By 1961, it was the #1 show.

- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Votes: 685
- Starring: Robert Brown, Bobby Sherman, David Soul, Bridget Hanley

“Here Come the Brides” was a Western comedy that was based on the Mercer Girls project. The project brought “marriageable” women from the East Coast to a budding Seattle in the 1860s. In “Here Come the Brides,” a mostly-male logging community threatens to quit and leave due to lack of women. To keep the employees happy, 100 women are brought to Seattle under the conditions that none can leave.

- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Votes: 1,546
- Starring: Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck, Jeff Osterhage, Glenn Ford

“The Sacketts” aired in 1979 and was a series following three brothers off to find fortune in the post-Civil War West. The series was based on two novels by the author, Louis L'Amour. According to John J. O'Connor in the New York Times, L'Amour was known for 74 Western novels, 11 of which were about the Sackett family. He sold more than 70 million copies of his books.

- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Votes: 610
- Starring: John Russell, Peter Brown, Peggie Castle, Emile Avery

Set in Laramie, Wyoming, during the second half of the 19th century, “Lawman” was about Marshal Dan Troop, his deputy Johnny McKay, and an orphan that Troop brings into his fold. Peter Brown, who played Deputy McKay, was so popular on the program that he became a fixture on TV Westerns. According to the Daily Mail, he went on to hold guest star roles in “Cheyenne,” “Maverick,” and “The Virginian.”

- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Votes: 2,965
- Starring: Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford, Paul Fix, Joe Benson

Rancher Lucas McCain lived in the New Mexico territory in the 1880s with his son Mark in this half-hour show, that followed his trials and tribulations raising his son in hostile territory while battling desperados. The original series ran on CBS from 1958 to 1963 and was created by Sam Peckinpah. In 2011, Cynthia Littleton wrote in Variety that a remake was coming back to CBS, but it never came to fruition.

- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Votes: 46,258
- Starring: Anson Mount, Colm Meaney, Robin McLeavy, Phil Burke

In this series, Cullen Bohannon was a Civil War veteran who witnessed the death of his wife at the hands of Union soldiers. Horribly scarred by this memory, he set out seeking revenge where he stumbled into Hell on Wheels, a lawless town that rolled with the construction of the Union Pacific railroad. Elizabeth Snead in the Hollywood Reporter wrote that the show accurately depicted the "true-to-life greed, corruption, deception and life-and-death struggles" that surrounded the construction of the transcontinental railroad.

- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Votes: 1,233
- Starring: Dan Haggerty, Denver Pyle, Bozo the Bear, Don Shanks

Dan Haggerty played the role of John "Grizzly" Adams, a hunter from the 19th century who was wrongfully accused of a murder, sending him to seek refuge in the wilderness. It's there that he rescued a grizzly bear cub, named him Ben, and the two set off on adventures in the wild. The family-friendly series was met with mixed reviews, but according to John Leonard's review in the New York Times, it was certainly a tear-jerker filled with human emotion. Still, it only ran for one year.

- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Votes: 1,588
- Starring: Leif Erickson, Cameron Mitchell, Henry Darrow, Linda Cristal

Set in the 1870s, “The High Chaparral” followed rancher "Big John" Cannon, who strove to make a successful cattle ranch in the desert of the Arizona Territory on the Mexico border, surrounded by hostile Apache Native Americans. At the time, what made “The High Chaparral” revolutionary, according to Henry C. Parke in True West Magazine, is that it hired a fair amount of Hispanic actors, which drew in a large Latin American audience.

- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Votes: 2,444
- Starring: Jack Kelly, James Garner, Roger Moore, Lane Chandler

Bret and Bart Maverick were a couple of brothers with eyes for style and hearts for gambling. The series followed the two migrating from town to town in the Wild West as they pursued the next good time. Unlike other Westerns, the Maverick brothers didn't adhere to strict macho stereotypes. The obituary for Jack Kelly, who played Bart Maverick, noted that the Maverick brothers weren't the "quickdraw" personalities typical of Western heroes. They showed fear in the face of danger and even ran from it.

- IMDb user rating: 8.4
- Votes: 2,215
- Starring: Richard Boone, Kam Tong, Hal Needham, Stewart East

This CBS Western told the story of Paladin, a West Point graduate who turns into a gun for hire. The series aired in 1957, but in 2012 writer David Mamet said he was planning a reboot, according to Lacey Rose in the Hollywood Reporter. The deal was signed with CBS, but the reboot was never made.

- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Votes: 15,842
- Starring: Melissa Gilbert, Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, Rachel Lindsay Greenbush

One of the best coming-of-age book series of all time, “Little House on the Prairie” captured the attention of generations of women readers across the country. It was made into a TV film before evolving into the long-running television series, according to Mentalfloss. Set in the village of Walnut Grove, Minnesota, during the second half of the 19th century, the heartwarming series followed the coming of age of second daughter Laura Ingalls.

- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Votes: 5,005
- Starring: David Carradine, Radames Pera, Keye Luke, Philip Ahn

Martial arts met Western drama in this 1972 television series starring David Carradine. It followed Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin monk, who was making his way through the West looking for his half-brother, Danny Caine. Carradine's role earned him his cult status, according to Bruce Weber in the New York Times. It was because of “Kung Fu” that he became so entrenched in martial arts and Eastern philosophy.

- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Votes: 3,031
- Starring: Clint Eastwood, Paul Brinegar, Steve Raines, Eric Fleming

The premise of “Rawhide” followed the adventures of drovers along the rough and challenging cattle drives of the 1860s. Each episode involved the drovers encountering people along the way, and typically involved solving their problems or rescuing them from trouble. It was in “Rawhide” that an American icon was born. The TV series, which debuted in 1958, was the first Western to give Clint Eastwood his big break, reports Biography.com.

- IMDb user rating: 8.7
- Votes: 19,638
- Starring: Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Diane Lane

Two retired Texas Rangers set out on a cattle drive to the Montana Territory. Along the way they found their sense of adventure, and met a cast of characters as they go. The cast of this eight-hour series was star-studded, from Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones to Anjelica Huston. Westerns were pretty much dead by the time “Lonesome Dove” aired in the 1980s, but according to Walter Goodman in The New York Times, the creators paid considerable homage to the iconic genre

- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Votes: 1,441
- Starring: Michael Biehn, Eric Close, Dale Midkiff, Ron Perlman

The series followed the story of seven men, each with a different skill, who were recruited to take on Confederate raiders threatening a Native American village. The men ended up settling down in a small town, offering their skills to those who need them. The TV series was made in the footsteps of the 1960 film, touted by Will Joyner in the New York Times to be one of the last great Hollywood Westerns.

- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Votes: 508
- Starring: Dale Robertson, Art Felix, Kit Carson, William Demarest

Based on the biography of Wells Fargo detective Fred J. Dodge, the story followed special agent Jim Hardie, "the left-handed gun" who helped save stagecoaches from outlaws and other violence. According to Mike Barnes in the Hollywood Reporter, the actor Dale Robertson did all his own stunts. He was also right-handed.

- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Votes: 23,513
- Starring: Kevin Costner, Bill Paxton, Matt Barr, Tom Berenger

It's a family feud only to be outdone by the Montagues and the Capulets. The only difference is the Hatfields and the McCoys were real. This miniseries (starring A-listers Kevin Costner and Bill Paton), told the story of the rancorous family feud that almost started a war in Kentucky and West Virginia. It was the first scripted series for the History Channel, but Tim Goodman of the Hollywood Reporter feels the creators missed the mark. He wrote, "it is pointlessly trying to tell each side of the story and ultimately making the case for neither."

- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Votes: 4,932
- Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Jacob Lofland, Henry Garrett, Paola Nuñez

AMC's dramatic Western, “The Son,” followed the story of one family across two different periods in life. At the center of it was Eli McCullough, who once was a Comanche prisoner, and grew up to be a powerful Texas ranger seeking wealth in oil. According to Jen Chaney's review on Vulture.com, it was "a handsomely shot, well-acted, and respectable piece of work." But, she added, it lacked enough depth or insight to make it one of the television greats, especially for a network like AMC that has titles like “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men” on its roster.

- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Votes: 1,588
- Starring: Ben Murphy, Roger Davis, Pete Duel, Walt Davis

Two of the most-wanted outlaws in the West have never actually shot anyone, despite their crimes. Because of this, they're offered amnesty so long as they stay out of trouble for a year. The plot line shows something similar to a Western version of the Witness Protection Program, where the two use the aliases Smith and Jones. According to Metacritic, “Alias Smith and Jones” was a smash success, and the public was consistently hungry for more episodes to find out what happened next.

- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Votes: 1,559
- Starring: Stephen Baldwin, Josh Brolin, Ty Miller, Gregg Rainwater

A group of Pony Express riders was based in the Nebraska Territory in the years just before the Civil War. The series followed the adventures of the young, handsome group. It was the first time a traditional Western had been on TV in a decade. Its first season received decidedly low ratings, but after moving to a new time slot in its second season, the show made quite the comeback, according to Ron Miller in the Baltimore Sun.

- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Votes: 1,832
- Starring: Steve McQueen, Wright King, Olan Soule, Mort Mills

“Wanted Dead or Alive” was a Western series from the late 1950s that starred Steve McQueen as Josh Randall, a Civil War veteran-turned-bounty hunter who roamed the dusty roads of the Wild West looking for outlaws to turn in. This was Steve McQueen's big break, according to Jeremy Roberts in Medium. It also gave early screen time to Michael Landon, who skyrocketed to superstar status when he eventually moved on to “Bonanza.”