The death earlier this week of Pernell Roberts, who played Adam Cartwright on Bonanza, got me thinking about TV Westerns. The comments posted to that blog were sweetly nostalgic for those good old days of only three channels, quality family television, and men on horseback riding through plains made of trucked-in dirt and Styrofoam boulders.

 The Western used to be a television staple. The Web site www.fiftiesweb.com claims there were 120 Westerns on TV in the 1950s and '60s. Wikipedia counts 171 in all, from Action in the Afternoon to Zorro.

The Western used to be a television staple. The Web site www.fiftiesweb.com claims there were 120 Westerns on TV in the 1950s and '60s. Wikipedia counts 171 in all, from Action in the Afternoon to Zorro.

 The genre tapered off enormously after the 1960s, whittled away to almost nothing by the 1980s, and has pretty much disappeared entirely in the 21st century, save for the occasional mini-series or cable channel movie, all of which are based on best-selling novels.

The genre tapered off enormously after the 1960s, whittled away to almost nothing by the 1980s, and has pretty much disappeared entirely in the 21st century, save for the occasional mini-series or cable channel movie, all of which are based on best-selling novels.

 And now that I've been thinking about, I miss the Western. There were some truly great ones.

And now that I've been thinking about, I miss the Western. There were some truly great ones.

 The big guns, of course, were Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Rifleman, Big Valley, Wild, Wild West, Maverick, and The Lone Ranger.

The big guns, of course, were Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Rifleman, Big Valley, Wild, Wild West, Maverick, and The Lone Ranger.

 My personal favorites were Big Valley, Wild, Wild West, Alias Smith and Jones, The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, and The Rifleman.

My personal favorites were Big Valley, Wild, Wild West, Alias Smith and Jones, The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, and The Rifleman.

 Think about all the huge stars who got their start on the TV Western: Lee Majors and Linda Evans on Big Valley (and Barbara Stanwyck had a career revival with it), Michael Landon on Bonanza, Robert Conrad on Wild, Wild West, James Garner on Maverick, Clint Eastwood on Rawhide (AWESOME

Think about all the huge stars who got their start on the TV Western: Lee Majors and Linda Evans on Big Valley (and Barbara Stanwyck had a career revival with it), Michael Landon on Bonanza, Robert Conrad on Wild, Wild West, James Garner on Maverick, Clint Eastwood on Rawhide (AWESOME theme song), Steve McQueen on Wanted: Dead or Alive, Ronald Reagan as host of the anthology series Death Valley Days. The list goes on and on.

 What was great about the traditional Western was that it offered consistency: Protagonist is faced with a problem (which always had a bad guy attached and often came with a damsel in distress), problem is dealt with (often involving a gunfight that including taking cover behind the barn and blasting away at each other from behind fake boulders at close range), problem is resolved (often with a dramatic death that included gasping last words and a sucking chest wound), protagonist rides off into the horizon/sunset/mesa/prairie/mountains.

What was great about the traditional Western was that it offered consistency: Protagonist is faced with a problem (which always had a bad guy attached and often came with a damsel in distress), problem is dealt with (often involving a gunfight that including taking cover behind the barn and blasting away at each other from behind fake boulders at close range), problem is resolved (often with a dramatic death that included gasping last words and a sucking chest wound), protagonist rides off into the horizon/sunset/mesa/prairie/mountains.

 As the genre's popularity grew, it took on nuances. Wild, Wild West's protagonists were not cowboys, they were Secret Service agents. It was really The Avengers or Mission: Impossible, except they were on a coal-powered train and they rode horses. Very cool. Some way-out-there plots.

As the genre's popularity grew, it took on nuances. Wild, Wild West's protagonists were not cowboys, they were Secret Service agents. It was really The Avengers or Mission: Impossible, except they were on a coal-powered train and they rode horses. Very cool. Some way-out-there plots.

 Big Valley was really a soap opera. Alias Smith and Jones (I had such a crush on Ben Murphy) was really a show about two men who run scams and also help people (kind of like The A-Team, or today's Leverage).

Big Valley was really a soap opera. Alias Smith and Jones (I had such a crush on Ben Murphy) was really a show about two men who run scams and also help people (kind of like The A-Team, or today's Leverage).

 More modern-day Westerns could technically include long-running shows like Little House on the Prairie, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and even King Fu, since they were set in the appropriate time period. And Kung Fu's plots and characters actually fit into the definition of a Western (or at least my definition of a Western).

More modern-day Westerns could technically include long-running shows like Little House on the Prairie, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and even King Fu, since they were set in the appropriate time period. And Kung Fu's plots and characters actually fit into the definition of a Western (or at least my definition of a Western).

 In the 1990s, Fox tried an experiment called The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., starring Bruce Campbell, but it failed because no one could figure out what exactly it was (including the show's writers). And don't even get me started on the embarrassment that was HBO's Western in the 2000s, Deadwood.

In the 1990s, Fox tried an experiment called The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., starring Bruce Campbell, but it failed because no one could figure out what exactly it was (including the show's writers). And don't even get me started on the embarrassment that was HBO's Western in the 2000s, Deadwood.

 How about you? Did you love the Western? Which ones? Do you miss the genre? What's your theory on why they disappeared?

How about you? Did you love the Western? Which ones? Do you miss the genre? What's your theory on why they disappeared?