If there is any best genre of American, then that is the great Western. The frames of Western TV shows are followed by a soundtrack of twangy notes, fire from the lounges’ swinging, the tubers, the spurs, and the dusty hats. In the second half of the 19th CE in the Old West, the West became a fantasy genre. Americans are attracted to the romanticism of the Old West-offering a sense of unknown freedom and the overarching issues of “men will be men” and “justice will be served.” The genre began around the 1930s and skyrocketed reputation through the 1960s. John Wayne and Clint Eastwood were the born actors from these movies and TV shows. Westerns were the most popular TV genre during the 1950s and 1960s, with classics similar to “Gunsmoke,” “The Lone Ranger,” and “Cheyenne.” Well, We gathered these results from the IMDb series and classified this according to the viewer ratings on all Western TV series in IMDb’s May 2020 list.
Which are the Best Western TV Shows?
Here are the ten best western tv shows:-
- Lonesome Dove
- Deadwood
- Justified
- Yellowstone
- Have Gun – Will Travel
- Hell on the wheels
- Godless
- Longmire
- The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
- The Rifleman
Which are the best Western TV shows streaming on Netflix?
- 1. Godless (2017)
- 2. Frontier (2016 – Present)
- 3. Longmire (2011- Present)
What was the longest-running western TV series?
Gunsmoke (1955-75)
In the 1880s, James Arness, a loved gunsmoke marshal of Dodgen City, was the longest-running TV Western show.
Whether you’re a gunslinging Western lover or just cutting your teeth, there are dozens upon dozens of television Westerns to choose from. Are you ready to finally explore the ten best Western television shows ever? Read about the timeless small-screen classics. Read more.
10. The Rifleman
| Genre | Family, Western |
| Release Date | September 30, 1958 – April 8, 1963 |
| Starring | Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford, Paul Fix, Joe Benson |
| Production Companies | Four Star Productions |
| No. of Seasons | 5 |
| No. of Episodes | 168 |
| IMDB Rating | 8.3 |
The Rifleman is another Western American TV show starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. The Rifleman was broadcasted by Four Star Television on ABC from September 30, 1958, to April 8, 1963. It was one of the first premium series to show a single parent parenting a child on US TV. This series was followed by a half-hour show in which Rancher Lucas McCain lived in New Mexico with his son Mark in the 1880s and raised his son in hostile territory while fighting desperados. The original series was made by Sam Peckinpah on CBS from 1958 to 1963. Cynthia Littleton wrote that a remake was returning to CBS in 2011 in Variety, but it was never realized.
9. The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
| Genre | Western, Action, Adventure, Comedy |
| Release Date | August 27, 1993 – May 20, 1994 |
| Starring | Bruce Campbell, Julius Carry, Christian Clemenson, Comet |
| Production Companies | Boam/Cuse Productions, Warner Bros. Television |
| No. of Seasons | 1 |
| No. of Episodes | 27 |
| IMDB Rating | 8.3 |
Adventures of Brisco County Jr. is a strange Western American TV series by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse. From 1993 to 1994, it took place for 27 episodes on the Fox network. Harvard-educated Brisco County decides in this series to have studied law and to turn to bounty hunting. “The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.,” shows as hunting his father’s murderers with his sidekick, Lord Bowler, and his horse Comet. Todd Everett loved it to the Indian Jones of the West, which is no surprise because it was the brainchild of Indy writer-producers Jeffery Boam and Carlton Cuse.
8. Longmire
| Genre | Crime drama, Neo-Western |
| Release Date | June 3, 2012 – November 17, 2017 |
| Starring | Robert Taylor, Katee Sackhoff, Lou Diamond Phillips, Cassidy Freeman |
| Production Companies | Warner Horizon Television, The Shephard/Robin Company, Two Boomerangs Productions |
| No. of Seasons | 6 |
| No. of Episodes | 63 |
| IMDB Rating | 8.3 |
Longmire is an American contemporary Western crime drama television sequence that premiered on June 3, 2012, on the A&E network, produced by John Coveny and Hunt Baldwin. In August 2014, it revealed it would not renovate the series after the 3rd season. Longmire was the “highest ranking of the original drama series.” In this A&E (and later Netflix) western crime thriller, Craig Johnson’s mystery novels featuring Walt Longmire come to life. Longmire, Wyoming Sheriff’s Office Absaroka recently experienced his wife’s death. Slowly he is supported by his daughter and the female deputy. A&E canceled the series after three seasons, but Cynthia Littleton wrote in Variety a few months later, and Netflix took it up.
7. Godless
| Genre | Western, Drama |
| Release Date | November 22, 2017 |
| Starring | Jack O’Connell, Michelle Dockery, Scoot McNairy, Merritt Wever |
| Production Companies | Casey Silver Productions, Flitcraft, Ltd, and Extension 765 |
| No. of Seasons | 1 |
| No. of Episodes | 7 |
| IMDB Rating | 8.3 |
Godless is an American West TV drama produced, written, and directed by Scott Frank. The story revolves around La Belle, New Mexico, which was hit by disaster after a mining accident that left the town run by women When the vast majority of its men died. The incident is connected with the thief Frank Griffin, who had hidden him at La Belle with the key purpose of seeking vengeance against Roy Goode. The Netflix miniseries was marketed as a feminist Western, but according to Sophie Gilbert in The Atlantic, the show spends less time on the women of La Belle and more on the battle between “Goode and evil.” The seven-episode series started production in September 2016 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The series gained positive feedback and named one of the year’s ten best by The Washington Post and Vanity Fair.
6. Hell on Wheels
| Genre | Western, Period drama |
| Release Date | November 6, 2011 – July 23, 2016 |
| Starring | Anson Mount, Colm Meaney, Robin McLeavy, Phil Burke |
| Production Companies | Entertainment One Television, Nomadic Pictures, (Gayton)2, Endemol, Worthwhile TV, AMC Studios |
| No. of Seasons | 5 |
| No. of Episodes | 57 |
| IMDB Rating | 8.3 |
Hell on Wheels is an American/Canadian Western television series that revolves around the First Transcontinental Railroad Construction in the USA, broadcasting from November 6, 2011, to July 23, 2016, on AMC cable in both the USA and Canada. Cullen Bohannon has been a veteran of the Civil War and saw her wife’s death by Union soldiers in this film. He began looking for vengeance scarred by this memory and came into Hell on Wheels, a lawless town rolling on the Union Pacific Train. Elizabeth Snead wrote in the Hollywood report that it aptly described the building of the transcontinental road as “true-to-life greed, exploitation of the death-and-life fighting.”
5. Have Gun
| Genre | Western |
| Release Date | September 14, 1957 – April 20, 1963 |
| Starring | Richard Boone, Kam Tong, Hal Needham, Stewart East |
| Production Companies | CBS Productions, Filmaster Productions |
| No. of Seasons | 6 |
| No. of Episodes | 225 |
| IMDB Rating | 8.4 |
Have Gun is an American Western series that was first produced on TV and radio by CBS between 1957 and 1963. This CBS Western tells about Paladin, a graduate of West Point who becomes a hired gun. Lacey Rose said that the series appeared in 1957, but David Mamet said he was considering a revival in 2012. The series was broadcast in Hollywood. The agreement was signed with CBS but never rebooted. In Nielsen last year, the series’s television adaptation was ranked number three or number four during its first four seasons. This is one of the few series to have produced a popular radio adaptation in television history. This radio series premiered more than a year after its TV premiere on November 23, 1958. Three Emmy Awards were nominated for this TV program.
4. Yellowstone
| Genre | Drama, Neo-Western |
| Release Date | June 20, 2018 – present |
| Starring | Kevin Costner, Luke Grimes, Wes Bentley |
| Production Companies | Linson Entertainment, Bosque Ranch Productions, Treehouse Films, 101 Studios (season 2 – present) |
| No. of Seasons | 3 |
| No. of Episodes | 29 |
| IMDB Rating | 8.4 |
Yellowstone is a dramatic American TV series produced on the Paramount Network on June 20, 2018, by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson. Kevin Costner leads the modern cowboy in this drama series, followed by John Dutton, a sixth-generation rancher. He lives in a world of greed and alliances that still threatens his ranch. The series occurs during the emergence of Yellowstone National Park, which was America’s first national park. As of 2020, the series is ongoing, and Peter White reports in the Deadline that it is a big rating winner for the Paramount Network. It was the most-watched 2019 summer series.
3. Justified
| Genre | Western, Action, Crime, Drama |
| Release Date | March 16, 2010 – April 14, 2015 |
| Starring | Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts |
| Production Companies | Rooney McP Productions, Timberman/Beverly Productions, Nemo Films, FX Productions, Sony Pictures Television |
| No. of Seasons | 6 |
| No. of Episodes | 78 |
| IMDB Rating | 8.6 |
The US Western crime drama series, first performed on the FX network on March 16, 2010, is justified. “Justified” is a tale about a US marshal using his own Wild West form of justice in Harlan, Kentucky, based on Elmore Leonard’s short story. Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins( The Unicorn cast), who were leading the stage, had legendary chemistry. In The Hollywood Reporter, Tim Goodman wrote that Goggins’ ‘character could die in the first season, but was masterfully presented’ and that the producer Graham Yost changed his plans. Justified was nominated for eight Primetime Emmy Awards, including two nominations, for Margo Martindale’s performance as Dickie Bennett and Jeremy Davies.
2. Deadwood
| Genre | Western, Period drama, Serial drama |
| Release Date | March 21, 2004 – August 27, 2006 |
| Starring | Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker, Brad Dourif |
| Production Companies | Red Board Productions, Paramount Network Television, HBO |
| No. of Seasons | 3 |
| No. of Episodes | 36 |
| IMDB Rating | 8.6 |
Deadwood is a US Western TV series that broadcast three seasons and 36 episodes on the HBO premium cable network between March 22, 2004, and August 27, 2006. “Deadwood,” which was located in a mining city during the Civil War, was a portrait of an unfair situation. The series followed a debauchery-fed townhome to rich hunters and illegal immigrants, all founded on Sioux territory. “Deadwood,” after two seasons, had a phenomenal cult but was canceled later. Deadwood has been widely praised, particularly for Milch and McShane’s writing and performance, and is considered one of the best TV shows ever. Deadwood also received Eight Emmy (28 nominations) and one Golden Globe Award.
1. Lonesome Dove
| Genre | Drama, Western |
| Release Date | September 26, 1994 – May 16, 1996 |
| Starring | Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Diane Lane |
| Production Companies | Telegenic Programs Inc., RHI Entertainment, Rysher TPE |
| No. of Seasons | 2 |
| No. of Episodes | 43 |
| IMDB Rating | 8.7 |
This series is an American Western drama TV series, first-run on September 26, 1994. The story is about a few former Texas Rangers who are driving cattle to Montana. On the journey, they find a sense of adventure and encountered a cast of characters. From Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones to Anjelica Huston, the casting of this 8-hour series was star-studded. By the time the “Lonesome Dove’ came on the radio, the Westerners were almost gone, but the writers paid great tribute to the classic genre, according to Walter Goodman in The New York Times. The series was called Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years in its second season, which was broadcast by syndical media in the 1995-96 TV era.
Conclusion!
Although these are many best western television shows of all time, we’re sorted for you the ten best western television shows you can watch on Hulu Plus, Amazon, or Netflix. Opinions are subjective, but all of the selections on this page are supposed to be agreed by their rank, popularity, and achievements. So what’s your favorite television series if it didn’t?
