OT: No more TV Westerns?

[darkwater]

I've recently come to realize that TV Westerns are a thing of the past and not likely to come roaring back to life anytime soon. Sure, they throw us a Western made-for-TV movie every so often, but actual weekly Western TV series appear to be extinct. The last ones I can recall seeing go back to the 90s with Young Riders, The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr and Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman.

My dad grew up with a ton of Westerns on TV, Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger, Rawhide, The Rifleman, Have Gun Will Travel, Gunsmoke, etc. There were probably enough Westerns on TV to watch at least one a night! In fact, here's a quote from Wikipedia on TV Westerns: "The peak year for television westerns was 1959, with 26 such shows airing during prime-time. In one week in March 1959, eight of the top ten shows were westerns." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Western

Dagnabbit...I'm tired of all the reality TV shows and crime-drama shows, heck, they've even dropped a lot of the intelligent comedy shows, too...we need a good Western!!

[FWiedner]

Westerns will make a come-back.

I thought "Deadwood" and "Firefly" were good series.

The new genre for over-feeding is cop shows.

It will bee too soon, the day someone asks: "How come they don't make any more cop shows?"

[Windjammer]

I'm with you darkwater....I watch a lot of the old ones on Netflix.

[RIHMFIRE]

I just buy the series on DVD....
Rifleman, wanted dead or alive, Rawhide....etc..
and I have a ton of westerns.....to keep me happy
to much garbage reality shows on tv....

By the way the last western tv series was the Magnificent 7
2 seasons.....

[Booger Bill]

I am watching maverick right now. We have two channels that show nothing but the old westerns around the clock.

[madman4570]

I dont know about them making a comeback cause all most all TV shows are now LIBERAL and the older Westerns/TV shows had somthing called Values/Morals.
Anymore unless its a music,semi-sex station w alot of profanity/ Reality Show/Graphic Crime Show/or shows like Jerry Springer/Cheaters/Maury etc. "this culture has regressed to thinking its boring??(REVERSE EVOLUTION)
Disgusting!

Guess, I should have been born 100 years ago?

[Blaine]

Not PC enough. Cowboys & Injuns? GOOD guys shoot bad guys? Saloons with, um, Business Girls? Roping and prodding cattle? Making dogs hunt? Nope, we be civilized now, and don't need to see all that macho stuff

[Booger Bill]

Just stop and think of about how many movie mongroes, (mongals ?) there is at the top that decides what movies are made that shape our youths thinking! Relatively, not really that many! I could get myself in trouble here with what I really would like to say. I will try to keep it a little light and just hint. I belive in conspireace`s. This rotten stuff that is dished out is to tear down our morales and country. Most of us older guys here can see it! We have worked with real tough men in our past lives on rough jobs, and yes we heard some rough talk. But in real life you didnt hear 5% of the swearing and filthy talk as the present day movies use with every sentance. I really belive the owners of the movie industry arent in it for just the money but also to tear down our society.
The majority of new actors will say or do anything ordered them for first fame, then money. Nowdays its all about cool, money, sex, drugs, disrespect and far out impossible action. I know I am missing other descriptions. All of it is the opposeit of the principals this country was built on. That is no accident, but by design! The actors themselves dont reconise it, but they are just pawns in a huge adgenda and their desire for noriety and money is cheap bait.

[Poohgyrr]

We can watch the old shows too. Right now my wife is recording The Virginian series and she even knows the different opening scenes before the actual show starts. Theme song written by Percy faith - I'd forgotten that, and it's been running through my head for two days now....

So it's this and the movies on dvd if you want a good Western anymore.

[fordwannabe]

No more western on TV you must be kidding. I watch Cheyenne most nights and have gun will travel almost every night. Then there are about 60-75 episodes of bonanza,more Daniel Boone, ect ect. I watch em even if Hollywierd doesn't make em any more. Somebody gotta talk to Tom Selleck and get him back on the Louis Lamour movies again. They were great. tom

[darkwater]

I haven't found a good channel for all the Western reruns, is there one? Seems to me the last time I saw Bonanza in the lineup was a couple years ago.

[Windjammer]

No more western on TV you must be kidding. I watch Cheyenne most nights and have gun will travel almost every night.

Tom.....what channel are these on? I have Charter Cable..

[Idahoser]

Now that we're digital, we have "Retro" and "This" and another one I can't think of as second or third channels behind the regular broadcast stations. There's a lot of old shows, including westerns.

Firefly was the last new western TV show I was able to watch, we got rid of pay TV about when that was on.

We get a lot of older stuff though.

I guess lawyers and doctors and cops will always keep coming back. But they go through phases with the rest, and 'reality' is a fad so they'll need something 'new' to replace it when everybody turns that off.

[fordwannabe]

windjammer I get them on encore's westerns channel. Cheyenne at 5:45 and HGWT at 635'ish. These are followed by Gunsmoke but I watch Jeopardy, the nights I watch anything. (Gotta get the car trailer finished before the winter hits.) Tom

[darkwater]

Encore channels...I just looked them up on my satellite provider's packaged plans, they are only available in the most expensive plan...ugh. I really wish they would let us pick and choose the channels. Out of the basic plan we have now, we watch maybe 20 of the 120 channels. Hard for me to justify a lot more cost for just a few more channels.

[fordwannabe]

20 you watch 20 channels of your cable I'm lucky if I watch 7 or 8 total. In my never to be humble opinion the vast majority of the time I can find better things to do than watch the ..uhm, errr, aaahh..stuff they put on TV, you know like change the oil in the DOG,watch paint dry, cut the lawn with toenail clippers ect. I do have some things I watch though. Tom

[fordwannabe]

oops double post

[darkwater]

20 includes what I watch, my wife watches, and my kids. Myself, I rarely watch TV except for the occasional interesting show on History or Discovery Channel. I enjoyed Top Shot, for example, and Lock n' Load with R. Lee Ermey. My wife watches all the crime drama shows across 4 or 5 channels, and the kids have 7 or 8 channels that they can watch. We then have 3 local channels to catch news as necessary. My average is probably an hour or less a day. You're right, though, there's just too much other stuff to do...hehe.

[Rube Burrows]

Sure, there are no new ones but me and my son regularly watch The Rifleman (our fav), Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, Bonanza, and a few others on the Western Channel and also World Harvest TV.

[B-92 Steven]

I have basic cable (no box) with 62 channels. I watch the four big networks and two or three cable channels. Like most of you, I remember The Rifleman with great fondnous. Bonanza was another I watched regularly. I do not get the cable channels dedicated to the old western TV shows. I too watched Deadwood and Firefly. I must admit I am alittle suprised two other poster also remember the Firefly show. TV Westerns (or themes) may never make a come-back, but I can hope for the best. What was it they nick-named them, Oaters or Horse Opera?