Here are some classic western TV shows to help you kick back and relax this weekend.
It's always a great time to binge on some classic Western TV series and miniseries. So we chose these seven titles from our 2022 roundup of the best shows produced for home viewing that might be of special interest to C&I readers. Happy streaming, buckaroos!

The longest-running western in the history of American television – and, along with Law & Order, one of the longest-running TV dramas of any sort – Gunsmoke almost immediately transformed James Arness into a home-screen superstar for his portrayal of Matt Dillon, the straight-shooting marshal of 1870s Dodge City, Kansas. But Arness wasn’t the only attraction. He was backed by a colorful array of supporting players – most notably, Milburn Stone as the crusty Doc Adams; Amanda Bake as saloon owner (and implied love interest) Miss Kitty; Dennis Weaver and Ken Curtis as, respectively, deputies Chester B. Goode and Festus Haggen; and, for three seasons, Burt Reynolds as half-breed blacksmith Quint Asper.
When Gunsmoke finally moseyed over to TV’s equivalent of Boot Hill in 1975, Los Angeles Times columnist Cecil Smith noted its cancelation with an eloquent tribute to its high quality and lasting impact: "Gunsmoke was the dramatization of the American epic legend of the old west. Our own Iliad and Odyssey, created from standard elements of the dime novel and the pulp western as romanticized by Buntline, Harte, and Twain. It was ever the stuff of legend.” Sounds right to us.

Lonesome Dove (1989)
Many C&I readers insist Lonesome Dove isn’t merely the best western miniseries of all time — it’s the best western of all time, period. And, really, after repeated viewings of this epic four-part adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, we aren’t hankering to argue the point. Lead players Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones are a match made in cowboy heaven as Captain Augustus “Gus” McCrae and Captain Woodrow F. Call, two former Texas Rangers who defy anything and everything — even their own mortality — while driving cattle from Texas to Montana.
They’re backed by a dream-team supporting cast that includes Ricky Schroder as Newt Dobbs, the son Call comes to respect but never really acknowledges; Danny Glover as Joshua Deets, the guide who proves too good-hearted for his own good; the late Robert Urich as Jake Spoon, a fellow former Texas Ranger who falls in with bad companions; Diane Lane as Lorena Wood, a young prostitute who is seduced by Jake’s smooth talk but drawn to the supportive Gus; Chris Cooper as July Johnson, the sheriff who sets out to bring Jake to justice; and Anjelica Huston as Clara Allen, the woman who never forgives Call for luring Gus away from her. And you can keep a dry during the final encounter between Gus and Call — well, you’re made of stronger stuff than us, pardner.
The Lone Ranger (1949-57)
Long after The Lone Ranger completed its lengthy network run, throngs of cable, Internet and home-video viewers – including many who were not yet born when over 220 first-run episodes aired on ABC – still heed the call of announcer Fred Foy: “A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty ‘Hi-Yo Silver!’ The Lone Ranger!” Clayton Moore wore the black mask and fired the silver bullets in most of the episodes. (John Hart assumed the lead role while Moore took a time-out during a wage dispute.) And Jay Silverheels rode tall throughout the entire series as Tonto, the best buddy any Wild West hero could ever hope for.

Talk about the long journey westward: During 228 episodes that aired over eight seasons on two different networks, scores of guest stars (including such notables as Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, Charles Laughton and future President Ronald Reagan) were led by grizzled wagon masters — first Ward Bond, then John McIntire —on arduous overland treks from Missouri to California. Also along for the ride: Robert Horton, Robert Fuller and Denny Miller, successively, as trail scouts; Frank McGrath as cook Charlie Wooster; and Trey Wilson as assistant wagon master Bill Hawks.

1883 (2021-22)
This isn’t your father’s Wagon Train. Instead, producer Taylor Sheridan’s ten-hour, instant-classic Yellowstone prequel is brutally realistic — and, at times, realistically brutal — as it follows Oregon-bound settlers on a harrowing overland odyssey. Perfectly cast lead players Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Isabel May and LaMonica Garrett make the arduous journey not just bearable but breathtaking. Still, we are repeatedly given proof of the warning from series narrator Elsa Dutton (Isabel May): “Here, there can be no mistakes. Because here doesn’t care. The river doesn’t care if you can swim. The snake doesn’t care how much you love your children. And the wolf has no interests in your dreams. If you fail to beat the current, you will drown. If you get too close, you will be bitten. And if you are too weak, you will be eaten. We are in the land of no mercy now.”

The first hour-long western in television history, Cheyenne showcased the late, great Clint Walker in an irresistibly appealing portrayal of the title character, a broad-shouldered, good-humored cowboy who was raised by Cheyenne Indians, and dedicated himself to doing good while wandering the post-Civil War West. The series remains enormously popular after nearly seven decades, with most episodes coming off as well-cast and intelligently written “mini-westerns” that hold up much better than many shoot-‘em-ups released in theaters during the same era. Of course, it also helps that Walker takes his shirt off a lot.

For nine memorable seasons — including the final one, during which the series was retitled The Men from Shiloh — The Virginian provided weekly movie-length western dramas (90 minutes each, including commercials) set in and around the sprawling Shiloh Ranch in late 19th-century Medicine Bow, Wyoming. There were several cast changes over the run of the show, but the two constants were James Drury as the title character, the tough but fair-minded Shiloh foreman, and Doug McClure as Trampas, a rowdy cowboy who often provided comic relief.
And talk about your guest stars! “We had the best actors and actresses in Hollywood come and work on our show,” Drury told C&I in 2016. “We had Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst and Ralph Bellamy — and the list goes on and on… [I]t was a very wonderful place to be as an actor, because you were always working opposite someone who was extremely gifted and skilled, and you had to bring your game up to match theirs.”