Not Sure Where To Start?
Pick a hero. Any hero. Then go find an episode that sounds exciting. Pour yourself a whiskey or a sarsaparilla, cuddle up with your favorite blanket or rifle or cavalry saber. And once you've done that, si'down and shud-up and watch it. It ain't that hard.
Go Bounty Huntin' With The King of The Cool
Wanted: Dead or Alive.
Steve McQueen stars as Josh Randall, a bounty hunter with a sawed-off rifle called the Mare's Leg, a knack for getting into terrible scrapes & a good heart hiding under his leathery tuff exterior.
Episode Length: 30 mins
Tone: Most often dark, sometimes randomly comedic. Lil' bipolar. Just like good ole Steve.
The Man With No Name
The Virginian.
Few western shows are as homey as The Virginian, thanks to the camraderie of its ensemble cast & its steady location of Shiloh Ranch. The foreman is a man called the Virginian, and yup that's all you're ever gonna get.
Episode Length: 90min
Tone: Homey, epic, built around terrific friendships and often boasting iconic guest stars. And shot in full glorious color, in case you're a tenderfoot who's skired of black and white.
Hollywood. Modernity. Private Eyes.
77 Sunset Strip.
The Warner Bros. show that went hand-in-hand with all these classic westerns, save for one twist. It was a detective show, set in the same Hollywood that was making all these shows. (Sometimes seems they made this show just for the fun they could have breaking the 4th wall on all the others...)
Starring the one & only legend: Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Episode Length: 50min
Tone: Murder Mysteries, suave and elegant detectives & lots of very hip laughs, daddio.
Pick Your Hero
Few More Options
If you like your hero saintly, smart or extremely stubborn... if you want him to be struggling through high school or disarming Soviet missiles... nurturing a deaf-mute cowpoke or hunting a mail-order bride who kills her husbands... if you want him trapped in a collapsed mine or yelling at flirty little girls... if you want him kidnapped by an Injun with a crush or tryna convert the town delinquents... you're still in the right place. (Of course, if you like amnesia, blindness & ill-fated romance... you can't go wrong, everybody gets their turn with those three.)
The Greatest Family Sitcom
My Three Sons
The coziest house full of dudes you'll ever visit. Running for twelve seasons, My Three Sons is a legendary masterpiece of good, old-fashioned family gold.
Starring the amazing Fred MacMurray as Steve Douglas, a widowed father of three sons, and William Frawley as Bub O'Casey, his loyal father-in-law who takes over as cook, housekeeper and fiery Irish mother-figure for the house full of dudes.
Always funny, oftentimes profound, and brilliantly well written.
Co-starring Tim Considine, Don Grady and Stanley Livingston as...
My Three Sons.
The Hero We Don't Deserve
Sugarfoot
The reason for this entire streaming platform. The Saint in Spurs, the forgotten Western legend that deserves to be shown to every new generation. Tom Brewster is a "Learnin' Lawyer" getting his education by mail as he roams the West, tumbling into scrapes and saving the day. By far the most peaceable of heroes, Tom doesn't believe in letting his guns do the talking, nor is he quick to pick a fight, hence the insult of a moniker he is always given, "Sugarfoot." Just never underestimate him. Once he gets his dander up... ain't nobody quicker on the draw.
Starring the ridiculously endearing Will Hutchins.
Slapstick Stupidity
Laredo
Three Texas rangers keep chaotic law & order in a show that has a theme song far too epic for the fever-dream comedy of their plot lines.
Featuring the iconic cast of war hero Neville Brand, body-builder William Smith & Lawman legend Peter Brown. With former heartthrob Phil Carey as their forever annoyed commanding officer.
Well can YOU make a bomb outta a stick of chewing gum?
MacGyver
So maybe it ain't a Western. I don't care. Bro has been my hero as far back as I can remember. The hero who hates guns, and chooses wit over weapon. The super spy who never admits what he does for a living.
As an 80s & 90s show, this one sometimes gets a little bit grungier. That's why you watch it with me, cuz I'll be your VidAngel.
Starring the magnificent, indomitable Richard Dean Anderson.
Too Charming To Stand
Maverick
Two gambling brothers wander from the riverboats of New Orleans to the rugged camps of the Gold Rush. The ladies love 'em (& sometimes try to murder them) but money is always the true love that trumps all for the Maverick boys. Until the times they have to prove themselves extremely reluctant heroes.
Starring the one-and-only James Garner & Jack Kelly. And featuring a stellar cast of recurring mischievous guest stars out to fleece 'em.
The Original Buddy Cops
Lawman
Marshall Dan Troop is a legend among lawmen. He tames the Wild West of Laramie, Wyoming with the help of his wet-behind-the-ears deputy Johnny McKay. The most classic Western show on this channel, for it's darker themes and "shoot-everybody-in-the-last-thirty-seconds-&-roll-the-credits" style of climaxes. With dashes of humor, some red-letter guest appearances, and four seasons of a father/son buddy cop partnership.
Starring John Russell & Peter Brown.