Western (genre)

The Western is an American genre in literature and film. Westerns are art works – films, literature, sculpture, television and radio shows, and paintings – devoted to telling stories set in the American West, often portraying it in a romanticized light.

Television Westerns

The Saturday Afternoon Movie was a pre-TV phenomenon in the US which often featured western series. Audie Murphy, Tom Mix, and Johnny Mack Brown became major idols of a young audience, plus "Singing cowboys" such as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Rex Allen. Each had a co-starring horse such as Rogers' Golden Palomino, Trigger, who became a star in his own right. Other B-movie series were Lash La Rue and the Durango Kid. Herbert Jeffreys, as Bob Blake with his horse Stardust, appeared in a number of movies made for African American audiences in the days of segregated movie theaters. http://www.cowboydirectory.com/J/J-ea.html. Bill Pickett, an African American rodeo performer, also appeared in early western films for the same audience http://www.famoustexans.com/billpickett.htm.

Related Topics:
Saturday Afternoon Movie - TV - Audie Murphy - Tom Mix - Johnny Mack Brown - Singing cowboy - Gene Autry - Roy Rogers - Dale Evans - Rex Allen - Trigger - B-movie - Lash La Rue - Durango Kid - Herbert Jeffreys - Bob Blake - African American - Segregated - Bill Pickett - Rodeo

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When the popularity of television exploded in the late 1940s and 1950s, westerns quickly became a staple of small-screen entertainment. A great many B-movie Westerns were aired on TV as time fillers, while a number of long-running TV Westerns became classics in their own right. Notable TV Westerns include Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, The Rifleman, Have Gun, Will Travel, Bonanza, The Big Valley, Maverick, The High Chaparral and many others. The peak year for television westerns was 1959, with 26 such shows airing during prime-time.

Related Topics:
1940s - 1950s - TV Western - Gunsmoke - The Lone Ranger - The Rifleman - Have Gun, Will Travel - Bonanza - The Big Valley - Maverick - The High Chaparral

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The 1970s saw a revision of the western, with the incorporation of many new elements. McCloud, which premiered in 1970, was essentially a fusion of the sheriff-oriented western with the modern big-city crime drama. Hec Ramsey was a western who-dunnit mystery series. Little House on the Prairie was set on the frontier in the time period of the western, but was essentially a family drama. Kung Fu was in the tradition of the itinerant gunfighter westerns, but the main character was a Chinese monk who fought only with his formidable martial art skill. The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams was a family adventure show about a gentle mountain man with an uncanny connection to wildlife who helps others who visit his wilderness refuge.

Related Topics:
1970s - McCloud - 1970 - Hec Ramsey - Little House on the Prairie - Kung Fu - Martial art - Life and Times of Grizzly Adams

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The 1990s saw the networks getting into filming Western movies on their own. Like Louis L'Amour ‘s Conagher, Tony Hillerman’s The Dark Wind, The Last Outlaw, The Jack Bull etc. A few new comedies like The Cisco Kid,, The Cherokee Kid,, and the gritty TV series '.

Related Topics:
Conagher - The Dark Wind - The Last Outlaw - The Jack Bull - The Cisco Kid, - The Cherokee Kid,

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This century started off with Louis L'Amour’s Crossfire Trail, Monte Walsh, and Hillerman’s Coyote Waits, & A Thief of Time. DVDs offer a second life to TV series

Related Topics:
Crossfire Trail - Monte Walsh - Coyote Waits - A Thief of Time

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like Peacemakers, and HBO’s Deadwood.

Related Topics:
Peacemakers - Deadwood

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It is clear that the Western is not dead, but have moved smoothly from the first color TV series The Cisco Kid, through the half hour, shoot-um-ups, "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp", Have Gun - Will Travel, " of the 1950’s. Later hour long adult westerns, to the slickly packaged made for TV westerns of today.

Related Topics:
The Cisco Kid - "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" - Have Gun - Will Travel

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See also: List of TV Westerns

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