Sometimes you might feel as if the world is moving too fast. You just want to get off the roller-coaster and go back to a bygone era when things were simpler. When this mood strikes you, one of the best things you can do is to escape to the past by watching classic TV Westerns online.
The heyday of the television Western was the Fifties. This was the era of 'Gunsmoke', one of the greatest series in the genre's history. This decade also gave the world popular heroes such as Roy Rogers and two of the most famous masked crusaders, the Lone Ranger and Zorro.
The end of the decade saw two series that starred actors who would go on to much greater things. One of the stars of 'The Alaskans' was a young Roger Moore, who later became famous as Bond, James Bond. The cast of 'Rawhide' included Clint Eastwood, who would become the hero of many a classic Western film before taking on his most iconic role, that of Dirty Harry.
The trend for great Western television series continued in the Sixties. The longest-running series in the genre was 'Bonanza', which started in the late Fifties, ran throughout the Sixties and into the early Seventies. 'The High Chaparral' was another hit and 'The Big Valley' boasted a cast that included Barbara Stanwyck, Linda Evans and Lee Majors of 'The Six Million Dollar Man' fame.
The genre went into a decline during the next two decades. The long-running shows from the Sixties came to an end and with a few exceptions, such as 'How the West Was Won', the traditional gun-slinging Westerns weren't very popular anymore. There were shows that offered a new take on the traditional genre, though, for instance by using modern settings or making their heroes more gentle, such as Grizzly Adams.
The Western genre tends to be very male-oriented and women normally have small, supporting roles. There were two notable exceptions, though. In the Seventies, 'Little House on the Prairie', with 'Bonanza' star Michael Landon, made a household name of the young Melissa Gilbert, who played the main character. Former Bond girl Jane Seymour played a strong female role model in 'Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman' in the Nineties.
The Western has been finding renewed popularity since the arrival of the twenty-first century. While most of these more recent shows can't really be called classics yet, one that made history was 'Firefly', created by Josh Whedon. 'Firefly' was the first real space Western, which combined everything that people love about traditional Westerns with a futuristic, outer-space setting. It has a cult following and its fans, who call themselves Browncoats, are as loyal as Trekkies are to 'Star Trek'.
You'll be able to stream many of the most popular Westerns online. Some sites will charge a small membership fee while others are free of charge. All you need to do is find a show you'd like to see, cook up some cowboy beans and enjoy a great night in.
The heyday of the television Western was the Fifties. This was the era of 'Gunsmoke', one of the greatest series in the genre's history. This decade also gave the world popular heroes such as Roy Rogers and two of the most famous masked crusaders, the Lone Ranger and Zorro.
The end of the decade saw two series that starred actors who would go on to much greater things. One of the stars of 'The Alaskans' was a young Roger Moore, who later became famous as Bond, James Bond. The cast of 'Rawhide' included Clint Eastwood, who would become the hero of many a classic Western film before taking on his most iconic role, that of Dirty Harry.
The trend for great Western television series continued in the Sixties. The longest-running series in the genre was 'Bonanza', which started in the late Fifties, ran throughout the Sixties and into the early Seventies. 'The High Chaparral' was another hit and 'The Big Valley' boasted a cast that included Barbara Stanwyck, Linda Evans and Lee Majors of 'The Six Million Dollar Man' fame.
The genre went into a decline during the next two decades. The long-running shows from the Sixties came to an end and with a few exceptions, such as 'How the West Was Won', the traditional gun-slinging Westerns weren't very popular anymore. There were shows that offered a new take on the traditional genre, though, for instance by using modern settings or making their heroes more gentle, such as Grizzly Adams.
The Western genre tends to be very male-oriented and women normally have small, supporting roles. There were two notable exceptions, though. In the Seventies, 'Little House on the Prairie', with 'Bonanza' star Michael Landon, made a household name of the young Melissa Gilbert, who played the main character. Former Bond girl Jane Seymour played a strong female role model in 'Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman' in the Nineties.
The Western has been finding renewed popularity since the arrival of the twenty-first century. While most of these more recent shows can't really be called classics yet, one that made history was 'Firefly', created by Josh Whedon. 'Firefly' was the first real space Western, which combined everything that people love about traditional Westerns with a futuristic, outer-space setting. It has a cult following and its fans, who call themselves Browncoats, are as loyal as Trekkies are to 'Star Trek'.
You'll be able to stream many of the most popular Westerns online. Some sites will charge a small membership fee while others are free of charge. All you need to do is find a show you'd like to see, cook up some cowboy beans and enjoy a great night in.
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