Yeah The Sopranos Is pretty awesome.
Would any of you call “KUNG FU” a western?
I’m surprised nobody here mentioned “Paradise” Starring Lee Horsley, from 1988-1990. It was nominated for 3 emmys. It was an amazing show, and Lee Horsley was so cool as Ethan Allan Cord.
The premise is really cool, a former gunfighter trying to settle down peacefully and take care of his nephews after his sister dies, but baddies keep on turning up, forcing him to return to his violent ways.
wikipedia entry:
I hope a DVD comes out of it.
A list of my favorite TV Westerns is definitely going to show my age! 
HAVE GUN–WILL TRAVEL
THE WESTERNER
WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
THE WILD WILD WEST
THE HIGH CHAPARRAL
LAREDO (though I haven’t seen it since I was a kid…and I am not sure I would like it now…if you know what I mean!)
THE RIFLEMAN (although the series went on far too long…and after Peckinpah left it was never as good.)
KUNG FU
I haven’t seen any of these series since I was a kid but remember the following with great fondness. In fact I am sure it was these TV shows, more than movies, that started me off as a western freak.
The Rifleman
Branded
High Chaparral
The Virginian (this one definitely went on too long though)
Alias Smith & Jones (especially the Pete Duel ones)
Cimarron Strip
Custer (complete hokum but I loved it as a kid)
Lancer
Laramie
Rawhide
Wagon Train
And of course Gunsmoke and Bonanza
It’s hard to believe now just how popular westerns were in the 50’s and 60’s on TV. There were something like 32 different western shows being aired in the U.S in 1959 alone with 9 out of the top 20 rated shows being westerns.
I wish they would bring them back.
[quote=“Phantom Stranger, post:6, topic:163”]Good news for “Deadwood” Fans:
HBO Saddles Up Deadwood Season Four
Source: Variety
January 6, 2006[/quote]
what happened to the 4th series?
[quote=“Yodlaf Peterson, post:19, topic:163”]my favourite western series of all time has got to be “DEADWOOD”
to me Ian McShane was just an ok actor (Lovejoy etc.) but his performance in Deadwood is nothing short of outstanding.[/quote]
Hey, he musta been chatting on the set 'cos he got the idea of being in a western from his sidekick ‘Tinker’ (from the Lovejoy series)!
Dudley Sutton was already a (spaghetti) western star - playing Spectre - the hearse driver - in ‘A Town Called Hell/Bastard’.
I reckon this is a great film altho it gets a lot of knocks … Sutton is great in it.
Oh Yeah … ‘n’ t.v. westerns - ‘Deputy Dawg’!! (“Okay Muskey???”)
Ha ha. Of course, how did I forget him?
In which case I should also include ‘Quick Draw McGraw’!
[quote=“Phil H, post:28, topic:163”]Ha ha. Of course, how did I forget him?
In which case I should also include ‘Quick Draw McGraw’![/quote]
and not forgetting YOSEMITE SAM!
Surely the greatest - at least regarding numbers of t.v. episodes …
‘Howdy Doody’ with such characters as Bison Bill, Buffalo Bob, Lanky Lou the Cowhand, Oil Well Willie, and Chief “Kowa-Bongo” Thunderthud. And not forgetting (I presume, the love interest babe!?) - Princess Summerfall Winterspring of the Tinka Tonka Tribe. It just wouldn’t be allowed now!
A 13 year run and 2343 episodes … and I aint seen even one of 'em! …
… yet
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I am a devoted fan of most classic USA TV Westerns made between 1948 and 1974.
But especially memorable / classic/ cult / wanted on DVD / liked now and forever are:
-
THE VIRGINIAN 62-71 (James Drury , Doug Mcclure, Stewart Granger
MC CLOUD 70-77 (Dennis Weaver , JD Cannon, Diana Muldaur
THE WILD WILD WEST 67-69 (Robert Conrad, Ross martin, Michael Dunn -
HIGH CHAPPARAL 67-70 (Cameron Mitchell, Henry Darrow, Linda Cristal
-
CIMARRON STRIP 67-69 (Stuart Whitman, Jill Townsend, Percy Herbert
-
BONANZA 59-72 (Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, Michael Landon
-
GUNSMOKE 55-75 (James Arness, Dennis Weaver , Amanda Blake
-
LANCER 67-69 (Andrew Duggan, Elizabeth Baur, James Stacy
BIG VALLEY 66-69 (Barbara Stanwyck, Lee Majors, Richard Long
IRON HORSE 66-67 (Gary Collins , Dale Robertson -
SHANE 66-66 (David Carradine , Jill Ireland
ROAD WEST 66-67 (Barry Sullivan, Andrew prine , Brenda Scott -
DANIEL BOONE 66-70 (Fess Parker, Patricia Blair, Ed Ames
-
CADE’S COUNTY 71-72 (Glenn Ford, Edgar Buchanan, Peter Ford
-
COWBOY IN AFRICA 67-68 (Chuck Connors, Tom Nardini, Ronald Howard
TEMPLE HOUSTON 64-64 (Jeffrey Hunter , Jack Elam
MAN CALLED SHENANDOAH 65 (Robert Horton -
WILD BILL HICKOK 51-54 (Guy Madison , Andy Devine
-
CHEYENNE 55-62 (Clint Walker
-
WHISPERING SMITH 57-58 (Audie Murphy, Guy Mitchell
-
LEGEND WYATT EARP 55-60 (Hugh O’Brian
-
BRONCO 58-61 (Ty Hardin
TALES OF WELLS FARGO 57-62 (Dale Robertson , Virginia Christine
DESTRY 63-64 (John Gavin -
BRANDED 64-65 (Chuck Connors
EMPIRE 62-63 (Richard Egan, Terry Moore
KUNG FU 72-75 (David Carradine, Keye Luke, Philip Ahn -
LAREDO 66-68 (William Smith , Philip Carey , Neville Brand
BAT MASTERSON 58-60 (Gene Barry
CIMARRON CITY 59-60 (George Montgomery, John Smith
TALL MAN 60-62 (Barry Sullivan , Clu Gulager -
RAWHIDE 58-65 (Eric Fleming , Clint Eastwood
WAGON TRAIN 58-63 (Robert Horton, Robert Fuller, John McIntire
HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL 57-62 (Richard Boone
And many more that I like /love and know NOT from the original 60s/70s BUT
am researching, discovering, buying and viewing them NOW in these recent years.
[quote=“SARTANA DJANGO, post:31, topic:163”][size=10pt][font=Verdana][color=blue][img]
I am a devoted fan of most classic USA TV Westerns made between 1948 and 1974.
But especially memorable / classic/ cult / wanted on DVD / liked now and forever are:
-
THE VIRGINIAN 62-71 (James Drury , Doug Mcclure, Stewart Granger
MC CLOUD 70-77 (Dennis Weaver , JD Cannon, Diana Muldaur
THE WILD WILD WEST 67-69 (Robert Conrad, Ross martin, Michael Dunn -
HIGH CHAPPARAL 67-70 (Cameron Mitchell, Henry Darrow, Linda Cristal
-
CIMARRON STRIP 67-69 (Stuart Whitman, Jill Townsend, Percy Herbert
-
BONANZA 59-72 (Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, Michael Landon
-
GUNSMOKE 55-75 (James Arness, Dennis Weaver , Amanda Blake
-
LANCER 67-69 (Andrew Duggan, Elizabeth Baur, James Stacy
BIG VALLEY 66-69 (Barbara Stanwyck, Lee Majors, Richard Long -
LAREDO 68-69 (William Smith, Philip Carey, Neville Brand
-
DANIEL BOONE 66-70 (Fess Parker, Patricia Blair, Ed Ames
-
CADE’S COUNTY 71-72 (Glenn Ford, Edgar Buchanan, Peter Ford
-
COWBOY IN AFRICA 67-68 (Chuck Connors, Tom Nardini, Ronald Howard
TEMPLE HOUSTON 64-64 (Jeffrey Hunter , Jack Elam
TALL MAN 60-62 (Clu Gulager, Barry Sullivan -
WILD BILL HICKOK 51-54 (Guy Madison , Andy Devine
-
CHEYENNE 55-62 (Clint Walker
-
WHISPERING SMITH 57-58 (Audie Murphy, Guy Mitchell
-
LEGEND WYATT EARP 55-60 (Hugh O’Brian
-
BRONCO 58-61 (Ty Hardin
TALES OF WELLS FARGO 57-62 (Dale Robertson , Virginia Christine
DESTRY 63-64 (John Gavin -
BRANDED 64-65 (Chuck Connors
EMPIRE 62-63 (Richard Egan, Terry Moore
KUNG FU 72-75 (David Carradine, Keye Luke, Philip Ahn -
MAN CALLED SHENANDOAH 65 (Robert Horton
BAT MASTERSON 58-60 (Gene Barry
CIMARRON CITY 59-60 (George Montgomery, John Smith -
RAWHIDE 58-65 (Eric Fleming , Clint Eastwood
WAGON TRAIN 58-63 (Robert Horton, Robert Fuller, John McIntire
HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL 57-62 (Richard Boone
And many more that I like /love and know NOT from the original 60s/70s BUT NOW.
[/quote]
Yes, I love those shows too.
Was Laredo the one where Neville Brand played a character called Reese? If so, it used to be a big favourite of mine.
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Yes Phil H I think Neville Brand was “Reese Bennett” and William Smith was “Joe Riley”.
Let us hope we see a DVD release for all/most of the great/cult TV series I listed.
The VIRGINIAN is my especially WANTED classic western series and I would pay as
much as I paid for the set of LAND OF THE GIANTS 66-68. ;D I got that for $115 now 
Phil I have been reading your SON OF DJANGO reviews and am extremely impressed
with your depth of knowledge, critical analysis and professional presentation of each
review with magnificent colour posters. More of the same please, well done.
I have enormous admiration, respect, devotion, EXTREME ENJOYMENT of the work
of (for me) 4 of the all time GREATEST SWs superstars :
RICHARD HARRISON FRANCO NERO PETER LEE LAWRENCE ANTHONY STEFFEN
I hope you can feature many/most of their WORKS OF ART and be very fair in your
reviews. Also maybe research some biographical information on each superstar.
I was very sad/depressed to read of PETER LEE LAWRENCE early suicide April 1974
after he feared a possible brain tumour. Peter was of course a GERMAN star and I
treasure each of his starring /leading roles right up to his premature death.
Two of my favorites ton the list were THE REBEL (1959-1962) with Nick Adams and THE ROUGH RIDERS (1958-1959) with Kent Taylor, Peter Whitney and Jan Merlin.
[quote=“SARTANA DJANGO, post:33, topic:163”][font=Verdana][/font]
Phil I have been reading your SON OF DJANGO reviews and am extremely impressed
with your depth of knowledge, critical analysis and professional presentation of each
review with magnificent colour posters. More of the same please, well done.[/quote]
Glad you like them. I’m trying to add about one a week these days and I enjoy writing them.
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I knew that I had left out some excellent TV Westerns from my Top 20.
POSITION AROUND NO 19 ARE:
THE RIFLEMAN 58-62 (Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford
DEATH VALLEY DAYS 52-71 (Robert Taylor, Ronald Reagan, Dale Robertson Host
THE RESTLESS GUN 57-59 (John Payne
ROUGH RIDERS 58-59 (Kent Taylor, Jan Merlin, Peter Whitney
MAVERICK 58-62 (James Garner , Roger Moore
BARBARY COAST 75-76 (William Shatner , Doug McClure
DEPUTY 59-61 (Henry Fonda , Allen Case
And more great westerns 50s/60s that I may mention later.
[quote=“SARTANA DJANGO, post:33, topic:163”][font=Verdana][/font]
Phil I have been reading your SON OF DJANGO reviews and am extremely impressed
with your depth of knowledge, critical analysis and professional presentation of each
review with magnificent colour posters. More of the same please, well done.[/quote]
Where do I find that review (and Phil’s others): I checked Main Page: DVD Reviews and couldn’t find one for SON OF DJANGO; in the DVD section (again starting from the Main Page), I found FIGLIO DI DJANGO, but no real review.
As far as TV westerns are concerned: I seem to know preciously little of the subject; most titles are unknown or nearly so. I think TV westerns were more popular in The USA and The UK than where I live, on the continent, in the middle between nowhere and not much else. Some favourites of my childhood: RAWHIDE, BONANZA, HIGH CHAPPARAL, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL.
I have some vague memories of THE VIRGINIAN and MAVERICK (don’t think they were very popular over here).
I am a bit reluctant to watch the old series again; there were reruns of BONANZA a few years ago, and I found the series good fun to watch, but not much more: with an over-reliance on scenes shot on sound-stages, the show had a strange, static atmosphere, alien to the western genre; from time to time it was more soap opera than western.
I saw the first series of HIGH CHAPPARAL some five or six years ago on French television; the first couple of instalments were great (even better than I remembered, the conflict between settlers and Indians was intelligently handled) but it all went downhill very soon afterwards, with much talk, little action and flat scriptwriting.
Available here in most shops: WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE (1st&2nd season), with good old Steve.
Never seen it.
Is it any good?
I write them on a blog which I also post on Myspace.
You can find them here:
http://sonofdjango.blogspot.com/
I also link each one to its relevant page on the database.
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Some Classic TV Westerns like Bonanza, Gunsmoke were so popular/succesful/profitable
that the series ran to 100s of episodes.
Bonanza/Gunsmoke/High Chapparal had such high quality writers, superb regular cast
and wonderful guest stars that each episode was in itself like a mini film and a whole
story in itself.
I really do not think it matters at all if Bonanza or other series were studio bound for
some episodes as the “greatness” and “attraction” of each different episode was FAB.
THE VIRGINIAN 1962-1971 , was along with that other classic CIMARRON STRIP 67-69
TV westerns where each episode ran to about 75 minutes , making it into a FILM !!
Each episode or FILM of THE VIRGINIAN had such amazingly talented writers, directors
regular excellent cast and the best stellar guest stars that for me it was a NUMBER 1.
Most other TV series had episodes running for 50 minutes, which is less time in which
to develop and complete a story to entertain the viewers. I will take 75 m all day. ;D
What made these 50s/60s/70s Western series MASTERPIECES were the CHARACTERS
Leading men like James Drury, Robert Conrad, Dennis Weaver and 100s more greats.
Let us campaign and fight for DVD releases for all these Cult Classic series.
[quote=“Phil H, post:38, topic:163”]I write them on a blog which I also post on Myspace.
You can find them here:
http://sonofdjango.blogspot.com/
I also link each one to its relevant page on the database.[/quote]
It has a place among my “favourites” Phil.
It’s late at night, and saturday, so I’m going to have a glass of wine, watch some football and then have a good night’s sleep.
I’ll study your work in the next few days.
It all looked very promising at a first glance.