TV Westerns List: 185 Shows in Chronological Order

There was a stretch of American life when you could not turn on a television without a cowboy staring back at you. We are a western film festival, so people assume our hearts live on the big screen, and they mostly do. But the small screen carried the genre into more living rooms than any theater ever could. A festival volunteer built the chronological list of TV westerns below, and once we saw it laid out in order, we could not stop reading. It is the whole arc of the genre on television, 185 shows deep, from a 1949 cowboy in a black hat to the ranch dramas filling streaming queues right now.

TV Westerns List — At a Glance

What: A chronological list of 185 western television series, from 1949 to 2023.

First on the list: Hopalong Cassidy (1949).

Longest-running: Gunsmoke, twenty seasons from 1955 to 1975.

Newest entries: Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Dark Winds, and Lawmen: Bass Reeves.

Compiled by: a Go West Film Fest volunteer. Come talk westerns with us, free, in Greeley every November. Join the crew.

The Golden Age Was on Television

Look at the years and a pattern jumps out. Between 1955 and 1965, the western did not just dominate the movies; it swallowed prime time. In a single season near the end of the 1950s, more than two dozen westerns aired at once. Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Rawhide, Wagon Train, Maverick, Have Gun–Will Travel: these were not niche programs, they were the most-watched shows in the country. A generation learned the genre's rules from a couch, one week at a time, and those rules are still doing their work in every western made since.

From Bonanza to the Streaming Ranch

The genre thinned out on television for a while, the way it did in theaters, but it never disappeared, and the last decade brought it roaring back. Deadwood proved a western could be prestige television. Justified and Longmire kept the neo-western alive in modern dress. Then Yellowstone and its prequels, 1883 and 1923, turned the cattle ranch into one of the biggest franchises on any screen. The list below runs all the way to the present, and the present is busy. If you want to understand where the genre is headed, it helps to see the whole trail behind it.

Every TV Western, In Order

Here is the full chronological list, ordered by the year each show premiered. Series that ran across several years are shown with their full run.

SeriesYears
Hopalong Cassidy1949–54
The Lone Ranger1949–57
The Gabby Hayes Show1950–54
The Gene Autry Show1950–55
Cisco Kid1950–56
Range Rider1951–53
Adventures of Kit Carson1951–55
The Roy Rogers Show1951–57
Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok1951–58
Sky King1951–59
The Adventures of Kit Carson1951–60
Tim McCoy Show1952
Cowboy G-Men1952–53
Death Valley Days1952–70
Lash of the West1953
Davy Crockett1954–55
Stories of the Century1954–55
Annie Oakley1954–57
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin1954–59
The Adventures of Champion1955–56
Brave Eagle1955–56
Buffalo Bill, Jr1955–56
Frontier1955–56
Judge Roy Bean1955–56
My Friend Flicka1955–56
Sergeant Preston of the Yukon1955–58
Tales of the Texas Rangers1955–58
Fury1955–60
Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp1955–61
Cheyenne1955–63
Gunsmoke1955–75
Adventures of Jim Bowie1956–58
Broken Arrow1956–58
Circus Boy1956–58
Sheriff of Cochise1956–59
Zane Grey Theater1956–61
Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans1957
26 Men1957–59
Californians1957–59
Man Without a Gun1957–59
Restless Gun1957–59
Trackdown1957–59
Zorro1957–59
Colt .451957–60
Tombstone Territory1957–60
Sugarfoot1957–61
Maverick1957–62
Tales of Wells Fargo1957–62
Have Gun--Will Travel1957–63
Wagon Train1957–65
Frontier Doctor1958–59
Jefferson Drum1958–59
Northwest Passage1958–59
Rough Riders1958–59
Union Pacific1958–59
Yancy Derringer1958–59
Cimarron City1958–60
The Texan1958–60
Bat Masterson1958–61
Wanted: Dead or Alive1958–61
Bronco1958–62
Lawman1958–62
The Rifleman1958–63
Hudson's Bay1959
The Alaskans1959–60
Black Saddle1959–60
Hotel de Paree1959–60
Johnny Ringo1959–60
Law of the Plainsman1959–60
Man from Blackhawk1959–60
Pony Express1959–60
Wichita Town1959–60
The Deputy1959–61
The Rebel1959–61
Riverboat1959–61
Shotgun Slade1959–61
Laramie1959–63
Rawhide1959–66
Bonanza1959–73
Tate1960
Klondike1960–61
Two Faces West1960–61
Whiplash1960–61
Outlaws1960–62
The Tall Man1960–62
The Westerner1961
Whispering Smith1961
Frontier Circus1961–62
The Dakotas1962–63
Wide Country1962–63
Stoney Burke1962–63
Empire1962–64
The Virginian1962–71
Temple Houston1963–64
Travels of Jaimie McPheeters1963–64
Daniel Boone1964–70
Branded1965–66
Legend of Jesse James1965–66
The Loner1965–66
Man Called Shenandoah1965–66
F Troop1965–67
Laredo1965–67
The Big Valley1965–69
The Wild, Wild West1965–69
The Monroes1966–67
Pistols 'n' Petticoats1966–67
The Rounders1966–67
Iron Horse1966–68
Custer1967
Dundee and the Culhane1967
Rango1967
Cimarron Strip1967–68
Cowboy in Africa1967–68
Guns of Will Sonnett1967–69
The High Chaparral1967–71
The Outcasts1968–69
Here Come the Brides1968–70
Lancer1968–70
Cade's County1971–72
Nichols1971–72
Alias Smith and Jones1971–73
Hec Ramsey1972–74
Kung Fu1972–75
Dusty's Trail1973–74
Dirty Sally1974
Nakia1974
The New Land1974
Little House on the Prairie1974–83
Barbary Coast1975–76
The Quest1976
Sara1976
How the West Was Won1976–79
Life and Times of Grizzly Adams1977–78
Centennial1978
The Sacketts1979
The Chisholms1979–80
Best of the West1981–82
Bret Maverick1981–82
Zorro and Son1983
Outlaws1986–87
Guns of Paradise (aka Paradise)1988–90
Lonesome Dove1989
Bordertown1989–91
The Young Riders1989–92
Zorro1990–93
Son of the Morning Star1991
Walker, Texas Ranger1993–2001
Adventures of Brisco County, Jr1993–94
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman1993–98
Hawkeye1994–95
Legend1995
Lazarus Man1996
Rough Riders1997
Magnificent Seven1998–2000
Peacemakers2003
Deadwood2004–06
Into the West2005
Broken Trail2006
Justified2010–15
Hell on Wheels2011–16
Hatfields & McCoys2012
Longmire2012–17
Quick Draw2013–14
Klondike2014
Texas Rising2015
The American West2016
Frontier2016–18
The Ranch2016–20
Wynona Earp2016–21
Westworld2016–22
Godless2017
Damnation2017–18
The Son2017–19
Yellowstone2018–23
Ultimate Cowboy Showdown2019
Deputy2020
18832021–22
Walker2021–present
Joe Pickett2021–present
The English2022
Billy the Kid2022–present
Dark Winds2022–present
Outer Range2022–present
19232022–23
Lawmen: Bass Reeves2023

That is 185 shows, and the trail keeps growing. If we missed one of your favorites, tell us at the festival.

Keep the Western Alive — Donate

Frequently Asked Questions

How many TV westerns are there?

This chronological list catalogs 185 western television series that aired between 1949 and 2023, from early half-hour cowboy programs to modern prestige dramas.

What was the first TV western?

Hopalong Cassidy, which began airing in 1949, is the earliest series on this list and one of the first western shows produced for television.

What was the longest-running TV western?

Gunsmoke holds the record, running for twenty seasons from 1955 to 1975, making it one of the longest-running scripted dramas in American television history.

What are the newest western shows?

Recent western series include Yellowstone (2018–2023) and its prequels 1883 and 1923, along with Dark Winds, Billy the Kid, Outer Range, and Lawmen: Bass Reeves.

Where can I watch classic westerns on a big screen?

The Go West Film Fest screens classic and contemporary westerns for free every November in Greeley, Colorado, at the Kress Cinema & Lounge and the LINC.

The couch had its golden age. Ours happens once a year, in the dark, with a crowd. We will save you a seat.

Go West Film Fest