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.
Some shows starred some big names in Hollywood, such as James Garner in 'Maverick'. Many news stars were born too. Two great action heroes of the Seventies made their name in Fifties television Westerns. One was Clint Eastwood, who was in the cast of 'Rawhide'. The other was 007 himself, Roger Moore, who was had a lead role in the short-lived 'The Alaskans'.
Some of the great shows of the Fifties ran throughout the Sixties and into the Seventies too. 'Gunsmoke' was one. Another was 'Bonanza', which starred a young Michael Landon. The Sixties also saw the creation of new hit shows, including 'The High Chaparral' and 'The Big Valley'. The latter's cast included some actors who went on to become big names in the Seventies and Eighties, such as Lee Majors, Linda Evans and Barbara Stanwyck.
By the Seventies, attitudes changed and there wasn't much call for the very male-oriented traditional Western anymore. 'How the West Was Won' was an acclaimed miniseries but the long-running shows of the previous two decades came to an end. The focus was now on family, for instance in 'Little House on the Prairie', or they moved away from violence and towards more gentle values, with heroes like the animal-loving Grizzly Adams. There were also shows that used a modern setting instead of the old Wild West.
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'.
To watch Western classics online, you only need to find a site that will allow you to stream episodes. Some sites even specialize in the genre. You may have to pay a small fee. Remember though to prepare a dish of cowboy beans before you sit back and relax with some old-time entertainment.
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.
Some shows starred some big names in Hollywood, such as James Garner in 'Maverick'. Many news stars were born too. Two great action heroes of the Seventies made their name in Fifties television Westerns. One was Clint Eastwood, who was in the cast of 'Rawhide'. The other was 007 himself, Roger Moore, who was had a lead role in the short-lived 'The Alaskans'.
Some of the great shows of the Fifties ran throughout the Sixties and into the Seventies too. 'Gunsmoke' was one. Another was 'Bonanza', which starred a young Michael Landon. The Sixties also saw the creation of new hit shows, including 'The High Chaparral' and 'The Big Valley'. The latter's cast included some actors who went on to become big names in the Seventies and Eighties, such as Lee Majors, Linda Evans and Barbara Stanwyck.
By the Seventies, attitudes changed and there wasn't much call for the very male-oriented traditional Western anymore. 'How the West Was Won' was an acclaimed miniseries but the long-running shows of the previous two decades came to an end. The focus was now on family, for instance in 'Little House on the Prairie', or they moved away from violence and towards more gentle values, with heroes like the animal-loving Grizzly Adams. There were also shows that used a modern setting instead of the old Wild West.
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'.
To watch Western classics online, you only need to find a site that will allow you to stream episodes. Some sites even specialize in the genre. You may have to pay a small fee. Remember though to prepare a dish of cowboy beans before you sit back and relax with some old-time entertainment.
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