lundi 27 octobre 2014

Enjoy Action And Adventure By Watching Classic TV Westerns Online

By Young Lindsay


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 Fifties was the great era of the TV Western. There were many shows to choose from and the heroes of the day were Zorro, the Lone Ranger and the singing cowboy Roy Rogers. One of the most popular shows at the time, and still considered a leader in the genre, was 'Gunsmoke'.

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 Sixties was a good time for the Western on television too. Shows such as 'Gunsmoke' and 'Bonanza', which both started in the Fifties, carried on throughout the decade. Popular new shows included 'The High Chaparral'. 'The Big Valley' had a cast that would become big names too, such as Barbara Stanwyck, Lee Majors and Linda Evans.

During the Seventies, most of the old shows were cancelled. The traditional Western's gun-slinging, macho values didn't fit in with the new era's more gentle spirit. There were still some popular shows, including the miniseries 'How the West Was Won'. However, the Western now tended to have a hero with a softer side, such as the gentle giant Grizzly Adams, or they would have a modern setting or a stronger focus on family.

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'.

Most TV Westerns are available for streaming online. There are many sites that offer these shows for viewing and some even focus exclusively on the genre. For a wonderful night in, find your favorite show, cook a pot of cowboy beans, sit back and relive the past.




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