Ever since I was old enough to watch TV, I've been enthralled by Westerns. Of course, when they became passe in the mid-seventies (which put a lot of Western actors out of work or scrambling to re-invent themselves) most of the general public moved on to other things and genres, until a minor box office flick would come along and re-ignite the flame, like Josey Wales, Young Guns, Django Unchained (barf!) or the True Grit remake...but many of those of us who got into BP early and stuck with it never let the flame go out.
I'm really grateful for cable channels like INSP which pretty much run the old serials all week, such as Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Bonanza, The Virginian, Wanted: Dead or Alive, and many others and on the weekends run the great old western movies. I rarely miss my Gunsmoke reruns every night regardless of how many times I've seen them, and I know several years ago when they ran "Bonanza; the Lost Episodes" I watched every single one of them through until the cycle started over again (over 300 episodes).
In short, I never 'outgrew' the western and I'm really sorry that an entire era ended. It doubtless created many, many loyal fans among the Baby Boomer generation and no doubt is a major factor in Americans supporting the NRA, 2nd Amendment and gun owner's rights when other countries were busy cutting up their relics and beating legal, legitimate gun owners into submission via the long arm of the law.
Any other members here a big fan of the Westerns from the Golden Age, and which ones? If so, let's have a discussion!
