The 33 most popular 1970s western TV shows, ranked. Click any show for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Little House on the Prairie
1974 · US
When the big woods of Wisconsin becomes a difficult spot for hunting, Charles Ingalls reluctantly decides to move his family, pioneering west. Their life on the farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s is full of adventure, tragedy, and triumph. Based on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Jerônimo, o Herói do Sertão
Jerônimo, o Herói do Sertão
1972 · BR
No overview available


Alias Smith and Jones
1971 · US
Alias Smith and Jones is an American Western series that originally aired on ABC from 1971 to 1973. It stars Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Jedediah "Kid" Curry, a pair of cousin outlaws trying to reform. The governor offers them a conditional amnesty, as he wants to keep the pact under wraps for political reasons. The condition is that they will still be wanted— until the governor can claim they have reformed and warrant clemency.


Os Inocentes
1974 · BR
No overview available


How the West Was Won
1977 · US
The Macahans, a family from Virginia headed by Zeb Macahan, travel across the country to pioneer a new land and a new home in the American West.


Grizzly Adams
1977 · US
An innocent fugitive from the law lives in the wilderness with a grizzly bear companion and helps passers-by in the forest.


Western von gestern
1978 · DE
Western von gestern is a German television series.


Nichols
1971 · US
Nichols is an American Western television series starring James Garner broadcast in the United States on NBC during the 1971-72 season. Set the fictional town of Nichols, Arizona, in 1914, Nichols differed from traditional Western series of the era. The main character, a sheriff, rode on a motorcycle and in an automobile rather than on the traditional horse. The hero did not carry a firearm and was generally opposed to the use of violence to solve problems, preferring other means. Margot Kidder portrayed Ruth, the love interest/barmaid of Nichols.
Sol Amarelo
Sol Amarelo
1971 · BR
No overview available


Centennial
1978 · US
The economic and cultural growth of town of Centennial, Colorado, through the intertwining lives of the brave men and women inhabiting it. Spanning two centuries from the settling of the area in the 1700s, to the late 1970s.


CB Bears
1977 · US
CB Bears is an animated American anthology television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for NBC's Saturday morning children's programming. It ran in 1977, airing 13 episodes that spanned one season. This series featured six segments making it one of the longest (content-wise) HB series in the 70's. The show debuted with segments, CB Bears, Blast-Off Buzzard, Heyyy, It's the King!, Posse Impossible, Shake, Rattle and Roll and Undercover Elephant.


The Oregon Trail
1977 · US
The Oregon Trail is a 14-episode NBC western television series starring Rod Taylor as the widower Evan Thorpe, who leaves his Illinois farm in 1842 to take the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Northwest. The show also starred Andrew Stevens, Tony Becker, and Gina Marie Smika as Thorpe's children. Darleen Carr starred as Margaret Devlin, one of the passengers on the wagon train, and Charles Napier portrayed Luther Sprague, a frontier scout recruited by Thorpe. The series was filmed in the Flagstaff, Arizona area.


Barbary Coast
1975 · US
Barbary Coast is an American television series that aired on ABC. The pilot movie first aired on May 4, 1975 and the series itself premiered September 8, 1975; the last episode aired January 9, 1976. Barbary Coast was inspired by a similar 19th-century spy series, The Wild Wild West, and like the earlier program, Barbary Coast mixed the genres of Western and secret agent drama.


The Sacketts
1979 · US
A traditional sagebrush saga based on two novels ("Sackett" and "The Daybreakers") by Louis L'Amour. It focuses on the three Sackett brothers in New Mexico after the Civil War, seeking their fortunes, avenging a family killing, driving cattle, and fighting for law and order.


The Quest
1976 · US
The Quest is an American Western series which aired on NBC from September to December 1976. The series stars Kurt Russell and Tim Matheson. The Quest's pilot episode aired as a television film on May 13, 1976.


Kaiketsu Zubat
1977 · JP
Kaiketsu Zubat, translated as Extraordinary Zubat or Magnificent Zubat, was a tokusatsu superhero series that aired in 1977. Created by Shotaro Ishinomori, this 32-episode series, harkens back to tokusatsu superhero shows of the 1950s, but with a late-1970s twist.


Dusty's Trail
1973 · US
Dusty's Trail is an American Western/comedy series that aired in syndication from September 1973 to March 1974 starring Bob Denver and Forrest Tucker. The series is a western-themed reworking of Gilligan's Island. The series, set in the latter 19th century, is about a small, diverse cluster of lost travelers, who become separated from their wagon train.


The Chisholms
1979 · US
The Chisholms is a CBS western miniseries starring Robert Preston, which aired from March 29, 1979, to April 19, 1979; and continued as a television series from January 19, 1980, to March 15, 1980. The 1979 miniseries showed the family moving from Virginia to Wyoming. When the TV series commenced in 1980, the pioneers were shown en route along the California Trail from Wyoming to Sacramento, California.


The Last of the Mohicans
1971 · UK
The adventures of Natty 'Hawkeye' Bumppo and his Indian companions, caught in a war between the French and English in upstate New York in 1757.


Mr. Horn
1979 · US
Western saga based on the legend of frontier folk hero Tom Horn, including his role in the trackdown of Geronimo in the 1880s with his mentor and pal, Al Sieber, the fabled Indian scout, his later days as a Pinkerton detective, and the way he was used by both sides in turn-of-the-century cattle wars, leading to his tragic death.


Hec Ramsey
1972 · US
Hec Ramsey is a television Western, a production of Jack Webb's production company, Mark VII Limited, in association with Universal Studios, broadcast in the United States by NBC as part of the NBC Mystery Movie wheel show during the 1972-73 and 1973-74 seasons.
Dirty Sally
Dirty Sally
1974 · US
Dirty Sally is an American comedy-drama Western series


Posse Impossible
1977 · US
No overview available


Bearcats!
1971 · US
Bearcats! is an American television series broadcast on the CBS television network during the Fall 1971 television season. It starred Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole as troubleshooters in the period before America entered World War I. Bearcats! was produced by Filmways Inc.. It was co-produced by Rodlor, Rod Taylor's production firm.
The Cowboys
The Cowboys
1974 · US
The Cowboys was a short-lived Western television series based on the 1972 motion picture of the same name starring John Wayne. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company television network from February 6 to May 8, 1974. The television show starred Jim Davis, Diana Douglas, Moses Gunn, A Martinez, Robert Carradine, and Clay O'Brien. David Dortort, best known for Bonanza and The High Chaparral, produced the series. The television show, like the movie, followed the exploits of seven boys who worked on a ranch in 1870s New Mexico. The Cowboys began as an hour-long series, but ABC decided to reduce running time to a half hour format. The format change did not lead to increased viewers, and the show was the victim of early cancellation. Guest stars included Cal Bellini as Wa-Cha-Ka in "The Indian Givers", Kevin Hagen as Josh Redding in "Death on a Fast Horse", and Lurene Tuttle as Grandma Jesse in "Many a Good Horse Dies".


Cade's County
1971 · US
A sheriff keeps law in Madrid County, California.


Sara
1976 · US
The story of Sara Yarnell, a schoolteacher who moves from Philadelphia to the Western frontier to start a new life. She becomes the only teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in Independence, Colorado.


Sheriff Hoot Kloot
1973 · US
"Hoot Kloot" was a series of 17 theatrical cartoon shorts produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises from 1973 to 1974. They featured Sheriff Hoot Kloot -- a diminutive, short-tempered lawman -- and his loyal horse Fester who try to maintain order in a remote western town. The series was later shown on television as part of the NBC Saturday morning cartoon series "Pink Panther and Friends."
The Secret Empire
The Secret Empire
1979 · US
The Secret Empire is an American horror television series that premiered on February 27, 1979 on NBC as part of the series Cliffhangers.


The Young Pioneers
1978 · US
The Young Pioneers is a three-episode ABC western television series starring Linda Purl and Roger Kern in the role of young newlyweds Molly and David Beaton, who settle in the Dakota Territory during the 1870s. The program was based on novels of Rose Wilder Lane, daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose work inspired NBC's Little House on the Prairie starring Michael Landon. The Young Pioneers aired at 7 p.m. Eastern on Sundays on April 2, 9, and 16, 1978. The recurring cast included Robert Hays as Dan Gray, Robert Donner as Mr. Peters, Mare Winningham as Nettie Peters, Michelle Stacy as Flora Peters, and Jeff Cotler as Charlie Peters. A Martinez portrayed the Indian Circling Hawk. Geno Silva played another Indian, Fool's Crow. The episodes are entitled "Sky in the Window", "A Kite for Charlie", and "The Promise of Spring".


Kung Fu
1972 · US
The adventures of a Shaolin Monk as he wanders the American West armed only with his skill in Kung Fu.


Young Maverick
1979 · US
Young Maverick is a 1979 television series that unsuccessfully attempted to recapture some of the magic of the highly successful 1957 series Maverick, which had starred James Garner as roving gambler Bret Maverick. Charles Frank played Ben Maverick, the son of Bret's first cousin Beau Maverick, making him Bret's first cousin once removed. Frank's real-life wife Susan Blanchard played his girlfriend Nell, while John Dehner appeared as a frontier marshal who had arrested Ben's father Beau decades before. The series was cancelled by CBS after only eight hour-long episodes had been shown, leaving several which were never aired. The 1978 TV-movie The New Maverick, featuring Garner as Bret, Frank as Ben, Jack Kelly as Bret's brother Bart Maverick, and Blanchard as Nell, served as the pilot for the series. Garner appeared as Bret Maverick in the very first scene of the series, but only for a few moments. Among the actors appearing on the series were Howard Duff, John McIntire, James Woods, Donna Mills, and Harry Dean Stanton. Roger Moore, who played Beau Maverick in the original series, never appeared in Young Maverick. Despite the title, Frank was three years older than Garner had been at the launch of the original series.


Wadha and Ibn Ajlan
1975 · JO
A classic Bedouin drama that tells a legendary love story woven with threads of chivalry, pride, and tribal conflicts. The plot revolves around the deep romance between Sheikh Ibn Ajlan, a prominent tribal leader and poet, and Wadha, a brave and skilled knight from a rival tribe. Amidst wars, shifting alliances, and the harsh laws of the desert, their love faces ultimate tests of loyalty and sacrifice.
1970s television grew markedly more socially engaged, with sitcoms and dramas taking on subject matter the previous decade wouldn't touch.
Television Westerns dominated American broadcasting in the 1950s and 60s, then largely vanished before a prestige-era revival. The frontier setting still gives writers a clean stage for questions about law and violence.