Customer Reviews

TV Westerns Favorites - 59 Episodes

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I purchased this set specifically for the single episode of "The Wide Country" that's included; it's the only commercially available DVD release to date of this modern era (1960s) TV western that starred Earl Holliman and Andrew Prine as brothers traveling the rodeo circuit. The show lasted just a single season (1962-63) and was broadcast the same year as another contemporary TV western that also used the professional rodeo circuit as its backdrop, "Stoney Burke" (another tough to find series that has a single episode available on Western TV Classics 150 Episodes).

This set is really a mix of sub-genres of the television western. There are shows that were designed for children's audiences like "The Adventures of Kit Carson," "Annie Oakley," "Buffalo Bill, Jr.," "The Range Rider," and "The Roy Rogers Show." These shows featured mostly "good guys/bad guys" plots and, in essence, were shorter versions of the B-movie westerns of the 1930s and 1940s. The mid-1950s introduced the era of the adult western to television and that genre is represented in this set by "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," "Wagon Train" and "The Deputy" (with Henry Fonda), as well as the lighted hearted Warner Brothers western "Sugarfoot." Real life, historical figures are represented by "The Adventures of Jim Bowie," along with the aforementioned Wyatt Earp and Kit Carson. And the 20th century modern era western is represented by both "Fury" and "The Wide Country." Finally, we even get an off-beat western "Shotgun Slade" that blends both the western and detective genres that were popular in the late 1950s/early 1960s.

As is the case with other releases of television shows from Mill Creek Entertainment, the audio/visual quality of this release is variable. All shows are watchable, but some shows look and sound better than others. Several shows like "Sugarfoot," "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" and "The Wide Country" are represented by just a single episode, while most of the other series have at least several episodes included in this set. This set is an easy recommendation for fans of TV westerns. In fact, fans looking to build a sizeable collection of TV westerns, might want to consider Mill Creek's Classic TV Westerns 300 Episodes, a huge collection of episodes, including all of those featured in this smaller set.

I loved the collection of western favorites. It was like a smorgasboard of the best T.V. westerns of the time. Something you could watch for hours.

The episodes in this DVD box set all appear in other classic TV westerns DVD box sets.

Two classic TV western DVD box sets that you should consider getting instead are:

Classic TV Westerns 300 Episodes (which contain all the episodes that also are on this DVD box set)

Essential TV Western 150 Episodes

if you get the above mentioned two DVD box sets, then you won't need any of the other classic TV westerns DVD box sets that appear on this web site, because all the episodes that appear on all those other DVD sets are all in the above mentioned two DVD box sets.

Additional Information: The 300 episode DVD box set Classic TV Westerns 300 Episodes is really a combination of the two 150 episodes classic TV Westerns DVD box sets:

Ultimate TV Westerns - 150 Episodes

Western TV Classics 150 Episodes