While Taylor Sheridanverse of TV shows now includes everything from Old West legends like Lawmen: Bass Reeves, to gritty gangster dramas like Mayor of Kingstown, to modern action-thrillers like Special Ops: Lioness, but it's in the Western genre where the showrunner and writer appears to be most comfortable, with several shows taking place in the setting.

Beyond being fine shows, Yellowstone and its spinoffs have introduced younger and modern audiences to the joy of Westerns. Western movies may be a strata of the industry that more people are familiar with, but there's a long history of Western TV shows too, and it's not just Yellowstone, 1883, and 1923 that have plumbed the themes and settings for multiple episodes and seasons at a time. There are some modern titles that regular TV viewers will be familiar with, as well as some classic Westerns that hold up as well as anything on TV.

6 Rawhide (1959-1965)

A Rough And Naturalistic Look At The Old West

Rawhide depicts a group of cattle drovers in the 1860s, who work all across the Old West. The trail boss, Gil Favor (Eric Fleming), leads a team of cowboys across the dusty plains, driving cattle and helping the needy people they meet along the way. The series had a rough, brutal, and even occasionally, a supernatural bent to it. Racism, torture, and the realities of life on the plains are all often factored into stories, and Rawhide has episodes where even more inexplicable events occur.

The series, beyond being an adventurous, thrilling romp, offered two critical artifacts to the Western genre. First off, it's theme song, "Rawhide", which is a rambling, exciting tune about cattle driving that has made its way into every corner of pop culture, from Shrek 2 to the British series Hustle. The series also introduced a young man by the name of Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates. While Eastwood had been acting since 1955, Rawhide revealed him as the Western star he would go on to be.

5 Godless (2017)

A Female-Led Story Of Revenge And Redemption

The miniseries Godless comes from a long line of Western TV miniseries. Directed by Scott Frank, who directed the similarly Western-minded superhero movie, Logan, the same year, Godless was a critical success with 12 Emmy nominations and three wins for its seven episodes. Set in 1884 in a small town in New Mexico, Godless follows Roy Goode (Jack O'Connell), an outlaw on the run from his mentor Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels). Fed up with Frank's wicked ways, Roy stumbles into La Belle, a town almost entirely populated by women.

Michelle Dockery, Scoot McNairy, Merritt Wever, and Tantoo Cardinal also star. Beautifully shot with violence that feels raw but never exploitative, Godless is a wonderfully excessive and impressive series with a sharply written story. The mostly female cast offers something fresh and unique in a genre dominated by male-centric casts.

4 Justified (2010-2015)

A Neo-Western Filled With A Fantastic Cast

Though he had a career previously, including in the excellent Western TV show, Deadwood (spoiler for this list), Timothy Olyphant was really introduced to audiences as Raylan Givens in Justified, the neo-Western crime drama that ran for 6 seasons on FX. The series, which also served as an early role for Walton Goggins as local criminal Boyd Crowder, is set in Harlan County in eastern Kentucky. Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan is a man out of time, with an Old West ethos trying to stop crime in a modern, evolving world.

Justified fits the neo-Western genre as well as any movie or TV show, marrying elements of Westerns and gritty cop dramas into an intriguing and strikingly well-acted series. Though Justified begins as more of a procedural, it slowly develops into a longer, intriguing story about the effects of Raylan's unconventional style of policing on himself and the region. The series was nominated for 8 Emmys and remains a standout example of how to do Westerns in the modern era.

3 Bonanza (1959-1973)

A Modern And Far-Reaching Series About Life In The Growing West

Bonanza first premiered on NBC in 1959 and introduced viewers to the wealthy Cartwright family who live near Virginia City, Nevada, in the 1860s. Led by father, Ben Cartwright (Lorne Green), the Cartwright family lives on a huge ranch called Ponderosa, near Lake Tahoe, where they get into all sorts of sitcom-worthy predicaments over the 14 seasons of the show. Pernell Robert, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon also star as Ben's three sons.

Unlike other Westerns of the time, Bonanza was a period drama that confronted contemporary social issues.

Unlike other Westerns of the time, Bonanza was a period drama that confronted contemporary social issues. Comedies and anthology series were doing it at the time, but few week-to-week drama series took this tack. Racism, bigotry, substance abuse, environmentalism, and more were all tackled on the show with a surprising amount of heart and empathy. It's a long series that bounces from jokes to serious moments with ease.

2 Gunsmoke (1955-1975)

The Grandfather Of Western TV Shows

The longest-running Western TV show is also one of the genre's best. Gunsmoke premiered in 1955 and ran for 20 total seasons, and that was after it premiered as a radio serial for 9 seasons. The TV show stars James Arness as U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon, an officer of the law working in Dodge City, Kansas in the years following the end of the American Civil War. Dillon handles criminal problems in town and outside of it, with his range extending into the surrounding plains and deserts.

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp premiered a few days before Gunsmoke and so is technically the first Western TV show written for an adult audience.

While Dillon's deputies are somewhat inept and provide comic relief, Dillon himself is a talented marshal who handles everything from dangerous violent crimes, to arguments between friends, acting as a peacemaker. As one of the first TV Westerns written specifically for adults, Gunsmoke ushered in the era of Westerns on TV and sat right in the middle of the Western "Golden Age". Tropes and themes found in modern Western TV shows can often be traced to this show.

1 Deadwood (2004-2006)

An Honest And Expertly Crafted Western

Deadwood was a part of the HBO boom of TV shows in the early 2000s, alongside the likes of The Sopranos, The Wire, and Rome, that showed movies were no longer the sole domain of "serious" storytelling and incredible visuals. Deadwood is set in Deadwood, South Dakota, in the 1870s, just when the area was being annexed. The three-season series depicts the growth of Deadwood from a backwater camp to a sprawling town, with all the crime, political scheming, and problems that come with that.

Despite coming long after the Golden Age of Westerns, Deadwood feels like the culmination of Western storytelling. Characters like Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) and Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) are plucked right out of history, and played so honestly in a setting so real, that it's easy to fall right into the world, and never want to leave. Smartly written, philosophical about the real American West, and expertly crafted, Deadwood is a must-watch for any history or Western TV show fan.