What Was the Name of That Show? Quiz

Answer: The Rifleman

"The Rifleman" was a popular black and white western that ran from 1958-1963. Featuring the imposing Chuck Connors as a widowed homesteader living in 1880s New Mexico, it ran in half hour episodes and was noted for being the first primetime television program to feature a widowed parent raising a young child alone.

Answer: The Big Valley

"The Big Valley" focused on the Barkley Ranch located in Calaveras County, California. The widowed matriarch of the family was played by Hollywood legend Barbara Stanwyk who was leading her four adult sons into manhood at the turn of the 20th century. Other stars in the show were Linda Evans and Lee Majors.

Answer: Bonanza

"Bonanza" ran from 1959-1973, lasting 14 seasons and becoming the second longest running western series at the time it ended. The show focused on widower Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) and his three adult sons named Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe. Occurring in the late 19th century, the Bonanza ranch was located near Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Answer: Branded

"Branded" was a western that ran from 1965-1966 and starred Chuck Connors as an Army captain who had been unjustly branded a coward after the Civil War. The program followed this character as he traveled through the old west looking for a town that would accept him and believe in his innocence.

Answer: Gunsmoke

"Gunsmoke" was a very popular western that started on the radio before it went to television, where it ran for twenty years. When it ended, it was the longest running prime-time live action program. This record was broken by "Law & Order" in 2010. Gunsmoke focused on the sheriff of Dodge City, Kansas played by James Arness.

This show was often somber and often stepped into some of the cultural problems of the times. These included poverty, racism, women's lib, and alcoholism.

Answer: Maverick

Running from 1957-1962, this popular western starred James Garner as cardshark Bret Maverick. "Maverick" also featured Roger Moore, Robert Colbert and Jack Kelly as brothers and cousins who bounced from town to town. This show attempted to show the movement of culture from the eastern parts of the U.S. to the wild west and most of the action occurred in town, not out on the prairie.

Answer: Laramie

"Laramie" was a black and white western that ran from 1959-1963 and featured John Smith and Hoagy Carmichael. This story was about the lonely life at an 18th century stagecoach stop in Wyoming. Even though the program started filming in color in its third year and featured outstanding landscape scenes, the show was surpassed by the wide assortment of westerns available on television almost every night of the week.

Answer: The Virginian

Starring Doug McClure and James Drury, "The Virginian" ran from 1962-1971. When it finished its run in 1971 it was the third longest running television western on television. It was also the first that ran for 90 minutes. This show focused on life at a western ranch and the foreman who ran it. This was the character named "The Virginian" and his real name was never revealed.

Answer: Rawhide

This western, which ran from 1959-1966, was the show that started the career of Clint Eastwood. 217 episodes were filmed in black and white and focused on the hard life experienced by men on a long-distance cattle drive. One of the most popular westerns in the 1960s, the show had a plethora of guest stars and featured at least one on every episode.

Answer: The High Chaparral

"The High Chaparral" ran from 1967-1971 and featured Leif Erickson and Cameron Mitchell as part of a family trying to ranch the inhospitable terrain of Arizona. Featuring many big stars as weekly guests on the show, this television program came in a little later than some of the others and did not last as long. Crime dramas had taken over prime time television by the early 1970's.