This makes me wonder- whatever happen to westerns? As a kid of the 1950s I was inundated with westerns. They were a staple at local theaters and 1950s television was full of them- in fact, and amazing 75% (15 of the top 20 shows) of the '58-59 season were westerns! I was not as obsessed as some of my peers but even I had a cowboy outfit, a Roy Rogers lunchbox and played "Cowboys and Indians" with the neighborhood kids.
Nor was this just a 1950s thing- westerns were a popular movie genre from the start- the very first movie to tell a story using modern film editing techniques- 1903's "The Great Train Robbery" was a western. And westerns were a staple in books, movies and radio programs throughout the '20, '30s & '40s.
Then suddenly around 1960 westerns began a mass extinction. Only a few classics (Gunsmoke, Bonanza) made it through the '60s and they were gone by the mid-'70s. I don't think there has been a successful TV western since.
I'm sure if you were to ask a kid today if he wanted to play "Cowboys and Indians" he look at you like you were nuts. Don't you think its curious that something that was such a integral part of our culture has virtually disappeared?
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