When it comes to classicWesterntelevision, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly which series was the most influential on the ever-expanding genre.Gunsmokewas the longest-running, followed shortly byBonanza, but even those were predated byThe Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, which had an impressive six-season run of its own. But there’s one Western television classic worth revisiting due to its status as the first hour-long Western program. In fact, many consider this to be the first hour-long drama of any kind to run more than a single season! That’s right, we’re talking about ABC’s 1955 series,Cheyenne, which starredClint Walkerin the title role as Cheyenne Bodie, wandering cowboy extraordinaire!
In the vast and untamed American West, Cheyenne Bodie, a drifter with a strong sense of justice, navigates through a series of adventures as he encounters a diverse array of characters and challenges. From battling outlaws to mediating conflicts with Native American tribes, Cheyenne’s journey is marked by his unwavering commitment to doing what’s right. Each episode explores different aspects of frontier life, blending action and drama to depict the rugged environment and the complex moral landscape of the Western frontier.
‘Cheyenne’ Is the Definition of a Traditional Television Western
BeforeRod Serlingtried his hand at the genre withThe Lonerin the 1960s orClint Eastwoodbecame known as the Man With No Name,Cheyennetook its leading man and set him on a course across the American West. A wandering hero with no place to call his home, Cheyenne Bodie was a man’s man. He was a hulking figure with a deep voice and an honorable moral code more akin to the genre’s traditional values before it got more “revisionist” in the ’70s. Though shows like the anthologyDeath Valley Daysexisted beforeCheyenne, this ABC Western was the first of its kind.Cheyenne,very loosely based on the 1947 Western of the same name, used its hour-long episodes to explore the intricacies of human existence and tell longer, self-contained stories that stuck with you long afterward.
Nearlyevery genre trope associated with Westerns can be found inCheyenne,from fabulous gunfights with the quickest draw in the West to hardcore villains with a chip on their shoulders and even daring romances with women who swoon over the titular character. Cheyenne himself was always undertaking different Western jobs, such as ranch foreman, wagon train scout, and even lawman (a job he often found himself doing even without a badge). He easily fell into new vocations with each new episode. The character wasconnected to the Cheyenne Indian tribeafter whom he was named, though the show is fuzzy on the exact details. The show’s first episode, “Mountain Fortress,” reveals that Cheyenne’s parents were murdered when he was just a boy, and after the fact, the Cheyenne took him in. Later that season, “West of the River” notes that he stayed with the tribe from 12 until 18. However, Season 5’s “The Lone Rope” introduces the family who apparently raised the Western hero, and they’re certainly not Cheyenne.
Despite slight continuity errors,Cheyenneworked as a new, long-form take on a familiar genre and managed to tell some pretty exciting stories along the way. According toTim BrooksandEarle F. Marshin their book,The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, the show itself was part of theWarner Bros. Presentstelevision initiative, which was the movie studio’s first foray into television. It was the most popular of the three shows that made up Warner Bros.’ trinity of programs, includingCasablancaandKing’s Row(each based on popular films), and often rotated with these and later other shows likeSugarfootandConflict. Brooks and Marsh note thatCheyennewas so difficult to produce as an hour-long period drama that the show rarely ran every week. Instead, an episode or two would be broadcast each month during its first five seasons until it found its footing near the end.
Of course, the real draw forCheyennewas Clint Walker himself. A six-foot-something burly cowboy with soft features and a tough demeanor, Cheyenne Bodie wasthe type of hero you could easily root for. In fact,he was the only character who appeared in all but one episode, which makes sense, considering the show was named after him. However, one other character appeared in a small handful of episodes during the first season as Cheyenne’s sidekick, and that was Smitty. Played byL.Q. Jones, Smitty only showed up in “Boarder Showdown,” “Julesburg,” and the series premiere “Mountain Fortress,” where he worked alongside the titular cowboy hero. For whatever reason, Jones was dropped fromCheyenneearly on and was never seen again in the show’s seven-season run.
Aside from L.Q. Jones, a bunch of other actors appeared in multiple episodes ofCheyenne, though, unlike Jones, they never showed up as the same characters twice.Clyde Howdyappeared in 49 episodes of the show (often going uncredited) as various side characters, and actors likeChuck Hicks,Lane Chandler,Mickey Simpson, andJack Mowershowed up anywhere from nine to fifteen times.Because of the difficult nature of producing an almost feature-length television episode, it’s not surprising thatCheyennecontinued to reuse many of the same actors in minor or supporting roles.After all, Cheyenne was bound to meet similar folks across the West as he wandered in and out of every new town and county.
As previously mentioned, Clint Walker only appeared in all but one ofCheyenne’s 108 episodes. That’s becauseCheyenne’s Season 6 finale, “A Man Named Ragan,” follows, well, a man named Marshall Frank Ragan (played byLarry Ward). If that name sounds familiar, it might be because this episode was actually the pilot for the 1962 Western seriesThe Dakotas, which, for some reason, was aired as an episode ofCheyenneoriginally.The Dakotasonly ran one season, and sadly, we never got to see Cheyenne Bodie and Frank Ragan work together on the American frontier. Maybe in cowboy heaven, that crossover is a reality.
‘Cheyenne’ Spun-off Into ‘Bronco’ After a Major Pay Dispute
Speaking of crossover,The Dakotaswasn’t the only show that spun off fromCheyenneduring its popular run.The Western seriesoften ranked in the Top 20 of all television broadcasts at the time (especially during its middle seasons), and because of its consistency in viewership,Warner Bros. and ABC were able to launch a brand-new series under theCheyennebanner—though the circumstances behind said launch weren’t too great. In 1959, just beforeCheyenne’s third season, Clint Walker became disillusioned with his contract (the studio was forcing him to kick back half of his in-person appearance profits to them) and left Warner Bros. It was a bold move, especially since this same contract prevented the Western star from working elsewhere, and eventually, in 1959, he returned toCheyenne. “I am like a caged animal,“he told the media. It wasn’t but a few more years before Walker was freed, andCheyenneended after seven seasons.
But during Clint Walker’s absence, Warner Bros. was forced to keep the show going, and they did so by launchingBronco.Ty Hardinstarred as the titular Bronco Layne, a former Confederate whowandered about the Old Westin the same way Cheyenne Bodie did. Under theCheyennebanner,Broncodid well for itself, even without Clint Walker playing the original title role. For a while, Hardin’s Bronco adventures were technically episodes ofCheyenne, but when Walker returned to his original series, the network and studio retroactively madeBroncoits own entity. It wasn’t long after that beforeABC opted to turnCheyenneinto a Western franchise, makingThe Cheyenne Showan anthology-ish series that either followed Walker’s Cheyenne Bodie, Hardin’s Bronco Layne, orWill Hutchins' Tom “Sugarfoot” Brewster ofSugarfootfame. Only once did all three appear on camera at the same time, and that was in theCheyenneepisode “Duel at Judas Basin,” where the three Western heroes teamed up to stop a trader from selling firearms to a local Indian tribe. However, we should note that Bronco and Sugarfoot reunited for theBroncoepisode “Yankee Tornado” a few months later, and they had worked together twice before onSugarfoot.
Strangely enough, long before cinematic universes were a major deal in Hollywood,theCheyennebrand extended beyond just these three shows andThe Dakotas. Walker’s Cheyenne, Hardin’s Bronco, and Hutchins' Sugarfoot all appeared in the 1960Maverickepisode “Hadley’s Hunters,” which also featured characters fromLawman,77 Sunset Strip, and even referenced shows likeColt .45andThe Rebel. Plus, an episode ofBronco(“Freeze-Out”) tiesThe Virginianinto the canon as well. This makes a total of ten Western television productions that technically exist within the same historical geography (more if you count all the productions that tied toThe Virginianat some point, such as its spin-offLaredo). If only we could get modern Westerns likeLongmire,Justified,Joe Pickett, and perhaps evenYellowstoneto do something similar these days…
Clint Walker Returned as Cheyenne Bodie for a Few Occasions
On August 23, 2025, just before Christmas, Cheyenne Bodie appeared for the final time in theCheyenneepisode “Showdown at Oxbend.” A standardCheyennehour, our hero throws himself between two sides of a range war and helps resolve this conflict the only way he knows how. When the episode concludes, Cheyenne rides out of town, waving goodbye to both the people of the Old West and the audience who watched him for the better part of a decade. “So long, folks,” he cries as he rides out on his wagon. But somehow, even this wasn’t the end for good old Cheyenne Bodie. Nearly thirty years later, Clint Walker returned to the screen as Cheyenne for theKenny Rogersmade-for-TV movieThe Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw.
Other Western TV stars, such asHugh O’Brain’s traditional take on Wyatt Earp fromThe Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp,Chuck ConnorsandJohnny Crawford(playing Lucas and Mark McCain) fromThe Rifleman,James DruryandDoug McClure(playing the Virginian and Trampas) fromThe Virginianand evenDavid Carradine’s Kwai Chang Caine fromKung Fuall made appearances also. Likewise,Have Gun-Will Travelis referenced in the film, thus expanding this Western world even further. To make things even weirder,Kung Fuwas revived in the 1990s through the sequel seriesKung Fu: The Legend Continues. While the originalKung Futook place in the 1800s American West, the sequel series was a contemporary production. So, how doesCheyennefit into all this? Two words thatwould fit better in a Weird Westernthan a traditional one: time travel. In the 1995 Season 3 episode “Gunfighters,” Kwai Chang Caine (still played by Carradine) works with an older Cheyenne Bodie to defeat a man terrorizing their town before he swaps places with his future grandson (also named Kwai Chang Caine), who then does theBack to the Future Part IIIthing in the past with Cheyenne.
Though Cheyenne Bodie, who is still as booming and gentle as ever, isn’t much involved with the time travel aspect, it’s fun to see Clint Walker back in the saddle. This would end up being Walker’s final on-screen role as an actor before retirement (though he voiced Nick Nitro inSmall Soldiers), which is a truly fitting end to a longstanding career as a Western icon.WhileCheyennemight not be as well known as many other Western TV classics, it is influential.The network and studios' brave decision to make a regular hour-long Western drama led to many of our favorites today.
