Taylor Sheridan’s Greatest Westerns Still Can’t Top This Iconic 3-Season Classic

There are loads of classic Western TV shows that have remained favorites for fans of the genre to this day, but no old-school series is cooler than Wanted Dead or Alive. Long before Taylor Sheridan helped turn the modern Western into one of television’s biggest genres again with shows like Yellowstone, Steve McQueen was already playing the kind of morally complicated, effortlessly cool cowboy audiences still gravitate toward today.

Yeah, Bonanza is great, and people definitely love Gunsmoke, but how do you get better than 94 episodes of McQueen taking in outlaws, helping out his fellow man, and just being a total badass? This series dropped the typical sentimental feel that so many Western shows come with, abandoned the idea of goodhearted, never-to-do-wrong cowboys, and gave us Josh Randall, a cold-hearted bounty hunter. This series does have its nice moments here and there, but by and large, Wanted Dead or Alive is a killer show with just about the coolest cowboy that the Western genre would know for quite some time.

If you’re tired of the same old hokey Western shows that have been around for decades now, then maybe it’s time you shook up your viewing habits and found a different program that isn’t always so nice. Maybe it’s time you fired up Wanted Dead or Alive! This series ran from 1958-1961 for only three seasons, but during that time period, it managed to chalk up 94 episodes (a time when seasons for every TV show were much larger). The show starred Steve McQueen in his first big role, made him the king of cool, and is the vehicle that he used to break into eventually becoming a movie star.

More than six decades later, Josh Randall’s hard-edged antihero still feels surprisingly modern, especially in an era where television Westerns have once again embraced complicated cowboys who don’t fit neatly into ideas of good and bad. If movies like Bullitt and The Great Escape are your jam, but you’ve never seen Wanted Dead or Alive, then it’s time to rethink your life as a McQueen fan and get going with the biggest body of work in his career — this show rocks!

'Wanted Dead or Alive' Is the Coolest Classic Western TV Show

Steve McQueen leads Wanted Dead or Alive as Josh Randall, a veteran and bounty hunter who hunts both those who are truly "wanted dead or alive." Yeah, shocker, but that’s what makes him so cool! That and the quiet, unsuspecting way he carries himself. Randall might be young, but he’s already seen enough stuff to be a bit of a grizzled drifter. Everywhere he goes, Randall remains a man of few words. He outlaws in without much thought — a job is a job. He’ll have words with folks occasionally, will sometimes start making friendships, and in episodes like "Journey for Josh," he’ll even come close to having a relationship. If a natural parting of ways doesn’t distance Randall from others, then something tragic will come along and send him back on his lonesome. Wanted Dead or Alive isn’t the most action-packed Western TV show ever, but it is the coolest, and that entirely leans on McQueen’s performance.

That being said, Randall also intervenes with people’s personal conflicts, tries to help random down-and-out folks that he comes across, and does what he can to improve the lives of people around him in general. His often conflicting nature jumping between his easygoing, helpful personality and his emotionally distant, tough guy moments, makes him one of the most interesting protagonists in any Western TV show at the time. Not only that, the variety of missions that he takes on gives Wanted a lot more variety than most other programs that were airing in the late 50s and early 60s.

Most of the time, this show does make good on the promise that its title lays out. Viewers can typically expect episodes to follow Josh Randall as he’s looking for outlaws and gunslingers who are wanted dead or alive, with Randall either handcuffing these guys and taking them in or pumping them full of lead with his "Mare’s Leg," his short-barrel Winchester rifle. He’s a seasoned cowboy who doesn’t like it when people get too close to him, but he also has a soft side. Randall doesn’t always go where the action is; there are actually moments where he just wants to be a helping hand. You can find some episodes following Randall as he goes to help dysfunctional families settle their problems, helps someone kick their alcoholism and find a better life, and even takes on an eight-cent assignment from a young boy — to bring in Santa Claus. Now that’s a tall order. Yes, Dead or Alive is the perfect show for folks looking to break out of the trappings of other Western shows from this period, but you still have to get a little sweet sometimes.

We Have 'Wanted Dead or Alive' to Thank for Giving Us Steve McQueen

Wanted Dead or Alive came at a time when Western TV shows were all the rage. Everywhere you looked, you were sure to run into a Wagon Train or a Cheyenne, maybe even catch some Rawhide! That being said, no flooded marketplace could have ever kept Steve McQueen from breaking out into being one of the biggest movie stars of his time. McQueen’s performance as Josh Randall immediately caught the attention of the world around him, making the series a total hit. His antihero demeanor proved to make this show’s lead character popular, but it was a performance style that McQueen would continue to carry and eventually perfect in the coming years. While Wanted Dead or Alive was a huge deal for McQueen’s career, by no means was it the biggest moment in his stacked filmography.

Once the actor saw super-massive acclaim after appearing in The Magnificent Seven, it seemed as though his time in TV land was officially up. McQueen would return for another season after filming his first major movie, with the show even making changes to Josh Randall’s costume that made him look more like his Magnificent character. Once the third season finished airing, McQueen already had several movies lined up, including The Honeymoon Machine and Hell Is for Heroes. Once The Great Escape premiered, it was game over for small-screen producers. McQueen was a movie star.

Loads of Western TV shows have a hold on modern audiences still, but too many of those classics from the ’50s and ’60s feel the same. If you find yourself in this predicament, then Wanted Dead or Alive will be your ticket out. Even though it’ll often feel like a hard-as-nails bounty hunter procedural, dig through enough episodes, and you’ll find that Randall’s not as morally ambiguous as he originally seems. Still, McQueen will forever be unmatched, living on as the king of cool for the rest of movie history, and leaving his mark on the Western genre with Wanted Dead or Alive — the coolest classic Western TV show ever.