Western TV shows were some of the first examples of the serial drama format which has now been the cornerstone of the small screen for eight decades, and they remain some of the very best examples, too. However, certain TV episodes in the Western genre stand above the rest, even if their shows are otherwise consistently superb.

The greatest episodes in the best Western TV shows aren’t just expertly plotted and brilliantly acted. They’re paradigm shifters, which pushed the boundaries of what the genre could do narratively, aesthetically and thematically.

Whether they involve all-action gunslinging showdowns, or meditations on the nature of justice, these episodes are the pinnacle of TV Westerns. Right from the 1950s up to the present day, the genre’s best works of television have gone

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