The Virginian (The Men of Shiloh in its final year) is a TV Western which originally
ran on NBC from September 19, 1962 to March 24, 1971 for a total of 249 episodes
filmed in color. The successful series was the third longest running western, following Bonanza and Gunsmoke.

James Drury turned 77 on April 18th

 

From left: Ross Martin and Robert Conrad stars of The Wild Wild West. The
TV series ran on CBS for four seasons (104 episodes) from September 17,  
1965 to April 4, 1969.

Robert Conrad today.      

                (Ross Martin died July 3, 1981 at age 61)

 
Bonanza is western television series that ran on the NBC network from September
12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as
the second longest running western series (behind Gunsmoke). It still continues 
to air in syndication. In 2002, Bonanza was ranked #43 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest
TV Shows of All Tine.

Filming on the Bonanza set

The TV series “Gunsmoke” ran from September 10, 1955 to March 31, 1975 on
CBS with 635 total episodes. The first twelve seasons aired Saturdays at 10:00,
seasons thirteen through sixteen aired Mondays at 7:30 and the last four seasons
aired Mondays at 8:00. It is the longest running, prime time series of the 20th
century. Today, it still has the highest number of scripted episodes for any, U.S. primetime, commercial live-action television series. The series began on radio,
aired from April 26, 1952 until June 18, 1961 on CBS. It starred William Conrad
as the main character, Marshal Matt Dillon.

Introduction of the first episode of “Gunsmoke” by John Wayne

Brace Beemer, center, with The Lone Ranger crew in the WXYZ studios.

The first radio episode of The Lone Ranger premiered on January 30, 1933 
on WXYZ, a radio station serving Detroit, Michigan. It became so popular, it 
was picked up by the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network, and finally
by NBC’s "Blue Network”, which later became ABC. The last new episode was
broadcast September 3, 1954 for a total of 2,956 episodes over a period of
21 years.Transcribed repeats of the 1952–53 episodes continued to be
aired on ABC until June 24, 1955.