History Series / TheWesterner

* SledDogsThroughtheSnow: In "Brown", LovableRogue Burgundy Smith attempts to acquire Dave's HeroicDog Brown so he can sell him as a sled dog leader to prospectors in the Klondike.

* DefiniteArticleTitle

''The Westerner'' is a highbrow American {{Western}} series that aired on Creator/{{NBC}} from September 30 to December 30, 1960. Created, written and produced by Creator/SamPeckinpah, who also directed some episodes, the series was a Four Star Television production. ''The Westerner'' stars Creator/BrianKeith as amiable, unexceptional cowhand/drifter Dave Blassingame.

''The Westerner'' is generally regarded as the first 'adult' western on television. It's grittiness, moral ambiguity, and complex plots set it apart from most other westerns. Sam Peckinpah, the creator of the series, insisted that the actors clothing were convincingly aged and grungy. Blassingame would not be riding into town after crossing a hundred miles of desert in a neatly pressed outfit. The saloons he frequented would not be the generic Hollywood mock-ups of every other TV western; they would be real, so real that the people at home could smell the stale beer on the floorboards, the sour stench of tobacco juice in the spittoons. After the series was canceled by the network executives, Sam Peckinpah and Brian Keith were both suggested to continue the show but with a softer approach for larger audiences, for kids. Both men told the producers to go to hell.

* NeverLearnedToRead: Dave Blassingame is illiterate (an unusual piece of realism for a 1960s TV western), although he can read numbers. In "School Days", he is taking lesson from a {{Schoolmarm}} to learn how to write his name.

* TheTheTitle

* TheDrifter: Laconic cowboy Dave Blasingame wanders the Wild West with his faithful dog Brown is his unending quest to become rich enough to buy his own ranch.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: LovableRogue Burgundy Smith will never use a plain word is a three syllable synonym is available.

* OldFashionedFisticuffs: The bad guy in "Jeff" is Denny Lipp; a bare knuckle boxing champion who [[WeightedGloves soaks his fist in brine to harden his punches]]. He wipes the floor with Dave until starts [[CombatPragmatist starts fighting dirty]].

* DigYorOwnGrave: In "School Days", a rancher who is planning on lynching Dave tosses him a Bowie knife and orders him to dig his own grave at gunpoint.

''The Westerner'' is a highbrow American Western series that aired on Creator/{{NBC}} from September 30 to December 30, 1960. Created, written and produced by Creator/SamPeckinpah, who also directed some episodes, the series was a Four Star Television production. ''The Westerner'' stars Creator/BrianKeith as amiable, unexceptional cowhand/drifter Dave Blassingame.

* TwoShotsFromBehindTheBar: In "Jeff", the Indian barman garbs a shotgun from under and tries to murder Dave. He misses with the first barrel, and Dave ensures he never gets to fire the second.