Have Gun – Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958. The television show is presently shown on the Encore-Western channel. Have Gun – Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don Ingalls, Robert Sparks, and Julian Claman. There were 225 episodes of the TV series, 24 written by Gene Roddenberry. Other contributors included Bruce Geller, Harry Julian Fink, Don Brinkley and Irving Wallace. Andrew McLaglen directed 101 episodes and 19 were directed by series star Richard Boone.
The peaks and the valleys. Find the essential episodes — and the ones to skip.
Paladin crosses paths with Sarah Gibbs on her way to see her husband's hanging for a crime he did commit. A proper burial is all she is seeking but she has a paper that says she can't even visit him. When one deputy wants to just drop the bodies in the mine, there is a tug of conscience between the relatives, Sarah and Paladin.
The hunter becomes the hunted. When Paladin captures a former slave turned outlaw, a gang of rough bounty hunters fight to take his prisoner, dead or alive. When Paladin is bitten by a rattlesnake, the outlaw has to choose between saving him and saving himself.
Manfred Holt breaks out of jail, killing two deputies. Is he on his way to kill the banker who testified against him, or to see his family for the last time? The banker hires Paladin.
Paladin agrees to help a Chinese woman flee back to her homeland, rather than take part in an arranged marriage. They are awaiting a ship that will arrive at an isolated spot outside of San Francisco. Paladin and the woman fall in love, complicating whether she will go back to China or not. At the same time, Paladin must protect her from assassins determined she not make it back to China.
Each point is an episode, plotted in order. Colored bands mark season boundaries. Look for the rise, the plateau, or the decline.
High votes + high rating = beloved classic. High votes + low rating = notorious stinker. Low votes + high rating = hidden gem.
One point per season. Smooths out the episode-to-episode noise to reveal the bigger arc.
Did each season build or fizzle? Green means the finale outscored the premiere. Red means the opposite. Longer arrows, bigger swings.
How steady is each season? Tightly clustered dots mean reliable quality. Scattered dots mean a wild ride.
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