Collider rounds up its picks for the best Western television series that ran for fewer than 40 episodes, noting that the genre's golden-age classics (Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Bonanza, The Virginian) typically ran for hundreds of instalments, making shorter, binge-friendly Westerns something of a rarity. The list highlights series that pack strong storytelling and production values into a compact run, appealing to viewers who want a complete, well-told Western story without a long-term commitment.

Featured entries include Netflix's seven-episode miniseries Godless, starring Jack O'Connell, Jeff Daniels and Michelle Dockery, praised for its tight plotting and dramatic final shootout; ABC's How the West Was Won, a James Arness vehicle with near-movie-quality production values told in roughly 90-minute instalments; The Magnificent Seven, a CBS series based on the 1960 film and featuring Michael Biehn, Ron Perlman and others, which was cancelled after just two seasons; and Rod Serling's short-lived, psychologically driven The Loner, starring Lloyd Bridges. The full list totals seven shows, though the article excerpt provided covers these four in detail.