“The American West” Debuts This Weekend and I Can’t Wait

I've been watching westerns ever since my dad introduced me to "Gunsmoke" reruns years ago and this one has all the makings of a good one.

"The American West" is an 8-part docudrama, which to me makes it even more compelling. The only thing I love more than a good western is one rooted in facts. That's exactly what we're getting, according to Elliot Goldberg, the Senior Vice-President for unscripted programming at AMC. He tells Cowboys and Indians "What they do is tell a factual story with a dramatic element and high-end production values."

This particular series will have a narrator telling the historical re-enactment with historians chiming into the scenes as well. However, you'll see plenty of well-known faces during the show's eight-week run on AMC. There's Robert Redford, also one of the show's executive producers, along with Burt Reynolds, Keifer Sutherland, Ed Harris, Mark Harmon, James Caan, and Tom Selleck.

Some of the most famous names in the history of the American West will be featured in the series. There's Crazy Horse, Wyatt Earp, Jesse James, Sitting Bull, Billy the Kid, George Armstrong Custer, and Ulysses S. Grant.

"The American West" will cover the years 1865-1890. It will air Saturday's at 9 p.m. central, following "Hell on Wheels." I won't need to turn the channel at nine, I'll already be there for every episode of "Hell on Wheels" final season.

[via Cowboys and Indians and AMC]