Best of the West

Season 11981

An unwitting city slicker is made the marshal of a lawless town in this absurdist Western that pokes gentle but clever fun at the genre's stock plots and characters. Best of the West is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 1981 through August 1982.

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22 Episodes

    E01 Pilot

    Sam arrives in town intending to run the general store, then runs into all kinds of trouble after turning down the protection racket.

    September 10, 1981

    E02 The Prisoner

    Sam must face a prisoner's outlaw brothers after the sheriff who was taking him in becomes ill on his way through town.

    September 17, 1981

    E03 The Calico Kid Returns

    The Square Deal Saloon's new cook is the Calico Kid; he has sworn to never again kill anything he can't eat.

    October 1, 1981

    E04 They're Hanging Parker Tillman (1)

    Sam goes out on a limb and manages to save Tillman from a lynch mob, but at the trial, his mixed-up testimony has him back at the end of a rope.

    October 15, 1981

    E05 They're Hanging Parker Tillman (2)

    Sam infiltrates an outlaw band to try to prove Tillman is innocent of cattle rustling.

    October 22, 1981

    E06 The New Marshal

    Sam loses his badge in a special election to Tillman's squeaky-clean candidate.

    October 29, 1981

    E07 Daniel's First Love

    Daniel is as surprised as anyone when a few innocent kisses lead to a shotgun wedding.

    November 5, 1981

    E08 Laney in Love

    Laney is smitten with a smoothie who bids high for her at a social—but he turns out to be a low-down heel.

    November 12, 1981

    E09 The Reunion

    Elvira's die-hard Confederate father (Andy Griffith) stays at the Square Deal Saloon while he is in town. His wife is trying to patch things up with their daughter; she married a Yankee!

    October 8, 1981

    E10 The Railroad

    Sam and Tillman try hard to convince the railroad to come to Copper Creek.

    November 19, 1981

    E11 The New Jail

    Sam's image as a lawman quickly loses its edge after he manages to shoot himself in the leg; the jail collapsing around him doesn't help.

    November 26, 1981

    E12 A Man, a Woman, and a Horse

    Sam doesn't pay attention to signs of discontent from Elvira until the day he comes home to finds her packed to leave.

    December 17, 1981

    E13 Frog's First Gunfight

    Frog meets a woman who was recently jilted by her beau, but neither realizes he wants her back.

    January 7, 1982

    E14 The Calico Kid Goes to School

    The reformed Calico Kid decides he wants to be a United States Marshal. But he lacks one qualification: a third-grade education.

    January 14, 1982

    E15 Tillman Held for Ransom

    Tillman has been kidnapped and the kidnappers are demanding a ransom, but the Copper Creek citizens have no intention of paying up.

    January 21, 1982

    E16 Mail Order Bride

    Doc's mail-order bride has a vivid personality with a past to match it.

    January 28, 1982

    E17 The Cave-In

    Elvira and her stepson explore an abandoned outlaw cave, unaware that it is booby-trapped to collapse.

    February 12, 1982

    E18 Daniel Fights a Bully

    Daniel's refusal to fight a relentless bully leads to Sam having to fight the bully's father.

    February 19, 1982

    E19 The Pretty Prisoner

    Sam is handcuffed to his prisoner—a flirtatious female outlaw—for an overnight journey.

    February 26, 1982

    E20 Elvira's Old Beau

    Elvira's former fiance' comes to town, intent on taking her away with him.

    June 7, 1982

    E21 Sam's Life Is Threatened

    Sam receives an anonymous threatening note.

    June 14, 1982

    E22 The Funeral

    Sam and Tillman try to foil a holdup by holding a funeral for Frog; the coffin contains the $20,000 the thieves are after.

    June 21, 1982
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