Each half-hour episode is a story about one character--or a whole town--having to make a decision about what's right versus what's most expedient, the safest, or the most profitable. The right decisions are made, usually, such as where, for example, revenge turns to forgiveness. Sure, some of it's sentimental, even maudlin. But the stories feel good, even with their happy endings.
But what makes the show so good are the many character actors such as Parley Baer, Dabbs Greer, Strother Martin, Jack Elam, Denver Pyle, and Harry Lauter, and faces we recognize whose names we don't know. Plus the named faces before they hit their prime: James Garner before Maverick, Lloyd Bridges pre Sea Hunt, David Janssen before The Fugitive, Robert Culp prior to I-Spy, Robert Vaughn before The Man from U. N. C. L. E., Walter Brennan before The Real McCoys, DeForest Kelly before Star Trek, Ray Collins prior to Perry Mason, Tom Tully before The Lineup (aka San Francisco Beat), and Frank Lovejoy before the short-run series Man Against Crime. And all those stars: James Whitmore, Ida Lapino, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Beverly Garland, Claude Akins, Rory Calhoun, Ralph Bellamy, Celeste Holm, Denver Pyle, Jack Lemmon, Gloria Talbot, John Payne, Stuart Whitman, Sterling Hayden, George Wallace, Eddie Albert and more. And that's just the first season!
Dick Powell provides interesting historic input at the beginning of each episode, along with a bit of his typical humor, (and he stars in a few episodes, as well).
I grew up watching black and white, and I love it. Photography is good; western towns and sets are like going home to a comfortable bygone era. The music is rich, albeit predictable (you can always tell the bad guy when he enters because of the music). There's drama and suspense, and you leave with a feel-good feeling.
