By TV legends are you talking about particular characters, the actors or the shows themselves? Since it wasn't clear I will toss a tv legend series here: High Chaparral. I enjoyed this show as a kid, but in recent years watched the original pilot movie and it blew me away at what a rich drama it was. American Rancher, Big John Cannon decides to move with his family to Arizona near the border of Mexico and Apache territory. On his journey his wife is killed by Apaches and he is left with his son Billy Blue and his hard drinking brother Buck (played masterfully by Cameron Mitchell). He then gets into a marriage of convenience with the daughter of a powerful Mexican rancher, but along the package he also gets her troublemaker brother, Manolito Montoya (Henry Darrow became the first Latino star in prime time). At first nothing is rosy for the Cannons, as Victoria (Linda Crystal) wasn't the meek Mexican maiden and wasn't too happy to be forced to marry an older man, Blue waas resentful that his dad didn't mourned his mom that long before tying the knot with a younger Mexican woman, Buck always looked at himself as the loser and had no intentions to quit drinking, Manolito wasn't fond of his 'gringo family', but was kicked out from his family and had nowhere to go, but slowly the dysfunctional family bonds together as a cohesive unit and the fun is watching these characters grow as individuals and caring for each other within an action adventure western setting. For a 1967 tv series this was a powerful drama that probably was ahead of the curve, yet enjoyed 4 seasons of airing before its cancellation in 1971, mostly due to the decline of the western genre in tv & films.
