The Rifleman

"Have Gun Will Travel" is a classic. However, IMHO, it will not stand the test of time like "The Rifleman" will; there is a lesson in every episode, adult entertainment, but Lucas McCain was a father figure to me, and the time he took with Mark, teaching him about the ways of the world, and how to get along while preserving one's principles, dignity, peace of mind, sense of self, and integrity, have not been offered by any other program that applealed to me in the same way. My mother has insisted my father is an alcoholic for most of my 52 years on this earth, and she has been bitter and resentful for much of that time. My father, when he was around, was either drinking, hungover and jonesing for for a drink as long as I can remember. Lucas McCain is the father I longed to have like only a lost child can. And, you never heard him refer to a Chinaman as "Hey Boy", which meant the world to me because just about every where I went, my father's reputation was there when I got there. I respect your right to your opinion, but if you don't understand, I can't explain it to you. The Rifleman has been as much a father to me as my own; there is no comparison. Tom Daillard is right, period.