With Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp playing the Lone Ranger and Tonto in the current The Lone Ranger movie, it’s certainly worth watching the original credits sequence of ABC’s pioneering Western TV series, which ran from 1949-57. It’s based on a radio program created in the Thirties by a Detroit radio executive who wanted a wholesome show on his station “to keep the Parent-Teacher Association off our neck.” For the TV version, Clayton Moore embodied the good guy in epic fashion (white hat, white horse), and The Lone Ranger became the first hit Western on TV. The first Western, period, for that matter. “Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear…” – David Bianculli