'Lonesome Dove' | 1989

( CBS; Fox Family Worldwide )

White hat: This award-winning miniseries, based on Larry McMurtry's novel of the same name, features far more gray hats than black or white. But the story's protagonists are widower and womanizer Capt. Augustus "Gus" McCrae, portrayed by Robert Duvall, and hard-working Capt. Woodrow F. Call, played by Tommy Lee Jones -- two former Texas Rangers who run a boarding stable in a Texas border town in this miniseries. Joshua Deets, played by Danny Glover, works with them as a tracker.

Black hat: Blue Duck, played by Frederic Forrest, fosters a deep-seated grudge against Gus and Call. When he and Gus cross trails, Blue Duck tries to sell prostitute Lorie (Diane Lane) to a gang of Comanchero bandits in exchange for killing Gus. He also knives the sheriff's traveling party and steals their horses. Even his final act is murder: When he's captured and being led to the gallows, he grabs a deputy and jumps out a window.