The BEST episodes of The Young Riders

Every episode of The Young Riders ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Young Riders!

Set just before the American Civil War, this series presented a highly fictionalized account of the heyday of the Pony Express. Its focus was a group of young Express riders based at the waystation in Sweetwater, Kansas. Running the station was ex-Texas Ranger and all-around eccentric Teaspoon Hunter. The role of cook, housekeeper and mother hen was filled first by Emma and later by Rachel. The riders included the future "Buffalo Bill" Cody and James Butler ("Wild Bill") Hickok, as well as Ike, a mute, Buck, a half-White/half-Kiowa scout and the Kid, a quiet Southerner. Their final member was Lou, a young woman who lived and worked with the riders disguised as a boy. In second season, their group was joined by Noah Dixon.

Last Updated: 9/15/2024Network: ABC (US)Status: Ended
Share:
Gunfighter
star
8.38
26 votes

#1 - Gunfighter

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/21/1989

Hickok projects the demons of his childhood onto a bullying hired gun and decides only a showdown with the gunslinger will exorcise them.

Directors: Max Tash
Writer: Ed Spielman
Watch Now:Amazon
False Colors
star
8.07
14 votes

#2 - False Colors

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/9/1989

Kid enjoys a reunion with his brother Jed, who seems to have found a niche in the Army, but is really leading a gang that is posing as cavalry to steal gold for the budding Confederacy.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Keepsake
star
8.00
7 votes

#3 - The Keepsake

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/14/1989

Teaspoon is given claim to a small fortune, but he may lose it to a young woman he thinks is his lost daughter, and to a crooked gambler willing to kill for the cash.

Watch Now:Amazon
The End of Innocence
star
8.00
10 votes

#4 - The End of Innocence

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/30/1989

Hickok discovers hidden feelings for Emma on a venture to an Army outpost commanded by a captain with a passion for cruelty.

Watch Now:Amazon
Pride and Prejudice
star
8.00
6 votes

#5 - Pride and Prejudice

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/27/1990

Buck finds Tompkins' long-missing wife and child assimilated into the Sioux tribe which took them.

Watch Now:Amazon
Then There Was One
star
8.00
5 votes

#6 - Then There Was One

Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/5/1990

Teaspoon sets out for Texas with an old comrade in arms to warn three other veterans that someone has been murdering the last men who truly remember the Alamo.

Watch Now:Amazon
Bad Blood
star
7.95
21 votes

#7 - Bad Blood

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/12/1989

Lou returns to the orphanage to retrieve her younger brother and sister, but her estranged father, a gunrunner, gets to them first.

Watch Now:Amazon
Black Ulysses
star
7.79
14 votes

#8 - Black Ulysses

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/26/1989

The riders stand up for a runaway slave who is pursued by Missouri state militiamen committed to bringing down the fugitive.

Watch Now:Amazon
Ten-Cent Hero
star
7.71
14 votes

#9 - Ten-Cent Hero

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/2/1989

A dime novelist creates the legendary gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok, and Hickok faces the consequences when a gunfighter arrives for a showdown with the fastest gun in the West.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Kid
star
7.67
40 votes

#10 - The Kid

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/20/1989

This was the pilot episode. We meet Kid first, he gets into a fist fight to get his horse, Katy. Later he joins the Pony Express where we are introduced to Emma Shannon the station mistress, Teaspoon Hunter the shaggy station master, Buck, Jimmy, Ike, Cody, and Lou. Later in the episode we also meet the continuing character Sam Cain, the marshal of Sweetwater.

Writer: Ed Spielman
Watch Now:Amazon
Home of the Brave
star
7.65
23 votes

#11 - Home of the Brave

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/28/1989

When the Kiowa begin to attack white settlements and civilians, Buck must decide between loyalty to his Kiowa brother and to the obligations and friendships he has found with the Pony Express. In the meantime, Lou, Hickok and Cody get into a fight with Tompkins and his men because of the shopkeeper's insults against Buck.

Directors: Dan Lerner
Watch Now:Amazon
Star Light, Star Bright
star
7.50
4 votes

#12 - Star Light, Star Bright

Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/15/1990

At Chrismastime the riders believe they own half a gold mine as repayment for Hickok's kindness to old prospector Cyrus.

Watch Now:Amazon
Lady for a Night
star
7.43
7 votes

#13 - Lady for a Night

Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/18/1990

Dressed as a lady for a night, Lou meets a vicious brute who develops an obsession for her, while he masterminds a series of heists in the territory.

Watch Now:Amazon
Matched Pair
star
7.43
7 votes

#14 - Matched Pair

Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/8/1990

Hickok helps a friendly rival search for their gunfighting mentor's kidnapped daughter, who actually has escaped with evidence of her dad's corruption.

Watch Now:Amazon
Blood Moon
star
7.40
5 votes

#15 - Blood Moon

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/13/1990

Fear of a cholera outbreak turns the citizens of Sweetwater into a mob intent on lynching a deaf-mute boy suspected of being the carrier.

Directors: Virgil Vogel
Watch Now:Amazon
A Good Day to Die
star
7.36
11 votes

#16 - A Good Day to Die

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/16/1989

Kid finds a young warrior at the scene of a way-station massacre, and although the warrior denies any wrongdoing, Kid hauls him back through Indian territory to face justice in Sweetwater.

Directors: Virgil Vogel
Watch Now:Amazon
The Littlest Cowboy
star
7.33
6 votes

#17 - The Littlest Cowboy

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/3/1990

Ike, bitter after being beaten by men who take advantage of his handicap, befriends Arthur, a terminally ill boy.

Directors: Virgil Vogel
Writer: Steven Baum
Watch Now:Amazon
Fall from Grace
star
7.20
10 votes

#18 - Fall from Grace

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/4/1990

Hickok has a falling-out with Teaspoon, and he falls in with a gang of outlaws who are after a store of Army guns and ammunition.

Watch Now:Amazon
Unfinished Business
star
7.17
6 votes

#19 - Unfinished Business

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/1/1990

After surviving a massacre of wealthy settlers near Sal Lake, Emma's estranged husband arrives in Sweetwater looking for shelter from Emma, and raising the suspicions of Sam and the riders.

Watch Now:Amazon
Decoy
star
7.17
6 votes

#20 - Decoy

Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/8/1990

On a wild ride to deliver a top-secret Government message, Cody helps a mortally wounded mountain man, who asks Cody to care for his pet bear. Meanwhile, back in Sweetwater, the other riders look after an abandoned baby.

Directors: Virgil Vogel
Watch Now:Amazon
Hard Time
star
7.00
11 votes

#21 - Hard Time

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/11/1990

Kid is sentenced to hard time on a trumped-up charge by a small-town sheriff carrying out the policies of the sadistic man who keeps the town under a cloud of fear.

Watch Now:Amazon
Daddy's Girl
star
7.00
6 votes

#22 - Daddy's Girl

Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/15/1990

A new girl in town has Buck in her sights, but he is caught in the cross-fire between her, her tyrannical father and her cruel suitor.

Directors: George Mendeluk
Watch Now:Amazon
Bulldog
star
7.00
5 votes

#23 - Bulldog

Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/22/1990

An Eastern college boy arrives with dreams of meeting his Western idol, Hickok, but he is used as an unwitting accomplice in a scheme that endangers all the riders.

Watch Now:Amazon
Color Blind
star
7.00
3 votes

#24 - Color Blind

Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/9/1991

A new school teacher arrives in town on the heels of the breakup between Kid and Lou. Ever a man in search of a fair maiden in distress, Kid takes a liking to the school teacher and Lou takes it hard. While Jimmy tries to cheer Lou up while they are on an assignment together a figure from his past takes his pain out on Lou in hopes of luring Jimmy into a trap. Back in Sweet-water, Kid is falling... into trouble. Standing up for his new love has resulted in her old Beau challenging Kid to a duel. Teaspoon tries to stop the madness, but things do not work out for the best

Watch Now:Amazon
Face of the Enemy
star
7.00
3 votes

#25 - Face of the Enemy

Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/6/1991

The army is having problems with the 'Indians' and Buck runs afowl of both Army and Indians alike. Can the riders sort out the mess before Sweetwater ends up in the middle of the conflict. Rachel befriends a young Army soldier who wants to write to his wife when he hears of the birth of his son.

Watch Now:Amazon