On this day in 1959,  Western TV series Rawhide premieres, starring Clint Eastwood as a cattle-driving cowboy. The show was one of 30 western series on in the 1959-60 TV season. The number of western series had steadily risen since the debut of Gunsmoke in 1955. The number then slowly declined, and by the time Rawhide was cancelled in 1966, only a handful of westerns remained on primetime TV.