If I think of the heyday and subsequent ebb of 'the western', the realization is that the nadir is right around the time Elvis and then the Beatles suddenly burst on the scene...
Against that backdrop, how can old news like 'the western' compete with the onslaught of shiny new objects, trends and thoughts that were being shown on tv daily? Good and bad, colorful and wonderful, horrible and terrible.
The stories of the Old West still reverberate.Even Star Trek, the original series is based on the classic Western format. A lot of great Westerns have come out since the glory days, from The Wild Bunch, Once Upon A Time in The West, Lonesome Dove, Quigley Down Under, Tombstone. All those new miniseries on streaming services, but just like everything popular, there was a time for a wild ride as was the Western in the fifties and early sixties, but eventually tastes move on.