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The Worst Episodes of The Rifleman

Every episode of The Rifleman ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of The Rifleman!

The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was...
Genres:Action & AdventureWesternFamily
Network:ABC
Episodes
168
Avg. Rating
8.0
S1
S2
S3
S4
E1
E2
E3
8.5
8.1
8.1
8.3
8.1
8.0
8.4
8.3
8.3
8.3
7.8
8.3

Worst Episodes Summary

"Which Way'd They Go?" is the worst rated episode of "The Rifleman". It scored 6.3/10 based on 160 votes. Directed by Arthur H. Nadel and written by N/A, it aired on 4/1/1963. This episode scored 0.9 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Conflict".

  • Which Way'd They Go?
    6.3/10(160)
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    #1 - Which Way'd They Go?

    Season 5 Episode 25

    Aired 4/1/1963

    The notoriously lazy Jackman brothers discover their mortgage has been foreclosed.

    Director: Arthur H. Nadel

    Writer: N/A

  • Conflict
    7.2/10(117)
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    #2 - Conflict

    Season 5 Episode 13

    Aired 12/24/1962

    Lucas's self-confidence begins to slip away when he misses an easy shot.

    Director: Arthur H. Nadel

    Writer: Ed Adamson

  • The Baby Sitter
    7.3/10(165)
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    #3 - The Baby Sitter

    Season 2 Episode 12

    Aired 12/15/1959

    A dance hall singer asks Lucas to care for her daughter in an effort to hide the baby from her self-righteous, bigoted father.

    Director: Sam Peckinpah

    Writer: Sam Peckinpah

  • Assault
    7.3/10(120)
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    #4 - Assault

    Season 3 Episode 26

    Aired 3/21/1961

    A salesman can't talk his way out of an assault charge.

    Director: Ida Lupino

    Writer: N/A

  • Day of the Hunter
    7.4/10(161)
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    #5 - Day of the Hunter

    Season 2 Episode 15

    Aired 1/5/1960

    A famous buffalo hunter tries to goad Lucas into a shooting match.

    Director: Joseph H. Lewis

    Writer: N/A

  • The Executioner
    7.4/10(118)
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    #6 - The Executioner

    Season 4 Episode 32

    Aired 5/7/1962

    No description available

    Director: Lawrence Dobkin

    Writer: N/A

  • The Lost Treasure of Canyon Town
    7.5/10(125)
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    #7 - The Lost Treasure of Canyon Town

    Season 3 Episode 23

    Aired 2/28/1961

    In a ghost town, Lucas, Mark and Micah tangle with the Newman family and learn the secret of the town's 20-year-old mystery of a lost gold mine.

    Director: Don Taylor

    Writer: N/A

  • I Take This Woman
    7.5/10(123)
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    #8 - I Take This Woman

    Season 5 Episode 6

    Aired 11/5/1962

    Lou looks for a way out when the man her dying father promised her to arrives.

    Director: Joseph H. Lewis

    Writer: N/A

  • The Sixteenth Cousin
    7.5/10(141)
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    #9 - The Sixteenth Cousin

    Season 5 Episode 17

    Aired 1/28/1962

    A Japanese nobleman seeks revenge when his servant is insulted.

    Director: Arthur H. Nadel

    Writer: N/A

  • The Guest
    7.5/10(121)
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    #10 - The Guest

    Season 5 Episode 23

    Aired 3/11/1963

    New arrival Mario Arsatti becomes very friendly with Lucas, but this turns out to be merely pleasure before business: he's been hired to kill Lucas.

    Director: Joseph H. Lewis

    Writer: Ed Adamson

  • A Time for Singing
    7.6/10(127)
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    #11 - A Time for Singing

    Season 2 Episode 24

    Aired 3/8/1960

    Mark discovers that the new preacher and his wife are impostors planning a robbery.

    Director: John Rich

    Writer: N/A

  • The Pitchman
    7.6/10(133)
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    #12 - The Pitchman

    Season 3 Episode 4

    Aired 9/18/1960

    When Mark finds gold on their property, a fast-talking salesman who tried to sell Lucas a new lightning rod offers instead to buy the ranch's mineral rights.

    Director: John Rich

    Writer: N/A

  • The Martinet
    7.6/10(128)
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    #13 - The Martinet

    Season 3 Episode 7

    Aired 11/8/1960

    A former army captain comes to North Fork to kill the man who shot down his son in a gunfight - Lucas McCain.

    Director: Joseph H. Lewis

    Writer: N/A

  • Sporting Chance
    7.6/10(112)
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    #14 - Sporting Chance

    Season 4 Episode 18

    Aired 1/29/1962

    An Englishman arrives with a custom-made rifle—and a plan to kill Lucas.

    Director: Gene Nelson

    Writer: N/A

  • Deadly Image
    7.6/10(128)
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    #15 - Deadly Image

    Season 4 Episode 22

    Aired 2/26/1962

    Lucas has double trouble: his lookalike is tearing up the town.

    Director: Richard Donner

    Writer: N/A

  • None So Blind
    7.6/10(128)
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    #16 - None So Blind

    Season 4 Episode 25

    Aired 3/19/1962

    Mark befriends singer-banjoist Lafayette Bly, a blind man with an acute sense of hearing—and a very strong grip.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Cyril Hume

  • Hostages to Fortune
    7.6/10(114)
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    #17 - Hostages to Fortune

    Season 5 Episode 18

    Aired 2/4/1963

    At Halloween, rustlers take advantage of the seasonal disguises to raid a cattle ranch.

    Director: Arthur H. Nadel

    Writer: N/A

  • Shivaree
    7.7/10(180)
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    #18 - Shivaree

    Season 1 Episode 19

    Aired 2/3/1959

    Aaron Pelser's wagon train came across a pair of young boys on a buck board heading west and invited them to join the train. When he found out that one of the boys was actually a girl and the two claimed to be headed to Yuma to get married, Pelser and his crowd force them to be married in North Fork. The wagon train folks want to throw a shivaree, which may have been innocent enough except for two reasons. The first reason being that the couple does not count it as their wedding because they want to be wed by the groom's father in Yuma. The second reason is that Chet Packard keeps pushing things too far, beyond the spirit of a friendly shivaree.

    Director: Joseph H. Lewis

    Writer: N/A

  • Outlaw's Inheritance
    7.7/10(153)
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    #19 - Outlaw's Inheritance

    Season 1 Episode 38

    Aired 6/16/1959

    Lucas is the town's representative to the railroad commission until an infamous train robber dies and leaves his ill-gotten wealth to Lucas. Lucas must clear his name and stop the reckless ambition of his replacement.

    Director: Don Taylor

    Writer: George W. George

  • Eddie's Daughter
    7.7/10(139)
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    #20 - Eddie's Daughter

    Season 2 Episode 6

    Aired 11/3/1959

    After the daughter of Lucas's friend the hotel clerk arrives in North Fork, two strangers threaten her life.

    Director: Joseph H. Lewis

    Writer: N/A

  • The Legacy
    7.7/10(139)
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    #21 - The Legacy

    Season 2 Episode 11

    Aired 12/8/1959

    Lucas tries to do a good deed for the old town drunk but it backfires when the drunk's son believes he inherited Lucas' ranch.

    Director: Bernard L. Kowalski

    Writer: N/A

  • Mail Order Groom
    7.7/10(176)
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    #22 - Mail Order Groom

    Season 2 Episode 16

    Aired 1/12/1960

    When a stranger arrives to marry the town spinster, two brothers who want her land try to discourage him with threats and a beating.

    Director: Arthur Hiller

    Writer: N/A

  • Smoke Screen
    7.7/10(126)
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    #23 - Smoke Screen

    Season 2 Episode 28

    Aired 4/5/1960

    Several men are vying for a rancher's daughter's affections. When she is found dead, one of them becomes the prime suspect in her murder.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Illustrator
    7.7/10(116)
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    #24 - The Illustrator

    Season 3 Episode 12

    Aired 12/13/1960

    Lucas encourages a drunken artist charged with murder to use his talents to identify the true killer.

    Director: Don Medford

    Writer: N/A

  • Six Years and a Day
    7.7/10(131)
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    #25 - Six Years and a Day

    Season 3 Episode 15

    Aired 1/30/1961

    A doctor seeks revenge on the man he blames for ruining his practice.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A