Spanning 7+1⁄2 years, Rawhide was the sixth-longest-running American television Western, exceeded only by Wagon Train, The Virginian, Bonanza, Death Valley Days and Gunsmoke.

Many times, one or more of the crew venture into a nearby town and encounter some trouble from crooked townspeople or lawless politicians from whom they need to be rescued.

Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood) was young and at times impetuous in the earliest episodes, and Favor had to keep a tight rein on him.

Favor is a savvy and strong leader, who always plays "square" with his fellow men – a tough customer who can handle the challenges and get the job done.

(Producer Charles Warren called on the diary written in 1866 by trail boss George C. Duffield[2] to shape the character of Favor.

Some Rawhide stories were easy in production terms, but the peak form of the show was convincing and naturalistic, and sometimes brutal.

Its story lines ranged from parched plains to anthrax, ghostly riders to wolves, cattle raiding, bandits, murderers, and others.

In that same episode, Favor and Nolan were revealed to have been in the Confederate forces up on Marye's Heights at the Battle of Fredericksburg, and they "felt shamed" at killing so many Union soldiers.

The series also featured episodes with ghost towns, cattle with horns lit up by St. Elmo's fire at dusk, cowboys struck by lightning, plus a strange, totally enclosed gypsy wagon, apparently steering itself, repeatedly turning up, all stand out as curiously "spooky" tales for a bustling dusty cattle drive; the show's often stark incidental music suited these stories perfectly.

Unusually, episode 68 continues on from that, where the cattle have been sold and the men celebrate in town and decide on their futures with even Favor thinking of leaving the business.

Episode 69 has Favor visiting his two daughters, Gillian and Maggie, who live with their aunt Eleanor Bradley in Philadelphia.

He takes a narrow shortcut; due to thunder and lightning, the herd stampedes over the cliffs, leaving him just 9 out of 3000 cattle when the drive reaches town.

He does not have the money to pay the drovers and has to face the owner (Royal Dano), whose cattle he has lost, knowing that he might never work in the business again.

From the second season, episodes began to feature individual cast members, notably Clint Eastwood's Yates (sole star in "Incident on the Day of the Dead", which opens season two); later, both Scout Pete Nolan (Sheb Wooley) and even cook G. W. Wishbone (Paul Brinegar) were featured as leads, while Fleming's Gil Favor remained in overall charge.

With Fleming gone, ratings plunged and the revised format only lasted 13 episodes before Rawhide was suddenly cancelled in midseason.

On rare occasions, the show featured a small number of the actors and some misfortune, maybe in a town, which would give the others time off.

In 1961, Signet Books published a paperback original novel called Rawhide by Frank C. Robertson based upon the television show.

Eric Fleming as Gil Favor and Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates are both on the front cover of the book.