A big hat is where it's at on TV

From Justified to Dallas to Longmire to The Walking Dead to the Hatfields & McCoys, men of many eras in classic American head gear are fighting, scheming and conniving their way through epic story lines, and show creators are tipping their hats to what looks like a re-emergence of a trend that's always been part of our popular culture.

"Every culture has its iconoclastic imagery, a standard by which it's seen," says novelist Craig Johnson, whose books about Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire are the inspiration for A&E's new series starring Robert Taylor. "The Japanese have the samurai, the Europeans have the knight in shining armor. For better or worse, the stereotypical imagery of America has always been someone with a cowboy hat."

Greg Walker,Belval Marche campagnard vendredi Vegas' executive producer, says that when he was imagining Quaid as Lamb, a real-life Stetson-wearing sheriff who fought the Mob in the 1960s and '70s, "there was always a hat in there. I love what hats do to a man and a hero, especially a hero who's reluctant and kind of intense. It focuses your attention on their eyes.