I liked Laredo. Neville Brand was pretty good as the comical sidekick, but was usually cast as the villain in other shows.
Brown related a story once about a little kid visiting the set of “Laredo,” and being totally transfixed with Neville Brand’s character of Reese, telling him the series should be re-named “The Reese Show.” Somehow, it just so emotionally touched/rattled Brand, that he went into his trailer and proceeded to get drunk. (well, which he was a tad prone to doing anyway, as he was a bit of an alcoholic, but that incident just tore him apart and led to him being unable to film the episode they were working on).
In some of the later episodes, it’s apparent that Brand was likely off-the-wagon, and a similar character, played by Claude Akins, was written to fill in his absence.