It doesn’t have to be that way.

Watching a clean version of a movie or show is easier than you think. You don’t need to research every title before you press play. You don’t need to hover over the fast-forward button. And you definitely don’t need to give up on great entertainment just because it comes with content you’d rather skip.

What “Clean Version” Actually Means

A clean version isn’t a dumbed-down version. It’s not a censored version either. It’s simply your version.

Maybe you want to watch a gritty crime drama without the f-bombs. Maybe you love a particular romance series but skip the explicit scenes. Or maybe you’re watching with kids and want to cut the violence without losing the story.

A clean version means you decide what stays and what goes. The plot remains intact. The characters remain intact. You just remove the parts that don’t work for you.

Why Clean Versions Are Hard to Find

Streaming platforms don’t offer filtering options. Netflix, Prime Video, and others give you the content as is. What you see is what you get.

You could research every title before watching. But those guides are written for everyone. Their definition of “mild” might be very different from yours.

You could fast-forward through uncomfortable scenes. But that means spoiling what’s coming. It means awkward pauses in the middle of a movie night. And it means you have to be paying close attention every single second.

None of these solutions actually solve the problem. They just manage it badly.

A Better Way to Watch

With VidAngel filtering, you can get a clean version of movies or shows from your existing streaming services. It works with Netflix, Prime Video, Peacock, Paramount+, Apple TV, and more.

Here’s how it works. You connect VidAngel to your streaming accounts. You set your filter preferences once (and you can always adjust later, if you want). Then VidAngel automatically skips or mutes whatever you’ve chosen to filter.

You’re not editing the content. You’re simply watching the same movie or show with your preferences applied automatically in real time. Think of it like a preprogrammed remote, muting the words you don’t want to hear and skipping the scenes you don’t want to see.

What You Can Filter

VidAngel gives you granular control over five main content categories.

Profanity is one of the most commonly filtered categories. You can filter all foul language broadly or get specific. Want to mute f-words and crude jokes but keep mild profanity? You can do that. Want to filter blasphemy specifically? That’s an option too. Want to only mute 3 of the 24 s-words? Well, sure, you can do that, too. 

Intimacy and Nudity are other major categories. You can filter explicit scenes, nudity, or sexual content at whatever level feels right for you and whoever is in the room.

Violence and gore are filterable too. Some people love action movies but skip the most graphic moments. VidAngel lets you do exactly that without losing the tension or excitement of the story.

Other content includes things like drug use, drinking, and smoking. These are filterable as well, giving you a genuinely comprehensive set of options.

Filtering Works on the Shows You Already Love

This isn’t a separate streaming library of pre-cleaned titles. VidAngel works on the content you’re already watching on services you already pay for.

That means your favorite drama on Netflix. The thriller you’ve been meaning to watch on Prime Video. The new series everyone is talking about on Peacock. Filtered to your preferences.

You don’t have to choose between great content and comfortable viewing. You can have both.

Watching With Family Just Got Easier

One of the biggest benefits of filtered viewing is family movie night. Pre-screening a movie takes time. Fast-forwarding is clumsy and ruins surprises. And some content is simply too difficult to explain to younger kids in the moment.

With VidAngel, you set your filters once. From that point forward, every title you watch through VidAngel applies those preferences automatically. No prep work. No hovering over the remote. Just the story.

You can also adjust your filters title by title. Watching something with the whole family on Friday? Set stricter filters. Watching something solo on Saturday night? Adjust accordingly. The control is always yours.

The Content You Love, the Way You Want It

Great entertainment shouldn’t come with an asterisk. You shouldn’t have to tolerate content you don’t want just to access a story you love.

Watching a clean version of any movie or show isn’t about avoiding great entertainment. It’s about accessing it on your own terms. The plot twists, the performances, the moments that make a great story great—those all stay exactly where they belong.

The parts you never wanted? Those are gone.

That’s what VidAngel does. 

What VidAngel Users Are Saying

“I have VidAngel and I love it! I finally get to watch Yellowstone without the filthy talk. If you don’t mind the language, then watch it unfiltered. We all have the right to choose what we want. Some of us choose the clean version. I won’t judge you for your choices so please don’t judge me for mine.”
– Gail

“We just downloaded [VidAngel] and watched [Top Gun:] Maverick with our kids – wonderful to have a clean version of a film! Impressed and we will continue subscribing!!”
– Kelly

“We are really enjoying this fascinating storyline [The Night Agent] and great actors. Thank you for proving clean entertainment is very entertaining!!”
– Priscilla 

“Oh yay! We love Spirited so much but there’s some stuff that I’d love to clean up in it. Stuff not even necessary to the story that often disrupts the sincere good messages of the movie. Thanks VidAngel.”
– Jenna

“Every Friday after school I would take the kids to rent a movie. … I wanted them to experience the movies I watched as a kid. But as a kid myself we didn’t have much money growing up so back then we didn’t see the movies until they were shown on TV and consequently cleaned up. When showing them to my kids I was shocked at the foul language in ‘kids’ movies. Thus the search began for filtering. VidAngel truly was an answered prayer.”
– Bruce

Ready to get started?

Here’s how to get started with VidAngel:

1. Sign up for VidAngel
2. Set your default filters based on what you typically want to skip
3. Customize for each show depending on who’s watching
4. Press play and actually enjoy movie night

New to VidAngel? Learn how VidAngel filtering works

The post How to Watch a Clean Version of A Movie or Show appeared first on VidAngel Blog.

Lawmen: Bass Reeves

Summary: About the legendary lawman Bass Reeves, one of the greatest frontier heroes and one of the first Black deputy U.S. marshals west of the Mississippi River in American history.

Rated: TV-MA

Starring: David Oyelowo, Dennis Quaid, Joaquina Kalukango, Bill Dawes

Yellowstone

Summary: A ranching family in Montana faces off against others encroaching on their land.

Rated: TV-MA

Starring: Kevin Costner, Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley

Reviews:

• “I love the importance of family in Yellowstone. That no family is perfect.” -Daren
• “One of the best western shows, but I definitely couldn’t watch without VidAngel.” -Jess
• “You don’t miss anything watching Yellowstone with VidAngel!” -Andrew

Wondering what it’s like to watch Yellowstone without the profanity? https://blog.vidangel.com/yellowstone-without-profanity-nudity-and-gore/

1883

Summary: The post-Civil War generation of the Dutton family travels to Texas, and joins a wagon train undertaking the arduous journey west to Oregon. Before settling in Montana to establish what would eventually become the Yellowstone Ranch.

Rated: TV-MA

Starring: Tim McGraw, Sam Elliott, Faith Hill, Isabel May

Reviews:

• “I love watching Yellowstone and 1883 without the profanity and inappropriate scenes.” -Ruby
• “I appreciate [Yellowstone] all the more after watching the prequels, especially 1883! It makes the story of the Dutton family so sweet to know that they’ve hung on that long. Also, can we talk about how cool all the cowboys are!” -Danny
• “1883. Definitely worth filtering and streaming.” -Destiny

1923

Summary: The Duttons face a new set of challenges in the early 20th century. The rise of Western expansion, Prohibition, and the Great Depression.

Rated: TV-MA

Starring: Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, Brandon Sklenar, Julia Sclaepfer

Reviews:

• “The show itself is freaking amazing. I am so hooked with that, 1883 and 1923.” -Adelle
• “We just watched 1923 & are so grateful we can remove all the unnecessary nudity!” -Layna

Billy the Kid

Summary: An epic romantic adventure based on the life of Billy the Kid. From his humble Irish roots and his early days as a cowboy and gunslinger in the American frontier, to his pivotal role in the Lincoln County War and beyond.

Rated: TV-MA

Starring: Tom Blyth, Daniel Webber, Sean Owen Roberts, Dakota Daulby

Joe Pickett

Summary: Follows a game warden and his family during a changing political and socioeconomic climate in a small rural town.

Rated: TV-14

Starring: Michael Dorman, Julianna Guill, Sharon Lawrence, Mustafa Speaks

Outer Range

Summary: A rancher fighting for his land and family discovers an unfathomable mystery at the edge of Wyoming’s wilderness.

Rated: TV-MA

Starring: Josh Brolin, Imogen Poots, Lili Taylor, Shaun Sipos

Reviews:

• “I finished watching Outer Range…..weirdly awesome!” -Jesse

Lonesome Dove

Summary: A pair of longtime friends and former Texas Rangers crave one last adventure before hanging-up their spurs. After stealing over a thousand head of cattle from rustlers south of the border, they recruit an unlikely crew of hands to drive the herd 3,000 miles north to the grasslands of Montana.

Rated: TV-14

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Diane Lane, Chris Cooper, Ricky Schroder, Robert Urich

That Dirty Black Bag

Summary: The 8-day clash between Arthur McCoy — an incorruptible sheriff with a troubled past — and Red Bill, an infamous, solitary bounty hunter known for decapitating his victims and stuffing their heads into a dirty black bag.

Rated: TV-MA

Starring: Rose Williams, Travis Fimmel, Niv Sultan, Douglas Booth, Aiden Gillen

Territory

Summary: When the world’s largest cattle station is left without a clear heir, rival factions descend as a fierce generational struggle upends the land’s future.

Rated: TV-MA

Starring: Ana Torv, Sam Corlett, Philippa Northeast, Michael Dorman, Jay Ryan

Hell on Wheels

Summary: The Civil War is past, but former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon can’t put it behind him. Fresh are the memories of the death of his wife, killed at the hands of the Union soldiers, an act that sets him on a course of revenge.

Rated: TV-14

Starring: Anson Mount, Colm Meaney, Robin McLeavy, Phil Burke

The English

Summary: A woman seeks revenge on the man she sees as responsible for the death of her son.

Rated: TV-MA

Starring: Emily Blunt, Chaske Spencer, Stephen Rea, Tom Hughes

Frontier

Summary: Follows Declan Harp, a half-Irish/half-Cree Native-Canadian outlaw. Harp is campaigning to breach the Hudson’s Bay Company’s monopoly on the fur trade in Canada.

Rated: TV-MA

Starring: Jason Momoa, Landon Liborion, Zoe Boyle, Greg Bryk

Reviews:

• “FRONTIER SERIES! SO good! I can’t believe we have only just discovered it! I’ve added it to my list of fav. series. We all think it should be given higher ratings than it was given. Binge-worthy for sure. The one thing though- is we never use the gore filters but for this one esp. after last night’s episode in season 2 I’m thinking it’d be good.” -Rachelle

Godless

Summary: In the 1880s American West, a murderous outlaw gang leader Frank Griffin hunts for ex-protege Roy Goode. Frank’s chase leads him to La Belle, New Mexico–a town inhabited, after a mining disaster, almost entirely by women.

Rated: TV-MA

Starring: Jack O’Connell, Michelle Dockery, Scoot McNairy, Merritt Wever

This list of the best of the best Western TV shows is just the tip of the iceberg. Check out more here.

Originally published 11/10/2023
Post updated 2/26/2025

The post 14 Best Western Shows to Watch appeared first on VidAngel Blog.