Reception
"All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" received a 6.8 in the ages 18–49 demographic in the Nielsen ratings. The episode was watched by 18.88 million viewers, the sixth largest audience in American television the week it aired. It was also an improvement of over 1.7 million over the previous episode, "Raised by Another". In the United Kingdom, the episode was seen by 3.76 million viewers. It was the second highest-rated series to air on Channel 4 for the week.
Critical reactions of the episode were positive. Chris Carabott of IGN rated the episode 9 out of 10, calling it "a swift return to form" with "plenty of striking and emotional moments" that made it one of the better episodes of the first season. Carabott commented on the flashbacks; "We don't necessarily learn anything new about Jack from a personality standpoint," but Fox did "an exceptional job of conveying Jack's heartbreak as he reveals that his father operated on a woman while under the influence of alcohol." He enjoyed Jack and Ethan's encounter, calling it "chilling." Carabott also praised the scene Jack tries to save Charlie; "I remember believing that they had killed off Charlie on my initial viewing and even though I knew the outcome this time, it was still a hard scene to watch," adding "after Jack finally manages to resuscitate him, you have to feel for Charlie because you know that he's disappointed in himself for letting Claire down." Another IGN article ranked "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" the 33rd best Lost episode.
Todd VanDerWerff of the Los Angeles Times rated the episode the 79th of all Lost episodes (apart from the series finale), described the episode as "thrilling," but that the show since "has done similar things much better." Whitney Pastorek of Entertainment Weekly did not care for Jack's flashbacks, but commended the scene in which Jack saved Charlie, stating "even though I knew he was going to go back to the CPR and save Charlie's life, I started crying. This is how you identify good TV: When you know what's going to happen and you still get swept up in it all."
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