Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.
This article is about the radio and television series. For other uses, see Gun Smoke.
The radio series ran from 1952 to 1961. John Dunning wrote that, among radio drama enthusiasts, "Gunsmoke is routinely placed among the best shows of any kind and any time."[1] It ran unsponsored for its first few years, with CBS funding its production.
In 1955, the series was adapted for television and ran for 20 seasons. It ran in half-hour episodes from 1955 to 1961, and one-hour episodes from 1962 to 1975. A total of 635 episodes were aired over its 20 year run. At the end of its run in 1975, Los Angeles Times columnist Cecil Smith wrote: "Gunsmoke was the dramatization of the American epic legend of the west. Our own Iliad and Odyssey, created from standard elements of the dime novel and the pulp Western as romanticized by Buntline, Harte, and Twain. It was ever the stuff of legend."[2]
Five made-for-tv movies were produced after its 20-year run. The show won 15 Primetime Emmy awards as well as other accolades. It was frequently well received, holding a top-10 spot in the Nielsen ratings for several seasons.
The United Kingdom series was initially titled Gun Law.[3]
Genre
30 minutes
United States
English
George Walsh
Norman Macdonnell
April 26, 1952 –
June 18, 1961
9
480 (List of episodes)
Monaural
by
- Rex Koury
- Glenn Spencer
United States
- 6 (Marshal Dillon, syndication retitling of half-hour episodes)
- 14 (Gunsmoke),
- 20 (total seasons)
- 233 (Marshal Dillon, syndication retitling of half-hour episodes), 402 (Gunsmoke)
- 635 (total episodes)
- 26 minutes (1955–1961)
- 50 minutes (1961–1975)
- CBS Productions
- Filmaster Productions
- Arness and Company
- (1959–1961)
- The Arness Production Company
- (1961–1964)
September 10, 1955 –
March 31, 1975
Legacy[edit]
Longevity records[edit]
The television series was the longest-running, primetime, live-action television series at 20 seasons, until September 2019 with the 21st-season premiere of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.[55] The original Law & Order, which was canceled in 2010 after tying Gunsmoke's longevity record for a live-action, primetime television series, began its 21st season in February 2022.[56] As of 2017, it had the highest number of scripted episodes for any U.S. primetime, commercial, live-action television series. On April 29, 2018, The Simpsons surpassed the show for the most scripted episodes.[57] Some foreign-made programs have been broadcast in the U.S. and contend for the position as the longest-running prime-time series. As of 2016, Gunsmoke was rated fourth globally, after Doctor Who (1963–present), Taggart (1983–2010),[58] and The Bill (1984–2010).
Gunsmoke is the last fictional primetime show that debuted in the 1950s to leave the air and only one of three shows from the 1960s that lasted past its final season in 1974–75.
Character longevity[edit]
James Arness and Milburn Stone portrayed their Gunsmoke characters for 20 consecutive years, a feat later matched by Kelsey Grammer as the character Frasier Crane, but over two half-hour sitcoms (Cheers and Frasier).[59] This was surpassed by Mariska Hargitay, who has portrayed the character Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for over 23 consecutive years to date.[60] George Walsh, the announcer for Gunsmoke, began in 1952 on the radio series and continued until the television series was canceled in 1975.[17]
James Arness, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis, Dennis Weaver, and Amanda Blake are all inductees of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.[61]
In popular culture[edit]
Dodge City's Boot Hill Museum has a tribute to Gunsmoke, including set furniture from the 1960s and an old television tuned to the show. Signed photographs from the show's actors and other memorabilia are on display including a vest worn by Sam the bartender and a dress worn by Miss Kitty.[62] In 2015, several of the surviving staff reunited at Wild West Fest in Dodge City, including stars Burt Reynolds, Buck Taylor, Jess Walton, Bruce Boxleitner, and writer Jim Byrnes.[63]
In media[edit]
A fight scene between Arness and guest star John Anderson from the 1958 episode "Buffalo Man" appears in the educational film Film Editing: Interpretation and Value, produced by American Cinema Editors. Footage from the scene is used in editing classes in many film schools in the United States.
The Gunsmoke brand was used to endorse numerous products, including cottage cheese[64] and cigarettes.
The Hartland toy company included an 8" (1⁄9th scale) plastic Matt Dillion figure and his horse Old Faithful Buck in their line of famous TV cowboys and horses during the 1950s.
Lowell Toy Manufacturing Corporation ("It's a Lowell Game") issued Gunsmoke as game No. 822.[65] Other products include Gunsmoke puzzles,[66]