Any Gunsmoke fans?

[MagnumsLeftShoulder]

The death of James Arness yesterday got me to thinking about Gunsmoke which is my other favorite show and if any other MPI fans are fans of it. Both shows starred tall guys and were on CBS. Do you think the two shows have anything else in common?

[Frodoleader]

I recall Gunsmoke as being as show my dad and uncles would always watch.
Gunsmoke, I assume, was an anchor show for CBS, considering it ran for 20 years. CBS ran a "In Memory of" spot for James Arness, not during any show , but during a commercial break. I guess that shows how much Gunsmoke meant to the network.

[MagnumsLeftShoulder]

I saw the "In Memory of" just before the start of Blue Bloods on Friday night, too. Considering how long Gunsmoke ran, they really ought to do more. The show and James Arness virtually made the network!
Not to mention, they should finish putting the show on DVD. The first 4 seasons are available, but they are releasing them at a snails pace!

[Styles Bitchley]

Do you think the two shows have anything else in common?

Dennis Weaver

[MagnumsLeftShoulder]

You're right! How did I forget that? Also, Dennis' son Rick Weaver was a producer on MPI.

[Styles Bitchley]

I still maintain that a six degrees of Magnum (i.e., six degrees of Kevin Bacon) would be a great game!

[Radaen]

Gunsmoke is one of my all-time favorites. Would you believe I used to have my room filled with Gunsmoke posters? LOL. Good old days.

[MagnumsLeftShoulder]

I got the Gunsmoke season 5 DVDs and am slowly going through them. Was watching a couple of nighs ago, and guess who makes an appearance in the episode "Odd Man Out"? Its our favorite mobster turned good guy(?): Icepick! Elisha Cook plays a man who reports his wife missing to Marshall Dillon. Matt conducts an investigation only to find she's not really missing. The weird thing is Elisha Cook appears to be the same age in this episode from 1959 as he was as Icepick in the 1980s.

[J.J. Walters]

The weird thing is Elisha Cook appears to be the same age in this episode from 1959 as he was as Icepick in the 1980s.

Haha!

[Majordomo]

When I was younger (around 8 y/o), I used to watch Gunsmoke religiously. I was always more of a Chaster fan than a Festus fan, but I truly liked both characters.

[gre-nick]

Yeah there are many fans of Gun-smoke. I am having the full Gunsmoke Cast List along with photos and actors. All names from the TV show Gunsmoke are listed here.

[marlboro]

Big fan of the show - both tv and radio versions. I had been a casual fan since i was a little kid, but I only started to make a concerted effort to watch the entire series a few years ago. Growing up, I had only seen the later color seasons, so it was nice to have so many "new" episodes to pour through.

The show started strong, but I think it actually managed to defy the odds and get better as it went along. Great writing, great cast. A true classic.


It took me a few years, but I finally fished up all 635 episodes.




My favorite episode of the series is:

"Thirty a Month and Found" - Season 20

It's as good as anything I have ever seen on tv.


The rest of my top 25 in no particular order:

"Matt Dillon Must Die" - Season 20
"Trafton" - Season 17
"The Violators" - Season 10
"The Noose" - Season 16
"The Widow-Maker" - Season 19
"With a Smile" - Season 8
"Island in the Desert" - Season 20
"The Tarnished Badge" - Season 20
"Eleven Dollars" - Season 18
"Old Friend" - Season 12
"Lyle's Kid" - Season 14
"Mannon" - Season 14
"Stark" - Season 16
"Danny" - Season 15
"The Gallows" -Season 7
"Mistaken Identity" - Season 12
"The Mark of Cain" - Season 14
"The Jailer" - Season 14
"Lobo" - Season 14
"Charlie Noon" - Season 15
"Jesse" - Season 18
"Cleavus" - Season 16
"Anybody Can Kill a Marshal" - Season 8
"No Hands" - Season 9


I don't have any of the early 30 minute episodes on my "Favorites" list. There are some very good episodes from those years, but it is just very hard to squeeze enough story and character development into half an hour. And, as I've said in another thread, I usually prefer the radio version of most of those stories.


Favorite episodes by character:

Matt: The Gallows
Kitty: Whelan's Men
Chester: Chesterland
Festus: Eleven Dollars
Doc: Cow Doctor
Quint: Comanches is Soft
Newly: The Hanging of Newly O'Brien
Thad: Clayton Thaddeus Greenwood

Favorite guest star:

Morgan Woodward. He's awesome in everything I've ever seen him in.


Worst episodes:

Arizona Midnight
The Bad Lady from Brookline
Catawomper
Old Comrade
The Wiving/Brides and Grooms


Funniest episode:

A Quiet Day in Dodge

[marlboro]

Gunsmoke on the Radio

I really enjoyed it. Truthfully, I think I prefer it to the 30 minute episodes of the tv series. Here are my top 25 favorite episodes, and a few random musings about the series.



I'm sure a few of these episodes could be moved to slightly higher or lower spots, but this is (basically) the order I would rank my favorite episodes.

My Top 25:

02/14/1953 THE ROUNDUP
04/02/1955 BLOODY HANDS
04/30/1955 REWARD FOR MATT
10/02/1954 MATT GETS IT
09/27/1952 THE RAILROAD
07/19/1959 SECOND ARREST
09/19/1953 THERE WAS NEVER A HORSE
10/21/1956 TILL DEATH DO US PART
12/27/1952 THE CABIN
06/06/1953 SUNDOWN
11/10/1956 CROWBAIT BOB
03/20/1954 OLD FRIEND
08/08/1953 SKY
09/23/1956 BOX O' ROCKS
07/22/1956 LYNCHING MAN
02/21/1953 MESHOUGAH
02/26/1955 CRACKUP
03/06/1960 BLOOD MONEY
09/20/1954 THE F.U.
12/06/1959 BIG CHUGG WILSON
01/01/1955 THE BOTTLE MAN
07/02/1955 GENERAL PARSLEY SMITH
11/03/1957 BULL
05/06/1956 THE PHOTOGRAPHER
05/09/1953 THE BUFFALO HUNTER


Favorite Doc episodes:

01/31/1953 CAVALCADE
07/27/1958 THE CAST (Very similar in theme to "Cow Doctor" but I like this one a tiny bit better)


Favorite Kitty episodes:

11/29/1952 KITTY
02/19/1961 KITTY LOVE


Favorite Chester episodes:

03/08/1959 MAW HAWKINS
09/25/1960 DOC JUDGE
04/30/1961 EX-URBANITES



The Cast:

William Conrad was excellent. He had an amazing voice that was just perfect for the character. I think he had a strength and maturity that James Arness didn't attain until he had aged a bit.

Parley Baer was also very good; I prefer him to Dennis Weaver.

Howard McNear's doc was also very good. He isn't as grumpy as his tv counterpart, but he is still very funny. Other differences: he drinks a lot more and has an eye for the ladies. I like McNear and Milburn Stone's interpretations of the character equally.

Georgia Ellis is ok. Not nearly as good as Amanda Blake. I think part of the problem was that many important scenes in episodes centered around Kitty (like "Kitty's Rebellion") were written in ways that would have worked better on tv. You can't convey a subtle facial expression on the radio.

Violence:

The tv show never shied away from it, but the radio guys reveled in it. You ever wonder what it sounds like when someone gets poked with a pitchfork, falls down a flight of stairs or gets hit in the head with an ax? Listen to this show.


The Writers:

John Meston wrote some amazing scripts in the early seasons. Though there were still some excellent episodes produced after he moved to tv, there was a drop off in overall quality imo.

Best Vocal Performance:

Jeanette Nolan in "The Railroad." Great dialog by David Ellis , but a sensational delivery by Nolan.

Radio vs TV:

Some times the radio adaptation were better. Sometimes they weren't quite as good. You can show action more easily with a camera, but television can't produce the sets and atmosphere that the radio program instills in your imagination. It's the "Theatre of the Mind" as they say, and a Hollywood soundstage can't compete with that. I do think that the tv version handled comedy much better though.

I was surprised at the number of great scripts that were never reproduced for tv. There are quite a few radio shows that would have made classic tv episodes.



Characters:

You will never experience the things that the characters in these stories do in your daily life, but you still understand them. You still empathize with them. The characters are so real that they are timeless.

Cigarettes:

Did you know that they are AWESOME?! It's true. Thank goodness for all of those L&M commercials or I would never have known that their cigarettes were "the best" were doctor recommended and made excellent Christmas presents. Seriously, they claimed all of those things. Boy, the world sure has changed.


Intelligence:

I am struck by how this series didn't "dumb down" their scripts. Unlike many modern shows, they had respect for their audience's intelligence. The shows didn't always end in the way you wanted them to; there was no mandatory happy ending.

Often the stories weren't even complete "stories" like what you typically see on television. As William Conrad pointed out, they are often "incidents" that take place inside the framework of another story. A story begins with Matt setting out to capture a thief, but then the episode ends up being about his encounter with the thief's mother. The "story" is Matt trying to catch an outlaw - the heart of the episode is the woman's moral dilemma.

No Final Episode:

Just as with the TV show, the radio program was dropped without warning. So unfair. I will never understand the mentality of these network executives. If I were to choose a final episode to go out on, I would pick "Bloody Hands" from 04/02/1955. Not that I think that the series should have ended then; I just think that episode sums up what Matt and Gunsmoke are all about.



Final thought: This is a great series that I would recommend to anyone - not just fans of Gunsmoke or westerns. It's so well written that I think anyone can enjoy it. It's sad that the golden age of radio has passed away. On the other hand, it's wonderful that the internet will preserve them forever for future generations. It's fitting in a way - Gunsmoke was a program telling wonderful stories about a legendary time that has long since passed - the internet is allowing us to do the same thing by keeping those shows and their stories alive.



If anyone is interested, all of these episodes can be listened to for free at the Internet Archive.

[Mrs. Higgins]

I recently discovered Gunsmoke thanks to an elderly client I care for. We spend 3 afternoons a week watching Gunsmoke, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Maverick, and Cheyenne. It really is quite a well written, well acted show. Unlike MASH, I enjoy the early episodes as well as the later ones. Funny thing, I vividly recall watching the short lived Dirty Sally spin-off as a child, but have no recollection of Gunsmoke itself. Also picked up The Guns of Will Sonnet on DVD recently. Unfortunately, the audio and video are both poor.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Gunsmoke on the Radio

I really enjoyed it. Truthfully, I think I prefer it to the 30 minute episodes of the tv series. Here are my top 25 favorite episodes, and a few random musings about the series.

I'm sure a few of these episodes could be moved to slightly higher or lower spots, but this is (basically) the order I would rank my favorite episodes.

My Top 25:
02/14/1953 THE ROUNDUP
04/02/1955 BLOODY HANDS
04/30/1955 REWARD FOR MATT
10/02/1954 MATT GETS IT
09/27/1952 THE RAILROAD
07/19/1959 SECOND ARREST
09/19/1953 THERE WAS NEVER A HORSE
10/21/1956 TILL DEATH DO US PART
12/27/1952 THE CABIN
06/06/1953 SUNDOWN
11/10/1956 CROWBAIT BOB
03/20/1954 OLD FRIEND
08/08/1953 SKY
09/23/1956 BOX O' ROCKS
07/22/1956 LYNCHING MAN
02/21/1953 MESHOUGAH
02/26/1955 CRACKUP
03/06/1960 BLOOD MONEY
09/20/1954 THE F.U.
12/06/1959 BIG CHUGG WILSON
01/01/1955 THE BOTTLE MAN
07/02/1955 GENERAL PARSLEY SMITH
11/03/1957 BULL
05/06/1956 THE PHOTOGRAPHER
05/09/1953 THE BUFFALO HUNTER


Favorite Doc episodes:

01/31/1953 CAVALCADE
07/27/1958 THE CAST (Very similar in theme to "Cow Doctor" but I like this one a tiny bit better)

Favorite Kitty episodes:
11/29/1952 KITTY
02/19/1961 KITTY LOVE

Favorite Chester episodes:
03/08/1959 MAW HAWKINS
09/25/1960 DOC JUDGE
04/30/1961 EX-URBANITES



The Cast:
William Conrad was excellent. He had an amazing voice that was just perfect for the character. I think he had a strength and maturity that James Arness didn't attain until he had aged a bit.
Parley Baer was also very good; I prefer him to Dennis Weaver.
Howard McNear's doc was also very good. He isn't as grumpy as his tv counterpart, but he is still very funny. Other differences: he drinks a lot more and has an eye for the ladies. I like McNear and Milburn Stone's interpretations of the character equally.

Georgia Ellis is ok. Not nearly as good as Amanda Blake. I think part of the problem was that many important scenes in episodes centered around Kitty (like "Kitty's Rebellion") were written in ways that would have worked better on tv. You can't convey a subtle facial expression on the radio.
Violence:
The tv show never shied away from it, but the radio guys reveled in it. You ever wonder what it sounds like when someone gets poked with a pitchfork, falls down a flight of stairs or gets hit in the head with an ax? Listen to this show.
The Writers:
John Meston wrote some amazing scripts in the early seasons. Though there were still some excellent episodes produced after he moved to tv, there was a drop off in overall quality imo.

Best Vocal Performance:

Jeanette Nolan in "The Railroad." Great dialog by David Ellis , but a sensational delivery by Nolan.

Radio vs TV:

Some times the radio adaptation were better. Sometimes they weren't quite as good. You can show action more easily with a camera, but television can't produce the sets and atmosphere that the radio program instills in your imagination. It's the "Theatre of the Mind" as they say, and a Hollywood soundstage can't compete with that. I do think that the tv version handled comedy much better though.
I was surprised at the number of great scripts that were never reproduced for tv. There are quite a few radio shows that would have made classic tv episodes.

Characters:

You will never experience the things that the characters in these stories do in your daily life, but you still understand them. You still empathize with them. The characters are so real that they are timeless.
Cigarettes:
Did you know that they are AWESOME?! It's true. Thank goodness for all of those L&M commercials or I would never have known that their cigarettes were "the best" were doctor recommended and made excellent Christmas presents. Seriously, they claimed all of those things. Boy, the world sure has changed.

Intelligence:
I am struck by how this series didn't "dumb down" their scripts. Unlike many modern shows, they had respect for their audience's intelligence. The shows didn't always end in the way you wanted them to; there was no mandatory happy ending.

Often the stories weren't even complete "stories" like what you typically see on television. As William Conrad pointed out, they are often "incidents" that take place inside the framework of another story. A story begins with Matt setting out to capture a thief, but then the episode ends up being about his encounter with the thief's mother. The "story" is Matt trying to catch an outlaw - the heart of the episode is the woman's moral dilemma.

No Final Episode:

Just as with the TV show, the radio program was dropped without warning. So unfair. I will never understand the mentality of these network executives. If I were to choose a final episode to go out on, I would pick "Bloody Hands" from 04/02/1955. Not that I think that the series should have ended then; I just think that episode sums up what Matt and Gunsmoke are all about.

Final thought: This is a great series that I would recommend to anyone - not just fans of Gunsmoke or westerns. It's so well written that I think anyone can enjoy it. It's sad that the golden age of radio has passed away. On the other hand, it's wonderful that the internet will preserve them forever for future generations. It's fitting in a way - Gunsmoke was a program telling wonderful stories about a legendary time that has long since passed - the internet is allowing us to do the same thing by keeping those shows and their stories alive.
If anyone is interested, all of these episodes can be listened to for free at the Internet Archive.

Hi Marlboro,
Terrific post, chock full of info, thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. I am very glad you included the radio Gunsmoke too, which I enjoy too. You know your stuff.
I'd like to know your opinion of one of the 1/2 hour tv episodes. It guest starred Claude Akins
as a lowlife outlaw who along with his sidekick murder a man in his isolated cabin and for weeks there after have been molesting his widow and making her their utterly degraded slave.
A lot of the horror of the situation could only be implied, but like in Hitchcock films, not showing horrors graphically can be even more effective. You might think there would be a 'happy' ending after Matt kills Akins but instead, the poor widow has been left a soulless ruin who tells an aghast Matt she now is going to go to Frisco to work as a hooker on the Barbary Coast.
This is amazing for a 1950's tv show, the subject matter itself and the brutal ending.
People who think that only recently on cable tv have we finally gotten adult subject matter only have to look at Naked City, Route 66, and Gunsmoke.
Breaking Bad is a great achievement on many levels in a technical sense but there is more (brutal though it might be) humanity and understanding of the human condition in this one Gunsmoke episode than in the entire run of the soulless Breaking Bad.
Perhaps you know the name of this Gunsmoke episode, Marlboro?