Gunsmoke is an American radio and television western drama series created by Norman MacDonnel and John Meston for CBS. It aired from September 10, 1955 to March 31, 1975. The central character is Matt Dillon, played by James Arness.
Taking place in the 1870's, Sheriff Matt Dillon polices over the small Western town of Dodge City, Kansas, where people seem to have no respect for the law. On a day to day basic, Matt Dillon and the other town sheriffs, Chester Proudfoot, Doc Adams, and Miss Kitty, work together to deal with criminals of all kinds. From bank robbers, to gunfighters, to cattle rustlers, the chaos just never ends. Aside from being sheriffs, Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty also work a second job as the co-owners of The Long Branch Saloon, which serves as a secondary hangout environment for the gang, with the first being the Dodge City Police Station. The Long Branch Saloon has more of a casual environment for having fun, but that doesn't mean, there won't be an occasional bar fight or out of nowhere bar robbery, that they gang will have to put up with.
With 635 episodes, it was the longest-running television series until The Simpsons broke the record with its 636th episode, "Forgive and Regret" in 2018.
Characters[]
Matt Dillon[]
Marshal Matt Dillon (played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television), is the marshal of Dodge City. He is a cynical, occasionally insatiable man, who has been mentally and emotionally scarred, many times, throughout the trials and tribulations of his entire life. In fact, he's been through just as much as the tough and hardened criminals of Dodge City. Unlike the criminals, however, Dillon uses his severity for good, and has become the crime busting cop he is today. Secretly, Dillon is very lonely and isolated from others, as he doesn't have much of a living family or even a wife and kids of his own. This makes his only true companions his friends at work, making him like his job even more, as well as motivating him to become a more dedicated sheriff.
Chester Proudfoot[]
Chester Proudfoot (played by Parley Baer on radio and Dennis Weaver on television), is the lancer to Dillon's leader, as well as the foil to whatever personality the latter seems to be putting on at the time. Chester is a good companion of Dillon's, because he is usually on the same page as him, about everything.
Doc Adams[]
Doc Adams (played by Howard McNear on radio and Milburn Stone on television), is the dark and nihilistic mortician of Dodge City, who is known for performing autopsies on victims of murder crimes. He struggles with monetary issues, and tries his damnedest to make good money off of his work.
Miss Kitty[]
Miss Kitty (played by Georgia Ellis on radio and Amanda Black on television), is the girlfriend of Matt Dillon. She works as the co-owner of The Long Branch Saloon, and makes money off of her beauty and body. She works as a dance-hall girl and a prostitute, but because Dillon loves her, and understands what she has to go through to make money, he never arrests or punishes her, even though he's fully aware that what she's doing is legally unethical. In the episode "Jaliscoe", Miss Kitty's original radio actor, Georgia Ellis, starred in the TV series, as the one-time character, "Francine Richards". Francine was portrayed as Matt's ex-girlfriend.
Longevity Record[]
After airing its final episode, "The Sharecroppers", on March 31st, 1975, Gunsmoke had gone out, with the record of being the longest-running television series in the 20th century, with a total of 635 episodes. It remained the longest-running, television series in all of television history for a total of 43 years, until it's record was broken on April 29th, 2018. At this time, The Simpsons had aired their 636th episode, "Forgive and Regret", officially surpassing Gunsmoke, and making itself the longest running television series of all time. To date, The Simpsons is still making new episodes, and Gunsmoke has no plans of being revived, continued, rebooted, etc. So, it's safe to say, The Simpsons will be holding this record by far, and maintaining it for a long time.
Gunsmoke references in The Simpsons[]
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In the couch gag of "Fears of a Clown", The Simpsons go to the Museum of TV to above Gunsmoke as the longest-running series on television. The Simpsons sit down on a wax couch next to a wax sculpture of the cast of Gunsmoke, before Lisa points out that they haven't yet made it to their 636th episode yet. |
| In the epilogue of "Lisa Gets the Blues", Homer proudly tells Bart and Lisa that their next episode will make their series surpass Gunsmoke in longevity. Bart kills the mood, by saying he considers Gunsmoke's radio episodes to be part of the series, meaning they still have a long way to go, before they really outrank the series. | |
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In the opening of "Forgive and Regret", the original opening of Gunsmoke was parodied, with Maggie Simpson getting into a standoff with Matt Dillon. Matt begged Homer not to break his record, for "Longest Running TV Series", but Maggie ignored him and drew her gun on him, emulating The Simpsons breaking Gunsmoke's record. |
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In "My Way or the Highway to Heaven", Ned Flanders taught a Sunday School about the 1970's, and how people needed something good to help them forget about the long, arduous terror, that had just finished. At first, people are led to believe he is referring to World War 2, but it's soon revealed he was actually talking about Gunsmoke. |