"Gunsmoke" (1955) - Review & Commentary

[Mister Obvious]

I've watched episodes I thought were great, but didn't have much to say about them... typically length of commentary or lack thereof doesn't indicate whether an episode is good or not.

With this show, the spectrum so far seems to go from 'Good' to 'Epic'... episodes like S7E26 raise a need for the spectrum to go from 'Meh' to 'Epic'. That's my take on it.

Rare to get a 'Meh' episode... I think most of the cast knew that episode wasn't great. I could just sense it in them. Very little of the main cast really appeared much... seemed like a "vacation season" minimal appearance episode. It aired March 31, 1962 so I'm thinking it was meant for the kids...

Although some schools may just schedule it for the last week of March, with separate days off for the Easter holiday.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_break

[Mister Obvious]

Some years back, Gunsmoke got surpassed as the longest running TV series by The Simpsons, and Law & Order something or another.

I don't consider Law & Order an actual show. The same people aren't really on it year after year (except for that one chick).

The Simpsons and South Park are cartoons. If they had to SHOW the voice actors who've been with them the longest in every single episode, they'd have gone off the air in the '90s.

None of these shows are equals to Gunsmoke on any level.

There are soap operas that have been going on for like 60 years. They're closer to being "actual shows" than South Park/The Simpsons... they're a lot like Law & Order.

L&O and soap operas frequently switch out cast members. They don't usually stay on the show for 20 years straight.

[Mister Obvious]

Some of them do though.

I dunno...

You just can't make an honest comparison between a daytime TV drama and freakin' Gunsmoke.

[Mister Obvious]

S7 E27 - Wagon Girls

Previously watched episode reviewed on page 2. I'll fix the timestamps and repost below...

1:48 now as we learned in the Wild West Outlaws thread, the madame will usually still sleep with the upper echelon of men. It turns me on to think Miss Kitty's still banging the important fellers, even if we'll never see it play out on screen.

2:13 oh these bros are about to get thrown out on their asses.

3:11 man seeing that tall-ass motherfucker walk in oughta be enough to scare the shit out of anybody, lmao. Maybe the tall dude from Oblivion was sort of a tip of the hat to Marshal Dillon.

3:42 man, it would really suck to have to deal with troublemakers like this... I've really never thought about that before. Being a wild west lawman was like, the WORST job.

4:46 "You got 15 minutes to get outta Dodge." I'm SCRREEEAAMMMING with glee inside right now... I keep forgetting this is even set in Dodge City, then I remember how I HADDDD to go to Dodge City (in 2019), it was like... a HUGE part of my destiny. Absolutely fucking amazing man, no wonder I'm watching this show. I'm JUST NOW making this connection.

5:08 the way they wear these outfits is soooo natural too... especially for James Arness. The way he adjusted that gun belt?? My ovaries are shivering so much the dust is flying everywhere!!!!!!!

I would say I'm aching with desire, but there's no aching... this is PURE pleasure.

8:06 Marshal Dillon is sooooo brave, this is the sexiest thing I've ever seen in my life.

11:38 lmao, it's old west sex trafficking!!!!!!

13:22 oh she's right alright! That bitch is nestled under the wing of none other than Marshal Matt Dillon now!!!

16:16 good God man, how is he this hot and I never realized it before??? DDDAAAMNNNN. I can hardly stand it. Good Lord.

20:03 one thing I love about watching this show 50 years late is that we know Marshal Dillon never gets killed, mwahahahaha!!!!!!!!!

25:30 man I don't give a shit how long it takes me to watch this show, I could never regret it. It's so much better than all the other shit I watch... fuck YouTube, fuck EVERYTHING else. I'm ONLY watching Gunsmoke from now on.

31:50 this show is ridiculously entertaining. I can't even believe it. I NEVER knew.

35:12 no he's not crazy, he's brave and he's a REAL man, ya freakin' loser!!!

36:50 imagine what that looked like from their perspective back there at the wagon train!!! HOW'S IT FEEL TO BE IN THE PRESENCE OF A REAL MAN, ASSHOLES?!?!?!?!

37:20 these ladies need some fuckin' bandanas!!!

37:55 he's sooo brave, God I'm so turnt and lit. This is so hot.

44:22 funny she says that, cuz that's what I've been saying too... fucking verbatim.

46:36 yet another absolutely wonderful episode.

[Mister Obvious]

I gotta say "Wagon Girls" was a strong as fuck return from the dud "Durham Bull" that came before it.

10/10.

[Mister Obvious]

S7 E28 - "The Dealer"

0:38 I've never seen them show a location title graphic like this before a scene.

0:48 buck the tiger?? Do what??!

3:04 "Care to buck the tiger, mister?" WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! WHAT DOES THAT MEEEAANNN!?!!?!?

3:11 "I'm not here to talk, or to be stared at like you've been doing for the past 3 hours now!" YOU'RE *LITERALLY* A SALOON GIRL.

3:37 "Maybe you oughta start by buckin' the tiger, mister." O. M. G. I. CAN. NOT.

5:30 WHERE DOES THE MUSIC COME FROM!?!?!!?!?!

7:50 uh oh, well I guess we're gonna have a revenge situation here?!?!?

8:04 she's hot though.

9:07 I can think of a thing or two I'd like to do with Jim Buck at the Dodge House... *gyrates*

15:58 ehhhhh. I agree with the Marshal... she's way too hot to be dealin' cards at a saloon.

17:30 she's gonna game Champ to kill the other guy... I know Gunsmoke too well now!

21:00 nah but for real dude, stay away from her, lmao. If you wanna live.

21:15 "Tough crowd."

26:30 uh, bitch, Sam isn't your fucking slave, mkay??

28:58 DO WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!? That's practically CUSSING!!! I've never heard anything so scandalous on Gunsmoke before!!!?!?

32:28 too bad Champ is still gonna kill him though, lmao.

36:10 YOU'RE GONNA LOVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHH.

I paused this episode for like an hour while I fell down another rabbit hole, but I'm totes back now and I just thought this scene I paused it on looked really cool... https://i.imgur.com/hmyxYgx.png

39:20 it's so dumb because Johnny was literally knocked out by that brute the entire time and he obviously couldn't have shot him. Yet he's covering for the broad who Champ was coming at threatening physical harm sooo... that's literally self-defense. It's not like anybody couldn't guess that.

40:10 why is he covering for her when it was self-defense??? Sooo stupid. Fuck her AND fuck this guy.

41:43 "...side you." *dancing banana*

42:06 he was LITERALLY UNCONSCIOUS, like I fucking hate this bitch.

43:40 that's a baller little suitcase.

47:07 I mean, she's hot but she's not THAT hot.

48:10 lolololol, he said what I WANTED to say but didn't. This is the "Jane, you ignorant slut" line, only it's Gunsmoke style.

[Mister Obvious]

S7 E29 - "The Summons"

0:43 dramatic AF music at the beginning of this one.

2:40 oh wow, so it's THAT kinda party.

3:20 ohhh, I get it, he was wanted.

3:38 CUZ I'MA COWBOY, ON A STEEEEEEL HORSE I RIDE.

4:09 lmfao it sounded like he said "Fuck yeah, I'll get some help, Mr. Dillon."

13:17 I mean you can probably look across the street and see another one.

19:27 mmmm, fuck the marshal looks good.

20:47 oh my damn, this guy is buff as hell and MEGA hot. Like MEGA hot. If I wasn't sworn to Marshal Dillon, I'd be swooning right now. His name is Cal Bolder... https://imgur.com/a/lb3fVCU LOL, the look on the lady's face in that last shot is so perfect.

Wow get this, apparently he played the outlaw-turned-monster in "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter" (1966). Just fast forward straight to 1:18:28... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY56msHB0bM

35:52 lmao oh my God dude, this is the biggest fight ever on Gunsmoke. This shit is crazy!

35:57 why don't dudes ever crotch knee other dudes??

36:33 TBH I'd go for this chick getting dicked down by the marshal.

38:20 dude I think these guys are high on cocaine or something.

43:40 lay it on her, Marshal, she deserves it.

47:55 I'd be sad about it too.

49:50 great ending scene, well done.

[Mister Obvious]

I don't consider Law & Order an actual show. The same people aren't really on it year after year (except for that one chick).

Since 1999, Mariska Hargitay has been in 517 episodes at the time of writing... 533 if you count cross-over appearances on other L&O spinoffs.

533 episodes in 23 years... Gunsmoke was 635 episodes in 20 years.

Still pretty significant though.

Then we get into soap opera territory...

As of 2022, William Roache holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-serving actor in a television soap opera, having played Ken Barlow on Coronation Street since 1960.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lo...era_actors

Patricia Greene holds a similar record as the longest-serving actor in a radio soap opera, having joined the cast of The Archers as character Jill Archer in 1957.

That's um... a lot.

But that's soap operas, which I just don't even consider to be the same as a regular TV series.

It's just different... not the same.

That said, as far as the study I referenced much earlier in this thread...

https://www.sectual.com/thread-18541-pos...#pid153774

I think a study on this needs to be done. The best and only real way to do it would be to get a comprehensive profile of the actor BEFORE they began working in said role... and then follow the changes in their personalities and their personal lives over the duration of the role they play. It has to be someone playing the same role every year for at least 10+ years, exactly like James Arness or Amanda Blake.

I just really hope there hasn't been a wasted opportunity here with these longstanding soap opera actors...

They qualify for this study and if it hasn't been done yet, it needs to start.

I think the best subject would be an actor/actress who is in their early to mid-20s when their character role begins.

There needs to be a HARDCORE comprehensive psychological profile made, BEFORE they start playing in the role.

There should be one male and one female subject (at least).

They need to be studied on a continual basis, and checked in with for an update to their psychological record about every 2 years.

The study should go on for the entire duration of their role, and their original psychological profile should be studied alongside another comprehensive psychological profile that is made AFTER their role ends.

All of the information gathered throughout the entire role should be analyzed, and the before and after reports should be compared.

Ideally, the actor would be studied for up to 5 years before the role begins, and for up to 10 years after it ends, at which time another psychological report should be taken and compared with the earlier information to come to a conclusion about how playing the long-term role affected them psychologically, changed their behavior, identity, etc.

Do it.

[Mister Obvious]

In my opinion, if you play a role for that long, especially in the case of William Roache, you either forfeit your original identity, personality, etc. to become the character, or you are just being yourself in the role.

I don't think someone can play a character for that long without becoming the character, or already being the character in the first place.

[Mister Obvious]

If you COULD maintain a unique identity, set of behaviors, etc. outside of your job, outside of acting...

Then I would say there are many psychological processes taking place to compartmentalize all of those traits, which would be an interesting study.

I think it would be a detriment to your true identity, something that is not necessarily healthy or beneficial at all.

The only way that wouldn't be true is if the character was a GOOD character with traits that rubbed off on you and improved you as a person.

Otherwise, I would think it'd change a person for the worse if they were originally a good person but portrayed a wicked character, in a soap opera for example.

The psychological and behavioral effects of all this shit cannot be underestimated, and we need to know how profound they really are.

[Mister Obvious]

There are all kinds of psych tactics and mental gaming used against the viewership of these soap operas and all other types of entertainment media...

https://www.apa.org/monitor/oct02/theory

But where are the studies on the actors themselves?

I'm just saying...

Yeah a lot of them may be tools for an agenda being pushed by their character/the show, but it doesn't negate the goldmine of info that could come from studying THEM.

[Mister Obvious]

GIMME GUNSMOKE

[Mister Obvious]

S7 E30 - "The Dreamers"

0:45 God this set is soooo sexy, soooo much wood and dirt!!!!!!!!!!!!

4:58 third mention of Lillie Langtry on the series.

13:55 SHHHOUUUTTTTOUUUUUTTTT.

27:11 wow, you really find out who your friends are, huh?!

35:02 somebody's made Miss Kitty cry... there will be blood.

40:16 this scene is gorgeous... https://imgur.com/a/3QregxE

41:07 trippy super chills, dreamy flashback sequence prefaced by a 'spoken thought' voiceover by Kitty... https://imgur.com/a/vvBo9Mf It reminds me of the ending scene in Titanic... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj9MEwjkxE0

49:33 "Any road's lonely for a man that's lost a dream."

[Mister Obvious]

S7 E31 - "Cale"

1:03 oh my God... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Reindel He's a hottie... https://imgur.com/a/HjnEzVs

12:45 "He's a nice lookin' young fella," roflmfaolol, even Doc's like DAAAYUUUM BOYYYEEEE. Roflmfao, I'm kidding... sacrilege.

14:42 roflmao, Chester's bored! Bored Chester is the cutest.

16:45 BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh I like this fella!

17:00 if he was ugly she would have jackslapped the shit out of him! Facts... https://imgur.com/a/Da4oNXu

17:30 LMFAOOOOOO this guy just doesn't QUIT!!!!!!!!! I love it. I think Kitty's starting to like it too.

19:44 this guy is VERY cute too. If they're playing relatives on this episode, it was great casting. Either way, this episode is chock full of eye candy.

20:30 ah okay, so they're not supposed to be related. They look somewhat similar though.

25:20 he's RIDICULOUSLY fine.

28:10 mmmm, damn I love a man who can tie a good knot!!!

30:24 it's okay to be intrigued Kitty, he could show you a great time and he's so charming I doubt Matt would hardly mind! *wink, nod*

I swear this episode's going by too fast.

Such a great episode.

[Mister Obvious]

S7 E32 - "Chester's Indian"

4:14 "You ain't gotta tell my daughter about spittin', she knows all about it!!!" (I had to.)

5:22 these damn frontier fathers, always trying to keep women down.

5:31 oh wow, well this is highly politically incorrect!

9:40 oh my damn, he found out where she lives!!! That's hot as fuck!!! I'd have that dude camping out in the woods and meet up with him every night.

10:24 oh fuck yeah baby... BEHIND THE SHHHHEDDDDDD.

14:46 well you can't 100% blame Chester, I mean what he was doing looked totally sus.

17:20 lmaoooo.

[Mister Obvious]

S7 E33 - "The Prisoner"

1:17 Billy Joe's pretty sexy. You can tell he thinks outside of the box.

2:18 that's a bigass gun.

4:16 sarcastic, big gun havin' bastard!

6:58 sure looks like the lady has eyes for Doc.

12:40 "Long Branch here I come!"

14:38 lmao his foot got hung on her dress lol.

24:45 sounds to me like he's saying he had a sugar momma.

30:40 this chick has clearly lost her mind, come on now. I don't think she can even be trusted for ID, she needs a psych eval but it's the fricken 1880s so it looks like this guy's goose is cooked.

[Mister Obvious]

S7 E34 - "The Boys"

5:25 Molly's one of the finest looking chicks ever on the show... May Heatherly *heart eyes* https://imgur.com/a/4rTBwDD

46:30 well they're gonna need a whole lot of Prof. Eliot's Vegetable Pulmonic Detergent Wonder Medicine to fix this!!!!!

[Mister Obvious]

S8 E1 - "The Search"

1:40 hotass Cale (Carl Reindel) from a few episodes ago is back again?! The lady viewers probably wrote in and expressed their desire to see him again, so they brought him back. That's hot. They should have made him a regular.

2:32 Kitty and Chester fell asleep fishing on the riverbank.

15:48 "travois" is another word I learned watching Gunsmoke!

29:55 impromptu prairie fist fight.

37:58 these wooden frontier houses were just the cutest.

39:02 maybe Tate'll adopt Cale.

[Mister Obvious]

S8 E2 - "Call Me Dodie"

0:46 super beautiful music.

1:00 amazing camera work so far.

4:11 this is fuckin' sad yo.

I do like the actress though... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Nolan She's 29 here playing a teenager. She's the older orphan and is basically trying to inspire the rest of them to be happy even though all their lives suck. She's like Mary Poppins meets Orphan Annie meets Glinda the Good Witch of the North.

I generally dislike episodes with kids in 'em right off the bat, but Dodie's storyline is enchanting.

5:25 "I can touch it though, cuz I got magic in me." Bahahaha, told you. Dodie is like the way early, TV friendly version of the "Manic Pixie" archetype.

7:20 she really is a great actress too.

7:30 "There weren't no milk... cow's dry again." Oh fuck that, that'd be the last straw for me up in that hell hole... I'd be tying a sheet to the bed and GTFO out one of those windows.

8:40 dude, Gunsmoke is epic gold. It's INSANNNNEEEEE how good this show is. Totally insane. I can't even believe it.

9:50 ah, don't worry kid, Marshal Dillon's gonna come save ya.

16:20 lol aw, well that's hard to say no to!

20:00 lmao, they ain't ever heard any shit like this before!

21:40 well I guess I know who I'd be marrying, roflmao!

26:15 lmao this show is WILLLLDDDD, y'all.

33:40 oh heavens alive... =\

34:28 Kitty's like oh man, we got a real problem here, lmao. I think it's about time Dodge got its own psychiatrist, for real.

35:48 well, this Ky dude is definitely steppin' out, but... it's hard not to like him.

38:20 this poor guy... bahahaha, oh it just ain't even right.

That was a top 10 episode... easy.

[Mister Obvious]

The love energy return that I've gotten from the time I've put into Gunsmoke so far has been leagues beyond anything I ever typically experience when I give my love/heart/time to anything/anyone.

I truly didn't expect that.

It moves me and makes me understand that love is so much bigger and so much more than just one other person that you wish for it to come from. It's bigger than just two people together.

This is the kind of love that I've always dreamed of but didn't realize that it isn't found in just one person or one thing...