About the SeriesThe series started out as a
half-hour show, and expanded to an hour in its seventh season.
Prior to Gunsmoke (and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp which
premiered the same week), western shows generally focused on
fantasy characters such as the Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy,
holdovers from movie and radio serials.
Gunsmoke was one of the earliest "adult westerns," centering
around the exploits of Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) in the
frontier town of Dodge City, Kansas in 1873. His kindly
companion was Doc Adams (Milburn Stone), the town physician who
spent many hours chugging beers at the Long Branch Saloon, owned
and operated by the shapely Kitty Russell.
Gunsmoke started a longtime trend for TV westerns. At one point
there were 30 of them on the air at the same time. But Gunsmoke
outlasted the others and at the time of its cancellation in
1975, it was the only show of its kind still on the air.
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James Arness as
Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke
Longest Running Series in TV
Premiering on CBS in September 1955 and completing its
network run September 1975, Gunsmoke is the longest running
dramatic series in the history of television. Two of its stars,
James Arness and Milburn Stone, remained all 20 seasons, with
Amanda Blake a close second, departing after 19 years.
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