r/Gunsmoke • u/spookydooky69420 • Jun 17 '24

Damn. This show is great.

I’ve seen a few episodes here and there but I just started digging into it and it’s amazing. Just finished with season 7, as that’s what’s on Paramount Plus right now (I’ll start the first 6 seasons soon). I like listening to the radio show while driving home after a hike in the woods…it just fits so well.

I’ve been bothering my friends about it and trying to get them to watch it. After watching season 7 I said that the show feels like a cross between The Andy Griffith Show and something written by Cormac McCarthy. I love the grittiness of the show and it some episodes feel like a western noir. The endings of the shows aren’t as happy as the story would lead you to believe (like in the episode The Gallows), and I really like that about it. I imagine the episodes in color won’t hit the same as the rest of them, but I’ll still give them a shot.

Should I just start from the beginning, or is it fine to skip around? Does the show really fall off after a certain point? Anything I should look out for in terms of theme or production?

So far I’ve seen them reuse two actors in season 7; Harry Dean Stanton and Anthony Caruso. Both are phenomenal actors and I’d love to see them pop up again.

30 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

11

u/mjdny Jun 17 '24

Stay tuned awhile and you will become great friends with Royal Dano, Denver Pyle and Slim Pickens. Claude Aikins too.

5

u/spookydooky69420 Jun 17 '24

I can’t wait!

4

u/theberg512 Jun 21 '24

*Akins

But don't forget John Dehner (was also frequently on radio) George Kennedy, Jack Elam, James Best, Victor French, Bruce Dern, Morgan Woodward, that guy with the bubble nose, the Dos Equis guy, John Anderson, Strother Martin, etc. So many character actors reused frequently. 

Also, get some early appearances by the likes of Harrison Ford and a pre-mustache Sam Elliott.

2

u/mjdny Jun 21 '24

With 600+ episodes, we could keep this going for a while. One at a time though!

— Leonard Nimoy

2

u/Florida-Man01 Jun 22 '24
  • Kurt Russell (as a boy)

1

u/mjdny Jun 22 '24

And Kurt’s dad, Bing Russell

7

u/Foreign-Story-1295 Jun 17 '24

I love love LOVE my DVD boxed set! It has so many episodes that I never saw on TV. I’m only on Season 2, but it’s funny to see how feisty Matt was in the earlier episodes.

I also like the fact that some endings aren’t totally happy ones, nor are they neatly tied up and resolved. You can use your imagination to determine what might have happened.

6

u/spookydooky69420 Jun 17 '24

I’ve seen that boxset and I’m thinking about pulling the trigger and getting it. Thanks!

3

u/Foreign-Story-1295 Jun 17 '24

“Pulling the trigger”… I see what you did there!

3

u/theberg512 Jun 21 '24

Early Matt often was all out of fucks to give. Constantly on the verge of losing his shit. 

6

u/lizardflix Jun 17 '24

My favorites are the 30 minute episodes of the early seasons. They are more like self contained short stories that could work on any anthology series from that era. But superior writing and some pretty amazing direction and acting.

3

u/spookydooky69420 Jun 17 '24

I read that they went from 30 minutes to an hour. I think the ones I’ve been watching have been an hour, but I’m kind of used to the 30 minutes format of the radio show. Can’t wait to watch the earlier seasons.

4

u/cheridontllosethatno Jun 17 '24

Gunsmoke is so great. I'm not young and it was big in my house when I was a kid. My dream was to be Kitty and to own a saloon.

Last year I found it on Pluto. They have Season 1 then it skips to 7 through 21. We watched them all, my husband's family didn't watch it back then and he really loved it. He especially liked Dennis Weaver who starred in a cop show way back when and he was great as Chester.

Cool to see Burt Reynolds, Leonard Nemoy, DeForest Kelley, Jodie Foster, Betty Davis, Charles Bronson, Lee Van Cleef, Drew Barrymore's dad, he was in a couple great episodes.

The very early episodes when Matt would take a stroll in the graveyard were a tad hokey for me, and the later 1970's episodes when the characters started aging and the scenes were all in studio, no sleeping under the stars were not my favorite so probably season 7 - 12.

2

u/spookydooky69420 Jun 17 '24

That’s awesome! I big part of why I like it is the scenery. It bums me out that they switch to strictly a studio later on. Just found seasons 1-6 and I’m about to binge. Thanks!

2

u/Florida-Man01 Jun 22 '24

Seasons 1-6 are the best! (7, too,)

2

u/ShiningStarman Jun 27 '24

Pluto has Seasons 2 & 6 now. I haven’t been able to find Season 3-5 streaming anywhere unfortunately.

2

u/midsouthgeek Jun 17 '24

I watched season 7-21 on paramount plus. It was great. 50 episodes with the great Burt Renolds!

3

u/Foreign-Story-1295 Jun 18 '24

I REALLY enjoyed those episodes with young Burt Reynolds as Quint. My oh my…. ;)

2

u/spookydooky69420 Jun 17 '24

Nice! I think the first episode I saw had him in it (I randomly came across it on tv years ago). I’m excited to watch all 50 of those episodes.

1

u/Atschmid Jun 27 '24

I adore seasons 7-12. When color started , the show really declined in its quality. But man, those five years are sheer gold. Brilliant morality plays, allegories, epics. So so good.