The old Gunsmoke Episodes (30 minutes)

[Smokie Darling (Annie)]

Has anyone else been watching these? I've noticed that Matt was a lot more ambivalent than he ever seemed in the 60 minute ones. Like today, he isn't going to offer help to a man, who is afraid of being shot (by his brother), because he thinks he deserves the treatment.

I'm wondering if Arness held onto these because of that (it was his production company), and they are only released now, because he's dead.

Smokie Darling (Annie)

PS I like these much better, because he ain't perfect, though the first couple of years, everyone sounded funny, because they hadn't gotten into their character's "voices" yet.

[Horace LaBadie]

In article
<1382146.122.1331849823683.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@ynes7>,

They have been in syndication as Marshall Dillon for like 40 years.

[Smokie Darling (Annie)]

Not on any channel I've ever seen (they are called Marshal Dillon, I should have written that in the subject line), and we have some godawful number of channels (225 or something). They only started showing on Encore in January.

[Horace LaBadie]

In article
<2591131.225.1331852401861.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@ynmb12>,

"Smokie Darling (Annie)" <Barnab...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> On Thursday, March 15, 2012 4:56:13 PM UTC-6, Horace LaBadie wrote:
> > In article
> > <1382146.122.1331849823683.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@ynes7>,
> > "Smokie Darling (Annie)" <Barnab...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Has anyone else been watching these? I've noticed that Matt was a lot
> > > more
> > > ambivalent than he ever seemed in the 60 minute ones. Like today, he
> > > isn't
> > > going to offer help to a man, who is afraid of being shot (by his
> > > brother),
> > > because he thinks he deserves the treatment.
> > >
> > > I'm wondering if Arness held onto these because of that (it was his
> > > production company), and they are only released now, because he's dead.
> > >
> > > Smokie Darling (Annie)
> > >
> > > PS I like these much better, because he ain't perfect, though the first
> > > couple of years, everyone sounded funny, because they hadn't gotten into
> > > their character's "voices" yet.
> >
> > They have been in syndication as Marshall Dillon for like 40 years.
>
> Not on any channel I've ever seen (they are called Marshal Dillon, I should
> have written that in the subject line), and we have some godawful number of
> channels (225 or something). They only started showing on Encore in January.

They usually show up late in the night or during the early morning hours
on channels that can't get enough infomercials to fill the schedule.
Until recently, they were running on MeTV at 1:30 am or something.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Smokie Darling (Annie) <Barnab...@yahoo.com> wrote:

IMDb says Arness didn't get a production company credit all the way
through, just 1961-1966. That doesn't mean that someone has input all
the original credits. The hour long format began in 1961-1962. Color
began 1966-1967.

It would have been unreasonable to give Arness such a credit in the
beginning as it was a radio drama, still airing, and who the hell was Arness
before 1955? Gunsmoke was one of the very last radio dramas; CBS kept
it on the air till 1960-1961.

[Smokie Darling (Annie)]

...and that one is a channel I would dearly love to have (and the Sundance Channel), but our company doesn't carry it. I have looked for the first 6 years on tv for ages! I wonder if I can get the DVDs, and forget about the stupid sun spots messing up the dang signal these days.

[Smokie Darling (Annie)]

Let me see... I'm hoping that Encore decides to rerun the whole thing, rather than like they have with the 60 minute version, where they show the same stupid 20 or 25 shows, over and over. They have 14 years of shows, and they show the same ones <sigh>. I used to like Gunsmoke in the late 60s.

I don't remember if he had the production credit in the first year, on the Encore repeats. Wonder if he bought them? Wouldn't that be a kick in the butt? Wasn't he the only one that CBS did *buy* out of they residuals royalties in the early 60s? I seem to recall that Amanda Blake, Milburne Stone, and Dennis Weaver were all given $100,000 to give up royalties in 1960 (iirc). I don't think Arness was though.

[thinbluemime thinbluemime]

On Mar 15, 11:32 pm, "Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote:

> Smokie Darling (Annie) <Barnabus1...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>


> It would have been unreasonable to give Arness such a credit in the
> beginning as it was a radio drama, still airing, and who the hell was Arness
> before 1955? Gunsmoke was one of the very last radio dramas; CBS kept
> it on the air till 1960-1961.

The old William Conrad 'Gunsmoke' radio shows are online and free for
download, if anyone is interested:
http://www.archive.org/details/OTRR_Gunsmoke_Singles
I didn't do an exact count, but there appears to be over 400 episodes
available.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Wow! That would be 10 years worth, all right. Sounds like the
entire run.

[Irish Mike]

Encore Westerns is showing them every day in my market and I really enjoy
them. The first episode of Gunsmoke, it has an intro by John Wayne.
Wayne turned the show down and recommended James Arness for the role of
Matt Dillon. At the end of the episode James Arness and Milburn Stone
(Doc Adams) do a cigarette commercial.

Interesting side note. Amanda Blake (Kitty) was a two pack a day smoker.
She sold her rights to the show for $100K. Also, she married a guy who
was, apparently, a switch hitter. She caught some disease from him and
ultimately died from complications.

Any way, I think the Gunsmoke series was one of the very best TV Westerns
ever made.

Irish Mike

-------- 

[Jim T.]

Don't know about the TV show (never watched it), but the radio series*
that preceded it was often rather dark, with unhappy endings. I like
that.

*I listen to radio shows both old and new on my MP3 player when I go
to bed. Since I started doing that I rarely suffer from insomnia.

[Smokie Darling (Annie)]

On Thursday, March 15, 2012 8:25:19 PM UTC-6, Irish Mike wrote:
> On Mar 15 2012 7:17 PM, Smokie Darling (Annie) wrote:
>
> > Has anyone else been watching these? I've noticed that Matt was a lot more
> ambivalent than he ever
> > seemed in the 60 minute ones. Like today, he isn't going to offer help to a
> man, who is afraid of
> > being shot (by his brother), because he thinks he deserves the treatment.
> >
> > I'm wondering if Arness held onto these because of that (it was his
> production company), and they
> > are only released now, because he's dead.
> >
> > Smokie Darling (Annie)
> >
> > PS I like these much better, because he ain't perfect, though the first
> couple of years, everyone
> > sounded funny, because they hadn't gotten into their character's "voices"
> yet.
>
> Encore Westerns is showing them every day in my market and I really enjoy
> them. The first episode of Gunsmoke, it has an intro by John Wayne.
> Wayne turned the show down and recommended James Arness for the role of
> Matt Dillon. At the end of the episode James Arness and Milburn Stone
> (Doc Adams) do a cigarette commercial.

I knew that about the Duke, but didn't see that episode. I've been looking for The Preacher, but it seems that may be one that didn't get "found" <sigh>. Royal Dano, Chuck Connors (in lifts no less), and James Arness, does it get better than that?

> Interesting side note. Amanda Blake (Kitty) was a two pack a day smoker.
> She sold her rights to the show for $100K. Also, she married a guy who
> was, apparently, a switch hitter. She caught some disease from him and
> ultimately died from complications.

Blake, Stone, and Weaver all sold their rights back to CBS in 1960 (or thereabout). Arness, I believe, did not.

She died of liver failure from hepatitis, due to AIDS (which she contracted from her husband).

> Any way, I think the Gunsmoke series was one of the very best TV Westerns
> ever made.

The first 6 seasons (30 minutes) certainly is enjoyable. The 60 minute ones were fun, but as I said, Encore Westerns is rerunning the same bunch, usually at a 6 week turnaround (give or take). I'm *tired* of those shows, dagnabbit, I want some different 60 minutes eps.

[Will Dockery]

On Mar 15, 7:00 pm, "Smokie Darling (Annie)" <Barnabus1...@yahoo.com>
wrote:

> On Thursday, March 15, 2012 4:56:13 PM UTC-6, Horace LaBadie wrote:
> > In article
> > <1382146.122.1331849823683.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@ynes7>,

> >  "Smokie Darling (Annie)" <Barnabus1...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > > Has anyone else been watching these?  I've noticed that Matt was a lot more
> > > ambivalent than he ever seemed in the 60 minute ones.  Like today, he isn't
> > > going to offer help to a man, who is afraid of being shot (by his brother),
> > > because he thinks he deserves the treatment.
>
> > > I'm wondering if Arness held onto these because of that (it was his
> > > production company), and they are only released now, because he's dead.
>
> > > Smokie Darling (Annie)
>
> > > PS  I like these much better, because he ain't perfect, though the first
> > > couple of years, everyone sounded funny, because they hadn't gotten into
> > > their character's "voices" yet.
>
> > They have been in syndication as Marshall Dillon for like 40 years.
>
> Not on any channel I've ever seen (they are called Marshal Dillon, I should have written that in the subject line), and we have some godawful number of channels (225 or something).  They only started showing on Encore in January.

Yes, these earlier episodes are much more rare than th later hour long
ones.

[ricrat]

I've got the complete run of 600+ episodes and have watched them all. They are in broadcast order, too. I remember it being on Saturday night.

[Smokie Darling (Annie)]

Encore Westerns seems to "misplace" episodes (several when they ran The Virginian). They are available on the DVDs when purchased, but Encore doesn't show them (and they aren't unPC or anything).

[Irish Mike]

> > Interesting side note. Amanda Blake (Kitty) was a two pack a day smoker..

> > She sold her rights to the show for $100K. Also, she married a guy who
> > was, apparently, a switch hitter. She caught some disease from him and
> > ultimately died from complications.
>
> Blake, Stone, and Weaver all sold their rights back to CBS in 1960 (or
thereabout). Arness, I
> believe, did not.
>
> She died of liver failure from hepatitis, due to AIDS (which she contracted
from her husband).
>
> > Any way, I think the Gunsmoke series was one of the very best TV Westerns
> > ever made.
>
> The first 6 seasons (30 minutes) certainly is enjoyable. The 60 minute ones
were fun, but as I
> said, Encore Westerns is rerunning the same bunch, usually at a 6 week
turnaround (give or take).
> I'm *tired* of those shows, dagnabbit, I want some different 60 minutes eps.

I believe Netflix streaming carries six or seven full seasons of Gunsmoke.
They may have some more available on DVD. Also, have you seen the four
or five post-Gunsmoke movies that star James Arness? Not bad but kind of
sad to see Matt and Kitty in their old age.

Irish Mike

______________________________________________________________________ 

[Smokie Darling (Annie)]

I made the mistake of watching the one with Amanda Blake. Gah. Not that I didn't expect everyone to get old, but to have a story written that would not have been age appropriate had she been 45 (and she was supposed to *still* be the "belle of the ball"?), well, that was just sad. The bits I've caught of the others...

Seems like someone didn't want to acknowledge that Arness was an old man. I think showing Matt that way, old (maybe a tad feeble) would have been a better story. You know, using years of experience, and actually outsmarting the baddies, rather than out-fighting/shooting them. But no, can't have that. He has to be the stronger than any other, braver than any other, smarter than oth., wait he wasn't that, not even in the series <smile>.

[anim8rFSK]

In article <1l8c39x...@app-01.ezprovider.com>,

Netflix lost Gunsmoke last month when all the StarZ stuff went away.

[Will Dockery]

has anyone checked out what we'll be getting tomorrow on MEtv with Gunsmoke?

Probably the first of the hour episodes, which began... when?

[anim8rfsk]

In article <cd7532a1-d2eb-4f4c...@googlegroups.com>,

10/26 Perce from 9/30/61
10/27 Old Yellow Boots from 10/7/61
10/28 Miss Kitty from 10/14/61

http://www.metv.com/shows/gunsmoke/episode-guide#GUNSM0001

Perce looks to be episode one of season 7, and the schedule seems to be
airing them in order.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047736/episodes?year=1961

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[Will Dockery]

Thanks, man... I was just a baby when these aired, so I should be catching a lot of material that's new to me.

:D

[anim8rfsk]

In article <42f0d95e-2573-4dcf...@googlegroups.com>,

:)

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SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEQUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuu......

[Michael Black]

What amazes me is that 1961 is season six, and they are still black and
white. The time is okay for that, but it's well into the series.

Did you watch the Bonanza that followed yesterday? Rockford's father plays
a ladies man.

Michael

[Will Dockery]

I had to take off for a road trip yesterday, so I mostly caught the Bonanza episode in bits, as I was preparing to head out the door.

One thing I'm noticing in yesterday and somewhat in today's Gunsmoke is that the weather does seem kind of chilly, could be the black and white that helps that effect, but the characters do not seems as dusty and warm as in the much later color ones MeTV has been overplaying the past couple of years.

And Chester gives a much different feel to the show, a lot less of the Festus style "hillbilly humor".