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The folks who put together TV rankings were no doubt a bit surprised when a show that stopped producing new episodes several decades ago starting breaking into top ten streaming lists.
“Gunsmoke” shares space with newer beloved re-runs such as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Big Bang Theory.” And it’s not just in the U.S. either. “Gunsmoke” is popular in Germany — Austria — Australia — Norway – and Sweden among others. Texas Standard Commentator WF Strong is also watching.
The full transcript of this episode of Stories from Texas is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
WF Strong: I have just completed my gunsmoke summer. My summer of binge watching the classic series that was the number one show on television from 1957 to 1961. It also ranked in the top ten of all shows for most of its 20 year run, which ended in 1975 when I was a sophomore in high school. Its final episode had 30 million viewers. The Sopranos final show had only 12 million, but TV viewership was diluted by then. Lest you think I’m just an old dude with a freakish interest in obsolete TV shows, I’m not watching alone. Many millions of people in the US and abroad are joining me. Gunsmoke has surprised the Nielsen ratings folks by breaking into the top 10 most streamed rerun shows from time to time over the last two years. Keeping company with Gray’s Anatomy and the Big Bang Theory. And it’s not just in the U.S. Either. Gunsmoke is popular in Germany and Austria, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Israel. Here are some things I observed during my Gunsmokes summer. Though I watched Gunsmok as a boy, I didn’t remember any of the episodes from the first five years of the show. These were all black and white episodes and what I would call morality tv rather than reality tv the outcomes were about how the world should be more than how it was in dodge city kansas and beyond us marshal matt dylan nearly always gets his man or god does in one episode a flashback reveals that matt when he was just an 18 year old cowboy was randomly taken hostage during a robbery in Redwater, Texas. To ensure the hold-up gangs escape. When there was no pursuit, the leader wanted to kill Matt to leave no loose ends. An older member of the gang, Dan York, saved Matt’s life, and thus Matt survived to become the famed US Marshal of Dodge City. Matt’s character is one of extraordinary honesty. He has a moral compass that never loses true north. He is empathetic, listens well, and will not tolerate bigotry or prejudice. Nor will Matt’s friends, Doc or Kitty or Festus or Chester. But a lot of bad guys come from Texas too. And a lot troublesome drunk cowboys from the cattle drives are naturally from Texas and require Marshall Dillon’s iron fist and quick draw to keep them in line. According to gun smoke historian, Marshall Trimble, Matt was shot 56 times over the 20 years of the series, knocked out 29 times, stabbed three times and poisoned once. Amazing he’s still with us. The show takes on racism quite often, but never uses the word racism. For instance, Burt Reynolds plays Quint, a blacksmith who is half white and half Comanche. People sometimes refuse to trust him because he’s a Comanche Matt doesn’t mention racism. He just vouches for him by saying things like you won’t find a better more trustworthy man anywhere than Quint Asper. An amusing aspect of the series is that as depicted in the show, Kansas is quite hilly, even mountainous with deserts. Understandable as the show was shot in California, Utah, and Arizona. Also amusing is that according to the show from Dodge city, Texas is only a day’s ride away and it takes only about two to get to Mexico by horseback. The border guards also speak English quite well in the program, as do the Cantina waitresses. There are a great number of famous actors and eventually famous actors who guest-starred on Gunsmoke, Leonard Nimoy, Bette Davis, Harrison Ford, William Shatner, Kurt Russell, Sam Elliott, Charles Bronson, and Ed Asner, to name some of the major ones. In the radio version of Gunsmok, the Long Branch was a brothel, but on TV it became more of a social club, with the women of Long Branch Saloon. Presented as pretty conversationalists who sit for drinks with the patrons Watching doc and Festus argue is one of the highlights of every episode Festus has his own language with the most unique complex grammar you ever done heard Although Matt and Miss Kitty have a clear romantic affiliation. They never kissed on the show never the producers wanted to keep the tension strong You can join me on your recliner to watch a gun smoke most any time. You can see it on Paramount Plus, Peacock, BTV and Pluto, among others. I’m WF Strong. These are stories from Texas. Some of them are true.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
