When the Western drama television seriesGunsmokeended in 1975 after twenty seasons and a whopping 635 episodes, itwas the longest-running live-action primetime series in history and had the highest number of scripted episodes.Gunsmokeheld the former record until September 2019, when the crime drama seriesLaw & Order: Special Victims Unitentered its 21st season, while the animated sitcomThe SimpsonssurpassedGunsmokein total scripted episodes in April 2018.
Gunsmokewas unparalleled in terms of how it revolutionized the Western genre and the remarkable consistency of the show’s cast, led by series star James Arness, who appeared in every episode ofGunsmokeas United States Marshal Matt Dillon, the rugged, towering lawman who attempted to maintain law and order in Dodge City, Kansas.Gunsmokealso became a rite-of-passage series in the careers of several future Hollywood stars, including Jodie Foster, Ron Howard, Burt Reynolds,and Kurt Russell.
AfterGunsmoke, which began its life as a radio program in 1952, debuted on CBS in 1955, the show became a critical and ratings success. Between 1957 and 1961,Gunsmoke, which won 15 Primetime Emmy Awards throughout its run, held the top spot in the Nielsen ratings. However, despite its rich, storied pedigree,Gunsmokewas unceremoniously canceled in 1975 even though the show still had respectable ratings, which led the show’s cast and crew to believe that the show would run at least one more season. The cancelation ofGunsmokewas so unexpected that it left the cast and crew stunned and prevented the show from receiving the proper series finale that it deserved.
Gunsmoke Triggered the Cancelation of Gilligan’s Island
In 1967, CBS decided to cancelGunsmokedue to declining ratings, which reflected the fact thatthe Western genrewas becoming increasingly out of favor with the public. Between 1963 and 1967, the ratings forGunsmokehad declined to the point where the show fell outside the Top 30 in the Nielsen ratings. The decision to cancelGunsmokewas initiated by a younger core of CBS executives, who felt thatGunsmokewas outdated and should be replaced with a more contemporary show. However, the news of the impending cancelation elicited public outrage. CBS regional affiliates threatened to stop airing CBS programs ifGunsmokewas canceled.
The cancelation decision was also met with disapproval by then-CBS President William Paley, who was urged by his wife, Babe, to reverse the decision. However, whileGunsmokewas given a reprieve from cancelation, CBS moved the show on its schedule from Saturday, where the show aired for its first 12 seasons, to Monday, where the one-hourGunsmokewas opposed by the NBC sitcomThe Monkeesand the first half-hour of the NBC spy television seriesThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Moreover, to make room forGunsmokeon Monday, where Gunsmoke remained until its cancelation, CBS decided to instead cancelthe sitcomGilligan’s Island, which had been moved to Monday for its third and final season amid declining ratings.
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The Gunsmoke Cast Were Completely Surprised by the Show’s Cancelation
The move to Monday revitalizedGunsmoke, which returned to the Top 10 in the Nielsen ratings in 1967. The show remained in the Top 10 until 1973, when the show fell outside the Top 10, but remained among the 20 most-watched shows on television. As Season 20 ofGunsmokedrew to a close, none of the show’s cast and crew had any inkling that CBS was going to cancel the series. Moreover, the cast and crew believed that any cancelation decision by CBS would be accompanied by one final season and certainly a proper finale episode, as a matter of respect.
The 10 Longest-Running Western TV Series of All Time
These long-running Western shows proved that the popular big-screen genre could also dominate on the small screen.
As was the case with the show’s near cancelation in 1967,Gunsmokewas ultimately canceled by CBS in 1975 primarily because the network wanted to replaceGunsmokewith more contemporary programming, which turned out to be theMary Tyler Moorespinoff sitcomsPhyllisandRhoda. The cancelation was so unexpected that most of the show’s cast and crew learned of the decision through the Hollywood trade publications.
Gunsmoke Ended Not With a Bang but a Whimper
Over 20 years, James Arness was joined in the tight-knit cast ofGunsmokeby Amanda Blake as saloon owner Kitty Russell, Ken Curtis as Matt Dillon’s deputy marshal, Festus, Milburn Stone as Dodge City doctor Doc Adams, and Dennis Weaver, who played Dillon’s original trusted deputy, Chester, until Weaver left the series in 1964 and was replaced by Curtis.
The sheer unexpectedness of the show’s cancelation is evidenced by the fact that the show’s unintended final episode, titled “The Sharecroppers,” is a Festus episode, in which Dillon scarcely appears. In this jokey, nondescript episode, Festus, after accidentally shooting a man in the leg, takes the wounded man back to the man’s farm, where Festus is coerced into working on the farm to make amends for the shooting.
Needless to say, this episode was never intended to be a series finale or to provide any kind of overall resolution for the series and its characters. Instead of mounting and promoting a finalGunsmokeepisode in a way that possibly could have generated nearly as much anticipation and attention as the final episode ofThe Fugitivegenerated in 1967 and theseries finale ofMAS*Hreceived in 1983,Gunsmokeended so ignominiously as to leave viewers with the clear expectation that the series would continue for at least one more season.
Indeed, there was no resolution forGunsmokeuntil 1987, when Arness starred in the made-for-television filmGunsmoke: Return to Dodge, the first of five made-for-televisionGunsmokefilms that Arness starred in, ending with the 1994 filmGunsmoke: One Man’s Justice.
