24 Huge Things You Missed in Gunsmoke

gunsmoke is one of the most beloved western series in the history of television for 20 action-packed gun slinging seasons viewers tuned in to see marshall dillon vanquish the marauding forces of evil in dodge city kansas from edge of your seat close call showdowns with outlaws to cowboys equipped with boots and spurs riding their trusty steeds this legendary show had it all when gunsmoke first premiered it started off as a half hour affair but because of popular demand it was expanded to fill an hour time slot you'll probably also be impressed to find that it's the second longest airing tv program of all time can you guess who has the number one claim to fame the cherry on top for gunsmoke was the five emmy awards it won in its two-decade run let's see what made this show the unstoppable powerhouse it was countless a-list guest stars star trek's captain kirk scotty spock the vulcan and bones all paid a visit to the show oh and quite a few of the brady's made appearances as well peter cindy and jan all stopped by to say hi john astin from the addams family angelina jolie's father john voight and ron howard also found time to guest star on the series james arness is the only actor to star in every single episode the runner-up was millburn stone but because of a heart attack in 1971 he missed six episodes you gotta give it to the guy missing only half a dozen episodes after almost dying is pretty hardcore amanda blake almost didn't play miss kitty russell paulie bond was first offered the part but after she turned it down producers turned to blake who was eager as can be to play the ginger saloon proprietors the show was highly rated for almost half a decade from 1957 to 1961 gunsmoke was the number one most watched show on american television the beginning sequence wasn't original when marshall matt dillon is walking through the graveyard up on boot hill and narrating the opening scene that bit was derived directly from the original radio series producers wanted to make a connection between the radio show and the tv series to draw in fans already familiar with the story gunsmoke started an era of popular westerns along with the life and legend of wyatt earp gunsmoke helped start a golden era of tv westerns by the end of the 1950s there were as many as 40 westerns on the air in prime time slots as such a whole generation of kids grew up with cowboys and outlaws as being their archetypal heroes and villains marshall matt dillon was hard to cast it was quite difficult to fill the role william conrad who voiced the iconic character on the radio program wasn't even considered because let's just say he had a face destined for radio the network was eager to get john wayne but scheduling conflicts prevented him from taking the role he would have to have given up his thriving film career to make it work and that wasn't happening arness and wayne happened to be friends however and wayne insisted they give him a try but even after auditioning producers still weren't fully convinced after 26 actors were screen tested for the role eventually james managed to convince the hard to please hollywood types that he was their guy the radio show ran concurrently with the tv series it first hit airwaves in 1952 and by the time that the radio show finally wrapped up in 61 well over 400 episodes had aired gilligan's island was canceled because of the show when cbs was considering canceling gunsmoke after season six they instead swapped it out for a different time slot hoping to boost falling ratings in the process gilligan's island was sacrificed but to be fair it was only ever supposed to be a three-hour tour in the first place gunsmoke coined a catchphrase whenever marshall dillon would kick bad guys out of dodge city he would admonish them to get the hell out of dodge the phrase went on to take its more contemporary usage after teens from the 60s and 70s began using it in their daily speech chester's last name was originally a tolkien reference on the radio show chester's last name wasn't good but in fact it was proudfoot this was a clear nod to the clan of hobbit tolkien characters doc adams remained nameless for 16 seasons stone was given the chance to name his own character and he decided to go with galen because he thought it had a nice ring to it gary busey was the final character to be killed off of the series mr busey's character harv daily died from brain cancer in one of the last episodes of the program the gunsmoke tv show evaded mentioning miss kitty's profession on the radio program it was pretty clearly stated that she was the madam of the saloon but to take a tamer toned-down family-friendly approach they chose to leave that part out of her backstory although it's still fairly obvious what role she was playing the opening credits sequence was changed in the 70s during those days it became politically incorrect to focus too heavily on violence the show not only toned down miss kitty's sexually suggestive career choice but they also felt it necessary to dial down the weekly gun fights and brawls to meet the changing socio-political expectations of the times the gunfight scene that was originally used however was filmed on the same main street as the one in the 1952 film high noon during one of the filmings of the gunfight arness decided he was going to play a little joke on the crew and let the gunman win just a quick side note if you're enjoying this video so far why not hit the like button and subscribe to our channel it only takes a second and it's one of the easiest ways to show your support there are more gun smoke fast facts to come stay tuned to find out just how dedicated to his role james arness was despite ailing health he pressed on like the true cowboy he was gunsmoke was the former record holder for most primetime episodes 635 episodes are nothing to shake your rifle at the simpsons however beat gunsmoke's record on april 29 2018. as of this video the simpsons have aired 689 episodes gunsmoke abruptly ended with no finale who needs closure anyway the cast and crew didn't expect the network to suddenly cancel the show arness thought there surely must have been several seasons left before he'd have to start looking for another job a show that ran for as long as gunsmoke did should have had a proper finale to tie up all the loose ends but instead it ended its 20 season run with a very typical episode there are five gunsmoke tv movies even though there was no fitting finale for the series at least there was some post cancellation fanfare in 1987 gunsmoke returned to dodge aired and was followed up with 1990s the last apache 1992's to the last man and 1993's the long ride the last film in the made for tv saga was one man's justice in 1994 james arness reprised his role as marshall for each movie matt dillon only ever had one on-screen kiss olivia walton from the waltons was played by michael learned or miss michael learned as she was sometimes credited to clarify her gender given the fact that she possessed a typically masculine name in the gunsmoke episode matt's love story she got her chance to lay one on mr dillon dennis waver improvised chester's limp when he was commissioned by producers to come up with something to differentiate his character from mats he came up with the idea to feign a limp can you imagine how he must have eventually come to regret that decision after having to put on the fake limp episode after episode for years on end ken curtis played several characters festus hagen first comes to mind but curtis also played a texan cowboy who was murdered after becoming buddies with chester buck taylor who later became newly o'brien also played a separate character before stepping into his deputized gunsmith role sponsored by big tobacco nowadays cigarette ads are banned on tv and it's controversial to even see fictional characters taking a puff but the first seven seasons of gunsmoke were brought to you by l m cigarettes smoke them if you got em boys james arness pressed on despite ailing health talk about being committed to a role arness pushed through the last 10 seasons of the show suffering from severe arthritis he'd filmed the scenes of each episode in one day so he could take a week off between each episode to recuperate glenn strange's final performance glenn was well known in the world of film and tv he might even remember him for his role in frankenstein in total he appeared in over 500 tv shows on gunsmoke he played sam noonan the towering bartender strange died at the age of 74 in 1973 following a battle with lung cancer buck taylor would later pay him tribute by naming his third son cooper glenn well it's about time for us to get the hell out of dodge we hope you've enjoyed this behind the scenes look at arguably the greatest western series to hit the airwaves although some bonanza fans might take offense to that so why don't you our lovely viewers be the judge of that one between bonanza and gunsmoke which program do you prefer let us know what you think in the comments section and before you go make sure you show us some support by liking this video subscribing to the channel and tapping the bell icon to turn on notifications that way you can keep up with all our videos you could also take it further if you're a big gunsmoke fan by sharing this video on your social media feed but no pressure you

Channel: Facts Verse

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Id: gCu3WbTK8JY

Length: 10min 40sec (640 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 29 2020