List of Gunsmoke television episodes

Gunsmoke is an American western television series developed by Charles Marquis Warren and based on the radio program of the same name. The series ran for 20 seasons, making it the longest-running western in television history. The first episode aired in the United States on September 10, 1955, and the final episode aired on March 31, 1975. All episodes were broadcast in the U.S. by CBS. In the United Kingdom Gunsmoke was originally broadcast under the title Gun Law.

Gunsmoke was originally a half-hour program filmed in black-and-white. The series expanded to an hour in length with season seven and began filming in color in season twelve. During its run 635 episodes were broadcast, of which 233 were 30 minutes in length and 402 were 60 minutes in length. Of the hour-long episodes 176 were in black-and-white and 226 in color. During season two, Gunsmoke became one of the ten most popular programs on American television and moved to number one in the third season. It remained at number one until 1961 and stayed in the top twenty until 1964. The series returned to prominence in 1967 following a shift in its programming time from Saturday to Monday night. From there Gunsmoke remained in the top twenty for the next seven years, dropping out only in its final season. In May 1975 CBS canceled the series. Alan Wagner, the network's vice president at the time, said, "It's better to get rid of a program one year too soon than one year too late." Between 1987 and 1994 five television movies based on the series were aired by CBS.

Gunsmoke is set in and around Dodge City, Kansas, in the post-Civil War era and centers on United States Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) as he enforces law and order in the city. In its original format the series also focuses on Dillon's friendship with three other citizens of Dodge City: Doctor Galen "Doc" Adams (Milburn Stone), the town's physician; Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake), owner of the Long Branch Saloon; and Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver), Dillon's assistant. In season eight (1962–63) a fifth regular character was added to the cast: blacksmith Quint Asper (Burt Reynolds), who remained until the end of season ten (1964–65). Dennis Weaver left the series during season nine (1963–64) and was replaced by Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen, who became deputy to Marshall Dillon. Both Chester and Festus appear together in the season nine episode "The Prairie Wolfer," and Festus had initially appeared the previous season, playing the same character as a quasi-outlaw helping Dillon track a killer in "Us Haggens". In season eleven (1965–66), another deputy, Clayton Thaddeus Greenwood (Roger Ewing), was added to the cast. Ewing's character was replaced in season thirteen (1967–68) by Newly O'Brien (Buck Taylor). Amanda Blake left the series at the end of season nineteen (1973–74) and was replaced in the final season by a new character, Miss Hannah, portrayed by Fran Ryan.

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