My Thoughts on the Gunsmoke Radio Series

I really enjoyed it. Truthfully, I think I prefer it to the 30 minute episodes of the tv series. Here are my top 25 favorite episodes, and a few random musings about the series.



I'm sure a few of these episodes could be moved to slightly higher or lower spots, but this is (basically) the order I would rank my favorite episodes.

My Top 25:

02/14/1953 THE ROUNDUP
04/02/1955 BLOODY HANDS
04/30/1955 REWARD FOR MATT
10/02/1954 MATT GETS IT
09/27/1952 THE RAILROAD
07/19/1959 SECOND ARREST
09/19/1953 THERE WAS NEVER A HORSE
10/21/1956 TILL DEATH DO US PART
12/27/1952 THE CABIN
06/06/1953 SUNDOWN
11/10/1956 CROWBAIT BOB
03/20/1954 OLD FRIEND
08/08/1953 SKY
09/23/1956 BOX O' ROCKS
07/22/1956 LYNCHING MAN
02/21/1953 MESHOUGAH
02/26/1955 CRACKUP
03/06/1960 BLOOD MONEY
09/20/1954 THE F.U.
12/06/1959 BIG CHUGG WILSON
01/01/1955 THE BOTTLE MAN
07/02/1955 GENERAL PARSLEY SMITH
11/03/1957 BULL
05/06/1956 THE PHOTOGRAPHER
05/09/1953 THE BUFFALO HUNTER


Favorite Doc episodes:

01/31/1953 CAVALCADE
07/27/1958 THE CAST (Very similar in theme to "Cow Doctor" but I like this one a tiny bit better)


Favorite Kitty episodes:

11/29/1952 KITTY
02/19/1961 KITTY LOVE


Favorite Chester episodes:

03/08/1959 MAW HAWKINS
09/25/1960 DOC JUDGE
04/30/1961 EX-URBANITES



The Cast:

William Conrad was excellent. He had an amazing voice that was just perfect for the character. I think he had a strength and maturity that James Arness didn't attain until he had aged a bit.

Parley Baer was also very good; I prefer him to Dennis Weaver.

Howard McNear's doc was also very good. He isn't as grumpy as his tv counterpart, but he is still very funny. Other differences: he drinks a lot more and has an eye for the ladies. I like McNear and Milburn Stone's interpretations of the character equally.

Georgia Ellis is ok. Not nearly as good as Amanda Blake. I think part of the problem was that many important scenes in episodes centered around Kitty (like "Kitty's Rebellion") were written in ways that would have worked better on tv. You can't convey a subtle facial expression on the radio.

Violence:

The tv show never shied away from it, but the radio guys reveled in it. You ever wonder what it sounds like when someone gets poked with a pitchfork, falls down a flight of stairs or gets hit in the head with an ax? Listen to this show.


The Writers:

John Meston wrote some amazing scripts in the early seasons. Though there were still some excellent episodes produced after he moved to tv, there was a drop off in overall quality imo.

Best Vocal Performance:

Jeanette Nolan in "The Railroad." Great dialog by David Ellis , but a sensational delivery by Nolan.

Radio vs TV:

Some times the radio adaptation were better. Sometimes they weren't quite as good. You can show action more easily with a camera, but television can't produce the sets and atmosphere that the radio program instills in your imagination. It's the "Theatre of the Mind" as they say, and a Hollywood soundstage can't compete with that. I do think that the tv version handled comedy much better though.

I was surprised at the number of great scripts that were never reproduced for tv. There are quite a few radio shows that would have made classic tv episodes.



Characters:

You will never experience the things that the characters in these stories do in your daily life, but you still understand them. You still empathize with them. The characters are so real that they are timeless.

Cigarettes:

Did you know that they are AWESOME?! It's true. Thank goodness for all of those L&M commercials or I would never have known that their cigarettes were "the best" were doctor recommended and made excellent Christmas presents. Seriously, they claimed all of those things. Boy, the world sure has changed.


Intelligence:

I am struck by how this series didn't "dumb down" their scripts. Unlike many modern shows, they had respect for their audience's intelligence. The shows didn't always end in the way you wanted them to; there was no mandatory happy ending.

Often the stories weren't even complete "stories" like what you typically see on television. As William Conrad pointed out, they are often "incidents" that take place inside the framework of another story. A story begins with Matt setting out to capture a thief, but then the episode ends up being about his encounter with the thief's mother. The "story" is Matt trying to catch an outlaw - the heart of the episode is the woman's moral dilemma.

No Final Episode:

Just as with the TV show, the radio program was dropped without warning. So unfair. I will never understand the mentality of these network executives. If I were to choose a final episode to go out on, I would pick "Bloody Hands" from 04/02/1955. Not that I think that the series should have ended then; I just think that episode sums up what Matt and Gunsmoke are all about.



Final thought: This is a great series that I would recommend to anyone - not just fans of Gunsmoke or westerns. It's so well written that I think anyone can enjoy it. It's sad that the golden age of radio has passed away. On the other hand, it's wonderful that the internet will preserve them forever for future generations. It's fitting in a way - Gunsmoke was a program telling wonderful stories about a legendary time that has long since passed - the internet is allowing us to do the same thing by keeping those shows and their stories alive.



If anyone is interested, all of these episodes can be listened to for free at the Internet Archive.