Paul Sassone

My wife thinks I’m crazy — an opinion I’m afraid I do little to discourage.

Take the TV show “Gunsmoke.”

I am a huge fan. But so are millions of others old enough to remember the show.

This is not the crazy part. That comes later.

Wait for it.

“Gunsmoke” is part of American history. It is the longest-running, prime-time, live-action drama in television history. It ran from 1955 to 1975, making this year the show’s 60th anniversary.

I don’t notice any celebrations on the horizon. So, this little tribute will have to do.

With a different cast, “Gunsmoke” started as a radio show in 1952 and ran until 1961. It transitioned to TV in 1955 with a different cast and with an introduction by John Wayne, himself.

The team responsible for the series was producer Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. Many of the early TV shows were adaptations of Meston’s radio scripts.

The show hit pure gold in its casting — James Arness as the stalwart Marshal Matt Dillion, Dennis Weaver as his helper Chester Good, Milburn Stone as the crusty Doc Adams and Amanda Blake as saloon owner and Dillon’s love interest Kitty Russell.

The four leads had wonderful screen chemistry. Vieweres came to love them because they seemed to love each other. Underpinning it all were the superb scripts of John Meston. He wrote 258 episodes. He had a tragic view of life, which was reflected in his stories. There were few happy endings on Meston’s “Gunsmoke.”

Meston’s episodes could leave viewers in tears or stunned into silence by the pity of it. And the surrounding tragedy made the humor and affection between the four main characters all that more precious.

“Gunsmoke” became an instant hit. It was the No. 1 show from 1957-61, and still was in the top 30 TV shows when it was cancelled in 1975.

James Arness appeared in all 635 episodes. And to Hollywood’s undying shame, Arness never received an Emmy for his 20 years of teriffic, nuanced performances.

I was just a kid when I first saw Arness stride down Front Street to a showdown that was the show’s opening sequence. It was 9 p.m. on a Saturday night and I had done some fancy talking to persuade my mom to watch a western instead of Lawrence Welk.

And it was something of a tussle to see “Gunsmoke” each week. But my dad liked “Gunsmoke,” too.

In the first show, Matt is outdrawn and badly wounded. He recovers and bravely faces the bad guy again, this time successfully.

That’s Matt Dillon.

I stayed a fan almost until the end of the series. I was an adult by then and I thought the show had gotten a bit creaky.

But with the advent of DVDs, my love of “Gunsmoke” returned. I started buying the series from the beginning. Those early years have no equal in TV.

The first six seasons were in black and white and ran for half an hour. Each show is a gem — wonderful writing and wonderful acting.

If you want to try “Gunsmoke,” I would start at the early episodes and begin with Season 1. You will not be disappointed.

In Season 7, the show expanded to an hour, but remained in black and
white. The show switched to color in Season 12. The hour shows still are strong, but seem to me to lack something of the concentrated power of the 30-minute episodes.

Now, here comes the crazy part.

Over the 20-year course of “Gunsmoke,” how many bad guys do you think Matt shot?

I don’t know, either.

But, I will.

I own seasons 1 through 11. I have begun watching the series from the
very first episode. And in a little notebook I keep near the TV I write down the episode number — and how many bad guys Matt Dillion shoots.

So, there will come a day on which I will be able to tell you how many bad guys Matt Dillon killed.

Pretty neat, huh?

Crazy?

Maybe. Maybe you and my wife are right. Although my wife agrees with me about “Gunsmoke’s quality. She, too, is a big fan.

But body count aside, I am right about “Gunsmoke.”

James Arness, Amanda Blake, Dennis Weaver, Milburn Stone and Ken Kurtis are all gone now.

But “Gunsmoke” lives.

So, happy 60th anniversary Matt, Chester, Kitty, Doc and Festus. You’ve given — and still give —  me more than I can say.

—At 60 years old, ‘Gunsmoke’ ages well–