There are few television series that have any degree of staying power. Unfortunately this seems especially true for some great shows. Just as the writers are beginning to develop an interesting set of characters and stories you hear that the series has been cancelled. The life expectancy for most shows on TV is woefully brief. There have been a handful of notable exceptions. The crime drama ‘Law & Order’ is currently in its 19^th year. ‘The Simpsons’, the Fox network animated staple has it twentieth birthday. Still, they have not taken over the world’s record for television longevity. That crown belongs to only one show, ‘Gunsmoke’. For twenty seasons between 1955 and 1975 it was a part of almost every American home. This show is also notable for maintaining the same core cast of leads for all that time. James Arness has a personal record for playing the same character on a single show for 20 years. Such world’s records are extremely difficult to garner and it is extremely unlikely that we will see ‘Gunsmoke’ toppled off its exalted throne any time soon. Over its long run this series saw many changes in technology and basic format. It actually started out on radio and was among the first wave of popular shows to make the transition to that new means of entertainment, television. Since the main actor there, William Conrad, was too corpulent to be a rough, tough western marshal he was replaced by Arness. Originally the series was a half hour but in its later years would be expanded to an hour. ‘Gunsmoke’ also was one of the first TV shows to migrate from black and white to color. The first 19 episodes of the third season from back in 1957 are now on DVD through the leading distributor for classic and current television, CBS Paramount. These are classic episodes in the original black and white, half hour format. This is a series that holes up after all these years. More importantly it is something that you can enjoy with the entire family and that too is exceedingly rare of late.

Back in the fifties the western was the most popular and successful genre around. It was literally everywhere. On Saturday afternoon we would go to the local movie house to watch our favorite cowboys. After school was out for the day there were always a western on to entertain us. Saturday evenings was the best of all; it was the time that ‘Gunsmoke’ came on. It was targeted more for the grown ups but us kids were able to enjoy it as well. All we knew was the show was about a tough but fair lawman in the old west and there were always a gunfight and a chase on horseback to keep us riveted to the screen. Many of us grew up watching this series. As we became adults it was still one and we could appreciate form a different vantage point. One of the great things about DVD of these early episodes is it affords us a change to revisit things we saw as kids with that adult appreciation. From this older perspective it is now possible to see how multilayered the plots were. There were no formulaic stories to be found here. Most of the episodes focused on a moral dilemma of some sort. Marshall Dillon was frequently out gunned and up against a killer with considerably more gun fighting skills than his adversary.

Dillon was the U.S. Federal Marshal for the town of Dodge City, Kansas. This was on the edge of territory that was between the civilized east and the untamed west. He was the law there and it was his job to keep the peace. He would always attempt to find a more peaceable solution but all too frequently it came down to slapping on his guns and facing the source of the trouble. When he needed backup or another form of assistance Dillon would turn to his friend Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver). He had a bum leg and therefore represented one of the first handicapped characters on TV. Chester was not Dillon’s official deputy but he was always ready to help out. Considering Dillon’s perchance for getting shot on a regular basis it was only natural for him to be close friends with the town’s doctor, Doc Adams (Milburn Stone). He would pull out the stray bullet and patch up our hero all while giving his advice the current situation. In order to keep the show from being a completely testosterone driving you need a feminine touch. This came in the form of the owner of the Long Branch Saloon, Miss Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake). She was close to Marshall Dillon but a romance was never explicitly shown.

Most of the usual plot lines are present in the episodes of this series. One that is extremely popular particularly for the western is revenge. In the old west it was not a dish best served cold; it was offered up with hot lead. Chester finds himself in a lot of trouble and is reluctant to talk to Dillon about it. Chester has to come clean when Asa Ledbetter (Thomas Coley) shoots him. Ledbetter is certain that Chester killed his brother and wants his revenge. Chester is obsessed with finding Ledbetter first and Dillon is caught in the middle. Some of the more mature themes used involved the past of the main characters. In one episode Miss Kitty invites Dillon to dinner in away from town. She comes under suspicion of trying to distract Dillon from hunting down a back robber. It does turn out that the robber was an old flame of Miss Kitty. Dillon was not above getting fooled by the bad guys. In one story he is approached by Budge Grilk (Tom Pittman) who wants the Marshall to arrest his Pa (Robert F. Simon) for murder. When Dillon gets out to the house he is held captive by his father and his Mother (Jeanette Nolan) so then would be free to rob the bank. That bank in Dodge had to be one of the most frequently robbed in history. Another popular plot device was to have Chester beaten to within an inch of his life. In one case this was done by a couple of rampaging cattle drivers and Dillon becomes obsessed with getting them. With many popular westerns one fact was frequently overlooked; many families went west to homestead. In this series Dillon had to take on families matters on a regular basis. One time a young couple gets sick and dies. They left behind an infant. Dillon places the child in the dare of an older woman until foster parents can be found. She thinks a young woman she knows would be perfect. The main problem is her husband is suspected of being a cattle rustler.

Like so many of the releases from CBS Paramount this DVD set is a time machine for a lot of us. It will bring you back to a simpler time when quality television was all around. This is a groundbreaking series that has such incredible heart that it can hold its ground against any show on TV. Let your kids see what you used to watch and enjoy it as a family.