When the basic western drama “Gunsmoke” completed its 20-year run on CBS in 1975, Los Angeles Instances critic Cecil Smith made a daring prediction.
“I have the feeling that the first moon colony we establish will be watching ‘I Love Lucy,’” Smith wrote. “And probably ‘Gunsmoke.’”
We’re not fairly there on the colonization entrance, however Smith’s prognostication on viewing habits is true on observe.
“Gunsmoke,” the western drama starring James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon, has twice this yr ranked amongst Nielsen’s high 10 listing of most-streamed acquired collection alongside extra up to date favorites similar to “Family Guy,” “NCIS” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” This system scored 646 million minutes considered for the week of March 3-9 and 570 million for the week of April 28-Might 4.
“Gunsmoke,” which is owned by Paramount World, was not too long ago added to NBCUniversal‘s streaming platform Peacock. It has also been a staple of Paramount+. But it gets the bulk of its audience from Pluto TV, Paramount Global’s free advertising-supported streaming service.
The enduring success of the collection, set within the frontier city of Dodge Metropolis, Kansas, within the 1870s, demonstrates how each new evolution of video consumption can unlock the worth of beloved classic titles. Since wrapping manufacturing 50 years in the past, “Gunsmoke” has by no means gone away, discovering followers on cable (at the moment on TV Land and INSP), dwelling video codecs and retro broadcast TV channels similar to MeTV earlier than it was found by the streaming era.
“If there’s a great show, people will seek it out wherever it is,” mentioned Neal Sabin, vice chairman of Weigel Broadcasting, which has carried “Gunsmoke” on MeTV since 2006. The community’s daytime airing of the present commonly attracts greater than 600,000 viewers.
“Gunsmoke” began as a radio drama on CBS in 1952 with William Conrad voicing the lead function. The collection transitioned to tv in 1955 as a half-hour present with Arness taking up as Dillon on the urging of his pal John Wayne, who turned down the function.
“Gunsmoke” grew to become a right away hit, rating as tv’s most-watched collection in 4 of its first 5 seasons and increasing to an hour in 1961. It outlasted the wave of westerns that saturated community TV schedules in that period and was nonetheless touchdown in Nielsen’s high 10 prime-time reveals within the early Seventies. When “Gunsmoke” was left off the CBS schedule in 1967 — apparently as a consequence of rising manufacturing prices — the community’s founding proprietor, Invoice Paley, and his spouse, Babe, insisted that it return.
Dennis Weaver, left, and James Arness in “Gunsmoke.”
(CBS)
Earlier than “Gunsmoke,” most western TV reveals have been aimed toward child audiences. “Gunsmoke” was for grown-ups. It was violent and infrequently unflinching in depicting the harshness of life on the American frontier.
The writers and producers of “Gunsmoke” revered the present’s interval setting but additionally had a really feel for the instances they lived in. Episodes from the primary half of the Nineteen Sixties, which frequently featured a younger Burt Reynolds as a half-Comanche blacksmith in Dodge Metropolis, play like allegories about racism because the civil rights motion was simmering.
The present had exceptional consistency as Arness and Milburn Stone, who performed Doc, have been of their roles for the complete run. Amanda Blake, who performed saloon proprietor Kitty Russell, appeared in 19 seasons. (Followers nonetheless debate whether or not the Miss Kitty and Dillon characters have been an merchandise.)
Sabin believes “Gunsmoke” could also be seeing an uptick in viewing as audiences are inclined to look to familiarity and luxury throughout instances of uncertainty. “Gunsmoke” additionally offers a hero with a robust ethical compass.
“Matt Dillon represents a lot of what we don’t have right now,” Sabin mentioned.
Dan Cohen, chief content material licensing content material officer for Paramount World and president of Republic Footage, mentioned he isn’t stunned by the resilience of “Gunsmoke,” because the viewers for westerns is deeply loyal, even exterior the U.S.
Purchaser demand for “Gunsmoke” amongst worldwide broadcasters has at all times been robust. The collection at the moment airs in Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Israel.
Cohen mentioned the present has doubtless gotten a current increase from the huge reputation of “Yellowstone” and its steady of Taylor Sheridan-created spinoffs, which Paramount World additionally sells world wide.
“There is a halo effect that westerns are seeing internationally,” Cohen mentioned. “When we license ‘Yellowstone,’ it leads to the conversation of, ‘Do you have anything else kind of like it?’ ‘Gunsmoke’ is our answer.”
