Gunsmoke is an American Western television series developed by Charles Marquis Warren and based on the radio program of the same name.[1] The series ran for 20 seasons, making it the longest-running Western in television history.[2][3]
The first episode of season 8 aired in the United States on September 15, 1962, and the final episode aired on June 1, 1963. All episodes were broadcast in the U.S. by CBS.[4]
Season 8 of Gunsmoke was the second season of one hour episodes filmed in black-and-white. Seasons 1-6 were half-hour episodes, and color episodes were not filmed until season 12.
Synopsis
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), saloon girl and later owner of the Long Branch Saloon; and Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver), Dillon's assistant.[5] In season eight, a fifth regular character was added to the cast: blacksmith Quint Asper (Burt Reynolds), who remained until the end of season 10.[6]
Cast and characters
Main
- James Arness as Matt Dillon
- Dennis Weaver as Chester
- Milburn Stone as Doc
- Amanda Blake as Kitty
- Burt Reynolds as Quint Asper[7]
Production
Season 8 consisted of 38 one-hour black-and-white episodes produced by Norman Macdonnell and Frank Paris as associate producer.
Season 8 included the first of two episodes directed by William Conrad, who played the role of Matt Dillon on the radio version of Gunsmoke from 1952–1961. In this season, he directed episode 31, "Panacea Sykes".
Casting
Episode 13, "Us Haggens", is the first episode to feature Ken Curtis as Festus, who would become a regular character in later seasons.
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 268 | 1 | "The Search" | Harry Harris | Kathleen Hite | September 15, 1962 | |
| Matt encounters numerous hurdles when he crosses the prairie unarmed and without a mount in an attempt to save a paralyzed young stable hand who was thrown from his horse. | ||||||
| 269 | 2 | "Call Me Dodie" | Harry Harris | Kathleen Hite | September 22, 1962 | |
| A naive and wide-eyed young woman escapes the cruel conditions at an orphanage and receives life lessons in Dodge. | ||||||
| 270 | 3 | "Quint Asper Comes Home" | Andrew V. McLaglen | John Meston | September 29, 1962 | |
| A half-Indian named Quint Asper vows revenge on all white men when a pair of drifters kill his father and threaten his mother. | ||||||
| 271 | 4 | "Root Down" | Sobey Martin | Kathleen Hite | October 6, 1962 | |
| An attractive but manipulative young lady lies to her shiftless father and ruffian brother in a scheme to lure Chester into marriage. | ||||||
| 272 | 5 | "Jenny" | Andrew V. McLaglen | John Meston | October 13, 1962 | |
| Matt has his hands full when a bank robber's girlfriend makes unwanted romantic overtures towards him. | ||||||
| 273 | 6 | "Collie's Free" | Harry Harris | Kathleen Hite | October 20, 1962 | |
| A man released from prison has trouble adjusting to a normal life, blaming Matt and the rancher he shot for eight years lost. | ||||||
| 274 | 7 | "The Ditch" | Harry Harris | Les Crutchfield | October 27, 1962 | |
| Matt tries to prevent a range war when a female rancher following her father's dreams digs a trench to divert a creek which would cut off the water supply of all neighboring homesteads. | ||||||
| 275 | 8 | "The Trappers" | Andrew V. McLaglen | John Dunkel | November 3, 1962 | |
| The friendship between two trappers is jeopardized when one, who admits he's a coward, abandons the other to die after being stabbed by an Indian during a struggle. | ||||||
| 276 | 9 | "Phoebe Strunk" | Andrew V. McLaglen | John Meston | November 10, 1962 | |
| A merciless mother and her four demented sons' prey upon frontier families on their travels west. | ||||||
| 277 | 10 | "The Hunger" | Harry Harris | Jack Curtis | November 17, 1962 | |
| An abusive father, who resents his daughter's hunger for knowledge, beats and locks her in the cellar, and when Matt and Doc rescue her, she falls in love with her knight in shining armor. | ||||||
| 278 | 11 | "Abe Blocker" | Andrew V. McLaglen | John Meston | November 24, 1962 | |
| Matt's friend, an old mountain man suffers a psychotic break and goes on a murder spree when civilization closes in on him. | ||||||
| 279 | 12 | "The Way It Is" | Harry Harris | Kathleen Hite | December 1, 1962 | |
| Kitty is at wit's end when Matt once more breaks a date with her, and in her haste to fill the void, finds a man who's more responsive to her needs. | ||||||
| 280 | 13 | "Us Haggens" | Andrew V. McLaglen | Les Crutchfield | December 8, 1962 | |
| Matt hunts down a vicious killer and is assisted by an unlikely source, the outlaw's nephew, who has his own score to settle with his uncle. | ||||||
| 281 | 14 | "Uncle Sunday" | Joseph Sargent | John Meston | December 15, 1962 | |
| Chester's crooked uncle comes to town with a pretty young lady on his arm with plans to rob the bank, but when a third offender enters the picture, all plans go sideways. | ||||||
| 282 | 15 | "False Front" | Andrew V. McLaglen | Story by : Hal Moffett Screenplay by : John Meston | December 22, 1962 | |
| A journalist bets a gambler that he can take a greenhorn that's never handled a gun out to Dodge, and with a little rumor mongering, have him pass as a gunslinger and not get killed in two weeks, but the gambler hedges his bet to influence the outcome. | ||||||
| 283 | 16 | "Old Comrade" | Harry Harris | John Dunkel | December 29, 1962 | |
| An old ailing military General asks his best friend to locate his long-lost son, and what he finds is a likeable but illiterate and uncouth simpleton. | ||||||
| 284 | 17 | "Louie Pheeters" | Harry Harris | John Meston | January 5, 1963 | |
| Louie is a witness to murder but believes it's only a dream, until he recognizes the culprit in the Long Branch and mindlessly informs him on what he saw. | ||||||
| 285 | 18 | "The Renegades" | Andrew V. McLaglen | John Meston | January 12, 1963 | |
| Quint saves an Army officer's daughter from white renegades who're running rampant near Dodge. | ||||||
| 286 | 19 | "Cotter's Girl" | Harry Harris | Kathleen Hite | January 19, 1963 | |
| A dying drunk tasks Matt with finding his daughter, a free and carefree spirit who makes the Marshal as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. | ||||||
| 287 | 20 | "The Bad One" | Charles Martin | Gwen Bagni | January 26, 1963 | |
| A farmer's daughter raised in a convent refuses to identify a stagecoach robber, seeing only good in the outlaw, a decision she may soon regret. | ||||||
| 288 | 21 | "The Cousin" | Harry Harris | Story by : Marian Clark Screenplay by : Kathleen Hite | February 2, 1963 | |
| A just released convict, who as a boy hated Matt while growing up together on a Texas ranch, has an urgent need to size him up, but becomes torn between loyalty for the Marshal and his old gang of thieves. | ||||||
| 289 | 22 | "Shona" | Ted Post | John Meston | February 9, 1963 | |
| An Indian squaw seeking medical attention is rebuffed by Dodge merchants and when Kitty steps in to help, three troublemakers incite an unruly mob to rid her from town, but one of the agitators initiates his own twisted plan. | ||||||
| 290 | 23 | "Ash" | Harry Harris | John Meston | February 16, 1963 | |
| An unlikely friendship develops between two hotheaded men who end-up becoming business partners, but when one suffers a blow to the head, his personality reverts back to the mean and loathsome buffalo hunter he once was. | ||||||
| 291 | 24 | "Blind Man's Bluff" | Ted Post | John Meston | February 23, 1963 | |
| Matt tracks a suspected murderer to Elkader, where he's lured into an alley and waylaid by three thugs, suffering a concussion and nearly blind he's rescued by the same man that he was chasing. | ||||||
| 292 | 25 | "Quint's Indian" | Fred Jackman, Jr. | Story by : Marian Clark Screenplay by : John Meston | March 2, 1963 | |
| The town turns on Quint, who's accused of horse theft, a story perpetuated by two scheming saddle tramps. | ||||||
| 293 | 26 | "Anybody Can Kill a Marshal" | Harry Harris | Kathleen Hite | March 9, 1963 | |
| A pair of outlaws with plans to rob the bank, need the Marshal out of the way and hire a somewhat stoic drifter to kill Matt. | ||||||
| 294 | 27 | "Two of a Kind" | Andrew V. McLaglen | Merwin Gerard | March 16, 1963 | |
| Two Irishmen, who absolutely hate each other are involved in a dangerous feud, and when a villainous land-grabber maneuvers to acquire their properties, they must somehow join forces. | ||||||
| 295 | 28 | "I Call Him Wonder" | Harry Harris | Kathleen Hite | March 23, 1963 | |
| An orphaned Indian boy latches onto an unemployed cattle drover and both suffer bigotry when they come to Dodge. | ||||||
| 296 | 29 | "With a Smile" | Andrew V. McLaglen | Story by : Bud Furillo & George Main Screenplay by : John Meston | March 30, 1963 | |
| A powerful rancher exhausts every avenue to stop the hanging of his cowardly son, and when the prospects look bleak, concocts a plan to prove his bravery. | ||||||
| 297 | 30 | "The Far Places" | Harry Harris | John Dunkel | April 6, 1963 | |
| A demanding mother pressures her son to live out her dreams by leaving the harsh life of farming behind and explore the far places. | ||||||
| 298 | 31 | "Panacea Sykes" | William Conrad | Kathleen Hite | April 13, 1963 | |
| Difficult days lay ahead for Kitty when a conniving woman who had a hand in raising her, comes to Dodge for a visit. | ||||||
| 299 | 32 | "Tell Chester" | Joseph Sargent | Frank Paris | April 20, 1963 | |
| Chester promises to keep a bigamist's secret, but the man doesn't believe him and makes plans to ensure his story stays hidden. | ||||||
| 300 | 33 | "Quint-Cident" | Andrew V. McLaglen | Kathleen Hite | April 27, 1963 | |
| A recently widowed woman becomes infatuated with Quint and when he spurns her advances, she accuses him of a heinous crime. | ||||||
| 301 | 34 | "Old York" | Harry Harris | John Meston | May 4, 1963 | |
| Matt crosses paths with an old friend who saved his life years ago and now believes he can take advantage of their friendship. | ||||||
| 302 | 35 | "Daddy Went Away" | Joseph Sargent | Story by : John Rosser Screenplay by : Kathleen Hite | May 11, 1963 | |
| Chester helps a widow and her daughter establish a dressmaking business in Dodge and when he begins to have feelings for her, he discovers that her husband is very much alive. | ||||||
| 303 | 36 | "The Odyssey of Jubal Tanner" | Andrew V. McLaglen | Paul Savage | May 18, 1963 | |
| The lives of a Civil War veteran and a saloon girl converge when both cross paths with the same brutish buffalo hunter. | ||||||
| 304 | 37 | "Jeb" | Harry Harris | Paul Savage | May 25, 1963 | |
| A wandering farm boy finds an abandoned horse and sells it to his newfound friend, events that lead to deadly consequences. | ||||||
| 305 | 38 | "The Quest for Asa Janin" | Andrew V. McLaglen | Paul Savage | June 1, 1963 | |
| Matt must act fast when he begins a long trek to capture a woman killer, before his friend whose been convicted of the crime, is hanged. | ||||||
Release
Broadcast
Season eight aired Saturdays at 10:00-11:00 pm (EST) on CBS.[4]
Home media
The eighth season was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment in a two volumes set on May 7, 2013.
Reception
Gunsmoke season 8 dropped to number 10 in the Nielsen ratings[8]
Footnotes
- ^ Barbaras 1990, p. 74–75.
- ^ Brooks & Marsh 2007, p. 570–571.
- ^ McNeil 1996, p. 351–352.
- ^ a b Brooks & Marsh 2007, p. 570.
- ^ Barbaras 1990, p. 87–102.
- ^ Barbaras 1990, p. 114–116.
- ^ Costello 2006, p. 353–370.
- ^ "1962-1963 TV Ratings". classictvguide.com.
References
- Barbaras, SuzAnne & Gabor (1990). Gunsmoke: A Complete History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-89950-418-3.
- Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.
- Costello, Ben (2006). Gunsmoke: An American Institution. Chandler, Arizona: Five Star Publications, Inc. ISBN 978-1-58985-014-9.
- McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.