Gunsmoke on Television

Gunsmoke debuted on CBS television on September 10th 1955 at 10pm on Saturday night.  It was not an immediate hit that season but came back the next season to finish tied for 7th place (I've Got a Secret).  The next season 1957-58 it was the #1 show in primetime with a 43.1 rating, well ahead of the Danny Thomas Show and leading several other westerns into the top ten prime time show list like #3 Tales of Wells Fargo, #4 Have Gun Will Travel, #6 The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp and at #8 The Restless Gun.  
This would be the first of 4 straight seasons that Gunsmoke was the #1 rated show on television.  A record that it held until All In the Family had 5 straight seasons at #1 (1971-1976).

What I am going to do to pay tribute to this feat by Gunsmoke I am going to post as many of the episodes from that first season it was #1 in the ratings (1957-58) as I can find.   First of all though I would like to show the episode from this week, April 26th of 1957, "Innocent Broad".

The Story of Gunsmoke

Thanks to Buck Benny and in celebration of its 60th anniversary, here in 6 parts is a retrospective of Gunsmoke the radio version. This was done in the early 70s and contains interviews with William Conrad (Matt Dillon), Parley Baer (Chester), John Meston and Norman McDonnell (the creators,writers and producers) and Georgia Ellis (Miss Kitty).

This is a great show with a lot of behind the scenes stories and even discusses the beginning of the television version.

Gunsmoke - Bad Seed

From Season 6 Episode 216  originally aired Feb 4th 1961

Gunsmoke on Radio - The First Episode

Thanks the wonderful work of Buck Benny and his OTR Podcast here is the first episode in the regularly scheduled Gunsmoke series.  The debut was April 26th 1952,  the title "Billy the Kid", written by Walter B Newman.