GUNSMOKE 1955-1975 / Festus or Chester???

[gyusher]

Roy and Gene being the only ones otherwise by only a slim margin I could never get into the singing cowboy shows from that period. . .

[ManFromPorlock]

Originally Posted by gyusher

William Conrad.. .Now that would be funny on a horse. . .

You laugh... but I once watched a PBS special on elephants, flipped the channel and there was William Conrad (in "Cannon," I think) climbing butt first out of the back of a van, wearing grey trousers. Baggy gray trousers. Beer all over the screen, of course.

[gyusher]

Originally Posted by ManFromPorlock

You laugh... but I once watched a PBS special on elephants, flipped the channel and there was William Conrad (in "Cannon," I think) climbing butt first out of the back of a van, wearing grey trousers. Baggy gray trousers. Beer all over the screen, of course.

I wonder what ever happened to him?? He had one hell of a voice. . .

[tentoze]

Originally Posted by gyusher

I wonder what ever happened to him?? He had one hell of a voice. . .

Pining for the fjords as of 2/11/94.

[gyusher]

ever so often I still hear that voice. . .

Kinda like a mouthful of mashed potatoes but understandable. . .kinda normal sounding, a little garbled but powerful and easy to understand. . . Kinda like home. . .

Originally Posted by ManFromPorlock

Ah, you kids! Anyone else here remember 'Gunsmoke' on radio?

Yes ! I currently am listening to Gunsmoke radio shows on my MP3 Player,
twice daily. I have all the episodes that are known.
I have been hooked on these shows since I was a kid.
I have listened to all of the Have Gun Will Travel radio shows.

I vote for Festus on the television show, over Chester.
The radio show is far better quality than the television show.
l watch the television show every night and twice on Sunday ! (and Saturday)

Why ? You say ? Try comparing the crap you see on television these days to
the class and quality of the acting and story lines you see on Gunsmoke and
Have Gun Will Travel !! I have listened to all the HGWT radio shows, and have
seen recently, most of the Have Gun Will Travel TV shows.

The Gunsmoke radio show is better than the TV show.
The Have Gun Will Travel TV show is better than the radio show, but not
by much !!
There never have been any better quality media entertainment in all of
the history of American Broadcast Media, than these two programs.
The current level of morality and talent portrayed on contemporary television
programming is not worth wasting the time on, compared to re-runs of
classic quality entertainment and the many other hobbies I have.

dandds4

[Dan Starnes]

I just listened to an episode of Gunsmoke on sirius. Catch it whenever I can. Still watch the tv series on weekends on tv land. Dennis Weaver died of cancer in 2006. Ken Curtis was a big band singer and one very talented star. I liked both as they had individual points that added to the show. But I love how Doc and Festus used to carry on. Watched them new and still love that series.
Dan

[ferninando]

Ken Curtis was a member for a short time of The Sons of the Pioneers cowboy singing group, about 1950-53.

[gyusher]

It looks like to me that TV Land is showing new shows that are old shows but they are new shows because they showed them shows long ago whenst we were youngins and them old shows were new shows donch ya see. . .

. . .

Anyways you can git yur fillupins and satisfry questional nature wether Miss Kitty and old Doc actually had Mathew's best innerst at heart donch ya see. . .

Old shows is new shows but new shows can't be old shows and old shows can't be new shows cuz old is old and new is new. If new was old and old was new we would no more know how to button our britches or change old Ruth's watchfullness nature.

The fact is that different shows are starting to air again. The ones they had been a playing were getting old. . .

[danj]

"Gunsmoke" was suffering low ratings in the mid 60s and was cancelled after the 1966 season. "Gilligan's Island" was a highly rated show and was slated to take over part of Gunsmoke's airtime. "Gunsmoke" was officially cancelled and the cast/crew were all given their notices.

Seems that William S. Paley, president of CBS, hated "Gilligan's Island", despite its good ratings. He also had a wife whose favorite program was "Gunsmoke." Mr. Paley cancelled the cancellation and "Gilligan's Island", which now had no place on the schedule, got cancelled instead. This was after the series had already been renewed AND new episodes were beginning to be produced.

"Gunsmoke" lasted another 8 seasons. I think the main reason it finally went away was because James Arness finally decided he'd had enough. That, and the death of Milburn Stone and the defection of Amanda Blake. Well, that PLUS the general death of the western in the mid-70s. Remember that "Bonanza" (NBC) had already gone away and it had usually had better ratings than "Gunsmoke."

[Celt]

Festus or Chester...hmm...I can't decide... How about Uncle Fester instead?

[danj]

Westerns were often some of the best television available during those days. Most comedies (there were exceptions) were pretty silly and most dramas were formula-bound (again, there were exceptions). Writers and producers found it easier to get a good adult script into a western, which despite its genre restrictions, was open to more experimentation. Hence shows like "Gunsmoke" and "Wagon Train" with their (usually) good scripts and continuing characters.

IMHO, "Have Gun, Will Travel" and "Maverick" were two of the finest shows ever on television. Richard Boone was a great actor and Paladin, although incredibly facile with his guns, often solved problems without the use of violence. "Maverick" was usually a comic western and its main strengths were the cleverness of the scripts and the utter charm of its three principles, especially the great James Garner.

"Gunsmoke", "Bonanza", and "Wagon Train" are somewhat lower on the quality scale but they did sometimes rise above the norm with an exceptional storyline or episode. They all had very strong casts.

Not mentioned but occasionally outstanding was the long-running "The Virginian." This show was 90 minutes every week and was, according to the cast and writers, like doing a feature film in a week.

I find shows like "The Rebel" and "The Rifleman" rather uneven. The scripts were often juvenile but the casts were hearty and the shows always highly entertaining.

Singing cowboys? Loved 'em when I was a kid - especially Gene Autry.

[Tom Brennan]

Ken Curtis was in some good pictures including The Searchers and Rio Grande. I was also in some bad pictures---The Waynamo.

He was John Ford's son-in-law.

I saw The Searchers when it came out, I was seven years old, remember it like it was yesterday. Never watched Gene Autry or Roy Rogers again.

Gene Autry claimed kinship to Micajah Autry, a Tennessean and friend of Crockett who was killed at the Alamo.

[gyusher]

I've been looking for Wagon Train. . . I would love to see a good modern done (ala-Deadwood) WT movie or series. One that showed the reality of thousands of settlers moving across country not a WT movie with only 4 or 5 wagons. . . How about 4 or 5 thousand wagons or one 20 miles long.

I think it would run crazy. . .

[Toasted Almond]

And a couple days ago I found the Lorne Greene album with Ringo on it. Not in bad shape.