Is Gunsmoke the greatest TV show of all time?

We watch INSP almost exclusively in our house. Unless we are watching sports.

I am constantly blown away by the quality of Gunsmoke. It had movie quality (for the time) in every episode. The cinematography, direction, writing, storylines, and acting were all top shelf. Festus is one of the greatest TV show characters of all time!

My only complaint? The reuse of actors. Denver Pyle (Uncle Jessie from The Dukes Of Hazzard) was a guest star in about 30 episodes over the show's run, and was a different character every time! Other than that, I can't find much to nitpick with the show. It is still awesome to watch all these decade later.

TheReal_LWS wrote:We watch INSP almost exclusively in our house. Unless we are watching sports.

I am constantly blown away by the quality of Gunsmoke. It had movie quality (for the time) in every episode. The cinematography, direction, writing, storylines, and acting were all top shelf. Festus is one of the greatest TV show characters of all time!

My only complaint? The reuse of actors. Denver Pyle (Uncle Jessie from The Dukes Of Hazzard) was a guest star in about 30 episodes over the show's run, and was a different character every time! Other than that, I can't find much to nitpick with the show. It is still awesome to watch all these decade later.

14 episodes over 17 years of 635 episodes made.

Other well known character actors were in more.
Morgan Woodward 19
Victor French 18
Jack Elam 15
Anthony Caruso 14

Those are the best known of the actors in the teens.

Gunsmoke was really 2 distinct shows - the 300 or so early B&W episodes with Chester.
For someone that has only watched to color episodes it's somewhat of a jolt to see how
dark many of these episodes were.

The last 300 or so shows with Quint, Thad and the slow transition of Festus from the roguish bit player to one of the leads. The more Festus you get the more light and
comical the show was.

My daughter won't even watch the Festus episodes while I prefer them.

But the short answer to your question is no. It's not the greatest TV show.
For week to week greatness that honor goes to Seinfeld, followed by Frasier,
Taxi and Fernwood/America2Night.

No. Survivor is much better.

LooseGoose wrote:

TheReal_LWS wrote:We watch INSP almost exclusively in our house. Unless we are watching sports.

I am constantly blown away by the quality of Gunsmoke. It had movie quality (for the time) in every episode. The cinematography, direction, writing, storylines, and acting were all top shelf. Festus is one of the greatest TV show characters of all time!

My only complaint? The reuse of actors. Denver Pyle (Uncle Jessie from The Dukes Of Hazzard) was a guest star in about 30 episodes over the show's run, and was a different character every time! Other than that, I can't find much to nitpick with the show. It is still awesome to watch all these decade later.

14 episodes over 17 years of 635 episodes made.

Other well known character actors were in more.
Morgan Woodward 19
Victor French 18
Jack Elam 15
Anthony Caruso 14

Those are the best known of the actors in the teens.

Gunsmoke was really 2 distinct shows - the 300 or so early B&W episodes with Chester.
For someone that has only watched to color episodes it's somewhat of a jolt to see how
dark many of these episodes were.

The last 300 or so shows with Quint, Thad and the slow transition of Festus from the roguish bit player to one of the leads. The more Festus you get the more light and
comical the show was.

My daughter won't even watch the Festus episodes while I prefer them.

But the short answer to your question is no. It's not the greatest TV show.
For week to week greatness that honor goes to Seinfeld, followed by Frasier,
Taxi and Fernwood/America2Night.

Any mention of best ever that does not include All in the Family is fraudulent.

I haven't watched enough Gun Smoke to comment. I did re-watch the entire Cheers series on Netflix a few years back. I thought it was one of the best series of all time but I changed my opinion after this recent watch. The early material with Coach and Diane held up well but the later episodes were too whacky.

duffy munn wrote:

LooseGoose wrote:

14 episodes over 17 years of 635 episodes made.

Other well known character actors were in more.
Morgan Woodward 19
Victor French 18
Jack Elam 15
Anthony Caruso 14

Those are the best known of the actors in the teens.

Gunsmoke was really 2 distinct shows - the 300 or so early B&W episodes with Chester.
For someone that has only watched to color episodes it's somewhat of a jolt to see how
dark many of these episodes were.

The last 300 or so shows with Quint, Thad and the slow transition of Festus from the roguish bit player to one of the leads. The more Festus you get the more light and
comical the show was.

My daughter won't even watch the Festus episodes while I prefer them.

But the short answer to your question is no. It's not the greatest TV show.
For week to week greatness that honor goes to Seinfeld, followed by Frasier,
Taxi and Fernwood/America2Night.

Any mention of best ever that does not include All in the Family is fraudulent.

I actually thought about adding it. I love the first 3-4 years, they tackled issues head on that no TV series today would touch. But the last 4-5 years were much spottier.

Just found this and didn't know it existed on Youtube.

The very 1st episode of Fernwood2Night.

Most of the greatest classic TV series owe their success to the perfect interactions of an ensemble cast and in that respect Gunsmoke is the best ever. Matt, Chester, Doc, and Kitty were perfect. However, once Dennis Weaver left and later when the show abandoned the black and white format, it became just another TV show only as good as the current week's script.

Seinfeld may be the most overrated tripe in the history of television.

AitF is awesome. I would put it squarely 2nd on my list.

Also, all sitcoms that came after it are merely derivative. It was the trendsetter in the genre.

That doesn't take anything away from other great sitcoms, just that they all got their cues from the Bunkers.

I'm surprised that you love Archie Bunker.

Not really.

Death Roe wrote:I'm surprised that you love Archie Bunker.

Not really.

Hmmm. Not sure how you jumped from me liking AitF to me loving Archie Bunker. But then, jumping to conclusions is what DR does!

TheReal_LWS wrote:

Death Roe wrote:I'm surprised that you love Archie Bunker.

Not really.

Hmmm. Not sure how you jumped from me liking AitF to me loving Archie Bunker. But then, jumping to conclusions is what DR does!

I'm not as saintly as someone who said a guy should eat a sock soaked in cyanide...

Death Roe wrote:

TheReal_LWS wrote:

Hmmm. Not sure how you jumped from me liking AitF to me loving Archie Bunker. But then, jumping to conclusions is what DR does!

I'm not as saintly as someone who said a guy should eat a sock soaked in cyanide...

yeah....I was completely serious about that.............

TheReal_LWS wrote:

Death Roe wrote:I'm surprised that you love Archie Bunker.

Not really.

Hmmm. Not sure how you jumped from me liking AitF to me loving Archie Bunker. But then, jumping to conclusions is what DR does!

I doubt he's ever seen an episode.

Death Roe wrote:I'm surprised that you love Archie Bunker.

Not really.

In the words of the great Archie Bunker: " let those who are without sin, be the rolling stone."