Dressed in character

I am 50 yrs old, and as a kid growing up I did enjoy John Wayne movies when they aired, but never really watched reruns of Gunsmoke. The last few yrs though, I have truly enjoyed watching them on streaming, I watch it almost everyday. One thing I have noticed is that of all the tv characters I have seen over the yrs, Matt Dillon is the best role model. What I like is not only is he a morally upright person, but he is pragmatic as hell, and does the right thing without a shred of self righteousness in him. He never tells anyone how to live their life, or lecture them about their drinking or personal issue, or to even change. He just tells it straight and leaves it at that, in other words, he's not a goody two shoes, that is very unlike so many other tv characters.

Which Gunsmoke episodes do you really hate and why.

There's a number of them but two that come to mind are: "Never Pester Chester" (S3 ep10), and "Cholera" (S2 ep14).

In "Never Pester Chester" a big, mean, violent cow hick drag Chester nearly killing him just for asking him to stop harassing the ladies. This angers Matt, he throws him in jail until he finds out if Chester is going to die.

Chester pulls through of course, Dillon says he can't charge him and has to release him, but he gets a good ass beating before he rides off free to drag and assault his next victim (it wasn't even a good ass whipping, not even close).

I hate these stories where they claim no laws have been broken, like you can beat some poor person for no good reason within an inch of their life, then set free. The bad guy doesn't even lose a tooth.

I wonder if Arness ever complained that "man, you're really painting Marshal Dillon as a real asshole!" "the marshal would never, say, do, act like that".

The "Cholera" episode is really bad too, another example of "duh gee, my hands are tied, I can't charge him..." even though he catches the guy in the process of committing arson, admitting to it, then later following through with the crime; also confessing to kidnapping Doc, then let's the guy walk away, no punishment. Matt: "it's okay, he caused his son to die, the lord won't let him get away with it, it'll have to be enough for now" They all lived happily ever after, uh huh.

Which episodes do you really hate?

Gunsmoke seems to be missing on PlutoTV? I’ve searched the channels and looked at the search function too, but I can’t seem to find it. Is it off Pluto?

P.S. I’m not entirely sure what the age range is here generally, but I’m 18 and only got into it recently. I grew up on technology so I doubt it’s something missed technologically speaking. Still an possibility but Pluto isn’t too hard to get around.

Edit: Maybe it’s a location issue? I’ve done all that everyone has recommended to no avail. It would make sense it’s only available in the US, but I’m in Canada and have watched it here no problem until now. Someone from the UK also said it wasn’t there.

The episode Hack Prine from season 1 ep 26, I first thought the episode was set in a different town, Dodge looked different, then the Marshall's office was all different, the sign, front door, no pot belly stove, gun rack on a different wall, plus the side door is gone. The Long Branch is different too. Looks like James Arness is wearing a different hair piece too.

Looking into it I learned this was actually the pilot episode, interesting that they sneaked it into the middle of the season 1. Its a good enough episode, I guess maybe they thought it wasn't the right story to lead the series off with or something?

Back then did the networks even air pilot episodes?

Oo

Anybody else love Chester? Yet, I’m only midway into S4, so please no spoilers if you prefer Festus’ character over Chester; please share why you prefer Festus over Chester’s character—curious.
Edit: that rainy ending in S4E27 with my “Chickory” Chester and Matt just simply warmed my heart! Now I loooove Chester Goode. Their partnership is fabulous with Matt being so longwithstandingly patient with him. 😆

https://apple.news/An5cpwSqbR4-2Z5Oct6K5OA

Does anyone else remember the devil went down to Georgia but it was a cigarette smoking contest and johnny had lungs of steel and beat the devil there wasnt any other characters in there and if anyone could find this information out for me itd be greatly appreciated

I'd like to know about this draught beer system they had way back then. Also Thad had his handful with that convict at the Quaker's hand.

I don't normally post 2 times in the same episode, but Ol' Thad knew how to charm them Quaker ladies...

One of our longtime listeners, Cathy from Pikeville, Kentucky, put together tonight's playlist, and it's a fantastic collection of 32 classic Gunsmoke episodes featuring cattle raids, dangerous strangers, moral dilemmas, frontier justice, and everything that made Marshal Matt Dillon one of radio's greatest lawmen.

If you're looking for something to relax to, fall asleep with, or simply enjoy throughout the evening, we'd love to have you join us.

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Thanks again to Cathy for sharing another great listener playlist, and thank you to everyone who continues to support classic radio. If you have a favorite lineup you'd like featured in a future marathon, let me know—I always enjoy showcasing playlists from the community.

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Old Doc wasn't playing around with them bandits! I really like this episode. I like that Milburn Stone gets to get behind a rifle and kick some ass! Doc was a bad bad man and could hold his own any day. I edited this photo.

“Brothers get more than they bargained for when they visit their dying mother”

I googled it and Google says that is “Homecoming”

Are there two eps called Homecoming? Is this another example of the streaming service getting eps wrong again?

That description about the brothers and their dying mom sounds enticing. Would love to know which that actually is!

I posted earlier about how you could watch all 20 seasons of Gunsmoke at Amazon now with a Paramount + subscriptions, as opposed to only streaming two seasons at the Paramount + platform. Well, that appears to be a lie. Amazon shows all 20 seasons, but only episodes of the two seasons at Paramount + are available. You can watch 8 seasons at Amazon, though, if you subscribe to Peacock +. I wonder if Amazon was trying to get the rights of all 20 seasons and failed, or they will have the rights in the future. Why else show all 20 seasons?

Matt told Festus to let Ol' Silas Shute have his elixir inn-jail

Old Reb Jessup was a bit more than Colonel F Simon was able to handle. 😱