7 Smoking Facts About the TV Western ‘Gunsmoke’

When Gunsmoke came to an end half a century ago, on March 31, 1975, you can bet fans didn’t want to “get out of Dodge.” For more than two decades, through radio and TV broadcasts, they had followed the exploits of Marshal Matt Dillon as he kept law and order in 1890s-era Dodge City, Kansas.

And today, Gunsmoke’s legacy stands even taller than star James Arness’s 6-foot-7 stature. After airing 20 seasons on the small screen, the TV western ranked as the the United States’ longest-running primetime live-action series until Law & Order tied its record in 2010 and Law & Order: SVU surpassed the milestone nine years later.