Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge

Matt Roush says...

Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness), Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake) and their Dodge City neighbors epitomized the TV Western for 20 years (1955-1975), encompassing the height and the waning days of what was once TV’s most popular genre. To mark the occasion of Gunsmoke‘s 70^th anniversary, nostalgia network MeTV uses the Labor Day weekend to jumpstart a monthlong tribute through September, starting with the 1987 reunion movie Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (at 11 am/10c), followed by a 1973 episode from the show’s next-to-last season in which an amnesiac Dillon falls for a widow (played by The Waltons‘ Michael Learned). On weekdays starting Monday for four weeks, the channel presents theme weeks with back-to-back episodes at 1 pm/12c, beginning with “a week of firsts.” On successive Saturdays at 11 am/10c, the channel airs the Gunsmoke TV movies that followed the show’s cancellation, with a bonus fan-favorite episode.

Holiday weekends are ripe for TV remembrances, and this Labor Day is no exception. MeTV Toons celebrates the 65^th birthday of an animated perennial with The Flintstones: 65 Years & Still Rock’n! (Sunday, starting at 6 am/5c), an all-day marathon of the prehistoric classic that includes the full-length features The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (10 am/9c) and The Man Called Flintstone (8/7c). For those with more contemporary tastes, Dabl Network salutes the 25^th anniversary of the sitcom Girlfriends (2000-2008), starring Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks, Jill Marie Jones and Persia White, with a 24-hour marathon starting Sunday at 6 am/5c and continuing until 6 am/5c on Monday.

What's Worth Watching (Aug 30)