I was wondering why TVland does not air the Gunsmoke early episodes or at least the early 1 hour black and white episodes which i believe ran from 1961-1966? I found that those episodes air on encore western channel for those gifted with digital tv which i am not. I was wondering if TVland had any plans on airing those episodes in the near future?

I'm pretty sure it has to do with the rights. I think TV Land only has the rights to the episodes from the late 60s to the last season.

Gunsmoke ran for 20 seasons and has 635 eipsodes, and these are syndicated in 3 packages-- the b&w 30's, the b&w 60's and and the color (all 60's). TV Land only owns the rights to the color eps (last 9 seasons). The Western Channel has the rights to the b&w 60s, and I assume they are still shown on that network (which I do not receive). The b&w 30's (1st 5 seasons) are held by a number of local ind. channels.

perhaps when gunsmoke celebrates it's 50th anniversary next year we will see some of those episodes on tvland.

Hi Mike...I have most of the Marshall Dillion and early black and white 1-hour Gunsmokes.....For sale...You can email me if still interested at: brigdon@mail.ev1.net

I remember TV Land used to air the early 1/2 hr. episodes of Gunsmoke, which were called "Marshall Dillion," a couple of years ago. Hopefully, they will show those, along with the hour black & white ones with Burt Reynolds, sometime in the near future.

perhaps when gunsmoke celebrates it's 50th anniversary next year we will see some of those episodes on tvland.

that would be real neat. I have seen almost every one tv land airs

The Halmark channel hadthe half hour versions on a few years ago on weekends but it didn't last very long.

I remember a few years ago TV Land did a "best of" marathon that started with the first episode and showed their pick of favorites throughout the 20 year run. There were b&w half hour and hour episodes included in that.

Tomorrow is my Birthday and I am geting volume 2 of Gunsmoke on dvd.My Birthday is on October 18th.

Tomorrow is my Birthday and I am geting volume 2 of Gunsmoke on dvd.My Birthday is on October 18th.

Volume 3 comes out in November too so you won't have to wait long

I remember, back in the late 80s, THE FAMILY CHANNEL (now THE ABC FAMILY CHANNEL) used to show the hour long black-and-white episodes-including the ones with a young Burt Reynolds.

1955-'61 episodes [half-hour/black and white] {aka "MARSHAL DILLON"}- N/A
1961-'66 episodes [hour/black and white]- Encore Western
1966-'75 episodes [hour/color] TV Land


:tv:

I'm currently watching the half-hour ones on DVD (curtosy of NETFLIX)

Greetings, Gringos! My wife and I are retired Americans living in Mexico.

I only discovered Gunsmoke several months ago, and I love it. I watch it a few times a week on Youtube. It's easy to see why the show lasted twenty years.

I really discovered Gunsmoke in syndication, later on cable. I have the
Directors Collection on DVD and enjoy it very much. It was a great show.
Growing up in the late fifties, I saw LOTS of westerns on television (but only
those on NBC and ABC, because we couldn't get good CBS reception on our
antenna). It's hard to believe that today there isn't ONE western on broadcast television! That's one genre that I wish they would bring back. I
also miss the variety shows. But it seems that today all the networks are
interested (for the most part) are reality shows.

find and listen to some of the radio episodes online, they're just as good! (even though all the actors are different)

TVSarCollector, my wife and I lived in South Carolina for twenty years. Where are you at?

I love the old half-hour shows -- Dennis Weaver is great as Chester and the scripts are fine.

I really discovered Gunsmoke in syndication, later on cable. I have the
Directors Collection on DVD and enjoy it very much. It was a great show.
Growing up in the late fifties, I saw LOTS of westerns on television (but only
those on NBC and ABC, because we couldn't get good CBS reception on our
antenna). It's hard to believe that today there isn't ONE western on broadcast television! That's one genre that I wish they would bring back. I
also miss the variety shows. But it seems that today all the networks are
interested (for the most part) are reality shows.
yes, I also miss the westerns and variety shows, but mostly the westerns!

They attempted to revive the genere in the late 80s/early 90s, but it wasn't the same.

I just found the half hour shows on Encore. The episodes are nicely written. Interesting to see stars before their big break. Saw Frank Dekova who later would play an indian on F Troop on an late 1958 or episode. Fun show.

they're also on Comcast ON DEMAND

I was watching the black and white episodes from episode 1 to end of season 6 that were on METV up to a month ago. . Then found the Black and white hour seasons of 7 8,9 on INSP. METv is showing color seasons of later seasons. My DVRs is going non stop for INSP seems to show Season 7 8 9 all at once. Talk about Gunsmoke overload.

I don't watch INSP; they're another station that crunches the credits.

Isn't is awful how in the last 20 years you see so much clutter on the screen.Many shows, a lot are new shows that 1/3 of the screen lost to something. Take the news shows, they have a crawl line, a breaking news line, a section on who is talking line. . A sure change from the Huntley and Brinkley days.
INSP has a bit of original pictured lost too to clutter . I did like METV with the whole end credit screen. INSP credits go so fast and are so small. But I bear with it.

I was wondering why TVland does not air the Gunsmoke early episodes or at least the early 1 hour black and white episodes which i believe ran from 1961-1966? I found that those episodes air on encore western channel for those gifted with digital tv which i am not. I was wondering if TVland had any plans on airing those episodes in the near future?
I think that they only paid for the later episodes, Me TV paid for both episodes and the Inspiration Network only paid for the black and white episodes 1955-1965.