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Matt keeps hanging around a former flame, and hoo, boy, is a certain red-headed saloon owner jealous. But "Cara" is really the advance scout for a party of murderous bank robbers.

When a drunken member of the Strong family tries to rape Miss Kitty and then shoots Festus, Festus is forced to kill him. But the man's father is a judge. And the judge and his family are "The Avengers" who want to hang Kitty and Festus.



As a wounded Marshal Dillon closes in, Doc Adams puts up a brilliant legal defense in a kangaroo court, and saves the day. Or at least delays it.

I'm currently watching an episode about an Indian policeman whose white mother has never forgiven the Indians who kidnapped her when she was sixteen and kept her in their village for two years.

Jason is a friendly man who treasures the old guitar his father left him. Things get out of hand when a bully takes the guitar from him. And later, when two drunken rascals beat Jason up, Marshal Dillon finds a lucky gold piece from the rancher's body on one of the rascals.



"My Father's Guitar" has great drama in a complicated plot with a complicated solution.

Amanda Blake makes her last appearance as Miss Kitty in "The Disciples."

With an injured right arm, Matt cannot serve as Marshal, and he flees to protect his friends from the many villains who will be coming after him to seek revenge.

He befriends an army deserter who is a crack shot, and the two protect each other, but there is one problem: the deserter is also a pacifist.

The rough, tough, kind-hearted leader of a clan of buffalo hunters figures out a way to cure his sick family members: kidnap Doc Adams. But he can't shoot the doctor if he tries to escape, so he takes Festus as a hostage.

George Lindsey, who played Goober Pyle on the old Andy Griffith show, excels as
a crazy member of the family.

And with the law closing in, the leader figures out another brilliant plan: force Doc to marry his daughter. Since they'll be kin, Doc won't want to leave.

It takes the combined brains of Matt Dillon and Doc Adams to produce a happy ending for everyone.

"Which Doctor" refers to the fact that the clan has a folk healer of their own.

Dodge City’s newest newspaper is a smashing success, thanks to their star reporter, Festus Haggen. With all kinds of juicy but accurate gossip, the paper sells like hotcakes. So successful is the paper, in fact, that rival grocery stores start advertising ridiculously low prices in order to steal each other’s customers. Then they follow Festus’s advice to raise their prices, mark them down, and advertise another sale.

Stupid plot, dopey story line, dumb ending, and excellent comedy combine to make this a good one.

I didn't enjoy "The Mark of Cain." A highly-educated rancher tries to uplift the citizens of Dodge City with moral training, and it turns out he had been the brutal commandant of a Confederate-run prisoner of war camp.

A former prisoner tries to stir up a lynch mob while the townspeople struggle with the problem of a man who has clearly turned his life around after committing murder.

Doc Adams was his usual brilliant self with the quote "If they packed your brains inside a mustard seed, they would rattle like beans in a boxcar," but his argument that the man should be allowed to pay for his crimes by leading a decent life doesn't deal with the problem of justice, nor will it deter similar crimes in the future.

The very last scene was pretty good, but overall, I don't consider it too good an episode.

Ever hear of John Meston? He was one of the two men who originated the "Gunsmoke" series on radio. He wrote 379 episodes, both for the radio and television versions. His last episode was "He Who Steals," and it is a good one.

Jeff Sutro is a free-spirited buffalo hunter who refuses to accept that times have changed. He kills a cowboy after Sutro steals a calf, but a jury lets him go. Accompanied by a young, inexperienced cowboy, Sutro hangs an innocent man for stealing Sutro's horse, and finally seeks vengeance on the rancher that both men worked for.

"If I had known it would last this long, I would never have created the darn thing." John Meston.

Ever hear of John Meston? He was one of the two men who originated the "Gunsmoke" series on radio. He wrote 379 episodes, both for the radio and television versions. His last episode was "He Who Steals," and it is a good one.

Jeff Sutro is a free-spirited buffalo hunter who refuses to accept that times have changed. He kills a cowboy after Sutro steals a calf, but a jury lets him go. Accompanied by a young, inexperienced cowboy, Sutro hangs an innocent man for stealing Sutro's horse, and finally seeks vengeance on the rancher that both men worked for.

"If I had known it would last this long, I would never have created the darn thing." John Meston.

I've been watching season 3 on DVD, as well as the B&W hour episodes on the encore channel. Meston wrote the majority of those early episodes, as well as most of the radio shows. I believe he adapted many of the half hour TV episodes from his radio scripts. You could always be guaranteed a good story with Meston. I always wondered how long he worked on the show. What season was this episode? I believe it might have been season 11? I believe that was the last black and white season. It's a shame that so many people are only familiar with the show from the color episodes. I love the whole series but the black and white seasons are the real heart and soul of the show. My favorite later writer for Gunsmoke was Calvin Clements.

Welcome aboard, Dangfish.

A group of militant outlaws called "The Jayhawkers" stampede cattle when they can, killing those that escape for food. Matt and Chester join a herd to protect them, and Matt learns that the Texas cowboys he's protecting hate Kansans.

Ken Curtiss makes his first appearance, but not as Festus, and I was unable to spot him anywhere.

Festus befriends an innocent man being pursued by the real murderer. "Slim" is trying to hide from everyone while he helps the broken-down mother of a runaway boy, and between them, Marshal Dillon and Festus save the day in "Blue Heaven."


Another happy ending in Dodge City.

Gunsmoke excels at surprise endings, but this one topped them all.

When Matt arrests a murderer who had saved Matt's life in the Civil War, the murderer dives for his gun, warning Matt that a bounty hunter is behind Matt, planning to kill him. Matt makes a "Snap Decision," the wrong one, killing the prisoner, who had been telling the truth. A guilt-ridden Matt then resigns as marshal.

The prisoner's grown son is a really nice kid, forgiving Matt, but gets tied in with a bounty hunter whom Matt despises. But the show ends happily, and THEN they hit you with the surprise ending.

This was the first "color" Gunsmoke, and it was a great one.

Young Aggie desperately want to put a "Root Down" and get married, so she tells her wandering family a tall tale about Chester planning to marry her. As she had hoped, her father and brother plan to force Chester to get happily hitched, whether he wants to or not.



Best quote: In describing Chester to Aggie, Doc Adams says "Certainly he's one of my closest friends. I wouldn't be able to stand him if he wasn't."

Sue is a spoiled but wealthy rancher who is willing to start a range war by diverting an entire creek onto her land. But when she realizes that she needs to back down, the crooked gunslinger she hired deceives her into continuing the fight.



MATT! You had a chance to arrest the guy when he held a bunch of farmers prisoner with his gun. Why did you let him go?



But this is Dodge City, so of course justice triumphs in the end, even though poor Doc Adams can't keep the land he thinks he owns.

Can a grocery clerk from Kansas City survive for two weeks in Dodge City while pretending to be a deadly gunfighter? Two no-goods bet $1,0000 on the abilty of "Cleigh Tatum," who has never handled a gun, to put up a "False Front" that will scare everybody away from him.

Good plot, with so many twists and turns that no one could guess what happens next, as "Cleigh" starts building his reputation.

"Once a Haggen," always a... I don't know.



Festus KNOWS his friend is innocent of murder, because the two were together the whole time. And there's his friend, sitting in jail, with Chester guarding him. This one is so complicated that even Marshal Dillon needs helps from Festus' scatter-brained girlfriend to solve it.

A "Buffalo Hunter" who is both evil and insane is beating and killing his men. Matt and Chester head off in pursuit, but "justice" gets there first.

"Once a Haggen," always a... I don't know.



Festus KNOWS his friend is innocent of murder, because the two were together the whole time. And there's his friend, sitting in jail, with Chester guarding him. This one is so complicated that even Marshal Dillon needs helps from Festus' scatter-brained girlfriend to solve it.

I think this might be the last Chester episode. Pretty sure his last episode has Festus in it. As with all Gunsmoke regulars, we never get an explanation for why he departed. He's just gone and never referred to again.

Dangfish, I think they simply never explained it in the series, perhaps hoping that Dennis Weaver would return. Weaver wanted to do something else and quit his role as Chester, and I understand that he tried to leave on good terms.

Start with a heart of gold, add one mean streak, a heavy dose of common sense with a little bit of stupidity thrown in, add one wounded outlaw, and you've got "Dirty Sally."

Trying to protect her wounded friend in part 1, Sally has to get some medicine from Doc Adams without telling him why. The scene where Doc examines her is hilarious.

Meanwhile, the murderous leader of the remaining three outlaws is on the loose, and Matt and Festus set off after them.



Stay tuned for part 2.

"Dirty Sally" continues her adventure, nursing "Pike," the wounded outlaw, back to health. When he offers her a share of his stolen money, she stomps on the bills, and then cries as he rides away. And THEN, the other three outlaws show up, trying to force Sally to tell where Pike is. And when she refuses, they, they, (sniff)...











...they shoot "Worthless," Sally's mule. The evil fiends! Hearing the gunshots, Pike returns, and after carrying Worthless into town, they get Doc Adams to fix her up.



As usual, justice triumphs, and better yet, Worthless survives. The three-month long television series "Dirty Sally" was a spin-off of this two-part episode, and Jeanette Nolan was nominated for an Emmy. She made six other appearances on Gunsmoke, appearing as Festus's aunt in one episode.

Dangfish, I think they simply never explained it in the series, perhaps hoping that Dennis Weaver would return. Weaver wanted to do something else and quit his role as Chester, and I understand that he tried to leave on good terms.'

Chester was only the first example. When Quint, Thad, and Miss Kitty left it was the same story. No explanation, no nothing. I believe this was pretty common for shows back then. They wanted to keep each episode as self contained as possible and there wasn't much continuity or dwelling on past episodes. In the same vein, there are many many episodes where the regulars treat the guest star like they are old friends that they have seen time and again in Dodge but that is the first and last time we see them. And I've always wanted to count the number of 'old friend of Matt' episodes. There must be at least 30 of them. And there are at least 7 of them where Matt claims to have learned 'everything he knew' about being a lawman from. And don't get me started on the number of episodes where the guest star had the 'biggest spread in the territory.' But all this just adds to the charm of the show.

You're right, Dangdish, but there is a logical explanation for the contradictions in the series. Gunsmoke was only shown once a week, although you could sometimes see re-runs as well. People just couldn't remember the details that well.

Even at his height, Chester did not appear in every episode. When he quietly disappeared, a lot of folks might not have realized it.

I researched some sites on Dennis Weaver, and none of them tell why he left Gunsmoke.

You're right, Dangdish, but there is a logical explanation for the contradictions in the series. Gunsmoke was only shown once a week, although you could sometimes see re-runs as well. People just couldn't remember the details that well.

Even at his height, Chester did not appear in every episode. When he quietly disappeared, a lot of folks might not have realized it.

I researched some sites on Dennis Weaver, and none of them tell why he left Gunsmoke.

I've heard (don't remember from where anymore) that he was tired of the role and wanted to move on to other things. He was actually in most episodes until the eighth season. He ended up hanging around for another year and popping up in an episode here and there. His last episode was in the ninth season (1964). I've also heard that Weaver got a bit of a swelled head near the end of his Gunsmoke run and the other actors, particularly Milburn Stone, didn't appreciate it. I have no idea if there is any truth to this however.

Good, tough drama in "Blind Man's Bluff." While pursuing a murderer, Matt gets hit on the head by three law-hating no-goods. The accused murdered saves Matt's life, and now Matt has to bring him before a hanging judge.

Quint the blacksmith is an honest man, but he's half Comanche. Some no-goods set out to frame him while they steal horses, and Matt gets captured by Comanches while trying to straighten things out.


"Quint's Indian" has some good lessons on who to trust and who not to.

A 100-man band of outlaws seizes Dodge City so they can spend the night stealing everything. Meanwhile, Matt only has Festus and Doc to help him, so the odds are about even that Dodge can survive "Seven Hours 'Till Dawn."


Faking Matt's death wasn't too impressive, because I knew the good guy would win. But when a wounded Marshal Dillon , who has been hit four times, shoots the outlaw leader three times, we see who's the better man.

Joe Silva has a rotten mouth, but that doesn't justify someone stealing his horse. So Silva beats the daylights out of the thief. Later, the thief murders Silva and frames an ornery old man. The evidence is pretty solid that the innocent old man is guilty, but Matt solves the case, except...


By the way, MATT! This isn't the first time someone has passed a gun to a prisoner through the jail cell window. How about putting up a screen or something?

After a bad-tempered laborer breaks into a saloon to retrieve his coat, he gets lynched for murdering the owner.



Matt does his best to get justice, and is surprised as everyone else when an alcoholic judge suddenly rises to the occasion.

I really liked today's episode, The Wiving, on TV Land. It reminded me of the musicial "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." I recognized Karen Grassle from Little House on The Prairie as one of the ladies.

Gunsmoke is a great show,but I would never watch it on TVLand.It makes a total difference if you view it on something like the Westerns channel who show it uncut,commercial free and they show the superior black and white episodes.And the picture is crystal clear,not the sped up episodes TVLand shows. Of course there are other ways to view it like DVDs etc.However,watching the heavily edited color episodes on TVLand,really does not make a viewer appreciate how truly great a show Gunsmoke is.You do not even have to like westerns to enjoy Gunsmoke.

Good to hear from both of you. I watch Gunsmoke on Youtube at

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGunsmokeChannel

It's commercial free. If you simply type "Gunsmoke" into Youtube's Search box, you also get a variety of free shows to watch, but they are in ten-minute segments.

Gidgetgrape, why do you have an avatar of The Flying Nun in a bathing suit?

Pregnant and unwilling to marry the brute who did it, young Hope has enough sense to go to Kitty for help. But the stage coach taking them to Hope's mother is held up, the two women are stranded in the desert, and then they wind up being captured by the robbers.

Best quote: "Everybody knows I'm just hard as nails." Miss Kitty.

Actually, the one robber didn't know that, but after Kitty put a bullet into him, he figured it out.

"Help Me, Kitty" should have been named "One Tough Woman." When Matt finally shows up at the end, Kitty had everything taken care of.

Joe Merchant has enough problems with his unsuccessful farm, and then his wife starts having an affair with a murderous outlaw named Pike. Matt tries to solve the problem, but a phony deputy gets Pike out of jail, and then he goes after Matt in "Big Man, Big Target."

The scene in which Festus pretends (I think) that he thinks Miss Kitty is in love with him in order to wrangle a drink out of her is pretty good.



Best quote: "Men like him give jails a bad name." Festus

Gidgetgrape, why do you have an avatar of The Flying Nun in a bathing suit?

Sally Field starred as "Gidget" on TV from 1965-1966. My avatar is from that show. Some footage of Sally as Gidget was also used later on "The Flying Nun."

Half of you are wondering if I really thought that was The Flying Nun in a bathing suit, and half of you agree that it is.

An angry farmer, who has never been in a gunfight, is determined to kill the aging sheriff who was forced to kill the farmer's brother. The farmer has learned that the sheriff, a skilled gunfighter, is now partly blind, so he figures it will be a fair fight.



It won't really be "20-20," but Matt arranges a painful but just solution.

You're right, Dillon. The scene with Festus and Kitty is hilarious, but I never could figure out if Festus really believed that Kitty was in love with him, or if he was just going after a free beer. I THINK he was only going after a beer.



Meanwhile, the part-time sheriff of a small Oklahoma town dies of a heart attack while writing a warrant on four bullies who vandalized his store. And so his son "Clayton Thaddeus Greenwood" (That's right, our man "Thad") pins on his part-time deputy badge and goes after them.

But when Thad catches them in Dodge City, he learns that his Oklahoma warrant is as invalid as his Oklahoma badge. But with Matt and Festus on his side, Thad gets justice.

He also gets introduced to the friendly feud between Doc and Festus, and since he fits right in, Matt hires him as a deputy.

"South Wind" tells the tale of a murderous but incompetent band of outlaws. Pursued by two posses, they leave the stolen money with a girl outlaw, who gets shot and winds up in Doc Adams' office.

Won over by the kindness of the Dodge City folks, Ellie wants to stay in Dodge, but the outlaws come after her, because they don't know where she hid the money. The fact that the outlaw leader had murdered one of Matt's deputies six years ago doesn't help matters any.

I actually felt sorry for one of the outlaws, but justice triumphs in the end.

Kitty inherits a "Gold Mine" in the nasty little town of Panhandle. Angry at Matt, who is away, she goes there by herself to file her claim.

It starts off with Kitty and a mute young man going up against three claim jumpers, whose combined IQ is almost as high as Ruth's. Thad shows up to even the score, and the battle of brains swings back and forth.

Then, just as the claim jumpers win...

Near the end, after Matt asks for a beer, Kitty utters her memorable quote "Is that all the thanks you want?"







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And Matt responds that he's really like to sit at a table and talk with her.

When White men murder his White father, Quint Aspen takes his Comanche mother back to her people. But "When Quint Aspen Comes Home," he doesn't know which way to turn. He joins the Comanche and helps them kill buffalo hunters. But Marshal Dillon saves Quint's life after Quint is wounded, and Quint is forced to choose which way of life he will follow.

I just finished watching part 1 of "Island in the Desert," and the acting is indeed good. I'm sorry that I don't agree with the plot being too interesting, but perhaps part 2 will get better.


Pursued across the desert, an escaped murderer manages to bushwhack our man Festus. A lost hermit rescues Festus, and now the two of them are trapped in the middle of nowhere, but with a good supply of water. Determined to return to the distant town he started from, the hermit...

Note to my friend Gidgetgrape: Please change that avatar!

Fortunately, Part 2 of "Island in the Desert" is an improvement. The scene where the murderer opens the bag with Ben's "thig-a-ma-jigs" is dynamite. The ending is great, and once again, justice triumphs over evil in Dodge City, I mean, uhm, in the town of Ten Strike.

Tug and Billy are "The Trappers" who brought in a giant haul of beaver pelts, but they had to illegally cross Indian Territory to get to Dodge. An Indian kills Tug, Billy kills the Indian, and then Billy rides into Dodge with the entire load to himself, more money than he knows what to do with, and without his friend Tug (the intelligent one) to help him.

Billy can't get involved with two swindlers fast enough, and then Tug, badly wounded, shows up alive. Knowing that Tug plans to kill him, Billy refuses to run away with Tug's share of the money, but the swindlers do it for him.

As is usually the case in Dodge City, justice triumphs in the end.

And there's a good point here. Good friends are hard to find, but sometimes they get into a situation that they just can't handle. If a friend makes a mistake, but is still a friend, it's better to forgive. I consider this one of their better episodes.

Matt's really got himself in a pickle this time. First, he beats up a drunken sergeant and throws him in jail, and then he has to beat him up the next morning when he lets the sergeant out.

Then a drunken cowboy kills a retired sheriff who is Matt's friend, and Matt has to escort him to Hayes City to be hanged. Then the murderer's gang rescues him, but they hang him themselves because he's an idiot. They knock Matt out, pour whiskey all over him, and put Matt's handcuffs on the dead murderer.

Guess who finds them? You're right! The sergeant himself! But Matt escapes and has to enlist the help of a friendly drunk to get the real murderers arrested.

It was good to see Goober Pyle from the Andy Griffith Show, even though he was an outlaw.

Incidentally, the Gunsmoke Channel posted this episode two days ago, and it's had 511 views. Folks, there ARE Gunsmoke fans out there.

It's good to see that there are a few places where you can watch Gunsmoke. I forgot to mention that the episode I referred to yesterday was named "Hung High." And I should mention that The Gunsmoke Channel provides free, non-commercial episodes at

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGunsmokeChannel



In today's episode:

The army is combing the hills for a murderer but can't find the small farm where he and his pregnant wife are hiding. But the murderer's mom gets out there, and then they kidnap Doc to deliver the baby. Now Doc has to escape into Dodge to get food for "Thursday's Child," and of course he returns...trailed by Matt and Festus.



As usual, it's a good episode.

Twenty-two year old Cull is upset when his father marries a squaw. Little Deer Woman is an excellent wife, but Cull is determined to wreck the marriage at any cost. The ending scene, where Matt explains how he knows that "The Squaw" is innocent is drama at its finest.

Elsa Poe is the popular new barmaid at the Long branch; so popular that three men are willing to fight to the death over her. The winner gets murdered the day before he marries her, and as a lynch mob grows, Matt can't prove the "Innocence" of either of the other two.

This one was so good my wife came over to watch it with me.

Another outstanding episode! When an Indian council sentences Chief Two Bears to death for a murder he didn't commit, Two Bears can simply walk away. But he puts "Honor Before Justice," proving to Marshal Dillon that the Chief was framed by horse-stealing renegades.



The Chief's daughter, Thad, Matt, and Festus team up to save an innocent man.

In a disappointing made-for-TV movie, a retired Matt Dillon pursues a renegade who has kidnapped Matt's daughter. I have to admit that the second part of this 90 minute film is an improvement. There's good drama, and in the end, Matt settles things with "The Last Apache."

I hated to see my old hero Wyatt Earp (Hugh O'Brian) playing General Nelson Miles.

You can see the film for the next few days at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggSU4vAgkRo

A band of intelligent outlaws has been carrying out successful large-scale raids. Their front man is a gun salesman who scouts the town and sets up brilliant plans. But when they come face-to-face with Marshall Dillon and Festus, "The Raid" doesn't go too well.


This is Part 1 of two hour-long b&w episodes, and it's interesting all the way through. Tune in tomorrow for Part 2.

The saga continues in "The Raid Part 2." The raiders have several hours head start, but Matt drives his posse onward. The raiders have Doc as a hostage, and Matt won't give up.



Part 2 is as good as Part 1, with good adventure all the way through.

Ouch! They got him again! Matt and Festus ride headfirst into a large gang of raiders, and Matt gets winged on the arm. Fortunately, it's only blood, so Matt ignores it and it heals itself, although it does ruin the sleeve of his shirt, in "The Raiders."

It's hard to steal the show from both Matt and Kitty, but Bette Davis excels as the evil star of "The Jailer." Wanting revenge because Matt hanged her murderous husband six years ago, his widow leads her sons in capturing Matt so she can hang him.



Excellent drama with a great ending.

I was disappointed in "Return to Dodge," the first of five made-for-TV Gunsmoke films. Everybody and his uncle is escaping from prison and chasing each other, but one of them is a mad dog murderer named "Madden," and he's more evil than everybody else combined.

The fight scenes were stupendous: when a bad guy runs up to club a downed army lieutenant, the lieutenant surprises everybody by coming up with a sword. In another scene, Kitty throws Madden's gun out the window; wanting the fight to be fair, Matt throws Madden out the window so he can retrieve it.

After blowing a rancher's leg off during a bungled crime, Collie gets eight years in prison. But when "Collie's Free," he goes around blaming everybody but himself. He struggles to deal with his jealousy when he learns of the rancher's kindness to Collie's wife and son, and a no-good ranch hand takes advantage of the situation.

His eyesight failing, retired lawman Jack Dakota comes to Dodge City to marry the girl he left behind and settle down. But a stupid young cowboy is determined to get himself a reputation by killing Dakota. The sad part is, Dakota realizes the truth: he will always be pursued, and now he's too old to live up to his reputation in "The Glory and the Mud."

What's the most dangerous job in the world? Why, driving a stagecoach across the desert with Miss Kitty on board. As usual, the stagecoach crashes, the driver gets killed (as he always does) and Kitty is lost in the desert (again). A wild girl, known as "The Animal" to the local yokels, rescues Kitty, and now Kitty has to rescue "The Lost" child from a roaming band of idiots who want to display her and then sell her.



Actually, it is a pretty good episode, and of course there's a happy ending.

Chasing bad guys across the desert, Marshal Dillon is surprised to find the Forbidden Planet, complete with Honey West. Actually, it's the Robbers' Roost, a quiet motel for bad guys on their way to commit crime. Anne Francis plays "Sarah," a former rejected girl friend of Matt's, who runs the place.

Forced to pretend that he is her husband, Dakota Jack, Matt's plan falls apart when the outlaws learn that Dakota Jack is dead.



For those of who who are not culturally enlightened, Anne Francis starred in the 1950's sci-fi classic, "Forbidden Planet," as well as in the 1960's series "Honey West."

Folks, I can't name the episode, because The Gunsmoke Channel mislabeled it, but two friendly, easy-going brothers are walking to Dodge City so they can kill Indians...and a couple of innocent people who get in their way.

Matt stops them just before they hang an innocent man whom they think is an Indian, and they blab out the rest of the story to him.

She's mean, tough,domineering, and everybody's afraid of her, but "Belle's Back." And she's brought the murderous outlaw she ran off with back with her. However, Belle's younger sister plans her own revenge: steal Belle's no-good boyfriend.

A friendly old man killed Matt's friend five years ago, and now Matt has caught up with him in Mexico. But a crooked lieutenant wants the reward, so he throws Matt and the murderer in jail in "Extradition Part 1."

Lieutenant Chavez can't make up his mind whether he wants to go a good guy or a villain. He releases Matt to bring the murderer back, but has to leave his girlfriend behind. Then five banditos chase them. In the end, Matt's good example encourages Chavez to ride the straight and narrow in "Extradition Part 2."

Judd Nellis is a great "Friend." He finds a man beaten half to death outside Dodge City and brings him to the doctor. Funny thing, though, Judd had done the same thing for Matt several years ago.


And he had done the same thing for a priest several years ago...

Thad tries to bring in a prisoner, but he has more than he can handle: the prisoner is Captain Kirk (William Shatner) from Star Trek. While they're beating each other up, they get rescued by Quakers who don't know whom to believe.

Thad turns on the charm for the "Quaker Girl" whose father runs the settlement, but the criminal wins the popularity contest. Then some desperadoes turn up, determined to torture the outlaw until he tells them where he hid the money.

Marshal Dillon shows up in the nick of time, but who will win? Matt, of course. He has Festus and Captain Kirk doesn't have Spock.

Actually, Folks, I consider it one of their less interesting episodes.

A drunken ex-gunfighter promises to buy "The Boots" at the general store for an orphan boy who is trying to help him. But then a bully from the past shows up.



One of their better episodes, although the plot was unrealistic.

A German emigrant named Emil is "The Blacksmith" for Dodge City, and he sends away for a mail-order bride. Three bullies start harassing him, but when they endanger his wife...

Two brothers are released after serving six years for cattle-rustling. The parents blame the older one, not knowing that the younger brother is "The Pretender" who is to blame for everything.

After Matt forces a lazy family to help him fix their wagon, their grateful teen-age daughter runs away to marry Matt. Meanwhile, a worthless cowpoke shoots up the Marshal's office, hoping to kill Matt. Then the runaway girl runs into the cowpoke...



"Take Her, She's Cheap" shows Matt breaking the Law a few times, but it was always for a good reason.

The menfolk of Dodge City are gossiping, I mean, discussing "Miss Kitty." It seems she's been leaving Dodge for mysterious reasons. Actually, she's getting the young son of a dead friend settled in with a good family.

But the boy's no-good father, who killed the mother, is after him.



Interesting episode, and I noticed a few actors from other episodes made appearances.

Auggie is an outlaw who keeps getting beaten up by his partner. When they take a wounded Matt Dillon prisoner, even Matt feels sorry for Auggie. What Auggie really wants is to wear "The Badge" Marshal Dillon wears so he can be somebody.

Is "Johnny Red" really the long lost son of an overjoyed widow who is glad to have him back? Or is he an evil impostor?



This 1959 episode was interesting all the way through. I noticed that Doc Adams is regarded as a drunk in this early episode.

I have no idea who "Don Mateo" is, but a Mexican lawman rides into Dodge, determined to kill the man who tried to rape his girlfriend. He and Matt are old friends, but Matt can't help him break the Law.

In an interesting side note, this 1960 episode had Bill Pence as the barkeeper in the Long branch Saloon. When a customer gets violent, Bill pulls out a huge wooden mallet and whacks him, and that alone was worth the entire episode.

The Haggens decide that their nephew "Sweet Billy, Singer of Songs," needs to get married. After they mess everything up, Sweet Billy finds a good woman who wants to marry him. But her father is crooked as a snake and twice as smart, and he's determined to cheat the Haggens...



...which isn't too smart.

Matt and Chester rescue a beautiful Indian woman who was shot in the back by the White man who murdered her husband. Matt later brings in three suspects, all of whom are slime, and has to figure out which one did it.


I don't know why they named the episode "Saludos," which means "Greetings," but this 1959 episode was a good one.

Spadden is an evil, brutal buffalo hunter who kills men for revenge if they taunt him. But Spadden enjoys tormenting "The Worm" he hired as a skinner. Everybody feels sorry for poor, terrified Richie, so when it looks like Spadden committed murder...



It was a good episode, but the ending was too obvious. The writers also started a thread that gave away the ending, then dropped it. And Matt's failure to do simple detective work was a factor.

Jake Creed is a mean rancher who fires Ben Tolliver because Jake's daughter likes him. Then, to get even, Jake cripples "Ben Tolliver's Stud." Matt and Chester have to stop someone from killing someone.

Of course, Hannibal Bass is a good, decent man who has been happily married for thirty years. He's "Uncle Jed" from the Beverly Hillbillies. But when a scheming widow plans to steal him, Mrs. Bass has a couple of tricks up her sleeve...starting with a loaded rifle.

In the end, the "Old Fool" gets what he deserves.

Who killed Joe "Bentley"? He was staying with his best friends and was found shot to death a few hours after he left. Ned Wright, an honest but poverty-stricken farmer is found "not guilty," but Dodge City despises him and his wife. But then Ned Wright confesses on his deathbed that he did it.

Case closed, right? Wrong! Our man Chester doesn't believe it. And then Chester starts asking too many questions to suit Albert Calvin, who was Bentley's best friend.

Hutch Dawkins is an old kook who enjoys excitement. When Chester is shot from ambush, it is obvious that bank robbers, aiming for Matt, did it.

Or did they?

"Potshot" is as interesting as it is weird.

After "accidentally" killing his brother, marrying the widow and inheriting all the wealth, the murderer has only one problem...his vengeful nephew.

"Say Uncle" was about in the middle range of good Gunsmoke tales.

"Shooting Stopover" is one of their better ones. Pinned down in a cabin with Matt and Chester are a murderer, a preacher, and a Godly woman. And one of them has to draw the ourlaws' fire so they can get water for the wounded driver.