Why was Gunsmoke cancelled?

[installLSC]

In its final season of 1974-1975, Gunsmoke was still rated in the top 30. Just two seasons before, it was in the top 10. So there had to be reasons besides ratings it was cancelled. What accounts have you heard why it got cancelled, and was there any push to give it a 21st season.

[jimpickens]

I'd say either the actors didn't want to continue or the network simply decided to end it on a high note plus by 1975 westerns were on the outs in favor of police shows and urban based sitcoms.

[blacksheepone]

Originally Posted by installLSC

In its final season of 1974-1975, Gunsmoke was still rated in the top 30. Just two seasons before, it was in the top 10. So there had to be reasons besides ratings it was cancelled. What accounts have you heard why it got cancelled, and was there any push to give it a 21st season.

I can tell you exactly why Gunsmoke was cancelled:

It was reaching the wrong demographic group by the 1974-1975 season, its last.

Older viewers were watching it, not the younger ones CBS was wanting to
attract. It was decided to end it after an astounding 20 year run, which for
a drama only Law And Order (NBC) came close to reaching (sorry The
Simpsons and 60 Minutes doesn't count, they weren't dramas).
Incidentally, Murder She Wrote (CBS) starring Angela Lansbury was
cancelled after 10 years for a similar reason in the 80's, as was
Gene Barry's 1994-1995 revival of his 60's crime drama Burke's Law
(created by Aaron Spelling).

Trivia: CBS almost cancelled Gunsmoke in 1967. However then President
Lyndon B. Johnson stated that he liked it so CBS decided to cancel
Gilligan's Island after 3 seasons so Gunsmoke could replace it in its
night and time slot. Much to the disappointment of Gilligan's Island
fans, no doubt.

Gunsmoke was also a victim of the anti-TV violence crusade of the
60's along with shows like Wild Wild West (my personal favorite BTW)
and Rat Patrol which ended up cancelled because they were deemed
by certain special-interest groups "too violent" (waah....). The most
obvious change was the elimination of James Arness as Marshal Matt
Dillon's fast-draw against an unseen opponent sequence prior to the
opening credits that was in the majority of the seasons before the
late 60's (don't remember exactly when they did that). It was then
replaced in the remaining seasons by footage of Matt riding his horse.
Also, when Matt had to defend himself against an outlaw in those
episodes, instead of shooting in self-defense he would say, "Hold it!"
or "Drop it!" (which was silly to me) then shoot his antagonist if the
aforementioned bad guy refused to cooperate. One of the dumbest
things in network television besides making James West an unarmed
secret agent taking away his six-shooter in Season 4 of that series
in my opinion. Big WWW fan here (and Black Sheep Squadron).

[James28]

^^I think this implies that the younger demographic must have gotten bored with Gunsmoke and wanted something fresh and new.

Also, that same season (1974-75), Mannix ranked 20th for the season, and was cancelled after that same season. To this day, I still couldn't find a verified reason why Mannix was cancelled.

[treky]

Originally Posted by blacksheepone

I can tell you exactly why Gunsmoke was cancelled:

It was reaching the wrong demographic group by the 1974-1975 season, its last.

Older viewers were watching it, not the younger ones CBS was wanting to
attract. It was decided to end it after an astounding 20 year run, which for
a drama only Law And Order (NBC) came close to reaching (sorry The
Simpsons and 60 Minutes doesn't count, they weren't dramas).
Incidentally, Murder She Wrote (CBS) starring Angela Lansbury was
cancelled after 10 years for a similar reason in the 80's, as was
Gene Barry's 1994-1995 revival of his 60's crime drama Burke's Law
(created by Aaron Spelling).

Trivia: CBS almost cancelled Gunsmoke in 1967. However then President
Lyndon B. Johnson stated that he liked it so CBS decided to cancel
Gilligan's Island after 3 seasons so Gunsmoke could replace it in its
night and time slot. Much to the disappointment of Gilligan's Island
fans, no doubt.

Gunsmoke was also a victim of the anti-TV violence crusade of the
60's along with shows like Wild Wild West (my personal favorite BTW)
and Rat Patrol which ended up cancelled because they were deemed
by certain special-interest groups "too violent" (waah....). The most
obvious change was the elimination of James Arness as Marshal Matt
Dillon's fast-draw against an unseen opponent sequence prior to the
opening credits that was in the majority of the seasons before the
late 60's (don't remember exactly when they did that). It was then
replaced in the remaining seasons by footage of Matt riding his horse.
Also, when Matt had to defend himself against an outlaw in those
episodes, instead of shooting in self-defense he would say, "Hold it!"
or "Drop it!" (which was silly to me) then shoot his antagonist if the
aforementioned bad guy refused to cooperate. One of the dumbest
things in network television besides making James West an unarmed
secret agent taking away his six-shooter in Season 4 of that series
in my opinion. Big WWW fan here (and Black Sheep Squadron).

it was CBS president William S. Paley who liked GUNSMOKE and had CBS renew it in 1967, not President Lyndon Johnson. And they canceled GILLIGANS ISLAND and the sitcom RUN BUDDY RUN in it's place.

[Edward216]

Well I was born in 1969 so I was a very young boy when Gunsmoke was on in its last few seasons and I loved watching it and was very sad when it was taken off the air! Even though I was the "wrong" demographic to be watching it LOL. But at that age I loved anything to do with westerns and cowboys and horses.

But hey, the show had run for 20 seasons and I'm sure they were probably about out of stories for episodes most likely too.

Ed.

[liane60]

Originally Posted by jimpickens

I'd say either the actors didn't want to continue or the network simply decided to end it on a high note plus by 1975 westerns were on the outs in favor of police shows and urban based sitcoms.

Amanda Blake had already quit the show.

[jimpickens]

And by that time the quality of the writing was slipping.

[TV Guy]

Originally Posted by James28

Also, that same season (1974-75), Mannix ranked 20th for the season, and was cancelled after that same season. To this day, I still couldn't find a verified reason why Mannix was cancelled.

Mannix was cancelled because Paramount Television, the producer, made a deal with ABC to air reruns of the show in late night while CBS was still airing new episodes. CBS was pissed and cancelled the show in retaliation.

[lazur]

Jim Arness claimed that he was surprised by the cancellation; that he was expecting Gunsmoke to run for three more seasons.

[jimpickens]

The mid and late 70's was the era of cop/ detective shows, science fiction, sitcoms with a least one cute adorable kid or teen heartthrob, and good old boy shows getting canceled when it did was a good thing.

[Debniners]

I think once Amanda Blake left it wasn’t the same gunsmoke, I didn’t like when Chester left

[Duster76]

I think Gunsmoke is the best western series of all time, and in my opinion it's not even close.

A danger sign for an older series is a slow and steady decline in viewership. With respect to this point, Gunsmoke lost about five and a half million viewers over three years. That danger sign coupled with the fact that other programming was ready to go left Gunsmoke vulnerable. In addition, Arness had reduced his workload over the years so in many of the episodes he had either a small part or didn't appear at all.

[IllinoisTVFan]

Gunsmoke was my mom's favorite western and a great show but its cancellation was a sign of changing times. It started when I Love Lucy was still on, Rock and Roll was "dangerous" and Elvis hadn't made his national appearance yet. It ended when Disco was prevalent and family comedies were making way for more controversial shows.

[treky]

Originally Posted by IllinoisTVFan

Gunsmoke was my mom's favorite western and a great show but its cancellation was a sign of changing times. It started when I Love Lucy was still on, Rock and Roll was "dangerous" and Elvis hadn't made his national appearance yet. It ended when Disco was prevalent and family comedies were making way for more controversial shows.

also, when it started westerns were a big ratings grabber and by 1975, they weren't anymore.