Gunsmoke isn’t just the greatest Western TV show ever made. It’s also the longest-running and most prolific in terms of total episodes. Across 20 seasons, 635 installments of the series were produced in total, earning it the record for any scripted American primetime release, which it held onto for almost half a century.

Among the best Western TV shows , Gunsmoke is virtually unique in being able to deliver high-quality television episode after episode for such a sustained period. Both before and since its historic run, shows in the genre have generally been able to deliver quantity or quality, but not both on a consistent basis.

Gunsmoke ’s best episodes are spread across its run, from the early half-hour storylines of the 1950s, to the high-budget color productions of the show’

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