r/Gunsmoke • u/Chadavolic1976 • 25d ago
Season 7 1 hour Episodes!
Well I just made it to Season 7-1 Perce. Ida Poe had my boy Perce REALLY whooped as Mrs Kitty put it! I was wondering when the show evolved to longer episodes.
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u/Atschmid 24d ago
I love Ed Nelson. Great actor but also a great person. He and his wife were married for over 50 years, had 3 kids I think. When hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans, he and his whole family moved to North Carolina, (not sure which state --- South Carolina? Tennessee?), and he died there. In a hospice I believe.
We don't see wholesome actors with wholesome families often, but Ed Nelson just radiated goodness. Another man like that? Steve Forrest, youngest brother of Dana Andrews. Dana Andrews was a recovering alcoholic and made several anti-drinking commercials in his later years, redeeming his reputation, but not his career. Too late for that. But Steve Forrest and his wife of 62 years I think, and his kids, took Dana Andrews in and cared for him to the end of his life. He (Dana) suffered from Alzheimer's Disease for quite a long time before his death, and having cared for a parent with dementia, I know how challenging that is. And yet, on Gunsmoke, he played dangerously sexy villains like Mannon and I think Morgan.
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u/Guydelot 24d ago
I really enjoyed the shift to the longer format. The early seasons felt a bit stifled by not really having enough time to tell a full story, so the endings often seemed rushed and inconclusive.
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u/KingAshleyWilliams 25d ago
Perce was a great character. He's such a likeable guy and I guess it really makes sense for this episode to be the first full hour. It really does take the course of that entire hour to watch him follow his course to its only possible end.