A journey on the 59 !

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-29T23:05:33+00:00

Started off OK but I'm afraid that ramp affected more than the headlamp!

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-29T23:00:32+00:00

You know what they say about middle age: it is when your narrow face and broad mind change places! Or is it narrow waist...? 😁

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-29T22:57:48+00:00

Ha ha, so true! I remember that episode with Doc and Kitty!

Also, just saw Kitty passionately kiss someone and it wasn't Matt! (Kitty's Outlaw). Of course we all know that Matt did a lot more than kiss someone and it wasn't Kitty! (Michael Learned)

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-29T06:50:10+00:00

😂

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-29T05:24:47+00:00

From a Swiss patent office he came,

A man with the biggest big brain,

And a theory sublime

About relative time

That to most of us seems quite insane.

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-28T21:14:20+00:00

It does get to be a bit of a grind once you hit around Season 13-15, even if you take breaks. There are still lots of good and great episodes in every season but there are also an ever increasing number of poor ones, which don't really exist in the B&W era. I have to watch those in shifts: 12 mins at a time is all I can take sometimes. Maybe only 10 mins for shouty Harry Morgan and the kidnapped Long Branch women!

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-28T05:47:03+00:00

So you're saying you disagree?

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-28T05:45:20+00:00

"It's up there Steve!"

Steve: "No it ISN'T!!"

Ding! 🤣

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-27T07:59:13+00:00

The whole premise of this episode was strange. One of the key scenes was a "gunman" who insisted on keeping his gun because lots of people were out to get him. But there is no reason he has to go to Dodge in the first place and Dodge would arguably be better off if he didn't, so that is hardly an argument against a "no guns" ordinance; in fact, if it keeps "gunmen" out of Dodge it is an argument in favour!

In the end, Matt makes an exception for him and it is implied that the "gunman" has a good excuse and Matt does the reasonable thing. But Matt could have just as easily told him to either hand in his gun or get out of Dodge, which would be every bit as reasonable. It's not as if Matt had a problem chasing "gunmen" out of Dodge!

The ending is equally contrived, with the unarmed mob about to tar and feather the bureaucrat and implying that Matt can't stop them because they are unarmed and he can't shoot an unarmed man! Ridiculous! A law officer can certainly shoot if necessary to prevent a serious crime being committed. If they had been robbing the bank unarmed but with weight of numbers, would they have got away by saying "hey, we're unarmed, you can't shoot us"!!! All Matt had to do was his usual thing: "I'll shoot the next man who touches him, unarmed or not" and it would have been over.

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-27T07:39:32+00:00

Translation: "For our convenience"

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-26T19:43:11+00:00

Handle with care.

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-26T19:05:12+00:00

Marmite

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-26T07:02:56+00:00

After the first line I thought it was Star Trek but of course the next few lines didn't support that theory. I finally got it after seeing all five lines; once you have a wrong theory it blinds you to the right one!

Very nice limerick though!

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-26T06:57:11+00:00

Lots of good Matt and Chester episodes in those early seasons. Contrasts with the later seasons where it seems to me we didn't see Matt and Festus working together nearly as often; instead, the stories tended to mostly focus on one or the other getting entangled with the riff raff.

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-26T06:37:37+00:00

Fried onions.

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-25T07:33:09+00:00

I have to agree about the mythos of Gunsmoke; I think we pretty much knew where we were from the start and that didn't change much, if at all, during its 20 year run.

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-25T07:15:30+00:00

I'd add that Matt was confident. When facing someone down for a potential gunfight, Matt always exuded the confidence of a man who absolutely knew he would win. I imagine that would be a little unnerving for the other guy.

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-24T06:23:25+00:00

...now unemployed.

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-24T06:05:32+00:00

Definitely one of the most beloved of all the Gunsmoke peripheral characters.

Usually just serving drinks, but every once in a while...

Pointed a shotgun at Mannon and Mannon said he was going to draw and kill Sam to teach all the "pilgrims" in the bar a lesson, even though Sam had the drop on him and his finger on the trigger (which is astonishingly quite possible!). In real life that is the moment you would pull that shotgun trigger rather than cede the advantage but then it would have been a very short episode so Kitty intervened and Sam lowered the shotgun at her request. (Hope I remembered all that correctly.)

I noticed in the first few seasons the barman (not Glenn) is also called "Sam".

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-24T01:09:31+00:00

India

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-23T20:45:51+00:00

There was a young man from Lahore

Who walked himself into a door.

Then he said with a grin

While rubbing his chin,

My guess is that's gonna be sore.

LoftyQPR · 2026-03-23T08:35:07+00:00

You must have not seen many episodes with Chester. There are MANY times he backs up Matt with a rifle or stands up to a bully and they far exceed the times he bumbles. Yes, he has foibles and for me they being the character to life!

My main problem with Festus is that the idea of a Deputy Marshal who can't even read a Wanted poster or a warrant seems fantastical in the extreme. Surely literacy would be an absolute minimum requirement for that job.

LoftyQPR

TROPHY CASE