(*Trivia note of interest*) - Spanning for a total of twenty years (1955-1975) - "Gunsmoke" remains the longest-running, prime-time, live-action TV series of the 20th century.
Both actors James Arness, (as US Marshal, Matt Dillon) and Milburn Stone (as Dr. Galen "Doc" Adams) remained prominent in their roles in "Gunsmoke" for its entire 20-year running time.
During "Gunsmoke's" first six seasons its episodes were just twenty-five minutes in length and this certainly helped to keep the story-lines really tight, to-the-point, and free of superfluous filler scenes which tended to frequently bog down the action in many episodes of the latter seasons that were all fifty minutes in length.
Both actors James Arness, (as US Marshal, Matt Dillon) and Milburn Stone (as Dr. Galen "Doc" Adams) remained prominent in their roles in "Gunsmoke" for its entire 20-year running time.
During "Gunsmoke's" first six seasons its episodes were just twenty-five minutes in length and this certainly helped to keep the story-lines really tight, to-the-point, and free of superfluous filler scenes which tended to frequently bog down the action in many episodes of the latter seasons that were all fifty minutes in length.