Deja Vu review: 'Gunsmoke'

Before CBS' "Gunsmoke " became a comfy institution, it fought hard for its TV turf. The show's dramatic early success often is credited to its adult subject matter, unheard of in TV Westerns of the early 1950s.

Such "Gunsmoke" writers as Sam Peckinpah and series co-creator John Meston had the freedom to tell tales of rape, slavery, thrill kills, child abuse and, of course, prostitution. A long way from Zorro and the Lone Ranger.

The series "is honest, it's adult, it's realistic," John Wayne warned the audience in his cameo introduction to the first show.

Marshal Dillon (James Arness) opened the early episodes with a visit to wind-swept Boot Hill, looking down on Dodge City, Kan. -- the "Gomorra of the Plains." There, the 6-foot-6 lawman delivered an existentialist's sermon on killing and being killed. Many of the men buried there he gunned down, no regrets.

Miss Kitty, played by Amanda Blake for 19 seasons, ended up a well-rounded pillar of the community, but back in Season 1 she was a prostitute who dallied with the marshal on the side. The beautiful young Kitty worked the Long Branch Saloon, low-cut and good-to-go. Primetime viewers could see her girls in the background, escorting cowboys up the stairs.

Dillon, Miss Kitty and the good citizens of Dodge City enjoyed a two-decade ride across TV land. Paramount has celebrated the show over the past two years with a series of DVD sets. They include season 1 and season 2, as well as two guest-star-driven "50th Anniversary" volumes.

Read the blog's complete "Gunsmoke" reviews.

About "Deja Vu reviews": As in, didn't I read that before ... hmm.