‘Gunsmoke’ Producer Explained Why the Show’s Biggest ‘Clunker’ Episodes Weren’t Any Good

Gunsmoke aired for a total of 635 episodes on television, giving the franchise a wide array of adventures for its lead cast. The show ultimately brought on guest stars, allowing it to appeal to an even wider audience. However, Gunsmoke producer John Mantley once admitted that some episodes were absolute “clunkers” that went a bit too far off the rails. Nevertheless, he had a very particular reason for why some of them didn’t translate from the page to the screen.

‘Gunsmoke’ got away with some ‘ridiculous’ stories

According to John Peel’s The Gunsmoke Years, Mantley explained that there were some truly “ridiculous” stories. However, that often comes with long-running television shows. The writers get the opportunity to explore some more fringe content that a shorter-running television series wouldn’t have the chance to do. Some of the wildest Gunsmoke episodes came about thanks to the show’s well-known dramatic factor.

“We had a purely delightful show which had a ridiculous premise because with Gunsmoke you could do anything from the most intense melodrama to the wildest farce,” Mantley said. “We did one story about two ancient brothers who brought their 100-year-old father in because there was an outstanding warrant on him that was 60 years old!”

‘Gunsmoke’ producer John Mantley said some episodes failed because of actor availability

However, these “ridiculous” Gunsmoke episodes didn’t always work out. Mantley explained that some of them fail as a result of the actors involved. “We did have some clunkers,” Mantley admitted. “Sometimes there are clunkers because you just can’t get the actors.” Several of these stories ultimately relied on a specific actor that was in mind at the writing stage.

“We did lots of nonsense shows, but we did one of them about a [dwarf] who swore he was going to turn into an elephant on New Year’s Eve! The problem was that we couldn’t get the only really good little people actor, who would have been wonderful in the part. We had to settle for second best because we obviously couldn’t play it with anything but a [dwarf]. That actor didn’t work in the part at all.”

Producer John Mantley saw potential in writers with scripts that didn’t work for the show

Peel’s book explored how Mantley did see how Gunsmoke gave writers the opportunity to explore within the episodes. Not every script fit for the show, but he did pay attention to their potential. As a result, Mantley was able to pick out the best writers possible.

“We had our share of failures – everyone did – but we had such wonderful writers,” Mantley said. “They competed with one another. They were off and running.”

Mantley continued about writer Jim Byrnes: “He sent me a script about a trek, which was no good for Gunsmoke, but five pages in, I could see he was a wonderful writer. All of these talents came together to make what was the most exciting period of my life.”