Western
What was Gunsmoke based on? Start with why John Wayne introduced the first episode himself
Before James Arness ever pinned on the badge, CBS had been running Gunsmoke for three years already. On the radio. With a different Matt Dillon.
September 5, 2026 3:35 pm
Why was Gunsmoke canceled? The cast found out the same way the viewers did
Why Gunsmoke was canceled in 1975 after 20 seasons: CBS's abrupt decision, James Arness on learning the news from the trades, and why there was no finale.
August 25, 2026 11:30 am
Anime NYC: Netflix rolls out new lineup as it doubles down on anime
Netflix just leveled up its anime push with a fresh slate — here’s what’s coming.
August 23, 2026 11:52 am
Gunsmoke and gears collide in Netflix's Bass X Machina teaser packed with savage action
Settle in for Brian Tyree Henry chasing justice in Bass X Machina—just know Netflix’s frontier chaos isn’t far behind.
August 22, 2026 1:49 pm
What season did Gunsmoke go to color? The switch came right before CBS nearly killed the show
Gunsmoke ran 20 seasons, which means it spent more than half its life in black and white and the rest in color. The dividing line is easy to find, and the timing is almost comic. The show made the jump to color, and CBS immediately tried to cancel it.
August 22, 2026 10:17 am
Where My Life with the Walter Boys was filmed isn't Colorado — it isn't even the same country
Jackie Howard moves from Manhattan to a ranch outside Silver Falls, Colorado. The mountains behind the Walter house are real, the working ranch is real, and the high school is a real high school. The state, however, is not.
August 21, 2026 10:07 am
Gunsmoke: what happened to Sam? Viewers kept seeing him for months after the actor was gone
Sam Noonan poured drinks at the Long Branch Saloon for twelve years and 222 episodes. He never got a farewell scene, a written exit, or a mention of where he'd gone. The explanation isn't in the scripts. It's in the production schedule.
August 20, 2026 10:32 am
Which X-Men movies soar? All 14 ranked, worst to best
All 14 X-Men films go on the slab, from mutant misfires to superhero standouts—Deadpool, Logan, and Deadpool & Wolverine included—now guess what tops the list.
August 11, 2026 12:47 pm
How many Gunsmoke episodes was Burt Reynolds in?
Long before Smokey and the Bandit, Burt Reynolds was a working TV actor bouncing between one-off roles on Perry Mason and The Twilight Zone. Then, in the fall of 1962, Gunsmoke came calling — and gave him the part that made him a star.
August 9, 2026 9:34 am
The Lonesome Dove cast members who have died: a list that now includes Gus himself
When Lonesome Dove aired on CBS over four nights in February 1989, its cast looked like a Mount Rushmore of American acting. Thirty-seven years later, the miniseries is still widely called the greatest Western ever made for television — and the list of stars we've lost keeps growing.
August 7, 2026 10:12 am
What is Ransom Canyon about — and how close does it stay to the books?
If Yellowstone left a ranch-sized hole in your watchlist, Netflix has been aiming squarely at it. Ransom Canyon dropped its first season on April 17, 2025, became an instant hit, and returned with eight more episodes on July 23, 2026. Here's what the show actually is — and how faithful it stays to the novels it came from.
August 7, 2026 9:38 am
What is Lonesome Dove based on? McMurtry wrote it first as a movie for John Wayne
Before it was a Pulitzer-winning novel or the celebrated 1989 CBS miniseries, Lonesome Dove was a movie script sitting in a drawer at Warner Bros. — one with the biggest cast in Western history attached. And it died because one man said no.
July 31, 2026 5:08 pm
Why wasn't Godless renewed? Ratings had nothing to do with it
When Godless hit Netflix on November 22, 2017, it looked like the start of something big: a gorgeous seven-episode Western with Jeff Daniels as outlaw preacher Frank Griffin, Jack O'Connell as fugitive Roy Goode, and a mining town run almost entirely by women. Critics raved. Fans binged. And then — nothing. No season 2, ever. Here's why that was always the plan.
July 24, 2026 3:15 pm
How does Hell on Wheels end?
Hell on Wheels spent five seasons and 57 episodes on AMC building toward one date: May 10, 1869, the day the golden spike completed the Transcontinental Railroad. When the series finale, "Done," aired in July 2016, it opened with that ceremony at Promontory, Utah — and then asked the harder question.
July 24, 2026 2:58 pm
How many Gunsmoke episodes was Jack Elam in?
Few faces turned up in Dodge City more often than Jack Elam's. With that famous wandering left eye and a resume built on playing heavies, he was practically a Gunsmoke house guest across two decades. So how many episodes did he actually rack up?
July 22, 2026 2:23 pm
Why did Gunsmoke go off the air? The cast found out from the newspapers
For 20 seasons and 635 episodes, Gunsmoke was the closest thing American television had to a permanent fixture. Then, in the spring of 1975, it simply vanished — and the people who made it were among the last to know.
July 21, 2026 4:42 pm
Matt Damon says Bourne isn’t built for endless sequels like James Bond — here’s why the next one is so hard
Matt Damon says a new Jason Bourne is stalled — this isn’t James Bond, and the franchise won’t move without a must-make story to bring him back. He lays out the hurdle keeping Bourne offscreen and the one fix that could change everything.
July 17, 2026 6:42 pm
Who from Gunsmoke is still alive? Only one main cast member is left
Gunsmoke wrapped its 20-season run more than 50 years ago, so the sad math was always going to catch up eventually. As of mid-2026, it finally has.
July 17, 2026 12:18 pm
