Gunsmoke season 9

Gunsmoke is an American Western television series developed by Charles Marquis Warren and based on the radio program of the same name. The series ran for 20 seasons, making it the longest-running Western in television history.

The first episode of season 9 aired in the United States on September 28, 1963, and the final episode aired on June 6, 1964. All episodes were broadcast in the U.S. by CBS.

Season 9 of Gunsmoke was the third season of one hour episodes filmed in black-and-white. Seasons 1-6 were half-hour episodes, and color episodes were not filmed until season 12.

Synopsis
Gunsmoke is set in and around Dodge City, Kansas, in the post-Civil War era and centers on United States Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) as he enforces law and order in the city. In its original format, the series also focuses on Dillon's friendship with three other citizens of Dodge City: Doctor Galen "Doc" Adams (Milburn Stone), the town's physician; Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake), saloon girl and later owner of the Long Branch Saloon; and Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver), Dillon's assistant. In season eight, a fifth regular character was added to the cast: blacksmith Quint Asper (Burt Reynolds), who remained until the end of season ten. Dennis Weaver left the series during season nine and was replaced by Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen, who became deputy to Marshal Dillon.

Main

 * James Arness as Matt Dillon
 * Dennis Weaver as Chester
 * Milburn Stone as Doc
 * Amanda Blake as Kitty
 * Ken Curtis as Festus
 * Burt Reynolds as Quint Asper

Production
Season 9 consisted of 36 one hour black-and-white episodes produced by Norman Macdonnell and Frank Paris as associate producer.

Casting
Season 9 incorporated a number of casting changes. It introduced Burt Reynolds as regular character Quint Asper. Dennis Weaver left the series after episode 28, "Bently", and his role as Chester was replaced by Ken Curtis as Festus, although Curtis also appears in early in the season as another character in episode 2. The last credits of recurring character Moss Grimmick (George Selk) was in episode 26, "Caleb".ix appearances in the series.

Episode 10, "Extradition (part 1)" marks the first time a special guest star's name is included in the opening credits.

John Newman is the first black actor to be listed in the closing credits on a Gunsmoke episode, in episode 30, "The Promoter".

Writing
Occasionally, titles were re-used. Season 9 included two such episodes: episode 16, "Prairie Wolfer" was also the title of season 13, episode 10; and episode 34, "Homecoming" was also the title of season 18, episode 16.

Broadcast
Season nine aired Saturdays at 10:00-11:00 pm (EST) on CBS.

The episode "Owney Tupper Had a Daughter", which aired April 4, 1964, as episode 27 had originally been scheduled to air on November 23, 1963, but was pre-empted due to the coverage of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Home media
The ninth season was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment in a two volume set on August 6, 2013.

Reception
Gunsmoke season 9 fell to number 20 in the Nielsen ratings.