In a 1993 TV Guide article, Gunsmoke, the longest running Western drama, as well as the longest running prime-time show with continuing characters in history (from 1955 to 1975), was named one of the "All-Time-Best TV Programs." The magazine was succinct: "No contest, this was THE TV Western." The series marked a revolutionary approach to a familiar Westerns formula, and its popularity, which led to extensive merchandising that included Matt Dillon dolls, Gunsmoke trading cards, and comic books, precipitated a rash of TV Westerns—so much so, that at one point there were approximately 30 prime time contributions to the genre.

Originating as the vanguard of the "adult Western," the show had its genesis as a CBS radio drama that began in 1952, and endeavored to bring realism—and considerable violence—to standard heroics, claiming in its opening narration to be "the story of the violence that moved west and the man that...