rockquarry
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I watched the early Gunsmoke episodes when they came on the first time and then again in recent years as reruns. The Chester character seemed to me to be just short of worthless in a number of episodes, but after watching Gunsmoke for twenty years, I realized the Chester character was a good one overall.
However, in comparison with Matt Dillon's later sidekicks, Chester was easily the best of the bunch, with Quint a second. Festus would be a distant third simply because he overplayed the role far too often. A little bit of Festus was fine, but overplaying the half-wit demeanor took away from the show. He could have been a much better character. When Festus' dim-wit relatives visited Dodge City, that was a message to turn off the TV unless you wanted to watch a guaranteed loser of a show. Fortunately, Festus' kinfolks weren't on Gunsmoke enough to ruin the show.
By the time the Festus character came on the scene, Gunsmoke had already deteriorated somewhat from the noticeably better half-hour episodes. Thad was easily the worst of the bunch with Newly not far behind.
Despite some shortcomings, Gunsmoke was certainly the best of the TV westerns; way, way ahead of all the others.
However, in comparison with Matt Dillon's later sidekicks, Chester was easily the best of the bunch, with Quint a second. Festus would be a distant third simply because he overplayed the role far too often. A little bit of Festus was fine, but overplaying the half-wit demeanor took away from the show. He could have been a much better character. When Festus' dim-wit relatives visited Dodge City, that was a message to turn off the TV unless you wanted to watch a guaranteed loser of a show. Fortunately, Festus' kinfolks weren't on Gunsmoke enough to ruin the show.
By the time the Festus character came on the scene, Gunsmoke had already deteriorated somewhat from the noticeably better half-hour episodes. Thad was easily the worst of the bunch with Newly not far behind.
Despite some shortcomings, Gunsmoke was certainly the best of the TV westerns; way, way ahead of all the others.
