Throughout the entire first half of 2025, reruns of Gunsmoke earned more streaming minutes than any of the super-expensive woke crap pumped out by the Disney Grooming Syndicate on Disney+.
Nielsen ranked the top 20 streaming programs for the first half of the year, and Disney+ earned just one title out of 20. Hilariously, it’s not even a Disney original show. Bluey is imported from Australia and distributed by Disney. It’s a sweet, little animated children’s show. It also ranked at number one on the streaming chart.
Other than that, the groomers got skunked.
Despite literally spending billions of dollars on a countless number of Marvel and Star Wars streaming shows, not a single one placed in the top 20, and yet a whole bunch of older shows did, including Grey’s Anatomy (#2), NCIS (#3), Family Guy (#4), Spongebob (#6), Criminal Minds (#13), and, yes, Gunsmoke (#18).
This isn’t a one-time blip. It’s not as if Peacock/Paramount+ made Gunsmoke available for streaming and there was a bump in interest. No, instead, a Western that has not been in production for half a century maintained its popularity for six whole months.
Gunsmoke first arrived on the scene in the form of a radio drama in 1952. Before it went off radio in 1963, 480 episodes were produced.
The television show premiered in 1955 and ran straight through to 1975 with 635 episodes. Unless you count the few seasons where Burt Reynolds appeared, there are no A-list stars. What you have in Gunsmoke is a traditional TV Western set in Dodge City, Kansas, starring James Arness as Sheriff Matt Dillon.
But.
What you also have in Gunsmoke is something sorely missing in television today, especially on Disney+, and that’s complicated but relatable characters who strive to do the right thing and are often faced with difficult choices. Gunsmoke has endured because its themes are timeless. It’s a mature, very well-written and acted drama that appeals to Normal People because it is about Normal People. There’s nothing simplistic about Gunsmoke. It is an impressive piece of human drama that understands human nature, which is something no one can say about the crap Disney+ produces, which is all about sexuality, identity politics, and political posturing.
Look at all the money Disney has spent on *deep breath* She-Hulk, Agatha All Along, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Acolyte, Lando, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, Ironheart, Moon Knight, Secret Invasion, etc.
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Look at all the hype those shows have received. Billions of dollars squandered…
And people still prefer a 70-year-old Western.
And why not? Gunsmoke is a great show, an appealing show with likable and relatable characters. Gunsmoke’s storytelling is also timeless…
A mouthy, strident, unappealing green woman twerking…? Not so much.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
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