Back in 2004, CBS/Paramount released
3 Gunsmoke reunion telefilms on DVD, and then in 2005 they followed up with
Gunsmoke - The 50th Anniversary Collection, consisting of the first 2 "best-of" volumes from the long-running Western program. Now James Arness will be back on DVD as "Matt Dillon," and Amanda Blake returns as well as "Miss Kitty," on the 3rd "best of " volume from Paramount Home Entertainment.
September will see the release of
Gunsmoke - Volume 3: Director's Collection Edition. While the studio hasn't made it clear what the details of this release will be, we've heard rumors that this will be a collection of the favorite episodes of various directors of
Gunsmoke episodes. An extremely long list of people have directed episodes, including Sam Peckinpah, Marc Daniels, Richard Colla, Victor French, Peter Graves, William Conrad, and
Gunsmoke cast member Dennis Weaver. So if this gossip is accurate, it would be a very cool way to put together a "best of" release for a TV series. Especially one as long-lived (20 seasons!) as
Gunsmoke, where the studio is really reluctant to put out season sets (probably because of the commitment they would represent, would be our guess).
We're still waiting on the studio's formal description of this release, to see if the rumors are correct. We'll have all the info when this release becomes official and the rest of the info becomes known. Stay tuned!
