It’s curious that “Gunsmoke” isn’t talked about more in the modern pop discourse, given how persistent and ubiquitous it once was. Perhaps “Gunsmoke” is seen as something of a relic because Westerns, as many famous ones as there are, aren’t dominating the present-day landscape. If “Gunsmoke” were a sci-fi or superhero show, many pundits might be pointing to it as a precedent for everything that is currently popular. The long-running Western, however, still kind of is. Its characters and settings — having so deeply entrenched themselves into the zeitgeist over a full two decades of airtime — can serve as a widespread template for just about everything that came after. “Gunsmoke” is one of televised medium’s grandparents. It ran on the radio from 1951 until 1961, and on TV from 1955 until 1975 when it was somewhat abruptly canceled.
For those unfamiliar, “Gunsmoke” takes place in Dodge City, Kansas in the years following the U.S. Civil War. The main character is U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon, a clean, square, morally resolute hero played by James Arness. Matt’s semi-comedic deputies, Chester and Festus, were played by Dennis Weaver and Ken Curtis (who joined the series in 1964). Matt’s closest friends were the town’s doctor, Doc Adams (Milburn Stone), and the friendly bar owner Miss Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake). The show was mostly about maintaining peace and enforcing the law.
The relationship between Matt and Miss Kitty was always a matter of some speculation. Many viewers were certain that they shared a romantic regard and that they should get married. Others, however, felt that their relationship wasn’t anything more than an intense friendship with occasional flirting mixed in. After 20 seasons on the air together, though, the pair never hooked up. Ever since, fans of “Gunsmoke” have wondered why Matt and Kitty didn’t at least have one wild fling.
Arness was interviewed in 2006 for SCV (handily transcribed on Arness’ official website) and he had his own theory. In short, Arness felt that it would have altered the very premise of “Gunsmoke” to have Matt and Kitty marry.
James Arness felt that Gunsmoke would have changed too much if Matt and Kitty got married
Arness, as one might imagine, had a unique insight into U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon. The actor felt his character was too professional and too devoted to his work to marry. Matt was a lawman first and everything else second. Arness couldn’t have imagined a steely, old-world loner like Matt also being a husband. When asked directly why Matt and Kitty never married, Arness answered plainly:
“The short answer there is that I think it just would have changed the whole premise of the show. The idea was that Matt had this job that he had to do, which was potentially a dangerous job, and you would have had a different show if he had been married and had kids. I think, over the years, everybody realized that Matt and Kitty had a close relationship; they really cared for each other and all. But it just wouldn’t have worked, really, to have him be a married man or with kids.”
Matt Dillon, Arness recognized, served as a very particular masculine archetype, the type of “brave frontiersman” that fundamentally didn’t have room in his life for anything other than law or structure. See also: Captain Kirk from “Star Trek” or James Bond. These characters never “settled down” because they were too intensely focused on their jobs. To have a character like Matt Dillon get married would have revealed a softness to his heart and a re-focus of his priorities. And while a softness of heart and re-focus of priorities would have denoted an interesting character development, it wasn’t what Arness wanted to see on “Gunsmoke.” He felt it would have been too much of a shift.
Also, it was easy for Matt to avoid marriage because his relationship with Miss Kitty rarely left the “moon-eyed gazing” phase. Besides, if nothing happened after 20 years, my guess is Miss Kitty would have moved on to someone more decisive.