The Wiving

This is one of those episodes that a viewer is going to really like or absolutely despise. There is not much middle ground to this show since a viewer really does not know how to take this show. Was it a drama or an all out comedy? It was very hard to decide.

The story was good but it really came down to the actors in the story. The young people made the show entertaining but one actor seemed to overplay his part. Now, I am a fan of Harry Morgan but in this show Harry Morgan's push way too far to make his character unrealistically funny. Instead his character came across as Rip Van Winkle on speed- which in turn made the show almost unbearable. But if you overlook Morgan's acting the show really is a nice story about love in the old west. And anytime love is found it is hard to be negative about the outcome.

While most hated this episode I wonder if Miss Kitty, Amanda Blake, had been it this what the reviews would have said. While far from my favorite, it is a big change of pace from the start of Gunsmoke.

At this time period tv westerns were on the decline. I watched this a total of 4 times and still have good and bad to say bout it. I was surprised to see Victor French directed this episode.

Watching Harry Morgan in his actions when talking and yelling it reminds me of a few Mash episodes he was in. The three girls to be married are attractive and that is a plus. At the best it has a few comical scenes. The outcome becomes predictable near the end. It is not a normal Gunsmoke episode do not expect much in the Gunsmoke story lines of the past.

Yes in our modern age this story is totally unbelievable as is the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which this was obviously taken from.

But neither is it realistic (as portrayed in many period westerns) that prostitutes in a saloon were all young, pretty things that some guy would rescue and marry. Most were older, homely and poor, without family to care for them. They were often alcoholics or drug addicts, not unlike today, abused by men, carrying diseases and selling their bodies to pay for a flop house bed or another drink. But who's going to watch a series that shows that? So some of you need to lighten up. Back when this show first aired, girls weren't as jaded as today and still believed that a prince might show up and take them away. So I'm not really surprised that this episode was popular back then, although the tale seems unrealistic and corny now. Also, keep in mind with the makeup and the sets, the age of digital TV has spoiled the illusion.

This was an okay, light-hearten romp, although having Amanda Blake gone really makes the show moot. What's the point when there's no flirtation between Matt and Kitty?

Even with the versitle Harry Morgan doing his best, this is likely the hardest show of the entire series to watch. This is after Amanda Blake departed, and the new female lead just does not come close to filling the void. As for the story of kidnapping four women to make them brides seems to rush to the end. So much happens in a single overnight visit, that it simply is too much to swallow. To be honest, this episode is one of the worst written I have ever seen. It is more like "Gilligan's Island" than a Gunsmoke episode.

In response to the previous reviews, I always saw this episode as a take-off on the 50's musical, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". They just shortened it to four (including the father) for the sake of an hour-long episode.

"Seven Brides" was based on an ancient Roman story called "The Rape of the Sabine Women", which I think was written by Plutarch or Livy or one of those people. So perhaps the writers were simply trying to expose the viewers to some classic literature. Or at least to a classic musical. Or maybe by the 20th season of Gunsmoke, they were just running out of ideas. LOL.