Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. In TV Guide′s April 17, 1993, issue celebrating 40 years of television, the all-time-best-TV programs were chosen. "No contest, this was the TV western."Entertainment Weekly ranked the premiere of Gunsmoke as No. 47 in the "100 Greatest Moments in Television".Entertainment Weekly, in 1998, ranked Gunsmoke as No. 16 in The 100 Greatest TV Shows of all time.In a 1998 TV Guide poll of 50,000, Gunsmoke was ranked as CBS's best western and James Arness was ranked as CBS's best "Gunslinger".In 1997, the episode "The Jailer" was ranked No. 28 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.In 2002, TV Guide ranked Gunsmoke as No. 40 in the 50 greatest television shows of all time.In 2013, TV Guide ranked it as #27 on their list of the 60 Best Series.In 2019, the radio episode "The Cabin" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".