Sunday, January 18, 2009

Maverick, The TV Show



I've been watching Maverick from Netflix. This was the show that launched James Garner's career, though I think Jack Kelly was pretty good, too.

The Maverick boys, Bret and Bart, got by in the Old West by gambling. They made money and lost money. They ran crooked cons and generally raised mayhem. One of the things about the new media is that old shows that were inaccessable are now available. I especially like that I can see the show in the order of the episodes.

I like the conning, the skulldugery and the comedy. The heros of this show get by through outwitting their enemies rather than outfighting them. This puts more demands on the plotting the storyline, hence more more demands on good scripts.

One big point. Too much is made of the acting. Yes, it is important but the writing is even more important. Regretabbly, Warner Bros. skimped on the writing in the later episodes and this is a big reason why James Garner and Roger Moore left. Watch the first three seasons. After that, well . . .

You can watch by buying DVD's Maverick (Television Favorites), or by subscribing to Blockbuster or Netflix. Netflix has instant streaming to the computer.

The above video gives you a flavor for the show. Wikipedia has a nice article.

1 comments:

sweetpea said...

The original Maverick TV show is being shown on Encore Westerns on cable TV in the original order the shows were broadcast.