carols_stuff | Oct. 19th, 2008

Maverick

Maverick is a comedy-western television series created by Roy Huggins that ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and featured James Garner, Jack Kelly, Roger Moore, and Robert Colbert as the poker-playing traveling Mavericks (Bret, Bart, Beau, & Brent). Moore and Colbert were later additions, though there were never more than two current Mavericks in the series at any given time, and sometimes only one.

Maverick told the story of Bret Maverick, a card shark who lived during the Old West era. The show was originally a straightforward tale of his adventures, but it evolved when the writers began adding comedy into the scripts. Bret quickly became the television western's first mercenary, a character who would help the forces of justice only if he stood to profit from doing so. When he did have to use a gun, he wasn't much of a marksman. In fact, he was much more likely to slip out the backdoor when trouble began instead of sticking around for the fight. The writers also added a straight man for Bret in the form of his brother, Bart. He was more conservative than the devilish Bret, but just as unlikely to join any fight that he could avoid. The two characters began alternating as leads on the show as they journeyed through small towns with odd names like Oblivion and Apocalypse. Along the way, they associated with fellow card sharks like Dandy Jim Buckley and Gentleman Jack Darby.