Wish for Maverick Season Sets

I am really enjoying the uncut Maverick that is being shown on Encores Westerns. I assume they are uncut as they include a teaser at the beginning, which I have never seen before. They run almost 50 minutes.
I know Warners put out a sample set but nothing else. Cheyenne got a season 1 after a similar sample set. The show looks pretty good for a 51 year old TV show. Please Warner Bros release Maverick.

Re: Wish for Maverick Season Sets

Warner Bros have a treasure chest of classic TV Westerns and Detective Shows from 1955-1965.
They are a part of American Television History,which have also been recognised with various books for these WB TV Shows.
As of yesterday,CHEYENNE-The Complete First Season was still selling very well from Amazon (DVD'S Sales Ranking) in which they had to order more stock,as there was only 5 left.
There are no excuses for WB,they must release more of their classic tv shows or the people concerned should just hand in their resignations.

Re: Wish for Maverick Season Sets

I definitely would go for Maverick in a heartbeat too.

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At the risk of repeating myself, the absence of MAVERICK on DVD borders on dumbfounding. This is a very recognizable show with a popular theme and a very likable star.

Unfortunately James Garner's recent stroke now makes his participation on a Maverick set unlikely at best. That's a real shame.

Perhaps Paul Brownstein can pitch this to TL as a "complete series" set?

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I totally agree. And let's not forget that Roger Moore--James Bond-- was in it, too.

About the airings on Encore Westerns...are they completely uncut? The shows I watched were under 50 minutes and that seems awfully short for an hour program from the late 50s.

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Yeah I have a set of DVDs made from Columbia House Videos which are very good--and it is odd this thread appeared today as I watched the pilot yesterday and episode two today. I'd trade my copies in a heartbeat for unaltered factory DVDs.

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They come in right at 50 minutes, which is the same as "Alfred Hitchcock Hour" which is more or less from the same era.

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These copies I have are 49:40. Can't say they're complete, but have teasers and seem virtually complete.

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Hmmm maybe time compression? Well Id love to see Maverick on dvd there was a short time (freshman/ sophmore) in high school Old channel 9 in LA was showing in the afternoon episode of Maverick , then WWW and in the evening around 9pm I Spy , Ah those were the days . But serious I can figure out why Maverick hasnt come out on dvd ethier? Heck the could even get some english/europe interest int the release because of the early Rooger Moore appreances.

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The episodes on Encore don't seem time-compressed to me. And if they were, I assume they'd clock in at around 45-46 minutes.

I have a feeling the slightly-shorter running time may be due to clipping off the opening WB fanfare sequence, showing a bird's-eye view of the Warner lot, with the announcer saying, "From Warner Brothers studios in Hollywood, bladda-bladda-blah...", after the episode's preview scene, but before going into the Maverick opening title/theme music sequence proper.

These "studio" openings are on the TV FAVORITES: MAVERICK disc (albeit with the episodes featured being from Season 2), and I think they run for what seems to be the better part of a minute. I'll have to pull the disc out to check, but I can easily see that accounting for the missing minute or so on the Encore airings, unless the first season episodes originally opened differently than subsequent seasons (I've only previously seen the first season episodes when TV LAND reran them during the channel's early, better days).

Re: Wish for Maverick Season Sets

Seconded. I was very disappointed when the Maverick Television Favorites didn't result in the release of season sets.

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Re: Wish for Maverick Season Sets

Weren't television shows in the 50s generally sponsored by only one company per show? With a single commercial break every so often? If that's so, then a good 5 minutes is missing from the shows we're seeing now. Is there anyone who can answer this question? Perhaps someone who used to watch the show when it first aired, or has seen other hour-long programs from that era and knows about the advertising? I'm just not convinced that these are uncut, as 10 minutes out of an hour is a LONG time for advertising back in the 50s.

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I think commercial breaks were every 15 minutes . Breaks at the half hour were twice as long as at 15 and 45 minutes after the hour. The half hour break included local spots. There would also have been an announcement at the end saying this was an ABC film presentation . Also stay tuned for whatever followed on most of these ABC stations. This would have been after the show and not over the ending credits. There are also breaks between shows which included local sponsors.
A show might end at 58 minutes after the hour. There would be 2 minutes of commercials and then the next show started. I have never heard of an hour show running 55 minutes without commercials. I don't think 50 minutes is short for an hour show even in the 1950's. Of course this is just speculation.
Does anyone know of any hour shows from the 1950's that ran longer than about 50 minutes?

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I agree that 50 minutes seems about right. The half-hour Alfred Hitchcock Presents shows from the 1950's run 25 to 26 minutes. The Alfred Hitchcock Hour from the early 1960's run about 50 to 51 minutes.

I also don't see any reason why these should be edited versions. There aren't any commercials on Encore Westerns that would lead them to use shorter "syndication" cuts are there?

That said, I don't know for sure.

EDIT: I notice that the total runtime of the Maverick (TV favorites) DVD is 149 minutes (3 episodes). I don't own it but that's what Amazon.com lists.

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I think that part of the problem is that James Garner only appeared in half of the season spisodes and left the show after 3 seasons. I don't believe that Warner is sold on Jack Kelly. When Maverick was revived, it became a vehicle for Garner. Also the Television Features dvd had Garner playing a major role in all three while Jack Kelly played a major role in 2 out of 3. Also the last 2 seasons, the show limped along.

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Hmmmm maybe all I know is maverick was lots of fun to watch and I sure if the show was treated with some repect (even the level of the Streets of San Francisco releases) alot of fans of tv westerns would line up to buy season sets of maverick. I know for example if cbs started up again with HGWT or who ever going to take over the Rifleman they are all sure fire buys because the story telling and acting of all those shows are far superior in terms enterianment and stand up to repeat viewing compaired to the run of the mill crap that pass off of tv shows today. Im sure there a audience out there the sets just need to be released.

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I agree with Garysb and Peter. There were also bumpers leading into and coming out of commercial breaks in the original network versions: "And now for the next act of Maverick". A complete Warner Bros show, whether it be Hawaiian Eye, 77 Sunset Strip, or Maverick with all the
trimmings, would max out at about 51:45, maybe 52:00. Since Encore doesn't air commercials, these are the missing pieces, not episode content, I believe. Too bad they cut the opening studio sequence though. This has been the trend, going back to the ALTV/Goodlife airings.

Maybe I am forgetting, but did the vocals on the closing credits start after the first season? I noticed the early episodes used the instrumental version. Thought maybe there was rights issue happening with Encore. I seem to recall the vocals in the first season. I'll check my old tapes.

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I tell you what these episodes are as smart as I remember them being twenty years ago. The collection I have is hit or miss in terms of quality, but man are these episodes good.

I just got through watching episode 3 "According To Hoyle" and guess who was in it? Dr. Richard Kimble's wife! Diane Brewster!

Re: Wish for Maverick Season Sets

I live in the UK and don't get the Encore channel unfortunately, so can't say for sure, but I do have the Columbia House videos which were uncut & from the comments made ,it would seem the the Encore versions are complete except for the Warner fanfare & bumpers.

As for the theme song, this didn't arrive till S2. There were actually 3 versions of it, the first on the episode 'The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick',this was used only once Thereafter a more robust version was used for the remaining episodes on S2 .3 & 4. A third version was used on S5.
When the series was syndicated some markets dubbed this version over S1 episodes which were purely instrumental.

As for Warner Bros - their lack of enthusiasm for DVD releases of their vintage western & detective shows is deplorable. The market for them will decline year on year as the baby boomers age & there needs to be some movement now if they ever hope to cash in on this material. I am puzzled as to why Paramount can make money from their old catalogue whilst WB show such disinterest.

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Indeed, and it seems to be just the opposite for theatrical movies. WB does very well with classic movies while Paramount has largely treated their catalog with disdain in recent years.

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I taped the Maverick marathon that Encore westerns ran on July 4. The later season episodes included the Warner Bros. fanfare with the shot of the Warner Bros. studio. I would say they didn't use the fanfare in during the first season.
The last season of Maverick, Season 5, was really half a season as they alternated between new Jack Kelly episodes and reruns with James Garner.
I am guessing that some of the old James Garner episodes may have been changed to include Warner fanfare and perhaps the theme song with lyrics when shown during the fifth season.

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Dumbasses are in charge?

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There must be a reason, valid or not. But if they wait much longer their target audience will be dead.

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Yes sad but true, which is why all the studios need to get off their collective asses and release the great classic tv shows they have in there valuts so they can start making $$$$$$$.

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The comments of Peter, Tom, and others got me to check a couple of copies I have of the show with nearly all of the bumpers, etc. It would appear that later Maverick episodes are longer. I didn't tape the July 4 marathon on Encore, but I noticed in their online schedule that the later-season episodes aired that day had run times in the 50:00-51:00 range. My Columbia House tapes of the early episodes run less than 50:00, IIRC.

My nearly uncut copy of season one's "The Naked Gallows" runs 50:19 and has the following: a teaser (0:47); the title card with the silhouetted card player at right (and a "Maverick" voice-over); a card that says "starring James Garner and Jack Kelly" (no v-o); a WB shield with the "produced by Warner Brothers" v-o; a shot of the WB studios with the v-o "from the entertainment capital of the world, produced for television by Warner Brothers"; and the title card again with the theme song.

I think the teaser and the second title card are all that appear at the opening of the Encore episodes. Then (on my copy) there's a dissolve into the episode as Garner introduces the Bart Maverick plot that follows, with the episode title and another Kelly credit appearing. I flipped through the episode and saw only two end-of-the-act bumpers, so I think its run time really should be 50:25 or more. Each act ended with the silhouetted-card-player (sans "Maverick" title) and a brief music cue. One new act began with a slightly different cue and a shot of the end-credit card (a noose), showing the episode's title and with the v-o, "now, for the next act of Maverick." A later bumper was the same, except the v-o was "now, back to Maverick." The end-title theme was an instrumental.

Strip away all of that extra stuff, and you've got a run time in the 49:40 range.

My copy of a Robert Colbert episode from season four, "Benefit of Doubt," runs 52:05. The teaser is only 25 seconds long. Most of the elements are the same as above, except the "entertainment capital" bit is shortened to "a Warner Brothers television production." There were three end-of-the-act bumpers, all like the shorter version described above. The end theme had lyrics.

Another note: Encore once aired time-sped but likely uncut episodes of Combat!, but usually there are no problems with their prints. They can only air what the studio gives them, such as the same main title plastered on all five seasons of The Rifleman.

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My thinking is, no time-compression on the Encore broadcasts. (Even though, having just digested the first season of "The Rockford Files," I found the younger James Garner's voice suspiciously high-pitched.)

I didn't record any of the July 4 marathon episodes, but so far the first season shows have all come in within a few seconds of 49:20. The three episodes on the WB TV Favorites DVD, which are also stripped of all bumpers, promos, etc., all time out around 49:15. Yes, those 3 episodes are from seasons 2-3 and theoretically could've had shorter original runtimes, but I'm going with Occam's razor here: the almost-matching times suggests no cuts or speedup.

I didn't record "Maverick" when it was on the Goodlife/American Life Channel (naively assuming that DVD sets HAD to be forthcoming at some point), but every other hourlong WB show from the 50s-60s came in between about 46:30 and 47:45, and the time-compression had a noticeable bounce effect. So if any tinkering has been done with the masters Encore is using, it's extremely slight by comparison.

49:20 does seem pretty short for a 1957 show, but WB was all about self-promotion and $$$ even then, so perhaps their hours had more time given over to ads & trailers than some of their competition. You'd have to find a film print with the original commercials to check that, I guess. Where's "Hank Dearborn" when you need him?

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Hank is no longer here, unfortunately.

The comparisons I've seen on this thread are between the Encore airings and the Columbia House videos. But does anyone know for sure that the CH videos are uncut? Every hour long show I've ever seen from the 50s had four 1-minute breaks. Remember, commercials between shows were very short at that time, too. Commercials didn't begin to overtake television shows until the 70s.

Not trying to be argumentative; I just have a nagging feeling that we're not getting complete -- or possibly regular speed -- episodes here. They seem to be already cut for syndication.

Re: Wish for Maverick Season Sets

Upon further review, I've noticed that the "entertainment capital" spiel appeared on Encore's copy of the fifth episode, "The Long Hunt." Maybe this was used periodically when the show was first broadcast, or perhaps it doesn't survive on all prints.

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I haven't seen Maverick on Encore Westerns yet, though I'm going to check it out today. I am old enough to remember the original series, though.

My recollection is that the principal advertisers were Kaiser Aluminum and Willys Motor Company (which manufactured the Jeep until Willys was sold to American Motors in 1970). In fact, there was a Jeep model called the "Maverick Special." There were fewer commercials in those days but they tended to run longer than today's commercials.

YouTube - Maverick TV Commercial

Also, I believe that most episodes included a preview of the following week's episode. And when the show returned from a commercial break, the announcer would say something along the lines of "Now we return to Maverick," or there was a musical transition from the commercial to the show.

Re: Wish for Maverick Season Sets

I second that. Encore ran "Alias Smith & Jones" a few years ago, and the prints were beautiful, uncut, and not sped up. They had the correct opening segments for each season; they even had the original Universal logo at the end, which the season 1 DVDs do not have. (The only thing they didn't have were the two 90-minute episodes.) I will definitely have to check into getting a DVR going on "Maverick," if Warners isn't going to give us a proper release on DVD.

BTW, in the book Alias Smith & Jones: The Story of Two Pretty Good Bad Men, there's a nice little section detailing various bits of "Maverick" plots that wound up being repurposed in AS&J scripts. Roy Huggins commented that he was constantly plagiarizing from himself!