Re: Wish for Maverick Season Sets
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.
. 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. 
