No season sets for Maverick ? (1 Viewer)

[Garysb]

Per tvshowsondvd.com Warners is releasing a 3 episode disk of James Gardner's Maverick . I am very disappointed they are not releasing a season 1 box set.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3368

 

[JeffWld]

Warner Bros. is obviously testing the waters with this one. They still don't seem to be convinced that a show of this vintage is market viable these days, especially since it is in (gasp) black-and-white.

 

[Angela_K]

I think if it were me, I'd take a set like this to show them that it would sell, instead of them releasing a season set, and it not selling and get no more seasons. So I'd take testing the waters first

 

[Tory]

Funny, I would have bought this but I will not touch it like this. I am not alone in that aspect, it does not present an accurate view of the interested parties as many would only buy a real solid season release, or half a season I guess, if the number of episodes in a season are too many. I have always wanted to see this series but I want to see it complete.

 

[Jeff#]

There are dozens of episodes of MAVERICK that Columbia House Video put out on VHS in the 1990s. Didn't they duplicate a bunch on DVD as well?

By the way, one episode "Duel at Sundown" from 1958, guest starring Clint Eastwood can be found as an extra on the deluxe edition of the Academy Award winning film Unforgiven.

 

[Steve...O]

If it turns out that Warners is only doing this skimpy 3 episode collection, I will be highly disappointed. I had been looking forward to a Maverick DVD set ever since the USA Today article said it was coming. I'm hoping that this is just a sampler collection.

I don't think that the fact this is in B&W is causing WB any pause. The show and star (James Garner) are both very well known. Even people who haven't seen the show probably know who Garner is and have at least heard of it. WB is also releasing the B&W 1st season of "Adventures of Superman".

Steve

 

[Jeff Willis]

Count me in on wanting a season release. I'm not a fan of "best of" or limited sets except for when they release both at the same time. An example would be "The Pretender". They released a "sampler" set and S1 at the same time. That makes sense to me to give anyone a choice to see if they would like to buy an entire series. Perhaps that's what WB is doing with this. We'll hope for the best. It would be hard to believe that WB isn't sure of the appeal for this series given the status of its star. Strange?

 

[Jeff#]

If they saw the Mel Gibson / Jodie Foster feature film remake of Maverick from the 1990s or even the 1980s Bret Maverick NBC sequel series, then they will know exactly who James Garner is and what this comedy-western is all about.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Do you mean to tell me that after years of waiting for this series on DVD we're getting a grand total of ... three episodes ????

Sheesh!!!

I am beyond disgusted with this decision!

The time to have "test the waters" was about three years ago when vintage TV on DVD was a concept still in its infancy. At this point, *nothing less* than the first half of season one (about 16 episodes) should be expected.

I will purchase this disc to show that I have an interest in the series, but this exercise should not have been necessary at this point in the "TV-on-DVD" entertainment cycle.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

I'm also quite disappointed with this marketing decision (though, admittedly, some MAVERICK is better than no MAVERICK at all*). Despite the fact that Warner has a huge library of TV to draw from, MAVERICK is one of the very few TV series they control that I know I want to own in season sets. If New Line can give us a season one set of WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, and Paramount can give us two seasons (so far) of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, why can't Warner deliver a chronological first season (or even a half-season) set of classic MAVERICK? Makes no sense to me.

* with the sole exception being the episode, "Duel at Sundown", included as an extra on the UNFORGIVEN: SE dvd.

 

[Lutz Koch]

I too am extremely disappointed with this announcement. Sure, I'll buy the 3-episode "sampler" to show my interest, but WB should really know better. I'll bet there are many fans of vintage classic b/w TV shows out there, waiting desperately for the release of their old-time favorites, and Maverick is definitely one of mine. I own each and every one of the 25 VHS tapes Columbia House released, and I bought taped-from-TV copies of most of the remaining episodes from other collectors, that's how much I love this show. C'mon WB, no more stalling, we want complete season sets of Maverick! (And while I'm on the subject, I want complete season sets of 77 Sunset Strip too...).

 

[Paul Miller]

I think some of you guys are over reacting. This is clearly a sampler set to test the waters to see if there is interest in the show. They are doing the same thing with Welcome Back Kotter.


Paul

 

[Jeff#]

MAVERICK had a few recurring guest characters making occasional, sporadic appearances. Those characters are all con artists not much unlike the Maverick brothers, including "Gentleman" Jack Darby (played by Richard Long), "Dandy" Jim Buckley (Efrem Zimablist, Jr.) and Samantha Crawford (Diane Brewster).

You can see Samantha in "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" from the second season in the new 3 episode sample pack, however she first appeared a year earlier in the third episode of the series "According to Hoyle". That's also when she and Bret first meet.

For that reason it makes sense to get entire seasons in filmed order ...even though the stories (before James Garner quit the series in 1960) from the first 3 years+ can really be seen in any order. I know Roger Moore joined as cousin Beau Maverick at the start of the 4th season in "The Bundle from Britain", but an episode from the 3rd season with Bret aired after that in the original run. This too can be justified because Bret survived the run of the series, so his adventures on the trail can be seen at any point in time!

James Garner returned to the role in TV revivals such as The New Maverick in 1978 co-starring Jack Kelly as brother Bart and Charles Frank as Ben Maverick in what was a 2 hour pilot, briefly in the the first episode of Frank's series Young Maverick in 1979, and was the star again facing middle age and settling in a small town when he buys an Arizona saloon in Bret Maverick for 19 episodes in 1981-82 (in which his brother Jack played a bartender and in a 2-parter, Jack Kelly guest starred as Bart). In 1993 Jim even played a sheriff who turned out to be Mel Gibson's pappy in the feature film version of Maverick. Of course that could only mean that Mel's character was really Bret Maverick, Jr!

 

[Lutz Koch]

Which 2-parter was that? I think I saw the complete run of Bret Maverick and Jack Kelly only ever appeared in a very brief cameo in the last scene of the final episode. There were plans to have Jack Kelly be a regular again in the second season which, unfortunately, never materialized.

Jim Garner playing pappy in the 1993 movie version doesn't necessarily mean that Mel Gibson was Bret jr. Remember that Jim once played pappy in the original series, too!

But this is getting way off topic, of course...

 

[Jeff#]

Yep, Garner played Bret's father as well as Bret in the 3rd season premiere "Pappy"! In the feature film decades later, he played Marshal Zane Cooper. At the end of the movie, Cooper revealed that he was using a fake name. Bret Maverick (Mel Gibson) looks over at Garner and calls him "Pappy"! That's why it seemed to me and no doubt a lot of other Maverick fans that Garner was actually playing Bret Maverick again, making Gibson's character his son. It was a nice twist ending that made the movie more credible, instantly connecting it to earlier incarnations. The reason behind that? Bret, Sr. didn't want his sly moneymaking past to haunt him, so taking another identity (the kind no other Maverick would ever make a career out of) gave him some peace of mind and less likely to run into old adversaries he beat in poker games and / or swindled. Another reason he would become a lawman is because in his old age, Bret wanted some excitement in his life. Whether he sold the Sweetwater Saloon or not is anyone's guess.

However, I forgot that in BRET MAVERICK Jack Kelly was just in one episode "The Hidalgo Thing", but there was a 2-parter called "Faith , Hope and Charity".

I looked at the episode guide to double check. It's been a lot of years since I saw NBC's reruns of BRET MAVERICK! I didn't catch it in first-run in 1981-1982, but many years later during one summer NBC actually rebroadcast selected episodes of the show in primetime.

 

[Rick P]

Ah yes, the Maverick boys.. somwhere in the back of my mind (way back there in the dusty cobwebs) I remember an episode with Brett, Bart and their british cousin Beau (Roger Moore).. and to add confusion, we have Pappy Maverick, GrandPappy Maverick and Uncle Maverick (Beau's father) played of course by James Garner, Jack Kelly and Roger Moore! Six Mavericks! Three Actors! and confusion reigns!

 

[Garysb]

A guess about Maverick is that Warners doesn't want to release any James Garnerless sets. Since he left after the 1959-1960 season (Season 3), I doubt there will be much interest in the last 2 seasons 1960-1961 and 1961-1962 .

Per IMDb:
In 1960, James Garner sued the Warner Brothers studio for breach of contract, arising from his suspension during the writers' strike of that year. Warner claimed that there were no scripts available during the strike, and were, therefore justified in suspending Garner without pay. However, it was learned during court testimony that the studio had secretly obtained approximately 100 television scripts during the strike. Eventually, the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled in favor of Garner, and he was released from his contract with the series.

 

[Jeff#]

I remember reading an article from an old TV GUIDE in which Garner was interviewed on the subject at the time. He was one of the first TV actors to sue a studio for Breach of Contract. Another was Clint Walker of the Warner Bros. TV series Cheyenne During that time he was replaced on the show by another actor in another role. However, Clint settled with the studio and soon returned. Cheyenne is rarely seen in syndication, but lasting 8 years it's the longest-running WB series from that era.

Regarding MAVERICK on home video, I believe that if Warner Bros. decides to release entire seasons that the 4th and 5th even without Garner will have appeal. There was still quality writing and good performances in the next to last year, and because of his later success as Simon Templar in THE SAINT and as 007 in 7 James Bond movies. Roger Moore's name can sell that season. Bot Moore left before the end of the 4th year, and Robert Colbert was in 2 or 3 episodes as American cousin Brent Maverick, but he didn't work out.

The 5th season actually only had 12 original episodes -- all with Jack Kelly. To fill out that last year, reruns from the first 3 years with Garner aired in the original run so their names were switched in the 1961-62 season credits (Kelly first and Garner after). So the fifth season with only a dozen episodes will be a bargain on DVD, likely to go at half the price of the previous years.

 

[Jeff#]

First of all, there is no way James Garner could have played Beau's father because Beau and Bret were never seen together. However, Bart and Beau had some stories that they were teamed up in.

Roger Moore did appear with James Garner and Jack Kelly in 1958 in the episode "The Rivals", but Moore played a different character. It wasn't until 2 years later,soon after Garner quit the show that Moore joined the series as Beau Maverick. It was actually his third TV series, the first two being Ivanhoe in England and Moore's first Warner Bros. series The Alaskans.

Brent Maverick (Robert Colbert, who was later in The Time Tunnel was in just a couple of episodes.

So that's Bret, Bart, their Pappy, Beau, and Brent. Just 5 Mavericks in the original series. But yes, it is 6 if you include Ben Maverick from the late 1970s revival Young Maverick played by Charles Frank. Hmmm....He hasn't been reading my earlier posts!