Bret Maverick article/discussion link on Suite101

Enjoyed your article on suite 101. But I don't think it went deep enough. First, I think the show is fabulous and one of the most underrated shows of the last thirty years. However, if you read Ed Robertson's book, MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST,there seems to be a slight apathy towards it by those who were making it. For example,there seemed to be a "we painted ourselves in a corner" vibe to it because they settled Maverick down and were begging Roy Huggins to return for the second season to "bale them out". Huggins had a couple of disparaging things to say about it, most notably,that Maverick cannot settle down. I disagree. This is the Old West and a man 53 years old would be wise to settle down. Riding a horse all over the country at that age seemed a little much for a man of Maverick's sensibilities. The idea of the great traveller and con man settling down made a lot of sense to me. In the same book,the late Jack Kelly was interviewed about his appearance in the final episode and that he was to be a regular in the never produced second season. He commented that the show was not really Maverick in the sense that Maverick would never run a con for a con's sake, but rather as a means to an end for justice of some sort. While that may have been true for Bret's younger days, I felt that the idea of the cons in the new show provided Maverick with a retirement living. He DID need money and an income to maintain the Lazy Ace and he relied on his old skills to do so. Nothing wrong in that. He worked at it for years, like all the Mavericks do, apparently,in "dubious enterprises", so why not put those skills to use for your "declining years." So, on those two notions, and several others,this is an unfair view of a really fine program. You made an error in your article, however. The great Ramon Bieri played Elijha Crow,the very influential banker,not mayor,of Sweetwater.

It does need to released on DVD, along with the original series,in fact with EVERY Maverick series,just so we can enjoy the adventures of this remarkable and entertaining family.



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Nice write-up on a sometimes overlooked series. I was pleasantly surprised that Encore's Western Channel was showing this. They've also been showing on weekdays the orginal Maverick 3 times a day.

Cheers,

Chris

Just came across this. I'd be interested in your article, but Suite101 is long gone. If you kept a local copy, you might consider posting it somewhere else and giving us a new link.