Show notes provided by Joe Peluso:
"As my old pappy used to say, work is fine for killin' time, but it's a shaky way to make a living." Brett Maverick as portrayed by the great James Garner
And WORK they did! From James Garner to Lorne Greene, from Michael Landon to Clint Walker, from Miss Barbara Stanwyck to Melody Patterson, the working actors of Hollywood turned the scripts of numerous writers into a passel of TV episodes that lassoed a nation of eager viewers for over two decades. Would the affable Brett Maverick parlay a sawbuck into a small fortune needed to rebuild an orphanage? Could The Virginian and Trampas lead a crew of cowpokes on a seemingly endless trek that drove 5000 head of prime beef from Medicine Bow, Wyoming to Abilene, Kansas before the winter snows set in? And would Captain Parmenter ever wise up to the shenanigans of Sgt. O'Rouke and Cpl. Agarn in and around Fort Courage?
Join your two favorite bronco-busting ranch hands, Richie and Joe, as they ride the frontier landscape that was the AmericanTV Western. Unforgettable larger-than-life characters, harsh landscapes fraught with famine and peril, unbridled lawlessness, and passion, and countless acts of selfless heroism were all part and parcel of a typical night of TV watching in the 1950s and 1960s.
From Saturday morning kiddie fare (The Lone Ranger and Fury) to prime-time "adult westerns" Maverick and Bonanza),
the genre never ceased to amaze and entertain its loyal viewers.
With A-list guest stars and talented newcomers (Burt Reynolds, Steve McQueen, and Clint Eastwood, to name a few), TV westerns told bold tales of courage, tolerance, friendship, and compassion. Sure, there was the occasional shoot-em-up, and the "treeing of a town" now and again, but the weekly efforts of Ben Cartwright, Marshall Matt Dillon, Victoria Barkley, and Judge Henry Garth paved the way over the dusty trails to a more civilized western frontier. And we loved it!!
What else is there left to say but, "Who was that masked man?"
