Maverick

<p>Airing on ABC from 1957 to 1962<em> Maverick</em> appeared at a key moment in television Western history and provided a distinct alternative to the genre’s usual moralistic lawmen in its hero Bret Maverick. A non-violent gambler and part-time con man Maverick’s principles revolved around pleasure and not power and he added humor satire and irony to the usually grim-faced Western. In this study of <em>Maverick </em>author Dennis Broe details how the popular series mocked altered and undermined the characteristics of other popular Westerns like <em>Gunsmoke</em> and <em>Bonanza.</em> Broe highlights the contributions made by its creators its producer Roy Huggins and its lead actor James Garner to a format that was described as “the American fairy tale.”<br /><br />Broe describes how Garner and Huggins struck blows against a feudal studio system that was on its last legs in cinema but was being applied even more rigidly in television. He considers <em>Maverick</em> as a place where multiple counter-cultural discourses converged—including Baudelaire’s Flaneur Guy DeBord’s Situationists and Jack Kerouc’s Beats—in a form that was acceptable to American households. Finally Broe shows how the series’ validation of Maverick’s outside-the-law status punctured the Cold War rhetoric promoted by the “adult” Western. Broe also highlights the series’ female con women or<em> flaneuses</em> who were every bit the equal of their male counterparts and added additional layers to the traditional schoolteacher/showgirl Western dichotomy.<br /><br />Broe demonstrates the progressive nature of <em>Maverick </em>as it worked to counter the traditional studio mode of production served as a locus of counter-cultural trends and would ultimately become the lone outpost of anti–Cold War and anti-establishment sentiments within the Western genre. <em>Maverick</em> fans and scholars of American television history will enjoy this close look at the classic series.</p>