Young Maverick

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Young Maverick is a 1979 television series that unsuccessfully attempted to recapture some of the magic of the smash hit 1957 series Maverick. Charles Frank played Beau Maverick's son Ben, and the series was cancelled by CBS after only a few episodes. James Garner, who had played the lead in the original series, appeared as Bret Maverick in the very first scene of the series, but only for a few moments. The 1978 TV-movie The New Maverick, featuring Garner, Frank, and Jack Kelly, served as the pilot for the series. Frank's real-life wife Susan Blanchard played his girlfriend Nell in both the TV-movie and the series, and John Dehner appeared in the series as a frontier marshal who had arrested Ben's father Beau decades before. Beau Maverick, Ben's father, had been played in the original TV series by Roger Moore, and there is a definite resemblance between Moore and Frank (unfortunately, Moore never appeared on Young Maverick, however). Ironically, at 32, Charles Frank was three years older than James Garner had been when the original Maverick first aired in 1957, despite the title Young Maverick.

Assorted character actors appearing on the series for more than one episode included Howard Duff, John McIntire, James Woods, Donna Mills, and Harry Dean Stanton.

CBS cancelled the series so fast that several episodes were never aired. James Garner starred in another revival series a couple of years later called Bret Maverick, but NBC cancelled the show after one season despite fairly strong ratings. The 2-hour first episode of that series was subsequently repackaged for rerun as Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace.