JULY 2007 TVXOHOF: ACE HIGH

For the July ceremonies of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, we're going to veer off from the mini-theme of celebrating 'Doctor Who' in order to mark a long-standing tradition of the old Toobworld Dynamic - honoring the TV Western in July.

I could have kept the 'Who' theme running anyway by inducting an historical figure of the Wild, Wild West - the televersion of Doc Holliday. (Wyatt Earp - in the guise of Hugh O'Brian - entered the Hall back in 2002.) But that would have been a cheat, because in the Toobworld design of the TV Universe, the Doctor didn't actually visit the OK Corral on that fateful day of the Shootout.

I'll splain further later in the month....

Instead, it's my pleasure to announce that my favorite TV "cowboy", one of my Top Ten favorite TV characters no matter the genre, is finally being allowed to join the pantheon of crossover legends.

BRET MAVERICK

The strange thing is that even though he turned the Western genre on its head, and the character was the jump-start to James Garner's career in movies and TV, Bret was not the first character from 'Maverick' to be inducted into the Crossover Hall of Fame. His brother Bart made it in first, and even recurring character Samantha Crawford found her way into the Hall as one of the year-long Honors List from 2005, when I was celebrating my fiftieth birthday.

Bart entered first because at the time, 2001, he had a wider variety of actual Television crossovers to his credit:

'Maverick'
"Young Maverick"
'Bret Maverick'
"Gambler 4: Luck Of The Draw"

Add to that, one of his episodes from the original series, "Hadley's Hunters", featured appearances by characters, locations, or props from 'Cheyenne', 'Sugarfoot', 'The Lawman', 'Bronco', 'Colt .45', and 'Wanted: Dead Or Alive'. (Plus an earlier incarnation of the soul of Kookie Kookson from '77 Sunset Strip'.)

Bret only had those first three appearances, even if he did make the franchise possible.

SPOILER ALERT!

But he also had a theatrical release which gets the kind of consideration reserved for the Honors List, in that it could be seen as theoretical. James Garner played the role of Zane Cooper in the movie version of "Maverick", which also starred Mel Gibson as Bret, Jodie Foster, and James Coburn. (This was the third movie Garner and Coburn appeared in together, and they worked together in an episode of 'Maverick'.)

He may have been Zane Cooper through most of the movie, but it turns out in the end that he's Bret's father.

Well then! Zane Cooper was just an alias. O'Bviously he must have been Bret Maverick, Sr. and thus, the Maverick we knew from the TV show.

Whether you want to consider that addition to be legit or not, Bret still has enough credits, three of a kind you might say, to guarantee him entry.

So, riverboat, ring your bell and welcome the gentleman gambler as our July 2007 representative from the Wild, Wild West in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame!

'Maverick'
'Bret Maverick'
"Young Maverick"
"Maverick"

BCnU!
Toby OB