Riverboat

Riverboat is an American Western television series starring Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds, produced by Revue Studios, and broadcast on the NBC television network from 1959 to 1961. Reynolds was replaced by Noah Beery Jr. halfway through the series in the wake of conflicts with McGavin. Plot In the series, Captain Grey Holden and his crew navigate the vessel called the Enterprise principally along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers. Some episodes are set in the eastern end of the American West or in the Midwest. Holden and his men encounter interesting characters along the way, including U.S. President Zachary Taylor, General Winfield Scott and a prepresidential Abraham Lincoln. One episode focuses indirectly on the Texan Revolution of 1836. Unlike most Westerns, which are set after the American Civil War, the story's time frame precedes the conflict, and includes the 1830s and the 1840s. The series ended on the NBC midseason schedule in January 1961, replaced by a drama about the sectional conflict, The Americans. Cast Darren McGavin played Captain Grey Holden for 40 episodes. Dan Duryea played Captain Brad Turner for two episodes while McGavin was embroiled in contract disputes. Burt Reynolds, in his television debut, played McGavin's partner and chief pilot Ben Frazer in 20 episodes, and was replaced by Noah Beery, Jr., who played Bill Blake, for Season Two. Dick Wessel, as chief stoker Carney Kohler, was cast in 41 episodes, Jack Lambert was cast in 23 episodes as first mate Joshua MacGregor (having played a different character, Tony Walchek, earlier in the series), John Mitchum co-starred in 10 episodes as Pickalong, the ship's cook, Michael McGreevey was cast in 17 episodes as cabin boy Chip Kessler, and William D. Gordon played first mate Joe Travis in 13 episodes before his character's death.