User reviews

'Riverboat' may not be considered a television classic, but it is one of the most enjoyable shows of the late 50's early 60's period! A 'big budget' show for it's time, it works mainly because of Darren McGavin, at his handsome, dynamic best as the dashing Captain Grey Holden of the riverboat 'Enterprise'. Plenty of big name guest stars, and up and comers like Robert Vaughn etc. keep it interesting. It's said that McGavin and Burt Reynolds didn't get on, why, no one's quite sure? Probably a clash of similar personalities? But as far as personality, charisma and acting ability goes, Darren McGavin wins hands down! At any rate, after the first 21 episodes, Reynolds was replaced by Noah Beery Jnr. Finally, all 44 episodes have been released onto DVD, picture and sound quality are pretty good, but unfortunately, not re-mastered like 'Rawhide' or 'Maverick', other shows from the same period, but then the Timeless Media Group don't appear to do that? Still, great to have this wonderful old series made available at last! I enjoyed it all those years ago when it was screened in Australia, and I'm enjoying it all over again now!

Riverboat was a television that never quite developed it's audience. My guess is that the reports of the fighting on set which I well remember got more attention than the show itself.

Darren McGavin who had a few film credits, most notably The Man With The Golden Arm and a half hour version of Mike Hammer that ran in the middle fifties was the captain of the Riverboat Enterprise and star of the show. Who could possibly have known what an illustrious history that name for vessels would have?

His co-star was young Burt Reynolds in what was to have been his first big break. Like John Wayne in The Big Trail which was supposed to make him a big star, it flopped and Reynolds would have to wait a few more years for stardom.

The main thing was how the two of them didn't get along, McGavin and Reynolds. If we had tabloid TV back in those days, McGavin and Reynolds would have been feature stories. Maybe one day Burt Reynolds will tell us the reason, we certainly can't hear it any more from McGavin.

John Mitchum's rollicking memoir, Them Ornery Mitchum Boys, does devote a bit of space to Riverboat. Bob's younger brother was a series regular and he does say that the cast generally sided with Reynolds, feeling that McGavin was the heavy here. He also said that everyone else also felt that Reynolds was a star in the making.

It wasn't a bad series, but it will be more known for the offstage battling than anything else.

I'm writing this a few minutes after hearing the news that Burt Reynolds had passed away. The newscasts didn't even mention "Riverboat". It's sure how most of us who were teenage girls in 1959 remember him best! He made a career on being cute, and he was never cuter than when he was on Riverboat. It was a great show. Well worth re-watching now. I remember one episode where they killed off one of the main characters--something that was never, ever done on a TV show in that era. It must surely have been a first. It was the character played by Jack Lambert. I still remember his name was Joshua. It was absolutely mind boggling at the time. Even my dad, watching it with me, kept saying "No, he's not really dead. . .he'll be all better at the end." But he wasn't! That was a pretty big deal for a TV show in 1959.

15 Episodes of "Riverboat" are available from Timeless Media.com and can be purchased from Amazon.com and Deepdiscount.com as well. This is a great series and unless I am mistaken it depicts travel on the Missippippi in the antebellum period not after the Civil War. As I student of history I think the time period of the costumes fit that period. As always Darren McGavin turns in a sterling performance and a young Burt Reynolds just learning his craft is great as the pilot. Also some very prominent guest stars like Debra Paget and John Ireland appear on the show. Take my word for it and get this series. This brought back a lot of fond memories for me. I remember watching it as a child.

I watched the 3 DVD set of the Riverboat series and was surprised at the poorly conceived stories and mediocre acting. I think that I was more in love with the idea of traveling along on the river in what appears to be an authentic paddle wheel river boat. All of the scenes of the boat moving along the river are what seem to be what I remembered most.

What really stands out are the parallels between Riverboat and Star Trek. Of course the name of both ships was the Enterprise. One of the characters in the crew that the captain interacted with had a heavy Scottish accent. Probably the one thing that stood out the most was comparing Darren McGavin and William Shatner. Both played captains that were full of bravado, and both way over the top with swagger. It's almost as though William Shatner was playing an intergalactic version of Captain Grey Holden.

I hardly remembered Burt Reynolds, and after watching him in these DVDs, he seemed like a real stiff.

Definitely not as good as I remembered from my childhood.

This was a very good series. In each town the riverboat stopped in, some little drama would take place, with crew members getting involved in the local intrigue. The plots were always watchable and interesting, with occasional but excellent humor, and the acting was first rate. Darren McGavin was dashing as the captain (think Kolchak minus fifteen years).

Darren McGavin was the star of this series. Yet, on his page, he's credited with being in one episode, and on this page appears not at all. IMDb's television series pages used to be pretty accurate, now a lot of stars show as limited guests on their own shows. What happened?

There were Afro-Americans in the series. I just watched Path of the Eagle and there are several and the Captain is very polite with them.

I always liked Darren McGavin. He was a very good actor. I remember that Burt Reynolds had problems with him. But, I wonder if Burt's ego didn't get the better of him. Darren had all ready been the star of another great series Mike Hammer, Burt was just starting out. He probably should have listened more and mouthed off less. I think Burt clashed because they have they same kind of swagger.

So, where are the other episodes??? Same with Mike Hammer, where are they???

This was a cool series. However, it doesn't hold a candle to Steve McQueen's "Wanted: Dead or Alive" (1958-1961). That was an awesome show. Steve McQueen played the star: A bounty hunter named "Josh Randall". It was the first time in television history that the star was a killer. I own the entire series. It's a DVD set that includes all 94 episodes, plus additional goodies. They include: "The Women of Wanted: Dead or Alive"; "The Mare's Leg", which is the name of the sawed off lever action rifle McQueen used. Although it was black powder, it fired a 44.40 shell (major knock down power). Anyway, "Riverboat" was okay. The star is (a young) Darren McGavin and (even younger!) Burt Reynolds. Still, check out McQueen's show. It is awesome. You can buy the full DVD set of 94 episodes (plus numerous extras) at Amazon. I don't know what it costs today; however, I bought it on sale new for only $15!

Fans of the late Burt Reynolds already knew that he'd been acting since the 1950's. The first television series to feature him in a co-starring role... even before his role as a half-Indian blacksmith on GUNSMOKE... was called RIVERBOAT, centering on a charming gambler, played by a charming Darren McGavin, who runs the fancy title vessle, floating up and down the river finding adventures along the way. Burt, as the muscular, mellow ship's pilot, only appeared in 80% of the first of two seasons: and as he shared in a book and tons of interviews, he just kinda stood there, looking tough, even complacent. But he had three entire episodes pretty much all his own, which began with the 8th and most vapid, banal, flowing and fun titled WITNESS NO EVIL wherein Vincent Price, a con man who brings a zoo of exotic animals on board, has a gorilla (a man in a horribly dated suit) trained to steal money from loaded and lucky gamblers...

Burt Reynolds in Riverboat's Night at Trapper's Landing Episode 9 The entire episode was so wacky, poor Burt seemed unprepared for the captain's seat, and seemed half in a daze, even in his stalwart and agile, Marlon Brando-looking youth...

But the following two episodes had more to offer Burt's concentrated and narrowed early style: A NIGHT AT TRAPPER'S LANDING and THE FAITHLESS, which ranged from from fighting to save young soldiers from dying by the hands of much more cunning and experienced Indians to keeping a hostile mob from lynching a wrongfully accused, prison-bound doctor. In the other more lightweight episodes, his comedic skills, that would unbound years later (albeit too much), were either in hibernation or, like Jack Nicholson before EASY RIDER, he was letting his charm out slowly, meticulously, till the world was ready...

And now, written on the day of the death of Burt Reynolds, what can be said? The man has been here, and now he's gone. Between that is a generation who's been alive as long as Burt's been acting, and we remember his heyday without belated, hindsight sighs of "He could have done better films" because Reynolds was always exciting and energetic, and seemed to be hiding the true talents that it took many of us years later to fully realize (BOOGIE NIGHTS, perhaps)...

And, so, at the end of his three reigning RIVERBOAT episodes, Darren McGavin would show up at the epilogue... back from some kind of trip to New Orleans... and Burt's character would tell him everything that happened in a nonchalant manner while McGavin would listen, completely stunned, at everything he'd missed, and that Burt had gone through and taken care of with the rudimentary signs of a style and charm that'd eventually rule the world.

I remember Darren McGavern speaking some decades later on two talk shows about this series. The series was based on the riverboat freight transport system that operated in the New Orleans and Lousiana area during the late 1800's.

Mc Gavern stated on at least two occasions that there was great disharmony among the writers and producers because, he said, the network and the sponsors didn't want any Black people in the show.

Rightly so, McGavern thought this restriction stupid, since at that time in that area depicted in the series, the majority of the laborers on the docks and piers were Black and Creole.

Then again, it was the late 50's to early 60's and such was the policy of the networks.

This was a very good television series for its day. What should be noted is that McGavin and Reynolds had a feud during this television series. I seem to recall it was around who's the actual star/salary paid/whatever?. To my knowledge, these two haven't been friendly since ~ almost 50 years! They don't mention each other's name when commenting about this show. It's VERY hard to ensure we get a "maximum 1000 words or a minimum of 10 lines" as per your posting guidelines, when our comments, while they may be valid after your review, may not meet this criteria. Perhaps you could consider LOWERING this guideline for some of us avid contributors!?

I remember that the name of the Riverboat was the "Enterprise". The only episode I can recall is one that involved a young lawyer named Abe Lincoln defending a bridge builder that Capt. Holden's Enterprise damaged. I believe Lincoln won the case. The "Star Trek Enterprise" series left out the "Riverboat Enterprise" in their opening credits when they featured other Enterprises, (sailing ships, aircraft carriers and shuttles, etc.)I always thought it was unfortunate it was left out... Riverboat was a show that I've been trying to recall for some time. I believe that it was on Sunday nights. Will miss you Darren Jerry 2/26/05.

According to a biography on Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, this: "Roddenberry was asked to write a series called Riverboat, set in 1860s Mississippi. When he discovered that the producers wanted no black people on the show, he argued so much with them that he lost the job." Perhaps this is why there is similarity in the naming of the vessels in Riverboat and Star Trek. BTW Kudos to Roddenberry for taking a compromising moral stance way back then.