Riverboat (1959-1961)

On September 13, 1959, an entertaining new television series called "Riverboat" set sail on the small screen, taking viewers on a journey into the American frontier of the mid to late 1840s. This one-hour show, produced by Revue/Universal, aired on NBC on Sunday nights.

Week after week, little kiddies and their western-loving parents followed the characters and crew aboard The Enterprise as they traveled up and down the Mississippi and Ohio rivers ferrying passengers to their destinations. 

Darren McGavin starred as Captain Grey Holden, a kindly but rugged seaman who owned the 100-foot-long sternwheeler known as The Enterprise. Unlike Star Trek's Enterprise, this vessel wasn't boldly going where no man had gone before...but many of its passengers were seeking out a new life in new lands. In fact, the focus of the series was on the passengers who changed from week to week (as passengers on a ship are apt to do). This clever premise allowed for great flexibility in storylines and for the inclusion of guest stars, which the series had plenty of. Jeanne Crain, Eddie Albert, Russell Johnson, Mona Freeman, Vincent Price, Cliff Robertson, Vera Miles, Anne Baxter, Debra Paget, Richard Carlson, and George Kennedy all booked passage on the boat during its two-season run. 

In addition to its great cast, Riverboat had a marvelous theme song penned by Elmer Bernstein. Bernstein must have loved this theme quite a bit because he reworked most of its closing segment into The Magnificent Seven, made the following year. 

The Enterprise was often churning the muddy waters of the Mississippi, but in later episodes, it tended to steer westward on the Missouri which gave the writers an opportunity to include more tried-and-true western scenarios involving Indian attacks and settlers. 

Some critics called the series "Wagon Train on water" since the steamboat, though a central element, served as little more than a backdrop to the different characters and storylines that were introduced each week. While all of these were entertaining, they left little room for developing the series regulars, which included a young Burt Reynolds as pilot Ben Frazer, Dick Wessel as engineer Carney, and William D. Gordon as crewman Joe Travis. In the episode "The Face of Courage", Joe gets killed in an Indian attack and is written off the series (quite unusual for the time) and, in that same episode, Jack Lambert and little Michael McGreevey join the cast. 

Darren McGavin was always good at interacting with children, so the addition of Michael McGreevey as cabin boy Chip lent Captain Holden a more fatherly image...plus it gave the younger viewers a character they could relate with. Later in the series Burt Reynolds left and Noah Berry Jr. came aboard as Captain Bill Blake, a new co-owner.  

Riverboat was a well-written series overall and had some engrossing episodes, many of which involved the lady loves of the Captain, who cut quite a dashing figure. He had won The Enterprise in a poker game but he was very proud of the vessel and of his position as captain. Most of the episodes had him defending his passengers from river ruffians and dangerous criminals. 

Riverboat chugged along throughout its first season run with good ratings even though it had some formidable competition against Maverick on ABC and Lassie and The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS. Eventually, the series ran aground when it was moved to Monday night and Riverboat's producer Boris Kaplan decided to make Captain Holden more hard-nosed in the second season. 

FAVORITE EPISODES 

The Unwilling (Season 1, Episode 5)

Eddie Albert guest-stars in this episode as Dan Simpson, a merchant eager to open up a general store in the West, but a gang of river pirates are set on stealing his merchandise. Debra Paget also stars. 

The Boy from Pittsburgh (Season 1, Episode 11)

A stowaway overhears a plot to sabotage the engine room of the Enterprise but no one believes him since he lied before one too many times. Mona Freeman and Tommy Nolan star. 

Strange Request (Season 1, Episode 13)

An actress - Jan Sterling - charters the Enterprise to head to an abandoned trading post where she retrieves a boy being held by river pirates. 

Three Graves (Season 1, Episode 26)

The captain and his crew encounter a bubonic plague epidemic at one of the towns that they dock in. Beverly Garland stars as a woman doctor trying to help the residents. 

To read more about Riverboat and the making of the show, check out the book Riverboat: The Evolution of a Television Series by S. L. Kotar and J. E. Gessler.