Riverboat

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?

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.

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.

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'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.