Brothers Bret and Bart Maverick (usually separately, but sometimes together) travel across the West trying to stay out of trouble and make a lot of money. The Mavericks preferred playing cards rather than engaging in any sort of manual labor, and, if in trouble, would prefer to leave town than stay and fight.

James Garner claimed that during filming one day they had less than an hour until overtime would have to be paid, but they still needed to shoot a complicated fight scene. Spying a group of tall weeds, he suggested that he throw his opponent into the weeds and have the fight proceed with much shaking of the weeds, and people being ejected from the weeds, only to immediately run back in. The results were extremely funny, and thus the cast and crew began to look for "funny" ways to cut corners, turning the show into a semi-comedy.

Bret Maverick:
As my old pappy used to say, work is fine for killin' time, but it's a shaky way to make a living.

Music by David Buttolph
Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster