This date in MAVERICK TV History: Andrew Duggan stars as Big Ed Murphy in “The Money Machine,” airing Apr. 15, 1962. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

  1. THE MONEY MACHINE
    Original Airdate:
    April 15, 1962

Synopsis. Bart meets his cousin Jacqueline Sutton in Kansas City to collect the $10,000 that Pappy owes to a bruiser named Cannonball Clyde Bassett. But Jackie quickly loses the money when she purchases a phony money-making machine from con artist Big Ed Murphy. Bart and Jackie trail Murphy to Denver, where they decide to beat him at his own game.

The con man played by Andrew Duggan in this episode, “Big Ed Murphy,” shares the same name as the safecracker played by John Dehner in “Greenbacks, Unlimited.”

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

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This Date in THE FBI History: Daniel J. Travanti, Robert Pine, and Mary Frann star in “Confessions of a Madman,” airing Apr. 14, 1974. THE FBI DOSSIER is now available from Black Pawn Press

  1. CONFESSIONS OF A MADMAN
    Original Airdate: Apr. 14, 1974

Synopsis. In Baltimore, Maryland, Erskine probes a series of assaults on female graduate students on the grounds of Nike Missile Site 342, a U.S. government facility located near the university. Two of the victims died; all of the victims belonged to the Phi Lambda sorority. Though the identity of the killer remains a mystery, the perpetrator left a yearbook photo on the body of each victim (with the victim’s photo crossed out as part of the M.O.), while physical evidence suggests that the perp may have knowledge of medical anatomy. With no witnesses or additional clues to go on, Erskine enlists Special Agent Pat Driscoll (played by Mary Frann), a onetime member of Phi Lambda, to assist with the investigation.

LEARN MORE about “Confessions of a Madman” in THE FBI DOSSIER, everything you wanted to know—and more—about the long-running ABC-TV series produced by Quinn Martin and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

THE FBI DOSSIER is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

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TV CONFIDENTIAL Show No. 732.4 with guest Denise Nicholas is now available for listening on demand for free wherever you find podcasts

Denise Nicholas, author of Finding Home
Original Airdates: Apr. 10-13, 2026
TVC 732.4: Ed welcomes Denise Nicholas, the Golden Globe-nominated actress known to television audiences for her starring roles in Room 222 and In the Heat of the Night, and the author of Freshwater Road, the critically acclaimed novel that was largely drawn from Denise’s experience as a working actress with the Free Southern Theater in the Deep South in 1964, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Denise’s new memoir, Finding Home, is a moving look at her lifelong search for who and what she is—a search that that not only navigates the intersections of love and identity, but which sees Denise endure many traumatic events throughout her life, including nearly being killed several times while performing with the Free Southern Theater; overcoming her volatile marriage to singer Bill Withers; and trying to unfathom the tragic murder of her younger sister, Michele Burgen, in 1980 (a case that is still unsolved). Finding Home is available wherever books are sold through Agate Publishing and Amazon.com.

Aretha Franklin and Denise Nicholas in a scene from “Where is It Written?”, an episode of Room 222 that originally aired in January 1972. Photo courtesy IMDb

Topics this segment include how Denise has always had the soul of a writer, even when she began her career as an actress; how her experience with the Free Southern Theater not only ignited Denise’s lifelong commitment to social justice and activism, but served as the backdrop to the struggles and achievements that marked her path as an artist; how Denise based Liz McIntyre (the guidance counselor she played on Room 222) on her aunt Fanette, a guidance counselor in the Detroit public school system; and the emotional difficulty that Denise often faced in writing about some of the most traumatic moments in her life, including the murder of her sister.

Denise Nicholas and Carroll O’Connor in In the Heat of the Night. Photo courtesy IMDb

Denise Nicholas on “finding a way in” as a writer
Original Airdates: Apr. 10-13, 2026
TVC 732.5: Actress and novelist Denise Nicholas (Room 222, In the Heat of the Night, Freshwater Road) talks to Ed about working with Sidney Poitier as a director three times (and how she particularly relished the comedic roles she played opposite Poitier and Bill Cosby in Let’s Do It Again and A Piece of the Action); how she first met Carroll O’Connor long before they starred together in In the Heat of the Night (and before O’Connor came to mentor Denise as a writer); why she enjoys writing literary fiction among all other genres; and how Denise has “a little Norman Lear in her” as a writer.

Denise’s memoir, Finding Home, and her novel, Freshwater Road, are available wherever books are sold through Agate Publishing and Amazon.com.

Denise Nicholas is also one of the six authors—along with Denise Billings, Otto Stallworth, Jr., GW Williams, Hattie Winston, and Charles Floyd Johnson—whose work is featured in A Gathering of Voices: The Longwood Writers Workshop, an anthology of vibrant, introspective, lyrical, and personal stories that provide a full, rich, and multidimensional look at life in Black America.

A Gathering of Voices is available through BookBaby.com, Amazon.com, and LongwoodWritersWorkshop.com

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TV CONFIDENTIAL Show No. 732.6 with guest Nick Leisure is now available for listening on demand for free wherever you find podcasts

Nick Leisure, director of Golden

Nick Leisure, director of the new action thriller Golden
Original Airdates: Apr. 10-13, 2026
TVC 732.6: Ed welcomes director and producer Nick Leisure. Known for crafting grounded, character-driven thrillers with strong visual language with performance-driven storytelling, Nick developed his cinematic style combines from his experience directing hundreds of commercials for such major brands as Toyota, Nike, Ray-Ban, and the Sacramento Kings, as well as many music videos for such artists as Babyface, After 7, Too Short, and Kurupt.

Nick’s latest movie, the action thriller Golden, stars Brian Austin Green (Beverly Hills 90210, Knots Landing) as a struggling print shop worker who discovers that he can create flawless counterfeit money, only to be pulled into a dangerous cross-border criminal world that he cannot escape. Based on a true story, Golden is now available for viewing on demand on Amazon Prime Video and other streaming platforms.

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This day in MAVERICK TV History: Adele Mara and Joi Lansing star in “Seed of Deception,” airing Apr. 13, 1958. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

  1. SEED OF DECEPTION
    Original Airdate:
    April 13, 1958

Synopsis. The townspeople of Bonita welcome Bret and Bart with open arms―they believe that the Mavericks are Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp, and that they’ve arrived in town to take care of Jim Mundy and his gang of troublemakers. The sheriff of Bonita thinks that Mundy is planning to rob the payroll of a nearby mining company from the bank, and he knows that the town will lose the company’s business if Mundy is successful. The Mavericks try to stay out of the matter, but Bret becomes involved after Bart is shot by a henchman of Mundy’s who believed Bart had stumbled onto their plan.

Adele Mara, who was married to Maverick creator and producer Roy Huggins for nearly fifty years, stars in this episode as a professional dancer whose role in the scheme is to cause a diversion by dancing in the bar precisely when Mundy and his boys are drilling a hole through the floor of their hotel room, which is located directly above the bank vault. For the dance scene, Mara wore a diaphanous costume that prompted one irate viewer to write Roy Huggins with a complaint about putting a “half-naked woman” on network television. Huggins replied, “That was no half-naked woman… that was my wife.”

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

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This Date in THE FBI History: Lew Ayres, Kurt Russell, Wayne Rogers, and Ed Asner star in “The Tormentors,” airing Apr. 10, 1966. This episode also marks the first of William Reynolds’ two guest appearances on THE FBI before he joined the series as Special Agent Tom Colby in the third season. THE FBI DOSSIER is now available from Black Pawn Press

  1. THE TORMENTORS
    Original Airdate: Apr. 10, 1966

Synopsis. In New Orleans, Erskine, Rhodes, and special agent Frank Benton (played by William Reynolds) investigate the kidnapping of Dan Winslow (played by Kurt Russell), the young son of multimillionaire developer Marshall Winslow (Lew Ayres), by a trio led by Logan Dupree (Wayne Rogers), an unstable ex-convict with a long list of priors—including murder and armed robbery. After phoning the elder Winslow and demanding a $300,000 ransom, Dupree impulsively shoots Forbes, the Winslow chauffeur, who was driving Dan in the family’s limousine when the crime took place. At first, Erskine catches a break when he learns that Forbes survived the shooting. But the impetuous Winslow, eager for a quick resolution, posts a $50,000 reward for information leading to his son’s rescue—a move that could jeopardize Dan’s life.

LEARN MORE about “The Tormentors” in THE FBI DOSSIER, everything you wanted to know—and more—about the long-running ABC-TV series produced by Quinn Martin and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

THE FBI DOSSIER is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

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This date in MAVERICK TV History: “Benefit of Doubt,” the second of two episodes starring Robert Colbert as Brent Maverick, aired on Apr. 9, 1961. MAVERICK: Legend of the West Revised Third Edition now available from Black Pawn Press

  1. BENEFIT OF DOUBT
    Original Airdate:
    April 9, 1961

Synopsis. In Amber Flats, three men rob the American Mail Company of $7,000. The thieves die in a shootout, but the money disappears. Brent Maverick discovers the stolen funds at the Midway station and decides to return it to Amber Flats. Unbeknownst to Brent, the sheriff of Amber Flats confiscated the money after gunning down the robbers and hid it in Midway. When Maverick arrives in Amber Flats, he finds himself arrested for the theft.

 

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

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This Date in THE FBI History: James Franciscus, Anne Helm, Tige Andrews, Vaughn Taylor, and Glen Campbell star in “Force of Nature,” airing Apr. 9, 1967. THE FBI DOSSIER is now available from Black Pawn Press

  1. FORCE OF NATURE
    Original Airdate: Apr. 9, 1967

Synopsis. In Atlanta, Gloria Burnett (played by Anne Helm), the linchpin in the Bureau’s case against her ex-husband, Charles Burnett (played by James Franciscus), on an interstate kidnapping charge, flees town less than five weeks before the start of the trial—unaware that Burnett has jumped bail and is heading after her. A tip leads Erskine to an abandoned house in Lands End, Florida, where he must somehow transport Gloria to safety before Burnett finds her first—and before Hurricane Charlene wipes out the entire Miami area.

LEARN MORE about “Force of Nature” in THE FBI DOSSIER, everything you wanted to know—and more—about the long-running ABC-TV series produced by Quinn Martin and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

THE FBI DOSSIER is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

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This date in MAVERICK TV History: Alan Hale stars as Big Jim Watson in “The Troubled Heir,” airing on Apr. 8, 1962. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

  1. THE TROUBLED HEIR
    Original Airdate:
    April 8, 1962

Synopsis. Bart renews acquaintance with Pearly Gates and Marla, the crafty duo whom he last encountered in “Dade City Dodge.” Pearly and Marla lure Maverick into a poker game with some other players—one of whom is wanted outlaw Big Jim Watson.

Known around the world as Skipper Jonas Grumby on Gilligan’s Island, Alan Hale previously appeared in the fourth-season episode “Arizona Black Maria.”

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

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This Week in THE FBI History: John Vernon, Joan Van Ark, and James Gregory star in “The Vendetta,” airing Apr. 7, 1974. “The Vendetta” was the last original episode of THE FBI to be filmed, but not the last one to be broadcast. THE FBI DOSSIER is now available through Black Pawn Press

  1. THE VENDETTA
    Original Airdate: Apr. 7, 1974

Synopsis. After hiding in Haiti for more than a year, New Orleans mob leader Rudy Keppler (played by John Vernon) learns that capo Nick Thomas murdered his brother, Ritchie, stole from Keppler’s share of the take, and had an affair with Keppler’s girlfriend, Angie Cameron (played by Joan Van Ark). Keppler returns to New Orleans for forty-eight hours to even the score with his betrayers. Meanwhile, when Erskine learns that Keppler himself may be the target of a syndicate hit, he must race the clock to locate the fugitive and bring him to justice.

LEARN MORE about “The Vendetta” in THE FBI DOSSIER, everything you wanted to know—and more—about the long-running ABC-TV series produced by Quinn Martin and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

THE FBI DOSSIER is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

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