James Garner to be featured Tuesday on PBS’ “Pioneers of Television”

Oklahoma native James Garner will be featured on Tuesday’s episode of the PBS series “Pioneers of Television,” according to NewsOK TV blogger Melissa Hayer. The Norman native, now 82, broke out with his portrayal of the charming gambler Bret Maverick on the 1957-60 Western TV series “Maverick.”

Here is the description of Tuesday’s episode on Westerns:

Known everywhere as the quintessential American cultural identity,
 Westerns filled small screens across the country night after night and
were some of the most successful television shows in history. Fess 
Parker’s portrayal of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett channeled the
 bravery, independence, honesty and rugged individualism of a young
 nation — and made Walt Disney enough money to build an empire. Westerns
 introduced James Garner, who starred in the television hit “Maverick,”
where he developed the reluctant hero character that would cement his
 successful TV and film career. This episode also examines the success of Robert
 Conrad in “The Wild Wild West,” the popularity of “Bonanza” and the 
creation of the classic series “Gunsmoke” with James Arness — one of
the longest-running television series of all time.

• Tonight’s new installment of the PBS series “Pioneers of Television” focuses on “Westerns.” Among those featured during the hour-long episode are Fess Parker, actor James Garner and Linda Evans who discusses strong female characters in “The Big Valley,” “The Wild Wild West,” Bonanza’,’ and Gunsmoke.’’

The speech will be carried on the networks, cable news channels and PBS.

• If you’re more interested in cupcakes than the State of the Union, tune to the Food Network (cable Channel 46) at 9 for a new episode of “Cupcake Wars.” Tonight, the bakers compete to have their delicious displays featured at the world renowned LA Auto Show.

• You can stick with the Food Network (cable Channel 46) at 10 for a new episode of “Chopped.” On tonight’s show, the chefs open their basket for the appetizer round to find a deckle of beef. Here’s the scoop: Rib-eye steak actually comes in two parts: The loin and the cap, or deckle. • There’s even more food available at 9 on the Travel Channel (cable Channel 41). On tonight’s new episode of “Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern,” Andrew samples Pennsylvania cuisine some may consider a little bizarre.