THE GAMBLER WITH LEVERAGE

On the season finale of 'Leverage' ("The Last Dam Job"), lyrics from "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers were quoted, and the song and its author/singer were identified in return.

Even though it was a song, it could still be seen as a Zonk by some since Kenny Rogers parlayed that song into a successful string of TV movies which are considered part of the TV Universe. In fact, with "The Gambler Returns: Luck Of The Draw", Kenny Rogers' character of Brady Hawkes became deeply imbedded into the TV Universe because of his contacts with characters from ten different TV Westerns - from 'Bat Masterson' to 'Wyatt Earp'.

But it's a Zonk easily disarmed. The televersion of Kenny Rogers ('Reno 911', 'Cybil', 'Evening Shade', and 'The Muppet Show') wrote that song based on an historical event - the high-stakes poker game held in San Francisco during the night before the 1906 earthquake... with President Theodore Roosevelt in attendance.  (Seen above, the Three B's: Bart Maverick, Bat Masterson, and Brady Hawkes.  Bart had just folded because he could tell the President had a winning hand.)

BCnU!