This Western TV series was much like "Bonanza", and in fact seems to be an answer to the drawback of the Lorne Greene series.
We have a matriarch instead of a patriarch here, but that isn't the real difference. We have three sons in both, with THE BIG VALLEY adding a daughter.
The daughter was one thing that was lacking in BONANZA. The young girl and the mother provided women viewers people to identify with, and they were very reasonable characters, as most TV action series leads should be.
The daughter was a "woman's woman" too, the sort that women think of themselves as being like. She was pale and blond, an average girl, maybe a bit more attractive in the face than most. She could easily get lost in a crowd, though. But so could the mother, played by classic actress Barbara Stanwyck.
The biggest improvement over the Lorne Greene series was the second son. Both series had a handsome oldest son with intellect, and a handsome youngest son who usually wound up being the one to shoot a man dead in self defense. However, lets be honest. Blocker as Hoss, the second son, was not someone a kid wanted to be like. Families across America would watch this, but the second sons would always be alienated. Very few wanted to watch themselves be portrayed as fat clowns.
That's where this series made itself better. The second son here was the tough one, like Hoss, but he wasn't the eyesore. He was just as romantic looking as the other sons.
We have a matriarch instead of a patriarch here, but that isn't the real difference. We have three sons in both, with THE BIG VALLEY adding a daughter.
The daughter was one thing that was lacking in BONANZA. The young girl and the mother provided women viewers people to identify with, and they were very reasonable characters, as most TV action series leads should be.
The daughter was a "woman's woman" too, the sort that women think of themselves as being like. She was pale and blond, an average girl, maybe a bit more attractive in the face than most. She could easily get lost in a crowd, though. But so could the mother, played by classic actress Barbara Stanwyck.
The biggest improvement over the Lorne Greene series was the second son. Both series had a handsome oldest son with intellect, and a handsome youngest son who usually wound up being the one to shoot a man dead in self defense. However, lets be honest. Blocker as Hoss, the second son, was not someone a kid wanted to be like. Families across America would watch this, but the second sons would always be alienated. Very few wanted to watch themselves be portrayed as fat clowns.
That's where this series made itself better. The second son here was the tough one, like Hoss, but he wasn't the eyesore. He was just as romantic looking as the other sons.