The pilot was a TV-movie, and a great one, with Richard Kiley as the doomed father who James Arness is the mountain man brother of...
Then the first season is basically a miniseries continuing the presence of Ava Marie Saint as the mother, who is gone by season two, replaced with a classy sister...
The first part of the second series is a continuation of that terrific season one miniseries, and is still serialized and incredible, but now the series has hit the soap opera wall...
Vera Miles turns up in the most contrived fashion just to give Arness a love interest... his long lost lover who just happens to be held hostage by two bandits that just happen to be nearby where Arness just happened to be wandering around...
And even worse than Miles is William Shatner as a crippled civil warrior who can't let go, opening the cornball door to a dull old-people love triangle with Arness and Miles, and...
Another aspect of soaps is the disease story; here it's the tomboy daughter Jesse, who's been terribly underused despite having natural talent... she gets stung by bees and thus begins a story-line where she's on death's door for... pretty much forever...
And of course, only an Indian witchdoctor can save her... so not only are Indians more honorable and smarter than white folk, but they're better doctors too... in other words, their mumbo-jumbo voodoo works better than actual medicine... my god, Mr. Arness, what have you been smoking?
Anyhow, with the 8.4 ratings on every single episode you are not really getting the truth to how this show has great, good and horrible episodes...
And this is the beginning of the end, despite the fantastic story-line of Luke (Brice B) and the gentlemen outlaws (including Richard Basehart and Tim Matheson) heisting gold in the small town where the gorgeous love interest Alyssa Davalos wonderfully plays daughter to Lloyd Bridges as an affable sheriff, so it's not entirely awful since there's residual of former greatness, but it's heading that way...
As noted, there's a limit to the Indian worship... C'mon, we get it... white men (like the ones who wrote and produced and directed and mostly starred on this show) are horrible and Indians are perfect demigods, and now life-saving doctors... and... well...
The early use of political-correctness is painfully and annoyingly melodramatic, and yet, then again, the entire series at this point is almost fully immersed in melodrama, so what's the difference?
Then the first season is basically a miniseries continuing the presence of Ava Marie Saint as the mother, who is gone by season two, replaced with a classy sister...
The first part of the second series is a continuation of that terrific season one miniseries, and is still serialized and incredible, but now the series has hit the soap opera wall...
Vera Miles turns up in the most contrived fashion just to give Arness a love interest... his long lost lover who just happens to be held hostage by two bandits that just happen to be nearby where Arness just happened to be wandering around...
And even worse than Miles is William Shatner as a crippled civil warrior who can't let go, opening the cornball door to a dull old-people love triangle with Arness and Miles, and...
Another aspect of soaps is the disease story; here it's the tomboy daughter Jesse, who's been terribly underused despite having natural talent... she gets stung by bees and thus begins a story-line where she's on death's door for... pretty much forever...
And of course, only an Indian witchdoctor can save her... so not only are Indians more honorable and smarter than white folk, but they're better doctors too... in other words, their mumbo-jumbo voodoo works better than actual medicine... my god, Mr. Arness, what have you been smoking?
Anyhow, with the 8.4 ratings on every single episode you are not really getting the truth to how this show has great, good and horrible episodes...
And this is the beginning of the end, despite the fantastic story-line of Luke (Brice B) and the gentlemen outlaws (including Richard Basehart and Tim Matheson) heisting gold in the small town where the gorgeous love interest Alyssa Davalos wonderfully plays daughter to Lloyd Bridges as an affable sheriff, so it's not entirely awful since there's residual of former greatness, but it's heading that way...
As noted, there's a limit to the Indian worship... C'mon, we get it... white men (like the ones who wrote and produced and directed and mostly starred on this show) are horrible and Indians are perfect demigods, and now life-saving doctors... and... well...
The early use of political-correctness is painfully and annoyingly melodramatic, and yet, then again, the entire series at this point is almost fully immersed in melodrama, so what's the difference?
