This show had everything you could ever want from a TV Show. Drama, comedy, and action. Even a touch of horror, I can still hear Bradford Dillman creepily calling "Audra". Social biting commentary on issues that were important then, now and forever. Racial tensions, poverty, labor disputes, sexism and ageism. The cast was first class and does not need me to sing their praises. So lets look at the guest stars and bit parts: Charles Bronson, William Shatner, Ronnie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Richard Dreyfuss, Jo Ann Pflug, Regis Philbin, Cloris Leachman, Karen Black, Harry Dean Stanton, John Carradine, Wayne Rogers, Charles Grodin, George Kennedy, Leslie Nielsen, Joe Don Baker, Anne Baxter, Adam West, Lee Grant, Robert Goulet, Julie Harris, Robert Loggia, Carol Lynley, Ellen Burstyn, Milton Berle, Jill St. John, Buddy Hackett, Katharine Ross, Martin Landau, Dennis Hopper, Warren Oates... But of course my personal favorite was James Gregory as Simon Carter. In Short: Good Family Show, Watch It.

The major drawback is the overdone custom tailored costumes for Barbara Stanwyck. Yes, she's the leading and the soul of this series, but spending so much production budget on her ever-changing dresses is not what I'd consider a realistic touch or a plus for this Western series. Besides, it seems that most of her custom tailored costumes just turn out to be funny, a more theatrical but out-of-touch of that era, those costumes just look more theatrically pretentious and over exaggerated, specially cut, ironed, steam-pressed...a whole warehouse for her personal wardrobe, specially made for her as a fashion show for a model on a runway instead of allowing and convincing viewers to feel more realistic. Her constantly changed new dresses whenever she appeared on a new scene, simply overwhelmed me too much, because she looked more like a peacock instead of a realistic ranch woman. Don't know if its her requirement or request as one of her conditions to sign on, it's just too much.The whole big mansion-like house only got one old black as butler, housekeeper and, cook? How this old guy managed these jobs at the same time? No other servants, maids, cook, or even sewing teams and a personal tailor to accommodate her high living standard? Every time when she stepped down from the staircase, every scene when she appeared, alas, there's new dress with impeccable hairdo....Jesus, what a peacock! I've just finished Season 1, Episode 5, the screenplays are simply great! All the leading characters, male or female, all did great jobs. I've constantly found myself deeply moved by some of the great moments in these five episodes and wouldn't doubt there'll be more to come in the later series of every seasons and every coming episode. A great series, that's for sure.So far, I've only found some slips of the directing flaw in 1x03 - Boots with My Father's Name, when Victoria Barkley was rescued in time by Heath Barkley and drove away in her buggy, the production team overlooked the fact that Heath got to ride his horse to Strawberry to save her, he was not parachuted from mid-air, so where was his horse? It should be tied up behind the buggy, yet we didn't see it. Until Heath killed the guy who tried to ambush them. Then, on the next scene, when the buggy drove into town, suddenly, his horse was led behind the buggy. There's no way you could explain the carelessness but by saying it's the horse of the guy that he killed at the ambush site.In 1x27 - The River Monarch, Nick was twice shot first by those gold gang from behind his back, but his head wound location was very funny, if he was ambushed and shot from behind. Then he was again shot by his old commander in the mine tunnel, also from the back. It was clearly shown he was shot from behind to his right back shoulder, but when the scene changed, his wound had moved from right to his left. Very carelessly arranged after scene changed. Also, a general funny thing that I often found in all of the TV movies: When people appeared in the street, they often got so many shadows all around them, because the lighting sources were from all the different angles, but if they were out in the open, the light could only come from one source, the sun, and sunshine could only cast you one shadow only and that shadow would come from the only light source. There's no way any object or any person could have so many shadows around them. in 1x29 - Tunnel of Gold, we found out that the female actor who once played as the aunt of Heath suddenly became the old friend of Victoria Barkley, but in that former episode, she was the vicious woman tried to kill Victoria by hiring a grifter gunman to ambush Mrs. Barkley. We know that one of the big problems of making a long drama series is having to hire more actors to play different roles in different episodes. But if you maintain those major roles to continue playing the same roles by the same actors through out all of the whole seasons, some supporting actors who have once played some major roles in certain episodes should not played different roles and appeared in the same season or even the whole drama series, because that would look weird, since all the major roles are played by the same actors all way through, if they cannot be changed or replaced by different actors, same rule should be applied to the other major supporting actors. So this 1x27 episode just looked weird and inappropriate. Another goof here. And one thing that I want to add here is that after I've viewed Season 1, the whole series just went soft and bland, almost every episode in Season 2 was boring enough to stop me watching along. Just terrible! The repetitive actors and actresses kept showing up in different episodes with different roles, making this series become more and more flaky and false. Yes, I know that I have to suffer again and again about the absurdity of Stanwyck's so many funny peacock-like new clothes whenever she showed up in any new scene, but that's a necessary evil that I have to tolerate for her great acting as the soul of this series. Amen.

"The Big Valley" was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman and produced by the team of Arnold Laven, Jules Levy, and Arthur Gardner under their production company Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions for Four Star Television. The series originally ran for four seasons at ABC-TV from September 15, 1965 until May 19, 1969 producing 112 episodes in color. This was the first time that Four Star Television(the company founded by Dick Powell that produced Westerns like "Wanted;Dead or Alive", "Lawman of the Plains",and "The Rifleman")produced a weekly television series that was produced and filmed in color and was ABC's answer to "Bonanza" which was on a rival network. The series was without a doubt, big in production,big in bring on top-name guest stars,and big on riveting action and exciting Western adventure each week.The series starred Oscar winning actress Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley as the widow of a wealthy 19th century California rancher Tom Barkley(whose name was mentioned in various episodes)along with her two sons Jarrod Thomas Barkley(Richard Long),the eldest son who was a respected attorney at law and was highly educated who handled all of the family's legal and business affairs. Nicholas "Nick" Barkley(Peter Breck )was the hot-tempered one who managed the family ranch but also got into fist fights but had a carefree side. Audra Barkley(Linda Evans) was Victoria's only daughter who was self-absorbed, bold and forward. Heath Barkley(Lee Majors) was the illegitimate son of Victoria's late husband who literally had to fight his way into the Barkley home,but was rough and tough on the outside and caring and sensitive on the inside. The youngest Barkley son was Eugene(Charles Briles),a medical student studying a Berkeley(Charles Briles appeared in Season 1 only in eight episodes and then in episode 21 of the series was written out of the show). Silas(Napoleon Whiting)was the family's housekeeper and denture servant.The story lines were indeed well-written that brought in big name directors and big name guest stars ranging from Julie Harris, Cloris Leachman, Colleen Dewhurst, Richard Dreyfuss, Bradford Dillman, James Whitmore, Warren Oates, Charles Bronson, Diane Baker, James Gregory, to Andrew Duggan, Barbara Luna, Julia Adams, Yaphet Kotto, Beah Richards, to Dan O'Herlihy, Kathy Garver, Ron Howard, Katherine Ross, Darby Hinton, Ellen Burstyn, Julie London, Pernell Roberts, William Shatner, Leslie Nielsen, Bruce Dern, Yvonne Craig, Johnny Crawford, Lee Grant, Martin Landau, George Kennedy, Lou Rawls, Maurice Evans, Brock Peters, Royal Dano, Joesph Campanella, Buddy Hackett,and Robert Walker Junior just to name a few of the guest stars that appeared in various episodes of "The Big Valley". Actor Kevin Hagen appeared six times as a guest star in various episodes.The series during it's first season won Barbara Stanwyck the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1966. She was nominated two more times in 1967 and 1968 and earned three Golden Globe Nominations as Best Television Star(1966,1967,and 1968). Actors Richard Long and Peter Breck as well as Lee Majors received Emmy nominations for their work on the series. The series aired on ABC's prime-time Wednesday night schedule for all of Season 1(1965-1966). The second season saw the series moved to Monday nights for the remainder of it's run(Seasons 2-4 from 1966- 1969). The reason why "The Big Valley" was canceled in it's final season due to poor ratings when it went up against the powerhouse of "The Carol Burnett Show" that clobbered it in the ratings. The show that eventually replaced "The Big Valley" for the 1969-1970 season was the anthology comedy-drama series "Love,American Style" where former "Big Valley" regulars Peter Breck, Lee Majors and Linda Evans made guest appearances.Several great episodes do stand out from this Emmy winning and Golden Globe nominated series ranging from the pilot episode "Palms of Glory",to "The Prize", "Top of the Stairs", "Shadow of a Giant", "A Flock of Trouble", "Earthquake!", "The Death Merchant", "Hell Hath No Fury", "Miranda", "The Iron Box", "Boots with My Father's Name", "Point and Counterpoint", "The Profit and the Lost", "Night of the Executioner","Ladykiller", "The Long Ride", "The Emperor of Rice", "The Murdered Party","The Buffalo Man", "Joshua Watson", "Days of Wrath", "My Son My Son",and the two-parter episode "Explosion!" just to name a few.

Peter Breck has recently become very ill. His wife wrote a complete synopsis on his health in his web site. Please read it and go to the bottom of the home page. Write to him and tell him how much you enjoyed the adventure. He can still read and his wife prints out his emails for him to read. They could both use the love right now! They live in Vancouver British Colombia. They have stood together through thick and thin and really appreciate his fans. All you have to do is Google Peter Breck and you find his web site, which I only found in 2009 through Wikipedia. Even if you don't read the site first just tell him why you enjoyed his character, Nick.