I loved this show

vsdennis

I really loved The Big Valley when I was growing up. I admired Victoria Barkley's spunk and strength, and over the years I had crushes on each of the Barkley brothers, finally settling on Nick (Peter Breck). Some of the plot lines were formulaic and laughable - you always knew that anyone that any of the "kids" fell in love with was either going to die tragically or end up being a con artist.

Probably the best ever episode, in my opinion, was the one where Victoria was declared insane and placed in an asylum - getting her out of the way so that some nefarious plot line could advance. Barbara Stanwyck did an excellent job of playing a frantic, hysterical woman who is sane - but who is so frantic and hysterical that even someone well-intended might wonder about her sanity.

Lee Majors as Heath Barkley really grew in the role - starting out as the bastard son of Victoria's deceased husband, but becoming an accepted member of the Barkley clan.

But Peter Breck was the best of the actors portraying Victoria's younger son, Nick. Linda Evans as Audra was colossally annoying and whiny, and a perennial victim. Although Richard Long was OK as Jarrod, I always felt like someone else with a little more charisma might have done a lot more with that role.

score /10

vsdennis 23 August 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1156740/