The death of Lorne Greene meant that Ben Cartwright would pass away too, so we get his seafaring brother, retired sea captain John Ireland, and Robert Fuller as ranch manager Charlie Poke, characters never mentioned before. Instead of Hop Sing, there's John Amos and daughter-iin-law Barbara Anderson, wife of Little Joe who has been away in war. Michael Landon Jr. Arrives as Little Joe's son with bad news, and the arrival of Brian A. Smith as the illegitimate son of Hoss create a new generation of Cartwright's. The two cousins get along initially until Smith point out that what Ireland is doing, having allowed oil driller Peter Mark Richman to drill there, unaware that he's intending to strip the land. This creates conflicts over what Richmond is doing and the potential of jobs it could bring them, and it's up to the Cartwrights to stop the destruction of the land.
This is a decent but generic western that benefits from tying it into a popular TV show 13 years after its cancellation. Michael Landon Sr. Produced it but killed off all the older generation of the family including his character, and cast to veteran actress from "Little House on the Prairie", Kevin Hague and Dabbs Greer. There's also a little bit of romance thrown in too with the casting of Lorne Green's daughter (Gillian Greene) who was Landon Jr's girl before but its now attraction to Smith. It's interesting to see how the Ponderosa has changed over the past decade, with automobiles now a part of the civilization and various businesses who have a great stake in what's going on with the discovery of gold and the creation of mining work. The newcomers didn't make much of an impression to create a new TV series, but the veteran actors, especially Fuller from "Emergency!", are just fine.
This is a decent but generic western that benefits from tying it into a popular TV show 13 years after its cancellation. Michael Landon Sr. Produced it but killed off all the older generation of the family including his character, and cast to veteran actress from "Little House on the Prairie", Kevin Hague and Dabbs Greer. There's also a little bit of romance thrown in too with the casting of Lorne Green's daughter (Gillian Greene) who was Landon Jr's girl before but its now attraction to Smith. It's interesting to see how the Ponderosa has changed over the past decade, with automobiles now a part of the civilization and various businesses who have a great stake in what's going on with the discovery of gold and the creation of mining work. The newcomers didn't make much of an impression to create a new TV series, but the veteran actors, especially Fuller from "Emergency!", are just fine.