In some ways, this show was better than Bonanza. Nick Barkley was a loose cannon, whereas the Cartwright brothers were relatively stable with their emotions. Most of the plots were more cerebral than Bonanza, and more realistic. The fight scenes were more violent in the Big Valley.
Like Bonanza, they made a mistake in the fact that none of the siblings ever married, which is odd. Granted, Jarrod on the Big Valley as well as Little Joe and Adam Cartwright were married for a day before the bride was tragically killed.
Audra remaining single was crazy, considering her beauty and the fact that almost all women were married by age 18 back then. In both shows, some of the siblings could have found a spouse and lived on the acreage in a house they had built, even having kids. It would have made things more interesting. Instead, we are led to assume that all were still virgins in their late twenties and thirties.
Review of The Big Valley
