Ponderosa tv prequel

[stuart.uk]

I was browsing You Tube inorder to watch a Bonanza episode when I came across this 2001 pilot, a prequel to Bonanza. I had often thought a prequel about the Cartwright's would be a good idea, but I had mixed feelings.

One of the things I liked was it had a sense of communtity that Bonanza and other 60s westerns like The Big Valley never had. What I mean by that in Bonanza for example apart from Sherif Roy North, deputy Clem and possibly a Doctor, we never had a regular cast regarding the communtity living in Virginia City. I quite liked the tomboyish saloon owner, Shelby Sterrit, who owned cook Hop Singh, who Ben bought and set free. It reminded me of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, rather than Bonanza in that respect with regular towns people, so it was no surprise to discover that Ponderosa and DQMW had the same producer. One of the weaknesses of Bonanza was the amount of neighbours Ben had, but were only seen in single episodes and never again.

I'll need to check but I don't think the death of Little Joe's mother in the Ponderosa pilot was the same as explained in Bonanza. In the original I was under the impression Ben's wife was with him during the early yrs on the ranch, living long enough to see it turn into a cattle empire, before being fatally injured in a riding accident.

Both Ben and Hoss in Ponderosa showed they were able to look after themselves, but Adam for some reason didn't. In the case of Little Joe, who was only about 10/12, he was a bit to young. However, there were signs of the character Michael Landon developed, when the child Joe went after his mother's killer alone, armed with a shot gun. None of the Cartwright's wore gunbelts here, but that might be explained by the fact it was the late 1840s when the story was set.