Crash (2004)

With the Oscars not far away, I thought it might be good to take a look at last year's winner of Best Picture, Crash. Crash essentially explores the assumptions often made about race in the United States, against the backdrop of Los Angeles. Its structure is like that of many of Robert Altman's films, with multiple storylines which intersect at various points in the plot. Unfortunately, Paul Haggis is not Robert Altman.

While I think that in exploring assumptions about race Haggis had noble intentions, the sad fact is that noble intentions do not make a great movie, or even necessarily a good movie. Crash is in many ways a very flawed film. Indeed, it makes use of stock characters and stock situations that were old decades ago. A perfect example of this is Matt Dillon as a racist cop. Now I am sure we are all aware that racist cops do exist in real life. And I am sure that the LAPD has its share of racist cops. But where both the small and big screen are concerned, racist cops were old hat nearly twenty to thirty years ago (I don't guess Haggis has ever seen Black Caesar, Dark Blue, Heart Condition, or any of the other myriad films with racist police officers). Quite simply, it seems to me that the racist cop has become a stock character with no more weight or shock value than any other stock character. Another example is Don Cheadle as a black detective who comes from a poor family and whose brother is on the other side of the law. This is a stock situation that is even older than that of the racist cop. It dates as far back as Angels With Dirty Faces (made in 1938). Although I know that this occurs in real life (indeed, one of my best friends is a lawyer, archaeologist, and Marine whose brother is, well, in prison...), it is a situation that has been seen in movies over the years that it had long ago lost any power it has.

A far worse problem than the use of stock characters and stock plots in Crash is the fact that at times the plot seems downright contrived. The problem is that Haggis has disparate individuals who move in totally different circles (Dillon's racist cop and Christine, the wife of television director Cameron Thayer, are an example) encounter each other and the encounter each other again in ways that seem very unlikely and highly unrealistic in a city the size of Los Angeles--in some cases, these encounters and re-encounters seem to me like they would be unlikely in a city the size of Columbia, Missouri! One such coincidence in a film might be acceptable, but Crash has so many that some viewers might find it difficult to suspend their disbelief.

Another problem I have with Crash is that there are a few moments when characters (such as Matt Dillon's racist cop) pause to explain their thoughts and motivations to other characters. This simply strikes me as artificial, as it seems to me that in real life people rarely, if ever, explain why they are the way they are or why they do some of the things they do. Indeed, I can't help that wonder if Haggis felt that audiences needed these explanations in order to get a better grasp of the characters or if he thought it would give the characters more depth. Either way, I think he was wrong. It seemed to me simply to be one more contrivance.

Beyond the problems with the script itself, it seems to me that in some respects Crash, a film which seeks to explore assumptions about race, is in some respects racist itself. As of the 2000 census, 9.99% of the population of Los Angeles was Asian, which means that there only 1.25% more African Americans (who made up 11.24% of the city's population) than Asians. Despite this Asian characters only appear briefly in the film. And when they do appear, the characters are underdeveloped and, at least to me, they show characteristics of established Asian stereotypes! This is not what one expects or finds desirable in a movie that is supposed to be attacking racism.

Despite its flaws, I must say that I enjoyed Crash and it does have its good points. Most of these are to be found in the cast's various performances. I thought Sandra Bullock was convincing as a rich housewife who practically becomes agoraphobic after she and her husband are carjacked. And I thought both Ludacris as Anthony and Larenz Tate as Peter gave good performances as intellectual car thieves who are anything but stereotypical (I loved Anthony's theories on the origins of rap music...). I must also say that I liked the storyline featuring Shaun Toub as Farhad, a Persian storekeeper worried about his own safety--not the least of which is because it is one of the few storylines which is not marred by the coincidences and contrivances that afflict so many of the film's other story arcs.

I hope that no one here thinks that I feel Crash is a bad film or that I did not like the movie. That having been said, I am not sure that I can necessarily say that it was a good movie, and I certainly cannot say it was a great film (it certainly did not deserve to win Best Picture). That having been said, it is an entertaining film which has its share of good points and bad points, and it is certainly worth watching at least once.

Sidney Sheldon R.I.P.

Television producer, screenwriter, playwright, and novelist Sidney Sheldon died yesterday of complications from pneumonia. He was 89 years old.

Sheldon was born Sidney Schetel on February 11, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois. He started writing while very young, making his first sale at age 10 (he received $10 for a poem). He attended Northwestern University and wrote short plays for theatre troupes. During World War II he served in the Army Air Corps as a pilot in the War Training Service.

It was during the war that Sheldon broke into the movies as a screenwriter. His first screenplay was for the movie South of Panama in 1941. For the next several years he wrote stories and screenplays for various films. It was in 1943 that he made it to Broadway. In 1943 an update of The Merry Widow, for which Sheldon wrote the book, made its debut on the Broadway stage. The next several years Broadway would see several plays by Sheldon, among them Jackpot and Alice in Arms. After an absence of some years, Sheldon returned to the Broadway stage with Redhead in 1959 and Roman Candle in 1960.

In 1947 Sheldon wrote the screenplay for The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, for which he won the Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay. Sheldon then entered his most prolific period as a screenwriter. Among other things, he wrote the screenplays for Easter Parade, Annie Get Your Gun, Anything Goes, and Billy Rose's Jumbo.

It was in the Sixties that Sheldon entered a new career as television writer and producer. He created and produced The Patty Duke Show, which ran from 1963 to 1966. What may well be his best known creation debuted in 1965, the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. Centred on astronaut Tony Nelson who winds up the master of the mischievous genie Jeannie, the show was a tribute not only to his creativity, but to his prolific writing as well. Sheldon wrote so many scripts for the sitcom that he used a pseudonym on many of them so that people would not think the show was written entirely by one man!

It was during the last season of I Dream of Jeannie that Sheldon entered yet another career. At the age of 50 he wrote his first novel, The Naked Face. This novel would be followed up by over 15 others, many of which would be adapted into mini-series. He would return to television in 1979 as the creator of the series Hart to Hart, for which he also wrote several of the scripts. It ran from 1979 to 1984. Of the TV series Sheldon created, only Nancy (1970) failed to run more than one season.

Sidney Sheldon was undoubtedly a talented man. Not only did he write the screenplays for several classic films, but he also wrote for the Broadway stage and created three classic TV series (The Patty Duke Show, I Dream of Jeannie, and Hart to Hart. This is not even counting the several novels he wrote. I rather suspect that ultimately Sheldon will be best remembered as the creator of I Dream of Jeannie, one of the best and most popular sitcoms of the Sixties. The show lasted five seasons and has seen success in syndication. It also saw two reunion movies and will see a feature film based on the series to be released next year. Of course, he will also be remembered as a screenwriter of such classic films as The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer and Easter Parade.

As to myself, I will remember Sidney Sheldon in another way. Many years ago I was working on a book (sadly, unpublished as of yet) on the science fiction and fantasy series of the Sixties. I wrote Sheldon with a few questions about I Dream of Jeannie. Not only did he answer my letter promptly and answered my questions, but he treated me with respect as a fellow writer, even though I had not yet been published. For me, then, I will always remember Sheldon not only as a talented playwright, screenwriter, and novelist, but as a true gentleman who would take the time out of his busy day to answer the questions of a beginning writer and to encourage that writer as well. I must say that I am then truly saddened by his death.

Screen Actors Guild Awards 2007

I must confess that I have always paid some attention to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards. If nothing else, that can be a good indicator of how the actors in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may have cast their Oscar ballots. And if this year's SAG Awards are any indication, the Oscars may hold a few surprises if the rest of the Academy votes with the actors.

To wit, Little Miss Sunshine took the award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the closest thing the Screen Actors Guild has to a "Best Picture" award. It beat out Babel, Dreamgirls, and The Departed for the award. Keep in mind that three out of the past four years, the movies which won this award have taken the Best Picture Oscar (Chicago, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and Crash). Another surprise (for me at least) was Forest Whitaker's win of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for his role in The Last King of Scotland. He beat both Leonardo DiCaprio (for Blood Diamond) and Peter O'Toole for Venus. I don't think anyone can complain that he didn't deserve to win.

Of course, the awards for the actress categories were anything but surprising. Helen Mirren was the odds on favourite for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her role in The Queen, so it was not a surprise that she won. Jennifer Hudson taking the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for her role in Dreamgirls was also not a surprise.

While the motion picture awards had some surprises and some expected wins, the television awards were a mixed bag. Somehow Grey's Anatomy beat out both Deadwood and The Sopranos for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (their equivalent of Best Dramatic Series). I have said it before and I will say it again. Grey's Anatomy is simply a standard medical soap opera with an high sex quotient. And it is not even a well done one, at that. To add insult to injury, I must point out that while Grey's Anatomy won, neither Lost nor House were even nominated! I also have to question how Chandra Wilson of Grey's Anatomy beat out Edie Falco of The Sopranos for the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series--to me it is a case of the absolute worst beating out the best.

At least I can say I am very happy with most of the winners in the other television categories. Hugh Laurie took Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for House. And I must say that I am happy that Alec Baldwin took the award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (although I would not have been disappointed had Jeremy Piven taken the award for his role in Entourage--they are both fantastic). And I was more than happy to see that The Office took Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, even if it meant beating Entourage to do it.

At any rate, it will be interesting to see if this year's SAG Awards are an accurate gauge of what we can see in the Oscars. If it is, then we might well be in for a surprises come this year's Academy Awards.

The Wicker Man (1973)

When it comes to cult films, The Wicker Man (the original, not the wretched 2006 movie of the same name) ranks among the most famous. Fortunately, for fans of the movie, The Wicker Man Two-Disc Special Edition DVD was released December 19, 2006. What makes this edition so special is that it not only has the shortened (some would say "butchered") 88 minute theatrical release, but the 99 minute, restored, extended version. Even though it is the 88 minute theatrical release that appears on Disc One, and even though there have been several different cuts of The Wicker Man, it is the 99 minute extended version that anyone who has never seen The Wicker Man should see first.

For those unfamiliar with The Wicker Man, the movie centres on Sgt. Howie (Edward Woodward), a deeply Christian police officer who must investigate the case of a missing child on the island of Summersisle, off the coast of Scotland. Now Summersisle is unique in two ways: it is well known for its produce (especially its apples) and it also possesses its own revival of ancient paganism. Clues to the mystery of the missing girl and the conflict between Howie's Christianity and Summerisle's pagan culture are the primary thrust of the film.

While the shortened, 88 minute version is entertaining and even good, despite some gaps in continuity, it is the 99 minute version that has ultimately made the film a cult favourite. And there is good reason for this, as the long version fills in must needed background on Summersisle and fills in the gaps in continuity that plagued the edited version. What is more, the lengthened version features more of the great Christopher Lee as Lord Summersisle, whose exchanges with Sgt. Howie are priceless.

Indeed, it is largely the performances of the two leads that drive this film. Edward Woodward plays Sgt. Howie as deeply religious, even to the point of fanaticism, while at the same time remaining a sympathetic figure. Christopher Lee plays Lord Summersisle as free and easy and very open minded, but at the same time as devoted to his paganism as Howie is to his Christianity. It is the strong performances of these two playing very different, but in some ways similar (both are deeply religious men in their own fashion) characters.

Of course, the fodder for Woodward and Lee's great performances is provided by Anthony Shaffer's fine script. Prior to The Wicker Man, Shaffer had written both the play Sleuth and the screenplays to the movies Sleuth and Frenzy. Following The Wicker Man, Shaffer would write screenplays for Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. It should be no surprise, then, that while The Wicker Man is often considered a horror film, it is actually more accurately described as a thriller (albeit one with a horrifying ending). Shaffer's script is full of great dialogue and great set pieces, all the while letting the viewer watch as the game between Howie and Summerisle unfolds. Indeed, one of the great things about The Wicker Man is that it neither vilifies the inhabitants of Summerisle, nor holds the deeply religious Sgt. Howie up to ridicule. Both Howie and Lord Summersisle are allowed to express their beliefs without either being made the antagonist. The Wicker Man is ultimately a conflict between equals, and it is up to the viewer to decide who, if either, is in the wrong.

Despite its status as a classic, cult movie, The Wicker Man is not a perfect movie. It does have its flaws. One of these for me is the fact that the paganism of Summersisle seems less a revival of genuine Celtic paganism than a realisation of 19th century scholars' theories about ancient pagan religions. To wit, director Robin Hardy admits on the DVD's audio commentary to relying on The Golden Bough a great deal, a work largely discredited by today's scholars I very seriously doubt that ancient Celts, if they even had the custom of dancing around the Maypole, thought of the Maypole as a phallic symbol (sometimes a Maypole is just a Maypole....). Of course, I suppose this can be explained by the fact that the first Lord Summersisle brought his brand of paganism to the island in the 19th century, hence the seemingly archaic view of what ancient paganism actually was.

A more glaring flaw can be seen in the plot. In order for the climax to take place, Sgt. Howie must come to one conclusion about the disappearance of the missing girl and take one course of action. This leaves little room for error on the part of the inhabitants of Summersisle and it may be hard for some viewers to believe that everything that unfolds in the movie could be manipulated in such a way that Howie would come to conclusions and choose the proper course of action that would lead to the film's unforgettable climax. On the DVD's audio commentary, Robin Hardy, Edward Woodward, and Christopher Lee theorise that the inhabitants of Summersisle must have rehearsed everything in advance and anticipated every possibility. Still, I can see how some viewers might have some difficulty with accepting that Howie could be led along to the point that the inhabitants of Summersisle want him.

As to The Wicker Man Two-Disc Special Edition DVD itself, the extended version features an audio commentary from director Robin Hardy and stars Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward. Disc One features trailers, TV spots, and radio spots, as well as the documentary The Wicker Man Enigma. All of this is worth viewing, even the shortened, 88 minute version of the film, although as I said, anyone who has never seen the film should watch the extended version first.

Regardless of its flaws, I have always enjoyed The Wicker Man. It has always been one of those films I can watch repeatedly, and it has always been one of those movies I have found both disturbing and fascinating. If one good thing came out of the horrible 2006 film of the same name, it is that the 99 minute extended version of the original Wicker Man is back in circulation.

Ron Carey R.I.P.

Ron Carey, best known for playing Officer Carl Levitt on the TV series Barney Miller, died on January 16, 2007 from a stroke.

Carey was born Ronald Joseph Cicenia in Newark, New Jersey on December 11, 1935. Although he graduated from Seton Hall University with a Bachelor's degree in Communications, he decided to take up comedy instead. Carey started in New York, playing at various clubs. His routine involved jokes about his height (Levitt was 5 foot 7 inches tall, but behaved as if he was much shorter) and Italian "ethnic" jokes. Eventually he started appearing on various variety shows and talk shows, starting with The Merv Griffin Show in 1966. He appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Tonight Show. In 1968 he appeared on Broadway in Lovers and Other Strangers.

In 1970 he broke into films playing a cab driver in the Jack Lemmon vehicle The Out of Towners. Bit parts and roles in the TV shows The Corner Bar and The Montefuscos followed. His first real success would come as part of the Mel Brooks' company of players. His first appearance in a Brooks film was in Silent Movie in 1976. He would also appear in High Anxiety and History of the World Part I.

Of course, by 1976 Carey would be cast in the role for which he was best known--Officer Levitt on Barney Miller. The eager to please, yet overconfident uniformed officer who wanted so badly to be a plain clothes detective. Fortunately for Levitt, he eventually received the promotion he'd wanted so much.

Following the end of Barney Miller Carey appeared on both small and big screens less and less. He had a role in the comedy Johnny Dangerously, as well as parts in the TV shows Have Faith and Lucky Luke. His last screen appearance was as the lead in the comedy short Food for Thought (it was nominated for an award at the Cannes Film Festival).

Barney Miller was one of my favourite shows of the late Seventies and early Eighties, and I still enjoy it to this day. And Carey was perfectly cast as Levitt. In some respects Carey's appearance always reminded me of a Bassett hound, which was perfect for Officer Levitt, who was always a bit too eager to please his superiors. It is sad that his career never really took off beyond his role in Barney Miller and various Mel Brooks films, as Carey was a very funny man. He will certainly be missed.

2007 Oscar Nominees

Today the nominations for the 79th annual Academy Awards was announced. And, as usual, there were a few surprises. Perhaps the most surprising thing for me was that Dreamgirls was nominated the most times, with eight nominations, but Best Picture was not one of them. I have to admit that with all the buzz surrounding the film and with all the speculation on its potential as a Best Picture contender, I was rather surprised that it wasn't nominated for the top prize.

Even more surprising for me was that Paul Greengrass was nominated in the Directing category for United 93. Although there was a great deal of publicity surrounding this film, there was very little in the way of Oscar buzz. I really didn't expect it to receive any nominations. Fortunately for Greengrass, I was wrong.

Another surprise for me was that Ben Affleck was not nominated for Hollywoodland. I remember when the film came out there was talk about him being a candidate for Best Supporting Actor for his role as George Reeves. It seems that ultimately the talk was exactly that, just talk.

At any rate, it seems to me that this year Martin Scorsese might actually stand a chance at Best Picture and Best Director. I rather suspect that the biggest competition for The Departed is probably Babel (the actors in the Academy seem to love ensemble pieces, which partially explains how Crash won last year) and Letters From Iwo Jima. I am thinking that Hollywood might well favour one of their own over an outsider (Alejandro Gonzalez being from Mexico), so that if The Departed does not win Best Picture, then it will be Letters From Iwo Jima.

At any rate, what I thought would not be a very interesting Oscar race this year might well turn out to be interesting after all. As much as people try to predict who will be nominated and who will win what, it seems that the Academy loves to be unpredictable.

Bonanza

I rather suspect every person has their comfort shows; that is, shows that he or she watches whenever he or she is depressed or under stress or simply feeling blue. I must confess to having several comfort shows I will watch when I am feeling down, among them being Bonanza. Much of the reason that Bonanza is a comfort show for me is quite simple--I rather suspect it may well have been my parents' favourite TV series. Every Sunday night we would watch Bonanza on NBC. Indeed, after Bonanza had ended its network run, my parents would even watch it in syndicated reruns. I rather suspect that if they had lived long enough to see the advent of DVDs, it would have been the first (maybe the only) TV show they would have bought on DVD.

Bonanza was the creation of David Dortort. Dortort had written for such series as Climax ande Studio 57. He had also been a producer on the Western series The Restless Gun, which aired from 1957 to 1959 (initially on NBC, then on ABC). While The Restless Gun was one of a number of Westerns in the Fifties chronicling the adventures of a loner wandering from place to place, Dortort's new Western would break with most of the many, many Westerns which aired in the late Fifties. The most obvious difference between Bonanza and previous Western TV shows was that it was in colour. Indeed, not only was it the first Western to be filmed in colour, but it was the first American TV series to have every one of its episodes filmed in colour.

There were other major differences between Bonanza and previous Western TV shows as well. Quite simply, Bonanza was the first Western series to centre on a ranch (the massive Ponderosa). Prior to Bonanza, most Western shows focused on lawmen or loners wandering the West (The Rifleman was an exception--it centred on homesteader Lucas McCain). With its success, then, Bonanza was important in giving shape to the Western TV show of the Sixties, most of which centred on a family living on a piece of land rather than an unmarried sheriff living in town or a wanderer with no roots. In other words, without Bonanza, there would have been not have been The Virginian, The Big Valley, or The High Chapparal.

Another thing which set Bonanza apart from many of the Westerns in the Fifties was that it generally avoided traditional Western gunfights. The lead characters would generally try to resolve any conflicts which arose through words rather than bullets. In this respect, Bonanza was following the lead of such Western TV shows as Gunsmoke and Have Gun, Will Travel, which also sought to resolve conflict without resorting to shootouts.

Bonanza centred on the Cartwright family, who owned the vast Ponderosa. The head of the household was Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene), who had the misfortune of outliving three different wives. Fortunately, Ben had a son by each wife, giving him plenty of help on the ranch. Adam (Pernell Roberts) was the oldest of the boys and the most serious, although he did have a bit of a temper. Hoss (Dan Blocker) was the middle son and easily the most popular character. Large in size, he was also amiable and gentle, with a gift for handling animals. Little Joe (Michael Landon) was the youngest of the sons, romantic and somewhat impulsive. The Cartwrights lived on the Ponderosa not far from Virginia City, historically an important mining town in Nevada.

Bonanza debuted Saturday night, September 12, 1959. It was hardly an immediate success. During the 1959-1960 season, it only ranked #45 out of all the series on the air. Fortunately, its ratings rose in its second season. For the 1960-1961 season Bonanza ranked #17 for the year in the Nielsens. It would be in the series' third season, however, that it became one of the top rated American TV shows of the Sixties. NBC moved Bonanza from Saturday nights to Sunday nights--the time slot it would occupy for the next eleven years. The move benefited Bonanza immensely--for the '61-'62 season it was the #2 show on the air. Bonanza would remain in the top five show for each season from the '61-'62 season to the '69-'70 season--a remarkable feat for any show. What is more, Bonanza spent three of those years as the #1 show on television.

If Bonanza was one of the biggest hits of the Sixties, it may well have been because it was simply a very well done show. For its time Bonanza had some of the best photography of any TV show, and often times it reached motion picture photography. Beyond the look of the series, it must be pointed out that the characters were well written and well acted. This was not simply true of the Cartwrights, but the rest of the cast as well. From Sheriff Coffee to Doc Martin, even the secondary characters were well developed. Bonanza was also among the best written of any series in the Sixties. Indeed, it addressed such issues as racial discrimination, religious tolerance, and political corruption before most series did.

Another factor in the success of Bonanza may well have been the versatility of the series. And its best episodes almost always departed from the traditional Western. The third season episode "The Jury" is a classic murder mystery, in which Hoss's doubts about a culprit's guilt leads Adam to find the real killer. "The Flannel-Mouth Gun" came close to a traditional Western plot, pitting Adam against a range detective hired by Virginia City's Cattlemen's Association. The fifth season episode "Peace Officer" examined abuse of power when Sheriff Coffee is temporarily replaced by lawman Wes Dunn (played by Eric Fleming of Rawhide fame). Of course, in my opinion Bonanza was at its best when it did comedy. Among the funniest episodes is "Joe Cartwright, Detective," in which Little Joe becomes obsessed with detective novels and tries to prevent the bank from being robbed. The episode parodied detectives from Sherlock Holmes to Peter Gunn and even featured a fight scene which spoofed those from the then popular show Batman. Another great comic episode was "Queen High" from the tenth season, in which Little Joe and Candy (David Canary) become rivals for a beautiful blonde who has inherited a stamping mill.

Of course, none of this is to say that Bonanza was without flaws. It did have quite a few. While Bonanza did address the issue of racism, it also featured a number of racist stereotypes, particularly early in its run. Most people today would consider the Cartwrights' cook, Hop Sing (played by Victor Sen Yung, perhaps best known as Charlie Chan's #2 son), to be something of a sterotypical Chinese servant. Other episodes featured stereotypical Mexican banditos and Native American stereotypes as well. Even when Bonanza was attempting to point out the dangers of racism, as in "The Beginning," in which the Cartwrights try to help a boy raised by Native Americans adjust to European American society, racist stereotypes would sometimes appear. It must be kept in time that Bonanza was largely a product of its time and, sadly enough, racist stereotypes were still common in American culture.

A more glaring flaw where Bonanza is that after some time on the air the show developed its own share of formulas--stock plots which would provide fodder for a number of episodes. Anyone who has watched even a small number of Bonanza episodes will soon notice that there are several episodes in which one of the Cartwrights will meet a girl, fall in love with a girl, and even come close to marrying the girl, only to have that girl either contract a deadly disease or suffer some horrible death. This plot was used so often on Bonanza that Michael Landon joked that about the Cartwrights having to be careful that their horses didn’t trip over all the graves of all the women who had died on the show! Another plotline that became a formula on the show was one in which one of the Cartwrights would be accused of murder. This plot appears as early as the first season, in the episode "The Sisters" in which Adam was arrested for murder. It was still being used in the ninth season (in the episode "Judgement at Olympus," in which Candy is arrested for murder) and the tenth season (in which Hoss is arrested for murder...again...in the episode "Child"). Taken individually these episodes in which the Cartwrights fall in love, only to lose the girl to death, or in which a Cartwright is accused of murder can be quite enjoyable, but after seeing several of these sorts of episodes one can't help but have a sinking feeling of deja vu.

Bonanza would undergo various changes over the years, perhaps the second biggest being the departure of Pernell Roberts as Adam. Roberts had been dissatisfied with the show for some time, questioning the quality of its writing and even referring to it as "Junk TV." He left at the end of the '64-'65 season and Adam's absence was explained through having the character move to Australia. Sadly, Roberts' career spun into such obscurity that he became a running joke for Johnny Carson--he would not attain fame again until starring in Trapper John M.D. in the Eighties (whose writing I don't see as being superior to that on Bonanza...). David Canary would join the cast in its ninth season as ranch hand Candy. He left the show in 1970 due to a salary dispute, only to return in 1972.

It was the twelfth season that would see some of the biggest changes to Bonanza. The departure of David Canary saw the addition of Mitch Vogel as orphan Jamie Hunter and Lou Frizzell as ranch hand Dusty Rhodes. The theme was also changed this season. Since its beginning the show had opened with the classic Bonanza theme written by legendary songsmith Jay Livingston. For the twelfth season, the show boasted a new theme, "The Big Bonanza," written by David Rose (most famous as the composer of "The Stripper"), who had been responsible for the show's music since its first season. "The Big Bonanza" was not well received by fans and the original theme would be reinstated for the show's fourteenth and final season. The Twelfth season also saw Bonanza move from the Paramount lot, where it had been shot since it had debuted, to the Warner Brothers lot.

It would be the fourteenth season that would see what would perhaps be the show's biggest change. Prior to shooting on the show's final season, Dan Blocker died from a blood clot in his lungs. Bonanza would then see its first and only season without Hoss, easily the most popular character on the show. In an attempt to fill the gap left by Dan Blocker's death, David Canary returned as Candy and Tim Matheson joined the cast as Griff King.

Sadly, as much as I love Bonanza, I have come to the conclusion that it is a show that did outstay its welcome. The series was showing cracks as early as the eighth season, with such episodes as "To Bloom for Thee," in which Hoss is engaged to yet another woman he will inevitably lose, and "The Greedy Ones," in which the Ponderosa is overrun by prospectors looking for gold without changing the ranch one bit. For me the turning point of the series was probably the twelfth season. Perhaps it was the change in the theme song, perhaps it was yet more changes in the cast, but somehow Bonanza seems to have lost its way. The season saw several episodes that were just truly wretched in my opinion. Indeed, the season opener, "The Night Virginia City Died," featuring Angel Tompkins as a beautiful pyromaniac, is perhaps the worst Bonanza episode of all time. "The Weary Willies," featuring Richard Thomas (John Boy from "The Walton") as the 19th century version of hippies--War Between the States veterans who turned their back on society because of their experiences in the war (the episode does have some basis in history)--was nearly as bad. While Bonanza was still capable of producing good episodes, there would be more and more episodes of low quality as the show progressed. By the fourteenth season many of the episodes simply weren't watchable.

While I think Bonanza declined in quality, I don't think that was what was primarily led to its cancellation after fourteen seasons on the air. The fourteenth and final season of Bonanza saw the series drop in drastically in the ratings. While the season opener, "Forever," ranked number four for the weekly Nielsens and the next few episodes also performed well. Sadly, the series sank steadily in the ratings until it ranked only #52 in the ratings in late October. Bonanza was cancelled on November 3, 1972. Like many, I think the show's declining ratings were due primarily to two factors. . The first was that NBC moved the series from the Sunday night time slot it had possessed for more than ten years to a new Tuesday night time slot. This placed the show directly against Maude and Hawaii Five-O on CBS--both hit series at the time. The second, and perhaps the primary reason the show's drop in ratings was the death of Dan Blocker. Hoss was easily the show's most popular character throughout its run. I have little doubt that many longtime viewers simply could not bring themselves to watch the series any longer. Between a new time slot and the loss of its most popular, Bonanza had little hope for survival in its final season.

Bonanza would go onto one of the most successful syndication runs of all time. The series would run on local stations throughout the Seventies and Eighties. Later it would be picked up by the Family Channel, the Goodlife Television Network, Pax, the Hallmark Channel, and TV Land. Initially, the seventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth seasons were not made available for syndication, although they would later surface on various cable channels. Interestingly, Bonanza would sometimes face censorship form cable channels. When the series aired on the Family Channel, Pat Robertson refused to air five episodes on the grounds that they offended his religious sensibilities. The ill-fated Pax network also refused to air some episodes.

Regardless of its faults, regardless of the fact that it stayed on the air much too long (something it shares with The X-Files and The Simpsons), I still love Bonanza. Much of this is due to the fact that, for whatever flaws it has, Bonanza was among the best series of the Sixties. Much of it I must also admit is due to the fact that it reminds me of my early childhood. To a large degree, then, Bonanza gives me a sense of home and family and belonging. It was, after all, my parents' favourite TV show.