VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4], 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 12:02:49 06/14/13 Fri
Author: Ponderosa Pete
Subject: "Forever" . . . not so much

I have been pondering Jarrod's excellent essay on "Forever" (original title: " 'and Forever") and interesting follow-up comments, and altho Jarrod nit-picks a bit, overall I agree with him. "Forever" was not BONANZA's finest hour (or rather its finest 2-hour season premiere; it became a two-parter only in syndication).

I think however we are hampered by hindsight (which is alway 20-20 or better). Of course it would've been a superior idea if producers David Dortort, Richard Collins and de facto producer Michael Landon (and NBC big-wigs) had expanded the series concept dramatically and let "Little Joe" "grow up" and get married, but at the time, apparently there was little desire (or latitude) to "rock the boat," so "Forever" became just another adventure on the Ponderosa.

I've read that Landon himself was distracted on the set (understandable, under the circumstances) and accordingly probably not working at his best. Examples -- Richard Collins said Lauren Hutton was Landon's first choice for "Alice" but Landon dismissed her after she expressed a desire to discuss her character at length (and likely request changes to the script). And mindful of the age difference and his prematurely graying hair, Landon reportedly was most concerned that he not look like he was playing Bonnie Bedelia's father in the wedding scene and publicity photos.

One correction . . . altho "Forever" was indeed the first episode to air, "The Twenty-Sixth Grave" (Mark Twain's second visit with the Cartwrights), was the first episode filmed after Dan Blocker's tragic death (in June 1972; production was delayed a month after Dan passed away in May). It was on the set of that show -- not "Forever" -- that the cast and crew had to deal with and face their enormous collective loss initially.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Re: "Forever" . . . not so much -- Jarrod, 16:39:26 06/16/13 Sun [1]

Great post. I find it interesting that Ben has some tender father-son moments with Jamie in the Mark Twain episode. They seem very relaxed and at peace. Maybe that is Lorne's good acting? I suppose that a few months had gone by since Dan's death. I think that with 'Forever' a lot of people tend to associate Alice's death with Hoss' death, but Hoss' death is more directly addressed in the one where Jamie gets involved with the hazing. As for 'Forever,' I think Bedelia is very good. But this episode, as I posted before, almost overwhelms the viewer and is less enjoyable to watch than it should be. At one point, I thought Landon would have Joe confess to being molested as a child, or actually see Joe try to commit suicide-- there was no shortage of tragedy in this episode, and on some level, it becomes too much. And if we look at the story, Landon ends up dropping some story points before the denouement, because he is juggling too much-- the fact that Alice was pregnant when she was murdered is never once mentioned after her death-- it is like the scenes of her expecting a baby were forgotten. Again, this would have worked better if it had been stretched out over several episodes, or if Alice had become a full-time cast member for the final season, then killed off in the last episode-- if Landon was still intent on ripping everything out from under Joe. And us.


[ Edit | View ]


[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.