While I love western movies, I do not care for most western series ( The High Chaparral, Zane Grey Theatre and the James Garner episodes of Maverick are exceptions). Big Valley was better then average because of Lee Majors ( Heath) and ( especially) Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley. I do not think people really get what made the series above average which was the presence of Stanwyck. Stanwyck by many critics was one considered of the two greatest female western stars of all-time ( her and Maureen O'Hara). For example I have seen comments here about Stanwyck's dresses but overlook Barbara putting on the jeans and getting down and dirty ( like with Charles Bronson in the coal mine ( similar to when she got down and dirty in the mud with David Janssen on Zane Grey a decade earlier)). Of course, this is the actress who instead of using a stunt woman took a punch from Clark Gable in Night Nurse 35 years earlier and got knocked out ( but earned the respect of Gable, Director William Wellman and everyone else on the film). The problem with Big Valley was the rest of the cast: Richard Long (Jerrod) who could not do action scenes due to his bad heart ( which eventually killed him), Peter Breck ( Nick) who rarely had episodes that featured him and (especially) Linda Evans (Audra), who although nice to look at, simply brought nothing to the table ( it seemed like lots of her episodes were Audra as the "Damsel In Distress." Again, watch for Stanwyck. 7/10 stars.
Review of The Big Valley
