Pioneer Woman (Air Date: December 19, 1973) (Lost, series, ratings, house)

[Martin1973]

In this CBS-aired telefeature, which I didn't realize until recently that it was intended as a pilot for a TV series that wasn't picked up as a TV series, Joanna Pettet plays the role of Maggie Sergeant, who is chronicling the hardships that she, her husband John (William Shatner), their son, Jeremy (Russell Baer) and daughter Sarah (Helen Hunt in her career debut) faced, beginning with their move to Nebraska in March of 1867 to settle a parcel of land there. Upon arrival in Nebraska a month later, though, they're informed by the people living there that the parcel of land had been purchased and settled 7 years ago, and that John was conned out of his money, being presented with a fake deed of ownership to add insult to injury. In the ensuing confrontation between John and the people already living there Maggie suffers a miscarriage, which prompts John to surrender the deed and, later that night, ask Maggie if she'd be willing to move to Wyoming Territory to settle there. She agrees, and they settle on a parcel of land several miles outside the town of Pines Ridge. John builds a sod house in which he, Maggie, and their children will live, and all 4 work together to get the wheat and vegetable crops planted, after which John heads from home to file their homestead claim. One day, Maggie is greeted by Robert Douglas (David Janssen), a rancher that they met during their first day there, who has brought John over the saddle of his horse--dead. Apparently John had been caught by a flash flood while en route home from filing the homestead claim and drowned as a result. Maggie and the children are then obliged to take on the task of nurturing their wheat crops and vegetables that they've planted, even banding together with Douglas, Joe Wormser (Lance LeGault) and his family, and other members of the community to protect their crops and livestock from a raging summer prairie inferno by cutting a firebreak, setting a backfire to deny the prairie blaze any fuel, and extinguishing satellite fires that break out on the periphery of the main inferno. Once the prairie fire is out, Douglas informs Maggie that she and her family will be able to harvest their wheat crop after all. While in Pines Ridge that August, Maggie and her children meet Robert Douglas as they're heading home with their supplies. He asks Maggie if, now that they've sold their harvest, they were going to use the proceeds of the sale to return East. Maggie says no, that they've invested in settling there, and that she and her children were going to see it through. Douglas then proposes that he and Maggie marry. She declines, then responds with a proposal of her own, that Mr. Douglas, she, and her children would cooperate in raising both wheat and livestock, even inviting him over to their place for dinner that evening. Maggie writes in her diary entry marked August 16, 1867, that she is sending for a schoolteacher to establish a school to educate the children of the community and a minister to see to the community's spiritual welfare, adding that she no longer feels like an outsider, and that she and her children are able to meet any challenge that they would face. I have to admit that I enjoyed viewing this telefeature when it aired on Encore Westerns due to the fact that Maggie and her family were able to muster the courage to meet the challenges that faced them, and I even shed tears when she lost first her unborn child to a miscarriage, then lost John when he got caught in that flash flood while he was on the way home from filing their homestead claim. I also appreciated the fact that the makers of the telefeature insisted on being true to the means of living native to that time in history. I've often wondered what TV would've been like had Pioneer Woman been picked up as a series. I'd like to bet that, due to its authenticity, it would've left Little House on the Prairie, the series that Pioneer Woman would've been competing with had PW been picked up as a series in its own right, in the dust as far as ratings were concerned, even earning Ms. Pettet several Best Actress Emmys in the process. Of course, that's strictly speculation on my part. The good thing about this telefeature is that it's a part of the Volume 15 collection in the Great American Westerns series of DVDs, so I can view it at any time that is convenient for me to select. It's just a thought that I wished to express. Comments, anyone? Martin1973 January 30, 2009

[Fontucky]

As a public service to the rest of the readers, I've broken your post down into paragraphs. It's much easier on the eyes.



In this CBS-aired telefeature, which I didn't realize until recently that it was intended as a pilot for a TV series that wasn't picked up as a TV series, Joanna Pettet plays the role of Maggie Sergeant, who is chronicling the hardships that she, her husband John (William Shatner), their son, Jeremy (Russell Baer) and daughter Sarah (Helen Hunt in her career debut) faced, beginning with their move to Nebraska in March of 1867 to settle a parcel of land there.

Upon arrival in Nebraska a month later, though, they're informed by the people living there that the parcel of land had been purchased and settled 7 years ago, and that John was conned out of his money, being presented with a fake deed of ownership to add insult to injury. In the ensuing confrontation between John and the people already living there Maggie suffers a miscarriage, which prompts John to surrender the deed and, later that night, ask Maggie if she'd be willing to move to Wyoming Territory to settle there. She agrees, and they settle on a parcel of land several miles outside the town of Pines Ridge.

John builds a sod house in which he, Maggie, and their children will live, and all 4 work together to get the wheat and vegetable crops planted, after which John heads from home to file their homestead claim. One day, Maggie is greeted by Robert Douglas (David Janssen), a rancher that they met during their first day there, who has brought John over the saddle of his horse--dead.

Apparently John had been caught by a flash flood while en route home from filing the homestead claim and drowned as a result. Maggie and the children are then obliged to take on the task of nurturing their wheat crops and vegetables that they've planted, even banding together with Douglas, Joe Wormser (Lance LeGault) and his family, and other members of the community to protect their crops and livestock from a raging summer prairie inferno by cutting a firebreak, setting a backfire to deny the prairie blaze any fuel, and extinguishing satellite fires that break out on the periphery of the main inferno.

Once the prairie fire is out, Douglas informs Maggie that she and her family will be able to harvest their wheat crop after all. While in Pines Ridge that August, Maggie and her children meet Robert Douglas as they're heading home with their supplies. He asks Maggie if, now that they've sold their harvest, they were going to use the proceeds of the sale to return East. Maggie says no, that they've invested in settling there, and that she and her children were going to see it through.

Douglas then proposes that he and Maggie marry. She declines, then responds with a proposal of her own, that Mr. Douglas, she, and her children would cooperate in raising both wheat and livestock, even inviting him over to their place for dinner that evening. Maggie writes in her diary entry marked August 16, 1867, that she is sending for a schoolteacher to establish a school to educate the children of the community and a minister to see to the community's spiritual welfare, adding that she no longer feels like an outsider, and that she and her children are able to meet any challenge that they would face.

I have to admit that I enjoyed viewing this telefeature when it aired on Encore Westerns due to the fact that Maggie and her family were able to muster the courage to meet the challenges that faced them, and I even shed tears when she lost first her unborn child to a miscarriage, then lost John when he got caught in that flash flood while he was on the way home from filing their homestead claim.

I also appreciated the fact that the makers of the telefeature insisted on being true to the means of living native to that time in history. I've often wondered what TV would've been like had Pioneer Woman been picked up as a series. I'd like to bet that, due to its authenticity, it would've left Little House on the Prairie, the series that Pioneer Woman would've been competing with had PW been picked up as a series in its own right, in the dust as far as ratings were concerned, even earning Ms. Pettet several Best Actress Emmys in the process.

Of course, that's strictly speculation on my part. The good thing about this telefeature is that it's a part of the Volume 15 collection in the Great American Westerns series of DVDs, so I can view it at any time that is convenient for me to select. It's just a thought that I wished to express. Comments, anyone? Martin1973 January 30, 2009