History Series / TheBigValley

[[TheWestern Western]] TV series which ran on Creator/{{ABC}} from 1965 to 1969, starring Richard Long, Peter Breck, Linda Evans, Creator/LeeMajors (in his first starring role) and Creator/BarbaraStanwyck. The series featured the Barkleys, a wealthy ranch family living near Stockton in UsefulNotes/{{California}}[='=]s Central Valley. The family consisted of Victoria, a tough pioneer turned elegant lady; her four sons, and a daughter. It was more socially conscious than other Westerns of the time, featuring some diversity (black cowboys, Chinese railroad workers) and plenty of angst, often arising from various family members' attempts to fight injustice.

->''"Heath! Nick! Jarrod! There's a fire in the barn!"''

* ActionMom: Miss Victoria Barkely.

* BigBadFriend: The Barkleys ended up having a lot of these.
* BigBrotherInstinct: All three of the boys towards Audra.

* RupturedAppendix: Audra's, in the first season episode "Last Train to the Fair".

-->--'''"Johnny"''' in ''Film/{{Airplane}}''

* PutOnABus: The actress who played Audra was written out of an episode because of negotiations with the network over renewing her contract. Her mother mentions in the episode to a visitor that Audra had to go to some distant town on an errand. She returned from whatever she was visiting in the next episode

* RupturedAppendix: Audra's in first season episode "Last Train to the Fair".
* SexySilhouette: In "In Silent Battle", Major Eliot is propositioned by prostitute, who tells him she has an upstairs room nearby. He contemptuously tells her to leave him alone, but later sees a silhouette of her getting ready for bed and goes over there (unfortunately for her).

* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: The three brothers. Jarrod is an attorney, Nick runs the ranch, and Heath is a WalkingShirtlessScene.

[[TheWestern Western]] TV series which ran on Creator/{{ABC}} from 1965 to 1969, starring Richard Long, Peter Breck, Linda Evans, Lee Majors (in his first starring role) and Creator/BarbaraStanwyck. The series featured the Barkleys, a wealthy ranch family living near Stockton in UsefulNotes/{{California}}[='=]s Central Valley. The family consisted of Victoria, a tough pioneer turned elegant lady; her four sons, and a daughter. It was more socially conscious than other Westerns of the time, featuring some diversity (black cowboys, Chinese railroad workers) and plenty of angst, often arising from various family members' attempts to fight injustice.

* BadassBookworm: Jarrod is a lawyer who doesn't ordinarily wear a gun, and he apparently has large amounts of legal code memorized to quote off the top of his head at the drop of a hat. He can also mend fences, throw a solid punch, and hit precisely what he shoots at when he does carry a weapon.

* DateRapeAverted: In "My Son, My Son," Audra is having a birthday party and meets the son of their neighbors, who's been away for several years. She lures him away from the party and lets him kiss her, but when he tries to go further she resists him. He throws her into a shed and tries to rape her, but her screams bring Heath to her rescue. She spends much of the episode wondering how much of it was her fault, while Victoria tries to stay on good terms with the neighbors. [[spoiler:Then he tries again, and Victoria is forced to shoot him dead.]]

* [[PutOnABus Put on a Stagecoach]]: The actress who played Audra was written out of an episode because of negotiations with the network over renewing her contract. Her mother mentions in the episode to a visitor that Audra had to go to some distant town on an errand. She returned from whatever she was visiting in the next episode

* SexySilhouette: In "In Silent Battle," Major Eliot is propositioned by prostitute, who tells him she has an upstairs room nearby. He contemptuously tells her to leave him alone, but later sees a silhouette of her getting ready for bed and goes over there (unfortunately for her).
* SleazyPolitician: Joshua Hawks, in "Target," is a gubernatorial candidate who makes headlines by accusing Thomas Barkley of having stolen the family land. He's making it up out of whole cloth, and even [[spoiler:plans to murder the people looking into it and blaming it on the Barkleys. He eventually reveals that he hates the Barkleys because he used to work for them and (apparently) thought they looked down on him.]]

* StuffedInAFridge: In "Days of Wrath" Jarrod meets Beth, whom he meets and [[FourthDateMarriage marries after a few days]] only for her to take a bullet meant for him and die in his arms, just so Jarrod can go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge after her killer. All this happens in one episode.
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: In "Days of Grace," Heath is accused of rape in another town and put in a cell in the sheriff's office. An old flame who had become a nun breaks him out and they go on the run together. He even gets into a shootout with several deputies as they pursue him, but once Victoria convinces his accuser to recant, neither he nor the nun are punished.

* BigBrotherInstinct: All three of the boys, but especially Jarrod, towards Audra.

* JustAStitch: Audra says this in "Last Train to the Fair".
* LikeBrotherAndSister: Heath and Audra. She's defensive of him and he protective of her, though not quite as much as Jarrod, the latter seen in first season episode "Last Train to the Fair".

* PrecisionFStrike: In the pilot, Heath comes onto the Barkley estate and ends up fighting with Jarrod, and Jarrod wants to know who he is and why he's there, so Heath uses the only profanity used in the entire series when he states, matter-of-factly, just who he is: "Your father's bastard son." (The comic book of the series completely ignores how Heath ended up with the family.)