I never liked this show. It came across as an attempt by Hollywood to present a revisionist history of the Wild West.
shareIt would be good it if you returned to this thread to explain what you mean, I don't see how it was a revisionist history.
shareSeen a few eps recently and I agree 100% every chance they get it is White Man = Bad. Women and Indians = Good. Except when the Indians are men in which case they can be bad too.
shareDidn't the show also have a white guy that self identified as an Indian or something?
shareI'm sorry, but I don't believe that you really watched the show if you can say such things.
Lots of white men were given a mostly positive portrayal, and others did get chances to develope over the seasons and be redeemed.
Also, it is not like the women were flawless and perfect as Michaela herself made mistakes now and then.
Absolutely. I used to watch the show back in the day, but I can't stand it now. The biggest problem was that it was way too preachy with its liberal agenda.
shareWhat exactly did you expect though?
That they would applaud things like that a black man was almost hanged because he bought a house?
Yes, because there's nothing inbetween.😐
shareI believe that they showed the "in-between" in that episodes.
Some of the show's regulars had participated in racist bullying against Robert E.
They did however not foresee the attempted hanging and clearly were terrified when it went that far.
It is true though that they just stood there like sheep and did nothing to stop it, and it was of course up to Michaela and Sully to save Robert E.
However, it is a very realistic portrayal of what would happen in a similar situation in real life.
Most people just don't have the courage to stand up to atrocities like that.
But what I really like is that Matthew and Horace quit the KKK already before it went that far...
"And it was of course up to Michaela and Sully to save Robert E."
And them constantly doing that and preaching their modern liberal ideas to everyone they came across is what it makes it so incredibly unrealistic.
They were supposed to be pioneers about many issues, such people did exist.
It is not "modern liberal" to be against racism today for example, because that is what is mainstream now.
Michaela and Sully were liberal (even radical) in an 1860s-1870s setting, which is very different from being so in a modern setting.
Like I consider myself a conservative by modern occidental standards on some issues.
But that is not the same thing as that I agree with some things from the 19th century, because I very often don't.
A "pioneer" on pretty much every single social issue in a 19th century mountain town? Not very realistic. And most pioneers in those days look pretty conservative by today's standards. Dr. Quinn seemed like a radical at times.
shareYou have to remember that Michaela was from Boston, so she would have had a more cosmopolitan worldview.
It is often implied that her father had also been very liberal-minded, so she would have been influenced by that as well.
(Her mother was more conservative, but still a strong woman in her own way.)
Sully spent a lot of time with the Cheyennes, so he was more likely than the other white men to think outside the box.
Thus, I can see how Michaela and Sully became the local radicals.
And really, that is what most of us want from heroes of historical dramas.
Because we often find it harder to relate to more conservative historical characters, who never do much to change the status quo.
However, it is very much possible that the writers of this show went a bit too far.
All of their attempts to make Michaela and Sully likable to a 1990s audience became too much for some people.
Still, it is notable that the writers did give them moments of being products of their time.
Like, Michaela had problems with a visiting writer because he was gay and was afraid that Brian would be molested by him!
And at one point, Sully was bothered by that Michaela made more money than him in one episode.
It would have been realistic for any man back then, but it was untypical for the normally radical Sully.
Of course, they had to just reject their suddenly conservative views before these episodes ended.
Still, it was clear that they weren't always "too modern", and on the flip side, the people in town weren't always rotten either.
But you will have to watch many episodes from several seasons to notice these nuances and how the characters grew.
And if you don't like the show, you won't be spending much time on it and notice that.
But it wasn't as two-dimensional as the show's detractors believe...
"Because really, that is what most of us want from heroes of historical dramas."
Meh, I thought characters like Jake and Loren were more interesting because they were complicated. I'm not a big fan of heroes that are more perfect than other characters, especially if they constantly preach.
The good thing with Jake and Loren is that they grew as characters.
It would have been awful if they had just remained stubborn jerks.
Really though, I have to say that my favorite character on this show probably was Horace.
Despite everything, he managed to be sweet and mostly open-minded.
But he wasn't as brave and radical as Sully, and he didn't have to be that to be likable.
And here's a different point to consider:
Being the radicals of a small town back in those days wouldn't have been all sunshine and butterflies.
You might see Michaela and Sully as "too perfect" from a 21rst century perspective.
But plenty of their 19th century contemporaries would have seen them as crazy.
Most of the regulars did warm up to the protagonists as the seasons went by.
Still, Michaela and Sully were treated as local radicals back then would have been.
They had to face scorn and ridicule and even violence and imprisonment at times...
I felt so sorry for Horace after the way Myra treated him.
shareYeah, my mother and I hated Myra!
shareI was never quite sure if we were supposed to sympathize with her, I really couldn't.
shareThat is the question.
You may think that Michaela and Sully are anachronistic, but Myra is much worse and more ridiculous.
Really, she had the nerve to whine about being a housewife in the 1870s!
But they did at least portray Horace sympathetically during this mess, so I must give them credit for that.
And even Michaela seemed to be shocked by some of Myra's selfish choices.
But I don't know if we were supposed to actually dislike Myra, even if that was what many viewers did...
I watched it back in the day, but it was soooooo preachy! I laughed at how over the top it was even back then.
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