TV Show Review: Father Murphy, Season 2

When we left Father Murphy at the end of Season 1, the residents at Gold Hill were embarking upon new adventures. With John Murphy (Merlin Olsen) and schoolmarm, Mae Woodward (Katherine Cannon), now man and wife, and legal guardians to all the children at Gold Hill, there are due to be some ups and downs.


In these 13 unforgettable episodes, families can enjoy the love of family that is destined to win out against the trials of frontier life.

At the opening of Season 2, our favorite characters--Murphy, Mae, and their friend Moses Gage (Moses Gunn)--find life changing. Gage experiences a bout of jealousy when the children want to make special presents for Murphy on Father's Day. Gold Hill opens its doors and hearts to an angry young boy who has gotten expelled from school. Will runs away after the birth of Murphy and Mae's baby girl. Eli, David and Ephram (Scott Mellini) send away for a mail-order bride for Moses, hoping he'll be happy like the Murphys.

Despite winning awards and receiving multiple nominations during its two season run, Father Murphy  was cancelled. Having watched both seasons after more than 20 years of the show being off the air, and considering Little House on the Prairie (LHOP) was still on the air at that time--even if it was at the tail end of its run--I can see why Father Murphy didn't make it. While the acting was superb, how much frontier family drama did viewers in the early 80's want? It didn't have a TV sweetheart like Melissa Gilbert to be the focus of the series. While Will Adams (Timothy Gibbs) definitely had talent and has successfully transitioned into an acting adult, he didn't grow on viewers the way Gilbert did.  I think part of that is because the relationship between Murphy and Will is very different from the one between Charles Ingalls and his daughter, Laura. There wasn't as much crying in Father Murphy. I only mention that because so many LHOP fans talk about the tear-jerking episodes of this classic family television show. The characters in Father Murphy also weren't seen in church all the time.

As I said in my review of Season 1, Father Murphy  was an edgier version of Little House on the Prairie. Murphy was a very different father figure than Charles Ingalls, even though they had some of the same traits. If the show had aired after LHOP was cancelled, I wonder if it would have been more successful. The Young Pioneers Christmas, which is based upon a book written by Rose Wilder Lane, spurred a short-lived series in 1978 titled, The Young Pioneers. Maybe the family western drama was dying out in the late 70's and early 80's, but LHOP being on the air may have impacted those shows. Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman starring Jane Seymour and Joe Lando ran for six seasons and two movies, starting in 1993. I believe it was the only frontier family series on during that time.

For whatever reason, Father Murphy didn't catch on. It's definitely better TV than what is on today, but at the time, it didn't make the cut. Merlin Olsen and Moses Gunn are both gone now. Katherine Cannon has retired from acting, as have many of the child stars from the series. James Cromwell, who guest starred on Little House on the Prairie and Father Murphy, is perhaps one of the biggest names connected with show. Other notable guests include: Shannen Doherty, Christina Applegate, Tina Yothers, Eddie Quinlan, and Kellie Martin.

Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC 

Language: English 

Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 

Number of discs: 5 

Rated: NR (Not Rated) 

Studio: Image Entertainment 

DVD Release Date: January 25, 2005 

Run Time: 624 minutes

Limited availability through eBay and Amazon sellers.

I purchased Season 2 of this series through an Amazon seller last year. I received no monetary compensation for this review.

Free for All Fridays - Is Family TV Extinct?

Many blogs run a Free for All Friday, so this feature isn't unique by any means. Even Rush Limbaugh has Open Line Fridays, where his listeners help dictate the direction of the show by sharing what is on their minds. For this blog, Free for All Friday is going to start off being about whatever is on  my mind at the time. It could have to do with family life, books, television, religion, politics (Did I just mention those two never talk about subjects?) or who knows what else. If this feature becomes popular enough, I would like to see readers directing our Friday conversations. We'll see how it goes.

Today's topic is spurred by two things:  my inability to find anything I can sit and watch with my kids on a regular basis, and an article about Collingswood, New Jersey (the home town of TV legend Michael Landon) misplacing a plaque that was dedicated in his honor.

I grew up with shows like Happy Days, Little House on the Prairie, The Brady Bunch, Diff'rent Strokes, and The Waltons. What do these shows have in common? They have strong family units with caring parents--or in the case of Diff'rent Strokes, a caring parent--who deal with the triumphs and tragedies of daily life. On a regular basis these shows provide viewers with some type of lesson. Modern-day counterparts seem more concerned with highlighting the total dysfunction of their families. Even on networks that are family oriented, some shows have self-centered parents who are so concerned with their looks or fulfilling their own dreams that their children are negatively impacted. Though the issues are resolved by the end of the show, why are parents portrayed this way?

One can't help but wonder what messages about authority figures are relayed to children when often times the children manage to outsmart the adults in their lives. There are cases where teachers are seen as argumentative kooks. Fathers are dumb as boxes of rocks--except on those few occasions where they dole out useful advice and declare their love of home and family.

Granted, our world has changed in the past thirty years, and in some ways we wouldn't want to reverse the clock. I still can't help but think, however, that highlighting dysfunction only leads to more of it, because children see this as the norm. They learn to challenge authority when their TV heroes manage it on a regular basis. A tiny part of me also believes that if quality family television from the '70's still existed, the plaque honoring Michael Landon never would have been mislaid.

What do you think? Does quality family TV still exist? Are there shows out there you feel comfortable watching as a family?