User Reviews

Lee Majors gets himself mixed up with bounty hunter Bruce Dern who is hunting the wanted Peter Haskell. The considerable $5000.00 reward is what's on Dern's mind, that's 19th century dollars.

In any event all they come up with is Haskell's dying wife Ondine Vaughn and a toddler not even a year old. Dern continues the hunt while Majors takes the baby back to the Barkley residence. To find a home for the kid isn't easy as a lot feel Haskell will sooner or later return to claim his own.

In the end Haskell turns downright noble and essentially gives all he has to give for the welfare of his son.

A very good Big Valley story about sacrifice and concern.

Very well acted and a great storyline with a bittersweet ending. Lee Majors and Dern are especially good in this one.

This is one of the better shows in the entire collection of 'The Big Valley'. Well written, well acted and an emotional roller coaster for the viewer. Sometime I cannot understand why this series was not continued after the fourth season.

In this show Heath meets a preacher/bounty hunter named John Weaver (Bruce Dern) along the trail. Seems that Weaver is looking for the notorious outlaw Ben Rowlins. Mr Rowlins has a wife and a new baby in the area close to Stockton and Weaver believes he is in route to see the new child. Heath agrees to ride with Weaver since a horse Weaver is riding belongs to the Barkley ranch.

When they get to the Rowlins homestead they find Ms Rowlins near death and a healthy baby named Joey. Before Ms Rowlins passes, she asks Heath if he will take care of the baby.

Heath will try to find a good home for the baby. So he takes the child back to the Barkley Ranch. However it will be more difficult that he thinks since no one wants a baby that is an offspring of outlaw Rowlins.

Soon Ben Rowlins rides into Stockton and hears about his child being at the Barkley's. Rowlins wants to take the baby and leave but that will be hard to do as the bounty hunter is just behind him. Now Rowlins will have to make a decision about what is the best for the baby. The viewer knows what is best but will Rowlins see the obvious answer.

A very good show that held the viewer's interest the entire time. Acting was terrific and the story was entertaining. One of the better shows in the entire series.

I guess that's why some think it was the best episode of the series, but I don't agree (the first, Palms of Glory, and others are way ahead of it in quality). When you match "Prize" up with "They Called Her Delilah," there was a big fat error. In "Prize," Heath is burying the baby's mother on the same day he's killing the bad guy in Stockton in "Delilah." Big Valley didn't cite particular dates often, maybe because it messed up if it did. I love Heath, but he can't be in two places at once.

That being said and taken for whatever it's worth, "Prize" does have some cute and some bittersweet moments, and anytime you have Bruce Dern, I'm there. Worth watching, even if other episodes are better.