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Jonathan Harris brings his Dr. Smith character from "Lost in Space" out to the Ponderosa, portraying author Charles Dickens as a mincing snob in this badly written episode.
Ben (Lorne Greene) and a Virginia City literary society invite Charles Dickens (Jonathan Harris) out west to give a presentation of his works. The ruffians in town surprisingly know Dickens' works, thanks to their publication by Sam Walker (Frank Albertson) in the local newspaper. What the townspeople don't know is that Dickens never authorized the American serialization of his novels, and soon browbeats the townsfolk for stealing from him. Walker's printing equipment is destroyed, Dickens is implicated, and soon a trial is on with absolutely no suspense in its outcome and repercussions.
This misstep in the series feels off-kilter from the beginning. Instead of portraying Dickens as slightly haughty or even a little snobbish, Harris portrays him as an ass of the highest order, turning off the townspeople and the audience. No one is concerned that this child inmate of a debtors' prison is getting cheated out of money that is rightfully his, I saw no motivation why he doesn't defend himself in his trial- telling people the real reason he was in Walker's office when the damage was found (the screenwriter also dropped the ball here, as the real culprit is made more than obvious). Harris' final scene as Dickens is fantastic, he does a 180 and plays him as he should have been playing him for the last forty-eight minutes, with the exception of another nicely done bit with Dickens working with Hoss (Dan Blocker).
Of course, the Cartwrights know better than everyone else all along, but this episode is such a turn-off, I was thankful when it ended. I still love Dickens' work, Great Expectations is one of my favorite novels, but based on this episode alone, Dickens is a jerk.
Not Rated- Very mild physical violence, very mild gun violence, mild alcohol use
