Ein Wink des Himmels

I love this show with its warmth, love,caring and morel values that unfortunately, society nowadays lacks. I'm more a sci-fi , action adventure fan but this show (Promised Land) is my absolute favorite. I only just a few weeks ago (April 2000) discovered this show and it has made me do a lot of thinking. This show has values that people should follow as it will make them better people. I recently discovered that Promised Land is no longer in production and that saddens me greatly. The Characters and actors who portray them, have entered my life and my heart and I hope I never forget them and the show. I love it.

We love watching this series! It is one of the few television series for the entire family. It has moral values, it is artistic and it is true to life. Promised Land is not necessary about a place in particular. It is about the entire U.S., where the family travels, or used to travel together in a trailer through out the country. The U.S. is a country of so much wealth that it flows with milk and honey. The Greenes are a family that trusts God, and sees angels, occasionally you can see an angel from another top series "Touched by an Angel" show up. Russell Greene, Gerald McRaney, is a wise and godly man. Claire, Wendy Phillips, is a school teacher. Don't we all need and thank them for our learning. Joshua, Austin O'Brien, is such a good kid! Dinah, Sarah Schaub, is always challenged with good and evil and chooses good. Nathaniel, Eddie Karr, always gets into trouble, but has a good adopted family to support him. Hattie, Celeste Holm, Academy Award winner for Gentleman's Agreement, plays a grandmother we would love to have, if ours isn't like her. I love Margot, Ashleigh Norman, sophisticated and poetic. She is so cool! L.T., Eugene Byrd, was a pain in the beginning but as his character develops he has become very likable, becoming a photographer, and writing a script for a competition on the controversial topic of the black family born to Thomas Jefferson. This is a wonderful show! I recommend it! We are on the road of life together!

Gerald McRaney is a really amazing actor. He is almost like Gary Cooper in projecting the image of the "common man" in the character that he plays. He was so wonderful in "Major Dad" he was so good in portraying a strong and loving father figure that it really warmed my heart. I remember in particular when Operation Desert Shield and Storm happened in the Christmas of 1990 and how they wrote that into the show. At the conclusion of the war, Mac read a message of congradulations to the troops who served and thanked them. As one of those troops, I have always remembered what he did and I thank him to this day. Promised Land was a spin off of Touched By An Angel and it had a lot of sarcasm attached to it when it premiered, even from TV Guide who predicted in its fall issue that it would not last long. They were wrong and the viewers were right because it was a great show that all of us needed to see. It was like Little House On The Prarie and Mike Landon would have been so proud of it because it taught us old fashioned issues that we all need to open our heart to. Promised Land was a tv series that all of us needed to heed, especially in these troubled times. It was a simple and wonderful show that Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart would have been proud of because of its simple and loving message that brought the family unit to the forefront and made the common man a hero. I am so glad that Celeste Holm was a part of this wonderful show! She is a living legend and one of our true greatest actesses. I write to famous people as a hobby and wrote to her a number of years ago and she was kind enough to send me a reply and talked about how wonderful it was to work for "Mac" and everyone else. This is a show that we need more of in this negative time especially after 9/11, Why did they cancel it.

Although it has been off the air for 6 years now, Promised Land was one of those shows that comes along once or twice in a generation. Good cast, supporting cast(among them, Richard Thomas and Ossie Davis) and crew. The plot is believable with McRaney packing up his family and just saying "to hell with it all" after being subjected to so many disappointments and incidents since his return from Vietnam years earlier. I think a lot of Vietnam-era veterans, myself included, could really relate to McRaney's thought process in finally deciding on his course of action. Many of us did precisely the same thing in real life, after returning from that war and finding that America was not the same place we left. The show imparts not only values but a glimpse into what took place in one veterans life. In those two respects alone, I think it is one of the more poignant TV series of our time. Why this program only ran for 3 years is beyond me.

All I can say is I really miss this show!! My wife & I just got married around the time this show started up!! Why did CBS take it off the air??? I think it was the best show for the whole family to enjoy!! It made me laugh!! It also made me cry. But when CBS took it off the air my wife & I thought CBS made a big mistake. You know what would be so great?? Have a reunion show!! That would be so cool!!!! Anybody know if it is on DVD yet?? On the last season of Promised Land, did CBS show the whole last season?? I think CBS took it off the air at mid-season. My wife & I will never forget it. The opening with that theme song was fantastic!!! This show only comes once in a life time! May we never forget Promised Land!!