Heartland

Living where I am in Buffalo, New York I'm fortunate to get a few Canadian television shows from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation which is on my cable package. If I didn't I wouldn't be seeing Heartland which I'm informed is Canada's longest running television series.

Family patriarch is Shaun Johnston who is a man of the land and in his way of living land means you grow things and or you feed animals off the things you grow. He's a cowboy and still a working one at that. But he's smart enough to bend with the times and part of his land is now a dude ranch for dudes who want to pretend. Not thrilled with the idea, but it's an income and the family works at it as a family enterprise.

My favorite of the characters is Chris Potter who is best known for the role of Peter Caine in Kung Fu - The Legend Continues. He's Johnston's errant son-in-law, a former rodeo star who can't forget the roar of the crowd and hasn't quite matured. As this series is almost a decade old Potter and the rest have really honed their characters pretty good.

Heartland is a really nice product from Canada and we Americans who can see it should be grateful.

Love watching the show. My daughter and grand daughter love it too. Grand daughter is 2 and says horsey show mama. She would have it on all the time. Too cute. Wish we had more heart warming shows like this. I like the values it teaches. Family is so very important, and this shows a family's struggles and victories. Sleepless nights I turn on Heartland and have a marathon till morning. Wishing episodes 6-8 were available here. I will just have to wait. The story line and cast are excellent. Awesome family show. Makes me want to get baby girl a pony. Would love to see Calgary someday. It truly is beautiful. Would recommend watching this series, it will fill your heart with joy. Grew up with horses at grandfathers. So the story falls right in with all I remember growing up.

Great story-telling in this series and every aspect is well produced: acting, writing, and the incredible scenery. I'm about halfway through the 12-season show, and am simply enjoying the heck out of it. The horses are great actors, too, and should win awards. It does seem everyone is doing most of their own riding, they make it all so very realistic. The lead Amy played by Amber is incredible, who knew one person could do so many different types of riding and do it well? Horse dancing, to dressage, to jumping, to rodeo, to racing, to communicating deeply with horses in a genuine heart-felt way gets conveyed incredibly well. There's lots of topics that reveal ranch life in today's world that is interesting as well. From wild horses to oil, class war, business vs. family life, addiction, native people's oppression and resilience, death and loss, relationship dysfunction, craziness and creative solutions (no sex). Then there's the whole healing aspect that comes from living in and/or visiting the land where the heart rules. The therapeutic work with the horses affects the people and vice versa in sometimes amazingly touching and profoundly metaphorical ways. The show goes deep and is lighthearted too. It cannot be an easy show for the actors to do because it is quite physically demanding. There's violence, though not too bad, fires, explosions, shooting, avalanches, rescues, fights, lots of action. The characters, including repeating characters and are so well-drawn and acted, you end up taking them to heart. There are a few places where what they do doesn't quite fit with them, what they know or would do in just a few situations, but otherwise the character arcs, their growth and development over the years is an incredible journey of the heart. Totally enjoyable for the whole family, too. If you don't love horses when you start this series, you will.

First off, I'm a 32 year old man living in Upstate New York. I drive a truck and have seen a horse up close maybe 3 times. I love this show. The acting is great and the script is written very well. Every now and then, you can predict something, but very rarely can you be specific. Everyone talks about the horses and the heartwarming tales. I agree with all of that. I'm writing this as of the completion of the 8th season. Ty's character was my favorite. I loved Amy as well, but Ty is the kid with the troubled past. I enjoyed how his past became relevant more than once. It's not like he moved and everyone back home forgot about him. He grew as a person and a man. Great things were portrayed in this show.

Also the message Heartland and nature portrays. There is more to live than city living. There's more out there. And it's a richer life.

I strongly recommend this show.

I am late to the party on this show (I'm in season 5) and it's been really enjoyable. My only complaint is with Mallory and Lou. Mallory is way too annoying, and makes me want to hit "mute" when she's on. Lou often comes across as a diva. I know it seems like a negative review, but I love the other characters, the photography, scenery and of course, the horses. Will stick with it.