The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams

Those who wonder why many people of a certain age wax poetic about their childhood viewing experiences will understand once they watch The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. It was a short-lived but outstanding show which provided life lessons in friendship, perseverance, love of animals and respect for nature and each other. It portrayed James Adams, wanted for a murder he didn't commit, who fled into the mountains to start his life anew. While overcoming various obstacles in his struggle to survive in the rugged wilderness, he demonstrated an uncanny ability to communicate with many of the various animals that populated the area, gaining their trust and co-existing peacefully in common territory. His primary companion was Ben, an adult bear whom he rescued as a cub.

Everything about the show was wonderful. Each episode featured beautiful scenery and provided a wholesome hour of television. Dan Haggerty was well cast in the title role and is convincing in his portrayal of Adams as a gentle, caring soul. Equally good is character actor Denver Pyle as the ornery but kind-hearted mountain man Mad Jack. Don Shanks rounded out the cast as Nacoma, a young Native American whom Adams befriended and who knows the territory. The theme song "Maybe", beautifully written and performed, brings a sense of longing and a tear to the eye.

I am blessed to have grown up at a time with quality television. This show is currently broadcast on MeTV on Sunday mornings in the NJ/NY area. Give it a look!

While I know that this show was no emmy-winning fare, it brings backs memories of my youth and gaining an appreciation for nature and all animals.

Somewhere in all of us, lies that Walden-esque desire to abandon the trappings of modern life and live in the wilderness among nature. While this was merely a television program, and undoubtedly fraught with errors and impossibilities (i.e. raising an orphan cub to be your "buddy"), it allowed for soles young and old to live out that Western fantasy, albeit vicarisely. I miss those days curled up with a pillow on my Grandma's floor and imersing myself in Grizzly Adam's world.

Just recently the TV series was aired again on German TV for an... x number of times. It "realizes" everyone´s dream to just leave this hectic, violent world behind. The plots are simple, which isn´t necessarily negative. As a matter of fact, it is one of the few TV series with little to no violence. It brings back memories of one´s own youth and dreams of a perfect world in which all problems will be solved in a nice way at the end. An entertaining series with good actors, beautiful sights of nature and unforgettable Ben.

Sunn Classic Pictures was a movie company out of Salt Lake City Utah that made a lot of good high quality films in the 1970's. Films like The Mysterious Monsters, In Search Of Noah's Ark, The Lincoln Conspiracy, Beyond And Back, The Bermuda Triangle and In Search Of Historic Jesus. This tv series was a forgotten jem. It is an absolute atrocity that people do not remember it or cannot see it today, especially in the light of the trash that they call tv shows they shove down people's throats. Dan Hagerty and Denver Pyle did a wonderful job in creating a fine show that the whole family can enjoy. Grizzly Adams was a tv hero that kids can look up to. We need him today more then ever. I watched this show growing up in Fairmont, West Virginia and have such fond memories of it. They need to put it into syndication. Shows like this and Little House On The Prarie and Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman teach such important lessons to our children. A great tv journalist named Edward R. Murrow once said that without a social conscience, tv is a horrible weapon and will corrupt our children. By the way, I loved the song for this tv show "Maybe, theres a world that we won't have to run maybe, theres a time we call our own living free in harmony....take me home, take me home.

Even though this show lasted for only a Year, the program made for a great Family series. Haggerty,Pyle,and even the actor Shanks(who plays Indian friend Nakuma)were wonderful! The program starts off, where a man is accused of a crime he did not commit. He goes into hiding off to the Mountains and befriends characters that teach him and the viewer Lessons about Life. I recall the film "Challenge to be Free"; Both main characters hide away and become "One with Nature".I do enjoy stories about Friendship, working together and Grizzly Adams is a very sweet,and wholesome show. The viewer learns about Teamwork,compromise and respecting the great gifts of the World that God gave us.