Ned Blessing: Return of the Hooded Man

Darkness falls over the town of Plum Creek when the Texas Rangers come into town-with a hooded man doomed to be hung. With the prisoner sheathed under a dark hood, nobody recognizes him- until someone catches a glimpse of his face and it is none other than Ned Blessing's father! Determined to seek justice, Ned takes matters into his own hands and orchestrates his father's escape-only to set himself up for the same gruesome fate. Now, in a race againist time, Ned must save them both-and battle the Rangers who won't give up until someone dies!

Ned Blessing : Return of the Hooded Man

I find this product to be all I expected it to be. I received the product in like new condition, I have been very happy with the
Service on this product! November 28, 2007

Adios, Ned

This disk contains the final two episodes of the 1993 western series `Ned Blessing.' They cut the cord on this series quick. One is the last televised episode, the other never aired.

`Oscar' finds none other than British author Oscar Wilde traveling to Plum Creek to deliver a message to Ned, and play acerbic Cupid to Ned and the Wren. Fry would later, in 1997, play Wilde in the movie WILDE. Many might remember him as Reginald Jeeves in the BBC series "Jeeves and Wooster," or as Lord Melchett in the Blackadder series. I'm a fan of Fry's and was surprised to see him a- in an otherwise cliffhanging action series, and b- playing Oscar Wilde a half decade or so before he brought it to the big screen. If such a thing can be said of a series that lasted less than two months, `Oscar' provided a nice change of pace to the usual good guy/bad guy chase and shoot-`em-up.

The never broadcast episode, `The Return of the Hooded Man,' finds two Texas Rangers bringing a mute and hooded man to Plum Creek to be hanged for killing one of their partners. Marshal Ned Blessing's jail provides the cell while the Rangers search for the right tree. Their search provides time for the story to unwind and reveal a surprise or two.

I'm still baffled why this series was never given a chance. The characters are sharply drawn, some verging on eccentric. Brad Johnson is a cross between Tom Berenger and John Wayne in the title role, a good thing to be in a series like this, and Brenda Bakke is fine as the saloon owner Wren. I also liked Luis Avalos, as Ned's foster father/Sancho Panza Crecencio, Tim Scott as the whiskered, rail-thin and shy deputy `Sticks' Packwood, and Wes Studi as One Horse.

Worst of all - even though the last two episodes break with tradition and don't open with an old, one-armed Blessing in a jail cell, sentenced to death and scratching out this week's story - we'll never know why he was sentenced or how he lost his arm. Ah, well, it was fun while it lasted, although in this case it should have lasted a whole lot longer than it did.
December 11, 2005

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