No one has a topic page for Zach? Interesting. Anyways I really like him. Hope he replaces Taylor.

I'm so glad you started this thread. Zach is one of my favorites, especially from the moment he told Taylor and her coterie of mean girls that "It's your job to be in the kitchen." (Okay, so out of context that sounds a little weird...)

I hope he stages a yellow-team walkout next week and sees how many of the "little kids" choose to remain with Taylor. Right now, the editing almost suggests there's a gender divide in the yellow team's attitudes. A lot of the slackers seem to be girls who are drawn, like moths to a flame, to the the brightness of Taylor's beauty-queen smile. And Zach seems to be hanging out with "the boys," like cattle-chasing Colton. We've seen lots of boys in the kitchen, albeit making more of a mess than cooking, and they seem to fairly well-intentioned even if leaderless.

Do you think the yellow team could vote to replace their council representative?

I think that's probably what's going to happen. I'm fairly sure an election is coming up at some point, and if someone from the Yellow District is going to be chosen as a replacement for Taylor, I'm pretty sure it will be Zach.

This kid cracks me up on his profile, too. He gives a shout out to his first kiss, aw. He seems like he's going to be quite the little ladies' man in a few years. if he isn't already.

Before they showed Zach's interview in which he disapproved of Taylor's attitude, I actually thought they might have a crush on each other (albeit they were probably prodded with the questions in their interviews). For eg, in Ep01 Zach praised Taylor for her efforts in the first showdown when she had the map and was giving them directions, and in a subsequent episode, Taylor was praising Zach for something (can't remember what exactly), which I thought was sweet.

He's a cutie and seems quite mature and level-headed for a 10 year old.

His profile is great! Although, his favorite TV shows are Courage the Cowardly Dog and Dexter? Why are his parents letting him watch Dexter?!

Taylor was not going to let him get the gold star this week no matter what. He busted his butt, he rallied others in the town to help with the dishes, he is genuinely embarrassed over the way his team is handling their responsibilities. In other words, he's the opposite of Taylor and she knows that the primary reason he's nominated for the gold star is because he covered up her glaring laziness. Giving him the gold star would be the same as admitting she's done something wrong by sitting on her ass, talking down to people, etc.

While he seems a natural choice to be the councilman for the yellow district in the voting that's coming next week I don't think he'll get it - the rest of the district seems to like the "don't work, act spoiled" attitude that Taylor brings, I think they'd rather get someone on the council who maintains that attitude. Which is probably ultimately good for Zach because he'll be eligible for the gold star as a result of not being on the council.

I think he may be referring to Dexter's Laboratory, not Dexter the serial killer.

Do you, Rosalyn? I read Zach as exactly the kind of kid that would dig Dexter Morgan. I would have been ALL ABOUT Dexter as a ten year old.

You know the first thing I thought when I read "Dexter" was the cartoon. I didn't even think about the other Dexter until I read Madam Mustard's post and was puzzled as to why she'd have a problem with it. It took me a moment before I remembered there was another Dexter. Anyway, it's possible that he might be watching that show but his other favorite is also on the Cartoon Network.

I think he'd do a terrific job if he ultimately dethrones Taylor as the Yellow team leader. Is it just me or are the younger kids a lot more mature than the older ones?

He and Alex would make a great tandem if the latter decides to run for a council position as well.

They still show Dexter's Laboratory?? I loved that show when I was like 10.

As a Jew, I was so proud of Zach for standing up for his beliefs and faith, for defending Hanukkah (and okay, for giving that person the finger. If he were my brother, I'd be so mad at him for being rude, but frankly, I was sorta angry at the intolerance the kids were showing) And when he sang Adon Olam, he just made tears well up in my eyes. That was a beautiful moment for me.

And what made me even prouder was when he really showed the principles he lived by. When he read Genesis together with that other kid, when he rallied the four districts together to wash the dishes and when he spoke up against Taylor...he really showed himself to be a wonderful person!

Council or gold star for him, please!

Me too! Maybe it's because I love Adon Olam, but I think it's because he seems like a truly great kid. Can't begin to imagine how his parents were kvelling when they saw that scene.

When he and the other kid were comparing the words of Genesis from the different bibles, I was so impressed by what they were doing. Both kids showed such respect for the other and demonstrated true curiosity. Nobody was trying to say theirs was superior. It was my sense that they were looking for the commonalities.

Go Zach!

I love Adon Olam, I remember singing it when I was his age. Seriously, that kid is nachas personified. And he does dishes!

That scene when the two boys were reading together hopefully made a bridge between the "Jew Crew" and "Christian Rules" types. That is my hope. After Savannah said she didn't' want to pray with Jews, I was furious. I hope Zach can teach her that we all want the same things, peace, health and happiness.

And the only way he's getting a star is if Taylor is off the board or hogtied. He made himself a small but powerful little enemy.

Zach just seems like a really decent person and I like that he still feels responsibility to perform his duties assigned even though his entire team chooses to shirk them...

I totally think he resembles Oscar from "The Office"

Zach...MAZAL TOV! (Congratulations in Hebrew) My whole family was watching with me, cheering for him. (Gosh, I am never so Jew pride, usually I root for the women)

I wanted him to sweep Gold Star and Council Seat, but hey, I'm sure council members will be rewarded and I was so proud of him.

He has a quick wit and his speech was excellent. And he turned Randi. And he just dominated at the challange.

Please...Zach...in twenty five years, run for president.

Seriously. Zach has more presidential qualities than....well, I think we can all come up with someone.

Team Zach!

Zach for pres and Alex for his running mate. Seriously, with Jared as the press secretary, Sophia as secretary of defense, Morgan as secretary of State and we have got ourselves a WINNING team.

Awesome. Way to go Zach!



That has my vote.

Actually, I think I'd like to see Michael doing something. But the positions listed seem a waste of his insights...? Hmmm..

I am not a Zach fan yet. He has a certain...heaviness to his speech that bugs. Like he has to think about the sentence 'I am going to get fresh water.' I don't know if this is because he was feeling downtrodden under the Reign of Taylor, or if it's just the way he is, or if I am smoking crack. I'm not enthused with the way he's been telling people what to do either -- but I *do* think not paying people for not working is a great start.

In short, I'm sitting on the fence right now.

I'm starting to hate this guy. Lots of big snappy political slogans, loud voice, but I doubt he'll be anything but a little dictator. At least he isn't in the running for a gold star now, though.

It would have been a shame if Greg go passed over for this phony.

Zach looks like a kid who will not let himself fail. I'm sure he will do everything he set out to do and more. I think he would be embarassed if he didn't accomplish his goals.

She said that? Aw. I missed that. I feel ashamed for her. Admittedly, it's probably because they tell you Jewish people go to Hell where she comes from (which makes no sense, I know...).



I hope Zach can do that, too. He seems like a great kid. Though maybe a little too precocious. Like. Scary precocious. Like, I'm afraid he might be able to do my taxes more quickly than I can, precocious.

Zach is officially my favorite this week. His speeches were soooo self-conscious and rehearsed, and it totally reminded me of what I would have done at that age. Regardless of his speechifying, he is almost 100% right when he speaks up, both in talking head segments and in the public moments, and his utter disgust at Taylor matches my own. Viva la Revolucion, indeed!

I couldn't agree with you more. Zach never ceases to amaze me. The same goes for Alex. Those two are really incredible children. Taylor could learn a lot from them. Im really looking forward to seeing how she deals with not being part of the council next week.

I laughed so hard when he said "Viva La Revolucion!" I'm sorry. It was the most appropriate, hilarious thing that could be said. Fantastic moment of television.

We were re-watching Ep05 with Zach running for election and he was talking about how he needed one more girl's vote in order to win. My husband was like "Shut up, Charlie Brown". I thought he was referring to "You're Not Elected Charlie Brown" or some other episode, but he meant that Zach's voice sounds just like Charlie Brown's!

Viva La Revolution?

Seems to have fizzled out. He's become just another lackey for Laurel on the council. Even Talyor has faded into the background, so he doesn't have her to scapegoat anymore.

I usually don't buy the argument that kids who appear to be behaving badly have been railroaded by the editing. But I do think Zach (and the kids who with him) were probably inaccurately portrayed as making fun of Randi. The key is to separate the nighttime scene from the daytime interview clips.

In the nighttime scene itself, I don't hear Zach or any of the kids with him saying anything about Randi or crying or wanting to go home or people wanting their mommies or anything like that. I see Zach making funny faces and the other kids laughing. I'm not sure that he's imitating crying. He's not rubbing his eyes or saying "wah" or anything like that. You'd think if he was clearly mocking Randi, they'd have some remark imitating her - something more clear.

The remarks from Zach about people being upset and from Michael about Yellow's morale were in daytime interviews.

Zach's only references to Randi by name during the episode were positive.

I've always liked Zach so maybe I'm being biased here, but I agree that scene was sketchy, yruneh. He didn't even look like he was imitating crying, more like imitating spastic laughter. The only "proof" that they were talking about Randi was that the sound of her and Taylor talking was looped over the outside scene to make it seem like the boys could hear what was going on inside.

Randi was the only yellow kid Zach complimented when complaining about the rest of his team to the council early in the episode, too, so he seemed to like her.

I also don't buy that Zach is suddenly this lazy bum. Whenever there are scenes of random kids working, he's usually right in the middle of it helping out. He'll get ousted by Blaine for sure, but that will be because the yellow kids want the cool, older kid representing them, not because Zach became drunk with power and stopped working. Blaine winning easily would not be surprising at all, considering Zach never had support from any of the yellow girls that are left and they make up half his team.

I like Zach. Is it wrong to say that if I were 10 I would have a crush on him? And/or if I had a daughter his age I'd set them up? I'm already a Jewish mother....this is sick.

the only thing that rubs me the wrong way about Zach is that of all the kids, he is the most Reality Show Dramatic. Whenever he's speaking with the council or at the TM, he's just overly dramatic with everything he says "This Gold Star decision was realllllly hard"

I am not Zach's biggest fan, but there are a couple qualities of his that really impress me.

He can stand up to people. I've mentioned before that I think he would make a good enforcer for the town because he has the capability to calmly and articulately stand his ground, in a way that I haven't seen any of the other Bonanzans do. When confronted by Greg, he just stated, "I'm sorry, I can't let you stay here." It's my opinion that Greg wasn't too hell-bent on actually sleeping there, which explained why he acquiesced so easily, but still. I think that Zach's response -- in a tone that really brooked no room for negotiation -- had a lot to do with that. Can you imagine if that had been Anjay?

Zach is not intimidated by the older kids, and that's good because unless they stick an older kid with the job of being enforcer, said enforcer would have a hard enough time getting the older ones to toe the line. And honestly, I think that most of the older kids wouldn't be as good as Zach when it comes to calmly enforcing the "laws" of Bonanza.

I like Zach. {snip} I think he'd make a great big city politician. Zach can make good decisions and is bombastic enough for the public campaigning a politician must do. Yeah, Zach does not like to get his hands dirty and maybe prone to a bit of corruption due to his nascent dictatorial impulses and what I foresee will be a love of delegation (always a risk of trouble when you delegate tasks to others), but his core is good and I don't see him doing anything too bad as a politician. The town went on a candy riot and Zach worried about order. The town divided over religion and he helped unite them. Zach set limits and used sweet talk when he could. He wasn't shy about trying to get what he wanted and he wasn't shy about advocating for the good of the town either. You could tell he really cared. He has passion. I can see him glad-handing and speechifying now.

I'm a gentile, and a) I'd also have a crush on him if I were 10 and b) I'd set my daughter up with him and possibly even talk conversion!

He's got tremendous vision and along with Hunter, the strongest value system going out there in BC (IMHO).

I was rewatching some of the early episodes on cbs.com and I've noticed that Zach reminds me of cooler, male version of Sophia. Now, what I mean by that is that he seems to shake his finger at all the "bad things" around town, like a mother would do at their kids scribbling crayons on the wall. For a 10 year old, he is far beyond his years. He definitely seems like he's got a great head on his shoulders but I wish we had a chance to see him act more kid-like, especially since he's only 10! When I was 10, I was still playing with Thundercats and He-man figures. There was that one episode where he, along with Michael and a couple of other kids, were just hanging out having a laugh (the imfamous "are they making fun of Randi?" episode). That was a pleasent surprise since he was being too stuffy while on the council. I enjoyed him far better before and after the council.

I liked Zach very much. I would keep forgetting he was only a year older than Mallory. Very level-headed for his age, with a sense of responsibility without being insufferable about it. I wanted to kick Greg for laughing at him, and I hope Zach realizes that it was Greg just being an ass and had nothing to do with himself being laughable in any way.

Seriously, I love this kid. He's quick-witted and insightful and so good-hearted and heck yeah if I had a daughter I'd hope she'd go for a boy like him. Plus, kid's got eyelashes to die for.

He and DK and Hunter and Morgan especially are just kids that you can tell were raised right. Not just "values", whatever that is supposed to mean, but a sense of justice and personal responsibility and integrity that makes me feel good about the future. He sometimes seems like he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders, but even watching the other kids totally trash the store, he still has this determined idealism, you know? Like 'yeah, the world around me may be going straight to hell, but screw what everybody else is doing', and even if there hadn't been a few others who didn't join in the looting, I think he would have stood by himself if he had to. He doesn't give in to group-think, which is exceptionally cool for a 10 year old. It's not an easy road to walk, feeling as responsible as he seems to at such a young age, but it's way, way cool. I hope he knows he did himself proud. If I could I'd hug him silly. Rock on, little man!

Zach was my favorite pioneer in Bonanza this season and he reminds me a lot of how I was as a kid, so that resonated with me a lot more then with the other kids. It also made me sympathize with him a lot more then even the other upstanding kids like Michael and Hunter.

IMO a lot of the 'mature' kids on this show definitely come from great families with values, but I also think it's innate. A kid like Zach (and Sophia, Morgan, ect) just have that temperament since they were born.

I'll bet dollar-for-dollar that kids like Zach and Sophia have partents who talk directly "with" them rather than down "to" them. It makes all the difference.

It's ALL in the parenting.