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Bonanza
Format	Western
Starring	Pernell Roberts Lorne Greene Dan Blocker Michael Landon Victor Sen Young Guy Williams David Canary Mitch Vogel Ray Teal Bing Russell Tim Matheson
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	430
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	1959 – 1973

Bonanza was an American western/cowboy television series starring Pernell Roberts, Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon, which aired on the NBC television network from September 12, 1959 until January 16, 1973. From 1964 through 1967, the show was #1 in the yearly Nielsen ratings. In terms of longevity, the show remains NBC's second longest-running series, after Law & Order. Bonanza was also the first hour-long network television series filmed in color.

Bonanza got its name from the Comstock Lode which was "an exceptionally large and rich mineral deposit" of silver. Virginia City was founded directly over the lode and was mined for 19 years. Ponderosa was an alternative title of the series, used for the broadcast of syndicated reruns while "Bonanza" was in first-run syndication. It is also the name of a series prequel airing on PAX-TV from 2001-02.

The "Bonanza" pilot was written by David Dortort, who also produced the series. Dortort's other creations include The Restless Gun, The High Chaparral, The Cowboys, and the Bonanza prequel, Ponderosa. For most of its 430 episode run, the main sponsor of Bonanza was Chevrolet and the stars occasionally appeared in commercials endorsing Chevrolet automobiles. All of the regular cast members had appeared in numerous stage, television and film productions before Bonanza, but none was particularly well-known.

In 1959, the series was aired on Saturday evenings. Bonanza was one of the first series to be filmed and broadcast in color. RCA owned NBC (and the series) and wanted to use it to spur sales of color receivers. However, Saturday night ratings were disappointing and Bonanza was soon targeted for cancellation, but given one last chance. A move to Sunday nights at 9:00 PM, caused the series to soar, and it remained high on the Nielsen ratings until 1971, when it fell out of the top ten. The opening burning map of the Ponderosa Ranch was illustrated with incorrect bearings. David Dortort, choosing not to redo the map, altered the compass points. The original painting was done by artist Robert Temple Ayres.

The show chronicled the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, headed by wise, widowed patriarch Ben Cartwright (played by Lorne Greene). He had three sons, each by a different wife: the oldest was the urbane architect Adam Cartwright played by (Pernell Roberts) who built the ranch house; the second was the warm and lovable giant Eric, better known by his nickname: "Hoss" (Dan Blocker); and the youngest was the hotheaded and impetuous Joseph or "Little Joe" (Michael Landon). The family's cook was the Chinese immigrant Hop Sing (Victor Sen Yung). "Bonanza" was considered an atypical western for its time, as the core of the storylines dealt with Ben and his three dissimilar sons, how they cared for one another, their neighbors and their land.

The family lived on a thousand-square-mile ranch called "The Ponderosa", on the shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada; the name refers to the Ponderosa Pine, common in the West. The nearest town to the Ponderosa was Virginia City, where the Cartwrights would go to converse with Sheriff Roy Coffee (played by veteran actor Ray Teal), or his deputy Clem Foster (Bing Russell). Greene, Roberts, Blocker, and Landon were equal stars. The opening credits rotated among four versions, with each of the four being shown first in one version (in the order above). As the series advanced, writers began to showcase one or two Cartwrights in each episode, while the others would be seen briefly in the prologue and epilogue. Not only did this provide for more thorough character development, it also gave all four actors more free time.

Originally, the Cartwrights tended to be depicted as put-off by outsiders. Lorne Greene pointed out to the producers that as one of the region's most affluent timbre and livestock producers, they had better modulate their clannishness. The Cartwrights, therefore, became more agreeable. The producers agreed with this observation and changed the series premise accordingly.

Early in the show's history, the thrice widowed Ben Cartwright, recalls each wife in flashback episodes. A running gag (which also occurs in the TV western The Big Valley), was that every time one of the Cartwrights became seriously involved with a woman, she died from a malady, was slain, or left with someone else. As with all hit programs, disturbing a successful formula could be a major blunder.

The Cast of Bonanza

The cast became very popular with viewers. Lorne Greene, known as the "Voice of Canada," was a fairly successful announcer, actor and drama coach in his native land; he was also known during World War II as the "Voice of Doom," since he'd read the list of casualties on the radio every week in his deep, resonant voice. Ben Cartwright, as Greene once described him, was "suede leather," as he was both a strong and soft patriarch. Greene recorded several record albums in character as Ben Cartwright, scoring a #1 hit with his dramatic spoken word performance of "Ringo." He also recorded a version of the Bonanza theme, with lyrics.

Georgia-born Pernell Roberts, like Greene, also recorded an album of folk ballads entitled "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies". He left the series in 1965 after a long-running dispute with series writers and creator David Dortort. Attempts to replace him were made by introducing Ben's stepson, Clay, (played briefly by Barry Coe) and a nephew Will (played by Zorro star Guy Williams), but neither lasted. According to the July 2005 "Bonanza Gold" issue, David Dortort said his intent was to marry off the Adam character and make him a semi-regular, in an effort to appease Roberts, who wanted to do stage work. Two of the remaining stars felt that storylines which created new Cartwrights could potentially defeat their own contract negotiations, so Williams' Will Cartright wound up leaving the series with Adam's fiance. Williams moved on to Lost in Space and never revived the Will role.

Three hundred pound Dan Blocker was born in Texas. A teacher, Blocker was the most educated member of the cast, having graduated with a Masters in Dramatic Arts before becoming Hoss. Hoss had a tender heart and a penchant for lost causes. But, as might be expected, it was young Michael Landon who received the most fan mail. In addition to acting, Landon began to develop his skills in writing and directing Bonanza episodes, starting with "The Gamble." Some of the shows Landon directed are considered to be the most moving and socially relevant of the series, including "The Wish."

In 1967, David Canary joined the cast as "Candy" Canaday, a confident army-brat turned cowboy, who became the Cartwrights' foreman. The character vanished in 1970 after Canary himself had a contract dispute with Dortort.

In 1970, 14-year-old Mitch Vogel joined the series as Jamie Hunter, the orphaned son of a rainmaker. Ben adopted Jamie in a 1971 episode. During this character's run on the show, Bonanza ratings fell greatly ^[1][2]

In 1972, Dan Blocker suddenly died from a post-op blood-clot to the lungs. The show's producers chose to simply mention the character's death in passing (this had been done earlier in 1954 with Make Room For Daddy and in 1963 with The Real McCoys, wherein the female leads of each show chose not to renew their contracts). "Bonanza" was moved to Tuesday nights against a new CBS sitcom, Maude. Both events signaled the end of the program. Canary returned to his former role of Candy (to make up for Blocker's absence), and a new character named Griff King (played by Tim Matheson) was added to lure younger viewers. Griff, accused of killing his heavy-handed stepfather, was paroled into Ben's custody and got a job as a ranch hand. Several episodes were built around his character, one Matheson never had a chance to fully develop before the show's sudden demise in January 1973. Many fans felt that the Hoss character was essential, as he was a nurturing, empathetic soul who rounded-out the all-male cast.

From the third season on, the Cartwrights and nearly every other recurring character on the show wore the same clothing in almost every episode. This was done to cut the cost of refilming action shots (such as riding clips in-between scenes), as previously-shot stock footage could be reused.

• Ben Cartwright: Taupe shirt, Brown leather vest, gray pants, creme colored hat, occasional green scarf
• Adam Cartwright: Black Shirt, Black Pants, Black hat. Occasional wheat colored trail coat.
• Hoss Cartwright: White shirt, brown suede vest, brown pants, distinctive 10-gallon hat.
• Little Joe Cartwright: Gray shirt, green corduroy jacket, tan pants, Tan hat. Black leather gloves from 10th season on.
• Candy Canaday: Crimson shirt, black pants, black leather vest and hat, green/grey scarf.

Bonanza's credits were names superimposed over charcoal drawings. This card was a rendition of creator/producer David Dortort, portrayed here as an overseer in mines.

In 1968, Dan Blocker began wearing a toupee on the series as he was approaching forty and losing hair. He joined the ranks of his fellow co-stars Pernell Roberts and Lorne Greene, both of whom began the series with hairpieces (Greene wore his modest frontal piece in private life too, whereas Roberts preferred not wearing his, even to rehearsals/blocking). Michael Landon was the only original cast member to be wig-free throughout the series, as even Victor Sen Yung's Hop Sing wore an attached queue (pony tail).

For 14 years, the Cartwrights were the premier western family on American television and have been immensely popular on cable networks such as TV Land, ION (formerly PAX), and the Hallmark Channel. In the UK the show is aired on the Bonanza channel on skyTV.

Following the program's cancellation:

• Lorne Greene did three short-lived series Griff, Battlestar Galactica and Code Red, as well as narrating a wild life series and a starring role as the first slave owner of Kunta Kinte in the mini-series Roots. Lorne Greene died from prostate cancer in 1987, a few weeks after signing to appear in Bonanza: The Next Generation.
• Michael Landon became an industry "mover" as actor, writer, director and producer of two successful series, Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven. Landon died from pancreatic cancer in 1991.
• David Canary, who started in Peyton Place, went back to the soap genre and (to date) has won five Emmy Awards for his dual portrayal of twins Adam and Stuart Chandler on All My Children.
• Pernell Roberts, the lone survivor of the original cast, found renewed fame from 1979-86 with Trapper John, M.D., and later narrated FBI: The Untold Stories.
• Victor Sen Yung died a mysterious death in his home in 1980. The actor's achievements were greatly overlooked. On a To Tell the Truth episode in 1975, no one on the panel identified him as the actor who contributed to the Charlie Chan films, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song, and the 14-year run of Bonanza. Pernell Roberts, a champion for minority rights, did the eulogy at Yung's funeral. With few available roles for Asian actors at the time, Yung had been reduced to selling cookware.

Bonanza was brought back for three made-for-TV movies featuring the Cartwrights' offspring. These include Bonanza: The Next Generation (1988), Bonanza: The Return (1993) and Bonanza: Under Attack (1995). Michael Landon, Jr., who bore no resemblance to his father, played Little Joe's son while Dirk Blocker, who looks and sounds exactly like his father, briefly portrayed an unrelated newspaper reporter in a small role, although clips of his appearance were heavily used in the advertisements before the film's broadcast.

In 2001, there was an attempt to revive the series' concept with a prequel, Ponderosa, with a pilot directed by Kevin James Dobson and filmed in Australia. Covering the time when the Cartwrights first arrived at the Ponderosa, it lasted 20 episodes. The prequel had less gunfire and brawling than the original. Bonanza creator David Dortort approved PAX TV's decision to hire Beth Sullivan, a producer from Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, which some believe gave the series a softer edge.

Bonanza also featured a memorable theme song by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans that is often parodied. Lorne Greene and the cast recorded versions of the song with lyrics.

Well known American country singer Johnny Cash recorded a version of the theme song, released on his sixteenth album: "Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash", in 1963.

The Bonanza theme is one of the best known pieces of made-for-television music, and variations of it were used for twelve seasons of the series. In 1968, a new percussion-heavy arrangement of the original theme was introduced; the new version was used until 1970. A new theme song, called "The Big Bonanza" was written in 1970 by episode scorer David Rose, and was used from 1970-1972. A faster rendition of the original theme returned for the 14th and final season.

The Little House on the Prairie theme (also by Rose), was heard first in a 1971 episode of "Bonanza". The overture for The High Chaparral composed by Harry Sukman can be heard briefly at the start of the 1966 episode "Four Sisters from Boston".

Michael Richards as Stanley Spadowski in UHF sang a bit of the theme song while being held hostage by Channel 8's thugs.

The program's Nevada set, the Ponderosa Ranch house, was recreated in Incline Village, Nevada, in 1967, and remained a tourist attraction world-wide until its sale in September 2004.

A handful of episodes of the series are in the public domain, and some TV showings of these episodes on low-budget stations and networks (and also on low-budget public domain DVDs and VHS tapes) substitute the familiar theme music for generic music.

In 1973, NBC licensed the syndication rights to the series to National Telefilm Associates, which changed its name to Republic Pictures in the 1980s (by then part of the Spelling Entertainment organization). Select episodes ("The Best of Bonanza") were officially released in North America in 2003 on DVD via then-Republic video licensee Artisan Entertainment (which was later purchased by Lionsgate Home Entertainment). Republic still retains the syndication distribution rights to the series, and lately the series is distributed world-wide via CBS Paramount Television, which owns the Republic Library. DVD distribution details are currently under on-going negotiation, but CBS DVD is now the home video rights holder.

Bonanza Ventures, Inc. grants merchandising and licensing rights worldwide. One of its licensees is the magazine, Bonanza Gold, which features detailed information about the show, including interviews with actors and other production personnel, articles about historical events and people depicted in the series, fan clubs and fan fiction.

• Ponderosa Ranch
• 1959 in television

• Bonanza at the Internet Movie Database
• Bonanza on TVLand.com
• Bonanza at the Encyclopedia of Television
• Bonanza at Fiftiesweb.com
• Bonanza at EpisodeWorld.com
• The Bear Family boxed set of the albums recorded by the cast of the show and its companion CD of various recordings of the theme song, Michael Landon recordings, and songs inspired by the show in various languages.
• Full Episodes of Bonanza
• The dictionary definition of Bonanza at m-w.com that was cited above.

• Bonanaza World, lots of info and photos in a pleasant interface.
• Bonanza1.com the oldest fan tribute website
• Bonanza Brand, fan website with character/actor forums, FanFic Library, and more.
• Bonanza Legacy, one of several fan websites sanctioned by Bonanza Ventures, Inc. and affiliated with the official magazine "Bonanza Gold."
• Bonanza: Scenery of The Ponderosa, another fan website.
• Vote Bonanza into the TV Hall of Fame