Bonanza

This article is about the television program. For other uses, see Bonanza (disambiguation).

Bonanza
Genre	Western
Created by	David Dortort
Starring	Lorne Greene Pernell Roberts Dan Blocker Michael Landon Victor Sen Yung Guy Williams David Canary Mitch Vogel Ray Teal Bing Russell Tim Matheson Lou Fritzell
Theme music composer	Ray Evans Jay Livingston
Opening theme	"Bonanza"
Composers	David Rose Walter Scharf Harry Sukman Fred Steiner (12.21) William Lava
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	14
No. of episodes	430 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	David Dortort Mark Roberts
Producer	Fred Hamilton
Running time	49 minutes
Production company	NBC
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 12, 1959 (1959-09-12) – January 16, 1973 (1973-01-16)

Bonanza is an NBC-produced western television series that ran on the NBC network from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series (behind Gunsmoke) and still continues to air in syndication, The show centers around the Cartwright family, who live in the area near Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The show stars Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, Michael Landon, and David Canary. The show's title "Bonanza" is a term used by miners in regard to a large vein or deposit of ore, and commonly refers to The Comstock Lode. In 2002, Bonanza was ranked No. 43 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

Premise

The show chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, headed by the thrice-widowed patriarch Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene). He had three sons, each by a different wife: the eldest was the urbane architect Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts) who built the ranch house; the second was the warm and lovable giant Eric "Hoss" (Dan Blocker); and the youngest was the hotheaded and impetuous Joseph or "Little Joe" (Michael Landon). Via exposition (Bonanza, "Rose For Lotta", premiere, 9/12/59) and flashback episodes, each wife was accorded a different ethnicity: English (Bonanza, "Elizabeth My Love"; episode #65) Swedish (Bonanza, "Inger My Love", episode #95) and French Creole (Bonanza, "Marie My Love", episode #120) respectively. The family's cook was the Chinese immigrant Hop Sing (Victor Sen Yung). Greene, Roberts, Blocker, and Landon were billed equally. The opening credits would alternate the order among the four stars.

The family lived on a 600,000+ acre ranch (over one thousand square-miles) called the Ponderosa on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada. The vast size of the Cartwrights' land was quietly revised to "half a million acres" on Lorne Greene's 1964 song, "Saga of the Ponderosa." The ranch 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).

Pernell Roberts as Adam (1959)

Bonanza was considered an atypical western for its time, as the core of the storylines dealt less about the range but more with Ben and his three dissimilar sons, how they cared for one another, their neighbors, and just causes. "You always saw stories about family on comedies or on an anthology, but Bonanza was the first series that was week-to-week about a family and the troubles it went through. Bonanza was a period drama that attempted to confront contemporary social issues. That was very difficult to do on television. Most shows that tried to do it failed because the sponsors didn't like it, and the networks were nervous about getting letters", explains Stephen Battaglio, a senior editor for TV Guide magazine (Paulette Cohn, "Bonanza: TV Trailblazer", American Profile Magazine, p. 12, June 5, 2009).

Episodes ranged from high drama ("Bushwacked", episode #392, 1971; "Shanklin", episode #409, 1972) to broad comedy ("Hoss and the Leprechauns", episode #146, 1964; "Caution, Bunny Crossing", episode #358, 1969) and addressed such meaty issues as the environment ("Different Pines, Same Wind", episode #304, 1968), substance abuse ("The Hidden Enemy", episode #424, 1972), domestic violence ("First Love", episode #427, 1972), anti-war sentiment ("The Weary Willies", episode #364, 1970), and illegitimate births ("Love Child", episode #370, 1970; "Rock-A-Bye Hoss", episode #393, 1971). The series sought to illustrate the cruelty of bigotry against: Asians ("The Fear Merchants", episode #27, 1960; "The Lonely Man", episode #404, 1971), African-Americans ("Enter Thomas Bowers", episode #164, 1964; "The Wish", episode #326, 1968; "Child", episode #305, 1969), Native Americans ("The Underdog", episode #180, 1964; "Terror at 2:00", episode #384, 1970), Jews, ("Look to the Stars", episode #90, 1962); the disabled ("Tommy", episode #249, 1966) and "little people" ("It's A Small World", episode #347, 1968).

Originally, the Cartwrights tended to be depicted as put-off by outsiders. Lorne Greene, however, objected to this, pointing out that as the area's largest timber and livestock producer, the family should be less clannish. The producers agreed with this observation and changed the Cartwrights to be more amiable.

The cast

Though not familiar stars in 1959, the cast quickly became favorites of the first television generation.

Lorne Greene – Ben Cartwright

Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright

Canadian-born Lorne Greene starred as family patriarch Ben Cartwright. Early in the show's history, Ben Cartwright recalls each of his late wives in flashback episodes. A standard practice with most westerns was to introduce some romance but avoid matrimony. Few media cowboys (save Roy Rogers and Fess Parker's Daniel Boone) had on-screen wives. Any time one of the Cartwrights seriously courted a woman, she died from a malady, was abruptly slain, or left with someone else.

Pernell Roberts – Adam Cartwright

Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright

Georgia-born Pernell Roberts played eldest son Adam, an architectural engineer with a university education. Adam built the impressive ranch house ("The Philip Diedesheimer Story", Oct. 31, 1959; "Bonanza: The Return", NBC TV, April 21, 1993). Roberts disdained the assembly-line mindset of serial television, and fought with series writers regarding Adam's lack of independence, facetiously noting that his character practically had to ask "Pa's" permission to go to the bathroom. Despite the show's success, Roberts departed the series after the 1964–65 season (after 202 episodes) and returned to theater. Attempts to replace him with a Cartwright cousin (Guy "Zorro" Williams) and Little Joe's maternal half-brother (Barry Coe) were unsuccessful ("Bonanza: Scenery of the Ponderosa: Candy Canaday"). After a season's storyline had set the stage for Adam to leave the Ponderosa with a new bride, Pernell Roberts decided to stay one more season after all, thus Guy Williams, originally poised to take over Roberts' position, departed the series instead, driving a buckboard with Adam's former fiancee at his side. After Roberts did leave the following year, it was eventually mentioned that his character had emigrated to Australia.

Dan Blocker – Eric "Hoss" Cartwright

Dan Blocker as 'Hoss' Cartwright

Dan Blocker was six foot four and roughly three hundred pounds when chosen to play the gentle middle son Eric, also known as Hoss. The nickname was used as a nod to the character's ample girth, an endearing term for "big and friendly", used by his Swedish mother (& Uncle Gunnar), or a rib to his humiliating, failed attempt to break a horse ("Ponderosa", episode No. 1, PAX TV 2001). In the Bonanza flashback (Bonanza, "Journey Remembered"; episode #142, NBC-TV, 1964), his mother Inger names him Eric after her father. To satisfy young Adam, Inger and Ben agree to try the nickname Hoss and "see which one sticks". " Inger says of "hoss", "In the mountain country, that is the name for a big, friendly man."

In May 1972, Blocker died suddenly from a post-operative pulmonary embolism following surgery to remove a failing gall bladder. The producers felt nobody else could continue the role. It was the first time a TV show's producers chose to kill off a major male character (though it was done twice previously with female leads- in 1956 on Make Room For Daddy, and again in 1963 with The Real McCoys). Not until the TV-movie Bonanza: The Next Generation (Syndicated, 1988) was it explained that Hoss had drowned attempting to save a woman's life.

Michael Landon – Joseph "Little Joe" Cartwright

Michael Landon as 'Little Joe' Cartwright; this shot was taken before the cast's clothing was standardized for continuity purposes and Landon is seen in black attire akin to that worn in later seasons by Pernell Roberts

File:Guy Williams in Bonanza as Will Cartwright 2.jpg

Guy Williams as Will Cartwright

Michael Landon began to develop his skills in writing and directing Bonanza episodes, starting with "The Gamble." Most of the episodes Landon wrote and directed were dramas, including the 1972 two hour, "Forever", which was recognized by TV guide as being one of televisions best specials (November 1993). According to David Dortort, Landon grew difficult during the last five seasons the show ran. ("Bonanza" four DVD set biography notes, Bear Family Records). Landon appeared in all but fourteen Bonanza episodes for its run, a total of 416 episodes.

In the episodes "First Born" (1962) and "Marie, My Love" (1963), viewers learn of Little Joe's older half-brother Clay Stafford, born to his French Creole mother Marie. According to Lorne Greene's song "Saga of the Ponderosa" ("Bonanza" four CD set biography notes/song, Bear Family Records, 1964), Marie's first husband was "Big Joe" Collins, who dies saving Ben's life. Ben travels to Marie to break the sad news, and the two bond. After Ben marries Marie, they choose to honor "Big Joe" by calling their son "Little Joe". Whether to Stafford or Collins, Marie Cartwright was previously married.

David Canary – "Candy" Canaday

In 1967, David Canary joined the cast as "Candy" Canaday, a plucky Army brat turned cowboy ("Sense of Duty", episode 271, September 24, 1967), who became the Cartwrights' confidant, ranch foreman, and timber vessel captain. Dortort was impressed by Canary's talent, but the character vanished in September 1970, after Canary had a contract dispute. He would return two seasons later after co-star Dan Blocker's death, reportedly having been approached by Landon.

Victor Sen Yung – Hop Sing

Chinese American actor Victor Sen Yung played the Cartwrights' happy-go-lucky cook, whose blood pressure rose when the family came late for dinner. Cast here as the faithful domestic, the comedy relief character had little to do beyond chores. He once used martial arts to assail a towering family foe (Bonanza, "Stage Door Johnnies", 7/28/68). Though often referenced, Hop Sing only appeared in an average of seven to eight shows each season. As a semi-regular cast member, Sen Yung was only paid per episode. After 14 years, Sen Yung was widely known, but making far less than his Ponderosa peers. The Hop Sing character was central in only two episodes: "Mark Of Guilt" (#316) and "The Lonely Man" (#404).

Mitch Vogel – Jamie Hunter/Cartwright

Absent Canary in mid 1970, and aware of the show's aging demographic, the writers sought a fresh outlet for Ben's fatherly advice. Fourteen-year-old Mitch Vogel was introduced as Jamie Hunter in the 363rd episode, "A Matter of Faith" (September 20, 1970). Vogel played the red-haired orphan of a roving rainmaker, whom Ben takes in and adopted later in a 1971 episode.

Episodes

Further information: List of Bonanza episodes

Broadcast history

• Saturday at 7:30-8:30 PM on NBC: September 12, 1959—June 3, 1961
• Sunday at 9:00-10:00 PM on NBC: September 24, 1961—April 2, 1972
• Tuesday at 8:00-9:00 PM on NBC: September 12, 1972—January 16, 1973

Ratings

• October 1959 – April 1960: Not in the Top 30
• October 1960 – April 1961: #17/24.8
• October 1961 – April 1962: #2/30.0
• October 1962 – April 1963: #4/29.8 (tied with The Lucy Show)
• October 1963 – April 1964: #2/36.9
• October 1964 – April 1965: #1/36.3
• October 1965 – April 1966: #1/31.8
• October 1966 – April 1967: #1/29.1
• October 1967 – April 1968: #4/25.5 (tied with Gunsmoke and Family Affair)
• October 1968 – April 1969: #3/26.6
• October 1969 – April 1970: #3/24.8
• October 1970 – April 1971: #9/23.9
• October 1971 – April 1972: #20/21.9
• October 1972 – April 1973: Not in the Top 30

Initially, Bonanza aired on Saturday evenings opposite Perry Mason. However, Bonanza's ratings were dismal and the show was soon targeted for cancellation. However, NBC kept it because Bonanza was one of the first series to be filmed and broadcast in color, including scenes of picturesque Lake Tahoe Nevada. NBC's corporate parent, Radio Corporation of America (RCA), used the show to spur sales of RCA-manufactured color television sets (RCA was also the primary sponsor of the series during its first two seasons).

NBC moved Bonanza to Sundays at 9:00 pm Eastern with new sponsor Chevrolet (replacing The Dinah Shore Chevy Show). The new time slot caused Bonanza to soar in the ratings, and it eventually reached number one by 1964, an honor it would keep until 1967. By 1970, Bonanza was the first series to appear in the Top Five list for nine consecutive seasons (a record that would stand for many years) and thus established itself as the single biggest hit television series of the 1960s. Bonanza remained high on the Nielsen ratings until 1971, when it finally fell out of the Top Ten.

Production

Costumes

From the third season on, the Cartwrights and nearly every other recurring character on the show wore the same clothing in almost every episode. The reason for this is twofold: it made duplication of wardrobe easier for stunt doubles (Hal Burton, Bob Miles, Bill Clark, Lyle Heisler, Ray Mazy) and it cut the cost of refilming action shots (such as riding clips in-between scenes), as previously shot stock footage could be reused. Below is a survey of costumes employed:

• Ben Cartwright: Sandy shirt, tawny leather vest, gray pants, cream-colored hat, occasional green scarf.
• Adam Cartwright: Black Shirt, black or midnight blue pants, black hat. Elegant city wear. Cream-colored trail coat.
• Hoss Cartwright: White shirt, brown suede vest, brown pants, large beige flat-brimmed, ten-gallon hat.
• Little Joe Cartwright: Beige, light gray shirt, kelly-green corduroy jacket, tan pants, beige hat. Black leather gloves from 10th season on. In season 14, he wore occasional blue-jean slacks, as the footage of him and the late Dan Blocker together (or of him, Blocker, and Greene) could no longer be reused.
• Candy Canaday: Crimson shirt, black pants, black leather vest, black hat, grey/ pale purple scarf.

Hair styles

In 1968, Blocker began wearing a toupee on the series, as he was approaching 40 and losing hair. He joined the ranks of his fellow co-stars Roberts and 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). Landon was the only original cast member who was wig-free throughout the series, as even Sen Yung wore an attached queue.

Theme song

Bonanza also features a memorable theme song by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans that was orchestrated by David Rose and arranged by Billy May for the television series.

The Bonanza theme song famously opens with a blazing Ponderosa map and saddlebound Cartwrights. The melodic intro, emulating galloping horses, is one of the most recognized television scores. Variations of the theme were used for twelve seasons on the series. Although there were two official sets of lyrics (some country-western singers, avoiding royalties, substituted the copyright renditions with their own words), the series simply used an instrumental theme. Three of the cast members bellowed-out the original lyrics, sans music, at the close of the pilot (Pernell Roberts, the sole professional singer of the quartet, abstained and untethered the horse reins). Before the pilot aired (on September 12, 1959), the song sequence, deemed too campy, was edited out of the scene and instead the Cartwrights headed back to the ranch whooping and howling. In a 1964 song, the Livingston-Evans lyrics were revised by Lorne Greene with a more familial emphasis, "on this land we put our brand, Cartwright is the name, fortune smiled the day we filed the Ponderosa claim" ("Bonanza", Bear Family Box set, Disc #2). In 1968, a slightly revamped horn and percussion-heavy arrangement of the original score introduced the series- which 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. Action-shot pictorials of the cast replaced the galloping trio. Finally, a faster rendition of the original music returned for the 14th and final season, along with action shots of the cast.

The theme song has been recorded by numerous artists in a diverse variety of styles. The first recorded and released version was an instrumental by Marty Gold, on his 1960 album Swingin' West. This was followed by the February, 1960 single by Buddy Morrow and his Orchestra, which included vocals. Morrow's version also appeared on his 1960 album Double Impact which featured several other then-recent television themes. In December, 1960, another vocal version was issued only in the United Kingdom by Johnny Gregory and his Orchestra and Chorus released on the Fontana label. All aforementioned vocal versions, including the television pilot, used lyrics written by Livingston and Evans contained in the first published sheet music for the song, though not all the lyrics were sung. A Bonanza soundtrack album released in late 1961 included a version by David Rose; Rose also had a 1960 single and included the theme on his 1961 album Exodus in a different mix. The biggest hit version is a guitar instrumental by Al Caiola, which reached number 19 on Billboard in 1961. Other versions were released by Billy Vaughn, Valjean, Lorne Greene, and Nelson Riddle.

Country singer Johnny Cash was first to record a full length vocal version of the theme song. He and Johnny Western discarded the original Livingston and Evans lyrics, and wrote new ones. The song first saw release by September, 1962 as a single. Sometime after June, 1963, it was released as a track on his sixteenth album: Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash. This version was later covered by Faron Young for his 1963 album Aims at the West. Singer Ralf Paulsen recorded a German-language version of the song in 1963, released in mid-June, 1963 on Capitol Records in the United States. His German version (lyrics attributed to "Nicolas") was sung in the same style and mood in which Cash had recorded it, and was fairly close in translation.

Bad Manners did a ska version of the song, as did the Hurtin' Buckaroos. Michael Richards, as Stanley Spadowski, sang a bit of the theme song while being held hostage by Channel 8's news goons in UHF (he did not know the words to the song he was originally supposed to sing, "Helter Skelter"). Michael Feinstein was the last to record the song in 2002 on his Songs of Evans and Livingston tribute CD. 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".

Set

The opening scene for the first season was shot at Lake Hemet, a reservoir in the San Jacinto Mountains, Riverside County, California, and later moved to Lake Tahoe. During the first season extra horses were rented from the Idyllwild Stables in Idyllwild, also in the San Jacinto Mountains. The first Virginia City set was used on the show until 1970 and was located on a backlot at Paramount and featured in episodes of Have Gun – Will Travel, Mannix, and The Brady Bunch. In the 1970 premiere episode of the twelfth season entitled "The Night Virginia City Died", Deputy Clem Foster's pyromaniac fiancée levels the town in a series of fires. (Chosen, in part, as a real 1875 fire destroyed three-quarters of Virginia City.) This allowed for a switch to the less expensive Warner studios from September 1970 through January 1973. The script was initially written for the departing David Canary's Candy. It is rare, in that both actors Ray Teal (Sheriff Roy Coffee) and Bing Russell (Deputy Clem Foster) appear together.

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

Social issues addressed

Bonanza is uniquely known for having addressed racism, not typically covered on American television during the time period, from a compassionate, humanitarian point-of-view.

Bigotry, and specifically anti-semitism, was the subject of the episode "Look to the Stars" (Season 3, Episode 26; original air date March 18, 1962). A bigoted school teacher (oblivious to his prejudice) routinely expels minority students. When he expels the brilliant Jewish student Albert Michaelson, a scientific genius whose experiments on the streets of Virginia City often cause commotion, Ben Cartwright steps in and confronts Norton on his bigotry. Ashamed, the school teacher vows to reform. A coda to the episode reveals that Michaelson went on to win the Nobel Prize for Physics.

In the episode "Enter Thomas Bowers" (Season 5, Episode 30; original air date April 26, 1964), the Cartwright family helps the opera singer Bowers, an African American freedman, after he encounters prejudice while in Virginia City to perform. Bowers winds up arrested as a fugitive slave. At the beginning of the episode, Adam is shown to be outraged at the Supreme Court's Dredd Scott v. Sandford decision (placing the time as 1857), which he discusses with his father. According to David Dortort, sponsor General Motors was anxious about the episode. As producer, Dortort ensured that the episode re-aired during the summer rerun seasons, though two TV stations in the South refused to air it.

In the The Wish episode, directed by Michael Landon, Hoss protects an African American former slave's family when confronted with racism after the American Civil War. In The Fear Merchants episode, discrimination against Chinese immigrants who attempt to assimilate in American society is addressed.

Merchandising Bonanza

Bonanza has had a highly profitable merchandising history. Currently, Bonanza Ventures, Inc. grants merchandising and licensing rights worldwide. The original series has spawned: several successful novelty western/folk albums from 1962–1965; three dozen Dell and Gold Key comic books from 1962 through 1970; Jim Beam Whiskey Ponderosa Ranch decanters 1964–1966; a series of "Big-Little" books from 1966–1969; Revel Bonanza model character sets from 1966–1968; a chain of Bonanza and Ponderosa steakhouses from 1963–present; the Lake Tahoe-based "Ponderosa" theme park from 1967–2004; a line of American Character action figures in 1966–1967; Aladdin lunch buckets and thermos bottles in 1966–1968; View Master slide sets from 1965–1973; Ponderosa tin cups from 1967–2004; a series of Hamilton collector plates in 1989–1990; and most recently, Breyer Fiftieth Anniversary Ponderosa Stable sets, with horses and Cartwright figures in 2009–2011. Six Bonanza novels have been published: Bonanza: One Man With Courage by Thomas Thompson (1966); The Ponderosa Spirit by Stephen Calder (1988); The Ponderosa Empire by Stephen Calder (1991); Bonanza: High Steel Hazard by Stephen Calder (1993); Bonanza: Felling of the Sons by Monette B. Reinhold (2005), and Bonanza: Mystic Fire by Monette B. Reinhard (2009). Bonanza Gold (2003–2009), a quarterly magazine, featured detailed information about the show, including interviews with guest actors and other production personnel, articles about historical events and people depicted in the series, fan club information, and fan fiction. The first four seasons (as of 11/2012) are available on DVD, as well as several non-successive public-domain episodes (sans original theme music). The prequel series, The Ponderosa (see above), is also available on DVD.

Cancelation and resurgence

In the fall of 1972, NBC moved Bonanza to Tuesday nights opposite the All In The Family spinoff show, Maude. The scheduling change, as well as Dan Blocker's death several months earlier, resulted in plunging ratings for the show. David Canary returned to his former role of Candy (to offset Hoss's absence), and a new character named Griff King (played by Tim Matheson) was added to lure younger viewers. Griff, in prison for nearly killing his abusive stepfather, was paroled into Ben's custody and got a job as a ranch hand. Several episodes were built around his character, one that Matheson never had a chance to fully develop before the show's abrupt cancellation in November 1972 (with last episode airing January 16, 1973). Many fans felt that the Hoss character was essential, as he was a nurturing, empathetic soul who rounded out the all-male cast.

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), Family Channel, and the Hallmark Channel. The series currently airs on Me-TV, TV Land, My Family TV and Encore Westerns.

Television movies

Bonanza was revived for three made-for-television movies featuring the Cartwrights' offspring: Bonanza: The Next Generation (1988), Bonanza: The Return (1993), and Bonanza: Under Attack (1995). Michael Landon, Jr., played Little Joe's son Benji while Gillian Greene, Lorne Greene's daughter, played a love interest. In the second movie, airing on NBC, a one-hour retrospective was done to introduce the drama. It was hosted by both Michael Landon, Jr., and Dirk Blocker. According to the magazine TV Guide, producer Dortort told Blocker he was too old to play the Hoss scion, but gave him the role of an unrelated newspaper reporter. Clips of his appearance were heavily used in advertisements promoting the "second generation" theme, perhaps misleading audiences to believe that Blocker was playing Hoss's heir. Hoss's son Josh was born out of wedlock, as it is explained that Hoss drowned without knowing his fiancėe was pregnant. Such a storyline might have been problematic in the original series. (The Big Valley, however, had a major character in Heath, who was presented as illegitimate. The Gunsmoke movies of the early 1990s employed a similar theme when Marshal Matt Dillon learned he had sired Michael Learned's daughter in a short-lived romance. The initial story was first introduced in 1973, when depiction of fornication courted protests, so CBS insisted their hero Matt have the encounter when he had amnesia.)

Prequel

In 2001, there was an attempt to revive the Bonanza concept with a prequel, Ponderosa, with a pilot directed by Simon Wincer and filmed in Australia. Covering the time when the Cartwrights first arrived at the Ponderosa, when Adam was a teenager and Joe a little boy, the series lasted 20 episodes and featured less gunfire and brawling than the original. Bonanza creator David Dortort approved PAX TV (now Ion TV)'s decision to hire Beth Sullivan, a producer from Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which some believe gave the series more depth as well as a softer edge. The Hop Sing character is depicted not only as a cook but also a family counselor and herbal healer.

Home video and DVD releases

The last few episodes of Bonanza Season One and the first episodes of Season Two have fallen into the public domain. These episodes have been released by many different companies in different configurations and usually with substandard picture and sound quality, and by legal necessity with the copyright protected Evans-Livingston theme song replaced with generic western music.

In 1973, NBC sold the rights to the series, along with the rest of its pre-1973 library, to National Telefilm Associates, which changed its name to Republic Pictures in 1986. Republic would become part of the Spelling Entertainment organization in 1994 through Worldvision Enterprises. Select episodes ("The Best of Bonanza") were officially released in North America in 2003 on DVD through then-Republic video licensee Artisan Entertainment (which was later purchased by Lionsgate Home Entertainment). Republic (through CBS Television Distribution, which holds the television side of Republic's holdings) still retains the syndication distribution rights to the series. CBS Home Entertainment (under Paramount Home Video) is the official home video rights distributor at present.

CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) has released the first four seasons on DVD in Region 1. All seasons have been released in two-volume sets. Season 5, volumes 1 & 2 will be released on February 12, 2013.

In Region 2, AL!VE AG released the first seven seasons on DVD in Germany between 2008-2010. These releases are now out of print as AL!VE has lost the rights. In 2011, StudioCanal acquired the rights to the series and have begun re-releasing it on DVD, thus far the first 7 seasons have been re-released. Studiocanal have plans to release the rest of series, but there are no release dates.

Episodes of the series have also been officially released on DVD in France and the United Kingdom.

Bonanza "the official first season" was released in Scandinavia during 2010. The first season is released in 4 volumes. The first two volumes were released on October 20, 2010, and the last two volumes on April 27, 2011. More seasons are scheduled to be released during 2013 and 2014.

Region 1

DVD name	Ep #	Release date
The Official 1st Season, Vol. 1	16	September 15, 2009
The Official 1st Season, Vol. 2	16	September 15, 2009
The Official 2nd Season, Vol. 1	18	December 7, 2010
The Official 2nd Season, Vol. 2	16	October 11, 2011
The Official 3rd Season, Vol. 1	18	July 17, 2012
The Official 3rd Season, Vol. 2	16	July 17, 2012
The Official 4th Season, Vol. 1	18	October 2, 2012
The Official 4th Season, Vol. 2	16	October 2, 2012
The Official 5th Season, Vol. 1	18	February 12, 2013
The Official 5th Season, Vol. 2	16	February 12, 2013

Region 2

Season	Release dates
	Germany	Scandinavia
Season 1	December 8, 2011	December 20, 2010 April 27, 2011
Season 2	February 16, 2012
Season 3	April 19, 2012
Season 4	June 21, 2012
Season 5	August 23, 2012
Season 6	October 18, 2012
Season 7	November 1, 2012
Seasons 1-7	December 6, 2012
Season 8	January 24, 2013
Season 9	February 21, 2013

Legacy

• The film Twin Town alludes to, or even parodies Bonanza. Some of the central characters are members of a Cartwright family, and live in a home called Ponderosa.
• In the film Tin Men character actor Jackie Gayle hilariously provides his own take on Bonanza as a "ridiculous representation of the West' and the even more preposterous premise that the Cartwright sons could be brothers.
• In American Desperado, co-authored by Jon Roberts (née John Riccobono) and award-winning journalist/author Evan Wright, Roberts shares in Chapter 3 that he missed his "Sea Hunt and Bonanza, [his] favorite TV shows", when his mother sent him to Palermo to live with his father, Nat Riccobono. (Roberts confides in the book that Riccobono - a mobster and illegal alien - had been deported to Sicily following the Apalachin Meeting.) After returning to the United States ("after a few weeks"), Roberts found that, "Watching Bonanza on TV was one thing I had in common with normal kids. [...] But when I listened to how other people talked about Bonanza, I was amazed. [...] My way of seeing it was different. To me the Cartwrights had the might and power, and they used it to take over all that land on their Ponderosa ranch. [...] From the way I saw it, the Cartwrights were the same as my father and uncles in the Mafia. They understood force." Roberts further discloses that, upon his return to the United States: "Because of all the stories in the news about my family, Riccobono was a bad name. My mother told me I had to change my last name. I changed my name to John Pernell Roberts, after Pernell Roberts, who played the oldest son on Bonanza. I liked him best because he wore black. His hat, his vest, his gun belt were all black. He was the top enforcer for the family. He was the kind of guy I wanted to be. I wanted to steal my own Ponderosa when I grew up." Roberts repeats this explanation for his name change in other media, as well, such as the documentary Cocaine Cowboys.
• In the film The Last Shot, main character Steven Schats has two relatives who portray Bonanza characters as part of a tourist attraction; his brother Marshal is a generic villain and his father is Ben.
• In the episode of Full House entitled "Subterranean Graduation Blues," the theme song to Bonanza played repeatedly in different situations and for different reasons, which caused Jesse to hold his mouth in pain because his dad would always hum the song while drilling his teeth as a kid.

See also

• 1959 in television
• Ponderosa Ranch

Bibliography

• Bonanza: A Viewers Guide to the TV Legend by David Greenland. 167 pages. Publisher: Crosslines Inc (June 1997). ISBN 978-0-9640338-2-5.
• A Reference Guide to Television's Bonanza: Episodes, Personnel, and Broadcast History by Bruce R. Leiby and Linda F. Leiby. 384 pages. Publisher: McFarland (March 1, 2005). ISBN 978-0-7864-2268-5.
• Bonanza: The Definitive Ponderosa Companion by Melany Shapiro. 176 pages. Publisher: Cyclone Books; illustrated edition (September 1997). ISBN 978-1-890723-18-7.

External links

• Bonanza at IMDb
• Bonanza on TVGuide.com
• Bonanza on TVLand.com
• Bonanza at the Encyclopedia of Television
• Bonanza at Fiftiesweb.com
• Bonanza at EpisodeWorld.com
• Bonanza: Scenery of The Ponderosa
• Bonanza Episode Guide' at TV Gems
• Season 1 DVD review and production history