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Aug 5, 2021 · Few westerns have enjoyed more success than "Bonanza," and with good reason. Not only did the show run for more than a decade, but it consistently delivered fascinating storylines that focused on a simple yet powerful premise: the relationship between a father and his sons. The show's creator, David Dortort, drew inspiration for the show from ...
- Engrid Barnett
- Color Wasn’T Cheap
- Top 5 For 9
- That Darn Gunsmoke
- The Theme Song Had Lyrics
- There Was A Cap on Cartwrights
- Ladies Didn’T Live Long
- Blocker’s Death Hastened The End of The Show
- Michael Landon Jr. Led A TV Movie Revival
- Landon Jr. Wasn’T The only Legacy Cast Member
- There Was A Prequel Series
Bonanzaalmost got cancelled early on because of its larger budget. However, it was the first show shot and broadcast in color, and RCA (which owned NBC at the time) used the show to drive interest in color televisions. A move from a Saturday time-slot to a Sunday spot allowed the series to flourish.
The ongoing saga of rancher Ben Cartwright, his sons, and the action and drama surrounding their Ponderosa ranch, clicked with audiences. Bonanza broke through as the first show to stay in the Nielsen top five for nine consecutive seasons.
At 14 seasons that spanned from 1959 to 1972, Bonanza remains one of the longest-running primetime shows of all time. It’s the second longest-running western, behind only Gunsmoke in the genre. The longest-running scripted primetime series of all-time is The Simpsons, which at this writing is still going.
You wouldn’t know if from the opening credits or the version shown in syndication, but the theme song did have lyrics. In fact, it had multiple sets of lyrics, one even penned by series star Lorne Greene. Johnny Cash played a version containing words of his own. A sequence was actually filmedfor the pilot episode that had the cast singing the song,...
When the show launched, the focus was on Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene), and his three sons: Adam (Pernell Roberts), Hoss (Dan Blocker), and Little Joe (Michael Landon). Roberts wasn’t happy with the grind of network TV (at the time, the show was on a 34 episode-per-season model, as opposed to the 22-episode model that broadcast would settle into in...
It wasn’t safe to be a woman around the Ponderosa. Ben Cartwright was widowed three times; hence his three sons by three different mothers. The Cartwright men had various love interests, but none stuck around and many died or left town. In a fit of irony, Roberts’s Adam character had originally been slated to leave with a new wife and daughter; whe...
Blocker passed away suddenly in May of 1972; following gall bladder surgery, Blocker developed a pulmonary embolism and died. Going into the 14th season, efforts were made to try to adjust for the genial giant’s absence. Canary was brought back and a new character, Griff, played by Tim Matheson, was added for some youth appeal. With ratings dwindli...
After years of successful syndication, Bonanza returned to TV in the form of three TV movies. The first, 1988’s Bonanza: The Next Generation, saw Michael Landon Jr. play Benjamin Cartwright, the son of his father’s character. Since Lorne Greene had recently passed away, the creators introduced the character of Aaron Cartwright, Ben’s brother (playe...
Lorne Greene’s daughter, Gillian, played Jennifer Sills, Benjamin’s love interest, in the first TV movie. She also continued her film career as a director, and is married to Spider-Man and Army of Darkness director Sam Raimi. Dan Blocker’s son, Dirk, also appeared in the TV movies, playing Fenster; he is presently a regular cast member on Brooklyn ...
Dortort, who was still working into the 2000s, developed a prequel for the PAX-TV network (now ION). He hired Beth Sullivan, best known as the creator and executive producer of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, to oversee the series as showrunner and writer. The series was set 10 years before the original and featured a younger Ben Cartwright with teen ve...
For other uses, see Bonanza (disambiguation). Bonanza is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, Bonanza is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on U.S. network television (behind CBS's Gunsmoke ), and one of the ...
- Western
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Bonanza: Created by David Dortort, Fred Hamilton. With Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Pernell Roberts. The Wild West adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their Nevada ranch while helping the surrounding community.
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- 1959-09-12
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58 Reviews. Hide Spoilers. Sort by: Filter by Rating: 9/10. The Cartwrights Of The Ponderosa. bkoganbing 4 September 2009. It got to be a running joke around Bonanza about how fatal it was for any women to get involved with any Cartwright men. After all Ben Cartwright was three times a widower with a son by each marriage.
Feb 15, 2024 · By Samuel Williamson. Updated Feb 15, 2024. Clint Eastwood's The Man With No Name has nothing on these cowboys! The Big Picture. Bonanza was a progressive TV show that explored ideas...
Buy Bonanza on Prime Video. Ben Cartwright is the patriarch of an all-male Nevada ranching family. Set during and after the Civil War, "Bonanza" is the story of life on the family's thousand-acre...
