Bonanza Creek, stream, c.20 mi (30 km) long, W Yukon Territory, Canada. It flows NW to the Klondike River near Dawson. The first gold strike in the Yukon occurred there in 1896.

Bonanza is 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.

Origins

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 on NBC. Ponderosa 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 eventually reached number one by the mid-'60s; by 1970, it had become the first series to ever wind up in the Top Five for nine consecutive seasons (a record which would stand for decades) and thus established itself as the single biggest hit TV series of the 1960s; it remained high on the Nielsen ratings until 1971, when it finally 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

Premise

The show chronicled the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, headed by wise, thrice 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 timber and livestock producers, they had better moderate 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== Though not name celebrities in 1959, the cast quickly bacame favorites of the first TV generation. Lorne Greene, known as the "Voice of Canada," was a fairly successful announcer, actor and drama coach in his native land; he was known during World War II as the "Voice of Doom," since he'd read in a deep, resonant voice, the weekly list of casualties on the radio for all levels of audience. 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.

Georgia-born Pernell Roberts was a familiar face at studio lots in the late 1950's according to producer David Dortort, who saw him in a "Gunsmoke" episode. Roberts, an accomplished singer and stage actor, recorded an album of folk ballads entitled "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies". He left the series in 1965 after long complaining he wouldn't work out father-submitting, violent context and racism, traits of the pattern originally conceived by David Dortort. Attempts to replace him were made by introducing Ben's stepson, Clay, (played briefly by Barry Coe) and Will, a nephew (played by Zorro star Guy Williams), but none lasted. According to the July 2005 Bonanza Gold issue, David Dortort said his intent was to have Adam appear less frequently making him a semi-regular, in an effort to appease Roberts, who wanted to return to 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 fiancèe. Williams moved on to Lost in Space and never revived the Will role.

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).

Ratings

generated with Wikipedia:Helferlein/VBA-Macro for EXCEL tableconversion V1.7

Year	Ranking	Year	Ranking	Year	Ranking
1960-1961	17	1964-1965	1	1968-1969	3
1961-1962	2	1965-1966	1	1969-1970	3
1962-1963	4	1966-1967	1	1970-1971	8
1963-1964	2	1967-1968	4	1971-1972	20

After cancellation

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 suffered from prostate cancer and eventually died from pneumonia 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.

TV Movies

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). The blonde Michael Landon, Jr., who bears little resemblance to his father, played Little Joe's son while Gillian Greene, Lorne'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, who greatly resembles his father. According to "TV Guide", NBC told Blocker he was too old to play the Hoss scion, but was given the role of an unrelated newspaper reporter. Clips of his appearance were heavily used in advertisements promoting the "second generation" theme. A sign of the times was evident as Hoss' son Josh was illegitimate, something that could 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 with Matt Dillon having sired an illegitimate daughter to Michael Learned).

The Prequel

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.

Theme Song

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. Michael Feinstein last recorded the song in 2003 on his, "Songs of Evans and Livingston" tribute CD.

The Casper Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps had done this theme song as part of their show several times in the 1960's. They are known for doing the theme songs of western television shows & movies over the years with Ghost Riders in the Sky as a perennial favorite for many years.

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.

Set

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.

Bonanza on VHS and DVD

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.

See also

• Ponderosa Ranch
• 1959 in television

References

External links

• Bonanza on TVLand.com
• Bonanza at the Encyclopedia of Television
• Bonanza at Fiftiesweb.com
• Bonanza at EpisodeWorld.com

Fan Sites

• 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