BOYHOOD IDOLS - BONANZA

During the 70's Bonanza was shown regularly on BBC television and for young kids like myself it represented a thrilling recreation of the wild west.



Course years later I have matured as a viewer (least, I hope I have) and now demand a more realistic and gritty version of the west but it doesn't matter and Bonanza will always have a special place in my heart.




QUOTE:

"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, "Rose for Lotta", 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 aired on Saturday evenings opposite, "The Perry Como Hour". 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, the Saturday night ratings were dismal and Bonanza was soon targeted for cancellation. Given one last chance it was moved to Sunday nights at 9:00 PM. The new time slot 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 "

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Running for 14 years on it's native NBC network, 'Bonanza' was set on the vast Ponderosa timber and cattle ranch in Nevada in the 1860's. The ranch was inhabited by three times widowed Ben Cartwright (Canadian actor Lorne Greene, later to become 'Battlestar Galactica's' Commander Adama) and his three sons, all from different deceased mothers. Old man Cartwright was a devil with the ladies but would end up a lifelong widower after the death of his third wife. Adam, Hoss (Norwegian for 'good luck' in tribute to his Scandinavian mother), and the youngest of the trio, Little Joe. A number of other characters to feature regularly included Virginia City Sheriff Roy Coffee, and the Cartwright's Chinese chef Hop Sing. There were few cast changes over the series run, but the most notable was Pernell Roberts, eldest son Adam, who left the series after six years.

The show was notable for being the first TV western to be shot in colour and was filmed in the Lake Tahoe area. A major success on both sides of the Atlantic and sold to over fifty other countries, 'Bonanza' was finally bought down by the untimely death of the immensely popular Dan Blocker, the last show, the 430th in the series, aired on 23rd January 1973. Re-runs can still be seen today and a British Cable network launched the Bonanza channel and began running the series starting with the first episode.

Along with 'Gunsmoke', 'Bonanza' stands as the quintessential embodiment of US television's long-standing affair with America's most enduringly romanticised historical period.