Number 1 Programs - BONANZA

When you think of the great, classic TV westerns, only two series usually come to mind. GUNSMOKE and BONANZA. BONANZA came on the air four years after GUNSMOKE, but it held it own in the ratings against  GUNSMOKE.

BONANZA premiered on September 12, 1959 and lasted 14 seasons. It was the #1 program from the 1964-65 season, to the 1966-67 season. The series was a top 5 program for 10 consecutive years. Of its 14 years on the air, it was in the top 20 for twelve of those years. Only its first and last seasons failed to rank in the top 30. The series may have lasted even longer had Dan Blocker (HOSS) not pasted away in May of 1972.

SCHEDULING HISTORY:

Original run September 12, 1959 – January 16, 1973 (430 episodes)

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

THE RATINGS:

Season: Rank / Household Rating

1959-60:   Not in the Top 30
1960-61:   #17/24.8
1961-62:   #2/30.0
1962-63:   #4/29.8 (tied with The Lucy Show)
1963-64:   #2/36.9
1964-65:   #1/36.3
1965-66:   #1/31.8
1966-67:   #1/29.1
1967-68:   #4/25.5 (tied with Gunsmoke and Family Affair)
1968-69:   #3/26.6
1969-70:   #3/24.8
1970-71:   #9/23.9
1971-72:   #20/21.9
1972-73:   Not in the Top 30

ABOUT BONANZA:

The weekly western was about the Cartwright family. It was lead by the father, Ben Cartwright, who was a three time widow. He had three sons, each by a different wife. The sons were, from eldest to youngest, Adam, Eric (Hoss), and Little Joe. The family had a live in cook, Hop Sing, who was a Chinese immigrant.

The ranch the family owned was called the Ponderosa. It was ranch of over 600,000 acres, in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The time frame of the series take place in the early to mid 1860, the same time as the Civil War.

The series was more than just life on the range. It was about the family, friends and the neighbors. Often, stories would take on contemporary issues, with the backdrop of the old west. In an era of a couple of dozen westerns on TV each season, BONANZA was able to separate itself from the others, become a shw the whole family could enjoy and prosper in the ratings.

The series did have its problems and issues through the series run. After the 1964-65 season Purnell Roberts left the series. Frist, he was unhappy with the long scproduction schedule of a 34 episode season. Roberts also did not like how his character was not very independent, despite being in his mid-30s.

With Roberts gone, producers tried to find that fourth character to replace Adam. First, it was a cousin that joined the family, but that did not last beyond a few episodes. Later it was Little Joe's half brother, from his mothers side, that came aboard, but that too did not last very long.

In the spring of 1972, Don Blocker had surgery to remove a bad gall bladder. After the surgery, the actor died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism. The producers felt that it was only fitting to not replace the actor on the series and HOSS became one of the first major TV character to be killed off in a series. Unfortunately, the loss of Blocker was too much for fans the series quickly fell in the ratings.

The legacy of the series lived beyond 1973. There were a total of three TV movies made after the series ended, featuring the children of the Cartwright brothers. In 1988 BONANZA: THE NEXT GENERATION. Five years later, in 1993, BONANZA: THE RETURN, and in 1995 BONANZA: UNDER ATTACK aired. The movies featured children of the actors. Michael Landon Jr. played Little Joe's son, Benji and Gillian Green played his love interest.

In 2001 PAX-TV produced a prequel series to BONANZA called PONDEROSA. The series was set about 20 years before the original series, when the eldest son Adam was a teenager and Little Joe was just a little boy. The series only last for 20 episodes.

It has been 40 years since the series ended, but you can still watched episodes of this #1 series on TV. It is currently (May 2013) running on TV LAND and is also on secondary affiliate stations who carry ME TV.

The series is also available on DVD if you prefer watching the series on your schedule.

CAST:

Lorne Green ..................................... Ben Cartwright
Purnell Robers .................................. Adam Cartwright
Dan Blocker ..................................... Eric "Hoss" Cartwright
Michael Landon ................................ Joeseph "Little Joe" Cartwright
Victor Sen Yung ................................ Hop Sing