Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Classic TV: Bonanza (1959)

A good number of Westerns were centered on families. Perhaps the most famous of this sub-genre was Bonanza, which was to NBC what Gunsmoke was to CBS, its most successful Western. Bonanza lasted 14 seasons, the last ending a wee bit early when it was cancelled in January 1973.

Bonanza was built around widower Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) and his three sons, Eric, aka Hoss (Dan Blocker), "Little" Joe (Michael Landon), and Adam (Pernell Roberts). Ben was married at least three times, and each time, the marriage ended in tragedy, which might explain why it was so rare to find a woman on the Ponderosa. Roberts left the show after a few years, so Adam Cartwright was written out, and a ranch hand, Candy (David Canary) became the fourth star. Canary was last seen on All My Children, and thus is the last surviving member of the cast, while all four of the Cartwrights have passed on.

Bonanza provided a mix of drama, adventure, and some lightweight comedy, usually in the misadventures of Hoss & Little Joe. In this case, however, it's a piece of history. Howard Duff guest stars as Samuel Clemens in the Season 1 episode, "Enter Mark Twain".



Today, Bonanza's cable rights are shared among TV Land, Me-TV, & INSP, so there's no way you can miss the show.

Rating: A.

3 comments:

magicdog said...

I used to like this show as a kid but it has eased a bit in recent years.

I keep thinking back to that line in the movie, "Tin Men" in which Danny DeVito's character muses how can a 40 year old guy have three 40 year old sons!

I think it was lousy that Pernell Roberts left - even if it was by choice. TPTB tried to bring in Guy Williams as Cartwright cousin, "Will", but he vanished not long afterwards. Rumour had it the rest of the cast drove him off with shoddy treatment and making him feel like an unwelcomed interloper. I think Williams could have worked had the group been more civil. Then again, we wouldn't have had Williams in Lost In Space would we?

In syndication, most eps went as far as Candy joined the family action, but often stopped just as Michael Landon's hair became out of control.

Overall, this show was entertaining but it was also on way longer than it should have been.

Samuel Wilson said...

A handful of early episodes seem to have fallen into the public domain. They're easily found in cheap box sets and are run by cheap cable channels. On the premium side, Encore Westerns also runs the show, though theirs is a package of "lost episodes."

hobbyfan said...

I have a couple of those public domain DVD's, Sam, just haven't played them yet. Thanks for reminding that Encore also has a share of the rights. What I'd like to see is if one of these stations can get the whole enchilada, if you will......