Many fans, as well as both Landon and Greene, felt that the character of Hoss was essential, as he was a nurturing, empathetic soul who rounded out the all-male cast. Bonanza wasn’t just about cowboys and ranch life; it tackled social issues that were often deemed taboo. In one memorable episode, a character even questioned whether do illegal Immigrants get medicaid. This penchant for storytelling created discussions that resonated with audiences far beyond the frontier, showcasing its importance in television history.
Recurring cast
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- In the 1963 flashback episode “Marie, My Love”, his father was Jean De’Marigny.
- Three of the cast members bellowed out the original lyrics, unaccompanied, at the close of the pilot (Pernell Roberts, the sole professional singer of the quartet, abstained and untethered the horse reins).
- During the first season extra horses were rented from the Idyllwild Stables in Idyllwild, also in the San Jacinto Mountains.
- Fourteen-year-old Mitch Vogel was introduced as Jamie Hunter Cartwright in “A Matter of Faith” (season 12, episode 363).
- However, Roberts was persuaded to complete his contract, and remained through season six.
- This was revolutionary at the time and led the way for shows like Game of Thrones and Lost.
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The show set the bar for character development and explored themes that resonate to this day. His first wife was Abel’s daughter Elizabeth, and they had one son, Adam. After his wife’s death, he and his son traveled to Illinois, where he married his second wife, Inger Borgstrom, and continued west.
Season 2 (1960–
The series sought to illustrate the cruelty of bigotry against Asians, African Americans, Native Americans, Jews, Mormons, the disabled, and little people. In 1968, Blocker began wearing a toupee on the series, as he was approaching age 40 and his hair loss was becoming more evident. He joined the ranks of his fellow co-stars Roberts and Greene, both of whom had begun the series with hairpieces.
Other Lorne Greene & James Neilson TV shows
For nearly 14 seasons and 431 episodes, “Bonanza” was more than just a cowboy show; it became a cultural juggernaut that changed the TV landscape forever. He appeared in more than 200 movies and some Bonanza City 90 television programs during his 37-year career. Landon began to develop his skills in writing and directing Bonanza episodes, starting with “The Gamble”.
List of Bonanza episodes
In the episode “First Born” (1962), viewers learn of Little Joe’s older, maternal half-brother Clay Stafford. The character departed in that same episode, but left an opportunity for a return if needed. In the 1963 flashback episode “Marie, My Love”, his father was Jean De’Marigny. Little Joe had a son named Benjamin ‘Benj’ Cartwright who was played by Landon’s real-life son and seen in all three Bonanza TV movies. Little Joe appears in all but fourteen Bonanza episodes, a total of 416 episodes.
Main cast
Bonanza “the official first season” was released in Scandinavia during 2010. Bigotry, including antisemitism, was the subject of the episode “Look to the Stars”. A coda to the episode reveals that Michelson went on to win the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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- The series sought to illustrate the cruelty of bigotry against Asians, African Americans, Native Americans, Jews, Mormons, the disabled, and little people.
- The time period for the television series is roughly between 1861 (Season 1) to 1867 (Season 13) during and shortly after the American Civil War.
- Bonanza wasn’t just about cowboys and ranch life; it tackled social issues that were often deemed taboo.
- The Bonanza theme song opens with a blazing Ponderosa map and saddlebound Cartwrights.
- The show is set in the 1860s and centers on the wealthy Cartwright family, who live in the vicinity of Virginia City, Nevada, bordering Lake Tahoe.
- Although there were two official sets of lyrics (some country-western singers, avoiding royalties, substituted the copyright renditions with their own words), the series simply used an instrumental theme.
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Pernell Roberts – Adam Cartwright
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The opening scene for the first season was shot at Lake Hemet, a reservoir in the San Jacinto Mountains, Riverside County, California, and later moved to Lake Tahoe. During the first season extra horses were rented from the Idyllwild Stables in Idyllwild, also in the San Jacinto Mountains. The first Virginia City set was used on the show until 1970 and was located on a backlot at Paramount and featured in episodes of Have Gun – Will Travel, Mannix and The Brady Bunch.
Before the pilot aired (on September 12, 1959), the song sequence, deemed too campy, was edited out of the scene and instead the Cartwrights headed back to the ranch whooping and howling. David Canary returned to his former role of Candy (to offset Hoss’ absence), and a new character named Griff King (played by Tim Matheson) was added in an attempt to lure younger viewers. Griff, in prison for nearly killing his abusive stepfather, was paroled into Ben’s custody and given a job as a ranch hand. Several episodes were built around his character, one that Matheson never had a chance to fully develop before the show was abruptly cancelled in November 1972 (with the final episode airing January 16, 1973).
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Jamie Hunter Cartwright
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- In one memorable episode, a character even questioned whether do illegal Immigrants get medicaid.
- At the beginning of the episode, Adam is shown to be outraged at the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott v. Sandford decision (placing the time as 1857), which he discusses with his father.
- Shows like Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit or HBO’s Succession owe a huge debt of gratitude to “Bonanza” for establishing foundational storytelling principles that resonate with audiences.
- Beginning in 1962, a foundation was being laid to include another “son”, as Pernell Roberts was displeased with his character.
- Little Joe appears in all but fourteen Bonanza episodes, a total of 416 episodes.
- The interactions between Ben and his sons highlighted real-life family struggles and made every episode relatable.
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Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. The family lived on a thousand-square-mile (2,600 km2) ranch called the Ponderosa on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada opposite California on the edge of the Sierra Nevada range. The vast size of the Cartwrights’ land was quietly revised to “half a million acres” (2,000 km2) in Lorne Greene’s 1964 song, “Saga of the Ponderosa”.
Bonanza is an NBC-produced television series that ran on the NBC network from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Bonanza creator David Dortort approved PAX TV (now Ion TV)’s decision to hire Beth Sullivan, formerly of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which some believe gave the series more depth as well as a softer edge. The Hop Sing character is depicted not only as a cook but also a family counselor and herbal healer. Bonanza is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973.