Bonanza (mining)

''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U.S. network television (behind CBS's ''Gunsmoke''), and one of the longest-running, live-action American series. The show continues to air in syndication. 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. The series initially starred Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon and later featured (at various times) Guy Williams, David Canary, Mitch Vogel and Tim Matheson. The show is known for presenting pressing moral dilemmas.

The title "Bonanza" is a term used by miners in regard to a large vein or deposit of silver ore, from Spanish ''bonanza'' (prosperity) and commonly refers to the 1859 revelation of the Comstock Lode of rich silver ore mines under the town of Virginia City, not far from the fictional Ponderosa Ranch that the Cartwright family operated. The show's theme song, also titled "Bonanza", became a hit song. Only instrumental renditions, without Ray Evans' lyrics, were used during the series' long run.

In 2002, ''Bonanza'' was ranked No. 43 on ''TV Guide''s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, and in 2013 ''TV Guide'' included it in its list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time. The time period for the television series is roughly between 1861 (Season 1) and 1867 (Season 13) during and shortly after the American Civil War, coinciding with the period Nevada Territory became a U.S. state.

During the summer of 1972, NBC aired reruns of episodes from the 1967–1970 period in prime time on Tuesday evening under the title ''Ponderosa''.Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present (Sixth Edition)'', New York: Ballantine Books, 1995, , p. 123.

Premise

The show chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, headed by the thrice-widowed patriarch Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene). He had three sons, each by a different wife: the eldest was the urbane architect Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts), who built the ranch house; the second was the warm and lovable giant Eric "Hoss" Cartwright (Dan Blocker); and the youngest was the hotheaded and impetuous Joseph, or "Little Joe" ( Michael Landon). Via exposition ( S01:E01 – "Rose for Lotta") and flashback episodes, each wife was accorded a different ancestry: English ( S02:E65 – "Elizabeth My Love"), Swedish ( S03:E95 – "Inger My Love"), and French Creole ( S04:E120 – "Marie My Love") respectively. The family's cook was Chinese immigrant Hop Sing (Victor Sen Yung). Greene, Roberts, Blocker, and Landon were billed equally; the opening credits would alternate the order among the four stars.

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) on Lorne Greene's 1964 song, "Saga of the Ponderosa". The ranch name refers to the ''pinus ponderosa'', (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).

''Bonanza'' was considered an atypical western for its time, as the core of the storylines dealt less about the range but more with Ben and his three dissimilar sons, how they cared for one another, their neighbors, and just causes.

"You always saw stories about family on comedies or on an anthology, but ''Bonanza'' was the first series that was week-to-week about a family and the troubles it went through. ''Bonanza'' was a period drama that attempted to confront contemporary social issues. That was very difficult to do on television. Most shows that tried to do it failed because the sponsors didn't like it, and the networks were nervous about getting letters," explains Stephen Battaglio, a senior editor for ''TV Guide'' magazine.

Episodes ranged from high drama ("Bushwhacked", episode #392, 1971; "Shanklin", episode #409, 1972) to broad comedy ("Hoss and the Leprechauns", episode #146, 1964; "Mrs. Wharton and the Lesser Breeds", episode #318, 1969; "Caution, Bunny Crossing", episode #358, 1969), and addressed issues such as the environment ("Different Pines, Same Wind", episode #304, 1968), substance abuse ("The Hidden Enemy", episode #424, 1972), domestic violence ("First Love", episode #427, 1972), anti-war sentiment ("The Weary Willies", episode #364, 1970), and illegitimate births ("Love Child", episode #370, 1970; "Rock-A-Bye Hoss", episode #393, 1971). The series sought to illustrate the cruelty of bigotry against: Asians ("The Fear Merchants", episode #27, 1960; "The Lonely Man", episode #404, 1972), African-Americans ("Enter Thomas Bowers", episode #164, 1964; "The Wish", episode #326, 1968; "Child", episode #305, 1969), Native Americans ("The Underdog", episode #180, 1964; "Terror at 2:00", episode #384, 1970), Jews, ("Look to the Stars", episode #90, 1962); Mormons ("The Pursued", episodes #239–40, 1966), the disabled ("Tommy", episode #249, 1966) and little people ("It's a Small World", episode #347, 1968).

Cast

Though not familiar stars in 1959, the cast quickly became favorites of the first television generation. The order of billing at the beginning of the broadcast appeared to be shuffled randomly each week, with no relation whatsoever to the current episode featured that week. The main cast of actors portraying Cartwrights is listed here in the order of their characters' ages, followed by an array of recurring supporting players:

Lorne Greene – Ben Cartwright

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to Russian-Jewish parents,''Bonanza: A Viewer's Guide to a TV Legend'', by David Greenland; R&G Productions Lorne Greene was chosen to play widowed patriarch Ben Cartwright. Early in the show's history, he recalls each of his late wives in flashback episodes. A standard practice with most westerns was to introduce some romance but avoid matrimony. Few media cowboys had on-screen wives. Any time one of the Cartwrights seriously courted a woman, she died from a malady, was abruptly slain, or left with someone else.

Greene appeared in all but fourteen ''Bonanza'' episodes. Greene was 45 years old at the beginning of the series while Pernell Roberts and Dan Blocker, who portrayed two of his sons, were both 31, only fourteen years younger.

In 2007, a ''TV Guide'' survey listed Ben Cartwright as television's #2 favorite dad.

Pernell Roberts – Adam Cartwright

Pernell Roberts played eldest son Adam, an architectural engineer with a university education. Adam built the impressive ranch house. Despite the show's success, Roberts departed the series after the 1964–65 season (202 episodes) and returned to stage productions, allegedly because of clashes over the show's direction. John Goddard was initially offered the role of Adam Cartwright, but turned it down to star in ''Johnny Fletcher''.

Attempts to replace Adam with Little Joe's maternal half-brother Clay (Barry Coe) and Cartwright cousin Will ( Guy "Zorro" Williams), were unsuccessful.''Bonanza: Scenery of the Ponderosa'',- Candy Canaday Creator David Dortort introduced a storyline that would keep the character of Adam in the mix, but with a lighter schedule. During season five Adam falls for a widow with a young daughter, while making Will Cartwright a central figure. Roberts decided to stay an additional season, so the scripts were quickly revised by having Adam's fiancée and her daughter depart the series prematurely with Guy Williams' Will, with whom she'd fallen in love. It was Landon, not Roberts, who objected to the infusion of any new Cartwrights.

Dan Blocker – Hoss Eric Cartwright

Dan Blocker was and when chosen to play the gentle middle son Eric, almost always referred to as Hoss. The nickname was used as a nod to the character's ample girth, an endearing term for "big and friendly", used by his Swedish mother Inger (and Uncle Gunnar). In the ''Bonanza'' flashback, his mother names him Eric after her father. To satisfy young Adam, however, Inger and Ben agree to try the nickname Hoss and "see which one sticks." Inger says of the name Hoss: "In the mountain country, that is the name for a big, friendly man." According to a biography, the show's crew found Blocker to be the "least actor-ish as well as the most likeable" cast member. Producer David Dortort said, "Over the years he gave me the least amount of trouble."

In May 1972, Blocker died suddenly from a post-operative pulmonary embolism, following surgery to remove his gall bladder. The producers felt nobody else could continue the role and for the first time a TV show's producers chose to kill off a young major male character (though it had been done twice before with young female leads—in 1956 on ''Make Room For Daddy'', and again in 1963 with ''The Real McCoys''). Not until the TV movie '' Bonanza: The Next Generation'' was it explained that Hoss had drowned attempting to save a woman's life.

Michael Landon – Joseph "Little Joe" Cartwright

The role of "Little Joe" was given to Michael Landon.
He played guest roles on several TV westerns and attained the title role in ''I Was a Teenage Werewolf''. He portrayed the youngest Cartwright son, whose mother (Felicia in the pilot, and later changed to Marie) was of French Creole descent. Landon began to develop his skills in writing and directing ''Bonanza'' episodes, starting with "The Gamble". Most of the episodes Landon wrote and directed were dramas, including the two-hour, "Forever" (1972), which was recognized by ''TV Guide'' as being one of television's best specials (November 1993). Landon's development was a bit stormy according to David Dortort, who felt that the actor grew more difficult during the last five seasons the show ran."Bonanza" four CD set biography notes, Bear Family Records Landon appeared in all but fourteen ''Bonanza'' episodes for its run, a total of 418 episodes.

Beginning in 1962, a foundation was being laid to include another "son" as Pernell Roberts was displeased with his character. 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. This character's paternity is open to debate. In the 1963 flashback episode "Marie, My Love", his father was Jean De'Marigny. Then in 1964, Lorne Greene released the song "Saga of the Ponderosa", wherein Marie's previous husband was "Big Joe" Collins, who dies saving Ben's life. After Ben consoles Marie, the two bond and marry. They choose to honor "Big Joe" by calling their son "Little Joe". So, whether to Stafford, De'Marigny or Collins, Marie Cartwright was previously married. In the last of the three Bonanza TV movies, it is revealed that "Little Joe" had died in the Spanish-American War – a member of the "Rough Riders". 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.

Guy Williams – Will Cartwright

Guy Williams was slated in 1964, the year that ''Bonanza'' hit #1 in the ratings, to replace Pernell Roberts upon Roberts' departure, enabling the series to preserve the four-Cartwright format for the run of the series. His character, Ben's nephew Will Cartwright, was introduced and was the lead character in five episodes, receiving "Starring" billing after the four original rotating Cartwrights during his second appearance going forward, but Roberts changed his mind later and decided to stay for one more season, whereupon Williams found himself pushed out of the part; it was rumored that Michael Landon and Lorne Greene felt threatened by the studio initiating a precedent of successfully replacing one heroic leading man Cartwright with a new one, particularly in view of Williams' popularity with viewers. Williams had previously portrayed the titular character in Walt Disney's ''Zorro'' television series, and went on to play the lead in ''Lost in Space'', a science fiction television series, after the role in ''Bonanza'' ended.

Ray Teal – Sheriff Roy Coffee

Veteran character actor Ray Teal essayed the role of Sheriff Roy Coffee on 100 episodes from 1960 to 1972.imdb.com He appeared in more than 250 movies and some 90 television programs during his 37-year career. His longest-running role was as Sheriff Roy Coffee. He had played a sheriff many times in films and television.

Sheriff Coffee was occasionally the focus of a plot as in the episode "No Less a Man" (broadcast March 15, 1964). A gang of thieves has been terrorizing towns around Virginia City and the town council wants to replace Coffee, whom they consider over-the-hill, with a younger sheriff before the gang hits town, not realizing that they'd been spared earlier because the gang's leader was wary of Coffee's longevity and only acquiesced to rob the Virginia City bank after extreme pressure from other gang members. Coffee ends up showing the town that youth and a fast gun don't replace experience.

David Canary – "Candy" Canaday

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, David Canary was offered a left-end position with the Denver Broncos, but pursued acting and singing. In 1967, he joined the cast as "Candy" Canaday, a plucky Army brat turned cowboy, who became the Cartwrights' confidant, ranch foreman and timber vessel captain. Dortort was impressed by Canary's talent, but the character vanished in September 1970, after Canary had a contract dispute. He returned two seasons later after co-star Dan Blocker's death, reportedly having been approached by Landon. Canary played the character on a total of 93 episodes. Canary joined the cast in Season 9.

Victor Sen Yung – Hop Sing

Chinese American character actor Victor Sen Yung, veteran of more than 160 appearances in movies and on television between 1937 and 1970 (including portraying the "#2 son" i