BONANZA: A ride with Ben, Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe

What can you say about Bonanza except that it is simply great. Who does not recognize the infamous Bonanza theme song? Dun da da dun da da dun da da dun BONANZA! I remember as a kid running around in circles with my stick horse slapping my rear end like it was a horse when the song was playing. Yes, even though my dad was a kid when this series came out and probably did the same thing with his stick horse, I too love Bonanza.

“A man’s never wrong, doing what he thinks is right.” This is the basic theme of the series and a direct quote from Ben Cartwright, a character in the series. Ben Cartwright came west in search of a better life in Nevada. He has had multiple wives because all have died. Because of this, he has three sons all of different mothers. Ben Cartwright and his three sons Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe run a huge ranch called the Ponderosa bordering Virginia City and Lake Tahoe in Nevada. The family has a reputation in that part of the country of being upright, honest, people. Citizens in good standing you might say. The series addresses different challenges and adventures that they go through. It is really fun to watch.

The first episode of Bonanza aired Sept. 12, 1959 on NBC. For the first two years the series played on Saturday nights and was hardly a success. After this they changed to Sunday night and the show became a hit. The show ran for 14 years, ten of which being in the top ten of all television shows. For four years it was the single most watched show in America. The last episode aired Jan. 16, 1973.

The show had many prominent actors playing the characters including Michael Landon playing Little Joe. Lorne Green played Ben, Pernell Roberts played Adam, and Dan Blocker played Hoss. All of the characters were great. It was interesting that during the show virtually all of the Cartwright’s had the chance or chances to be married but something always ended up happening to the bride. The ladies loved the Cartwright’s and some very attractive women played the roles. However, if a girl were to become acquainted with one of the Cartwright’s something bad would most likely happen to them.

The Cartwright’s were the picture of an all American family. They had a lot of money, land, and good looks. To top it all off they were not jerks. That’s the American dream although it does not happen all that frequently. I think this is why the show pulls you in so well. They family will always stand beside each other. No matter which way the river turns. I recently bought the DVD and I enjoyed most all of the episodes, especially Paiute War. I hope to buy all of the DVD’s at some point.

The DVD, Best of Bonanza- Volume 1, includes some of the best episodes that were ever aired. There are 8 episodes on two different discs all full screen and in color. The episodes include: Death on Sun Mountain (with Barry Sullivan), The Crucible (with Lee Marvin), Bullet for a Bride (with Marlyn Manson, Denver Pyle, and Steve Harris), Any Friend of Walter's (with Arthur Hunnicut), Mr. Henry Comstock (with Jack Carson), Enter Mark Twain (with Howard Duff), Paiute War (with Jack Warden), The Sage of Annie O'Toole (with Ida Lupino). The DVD was released on July 22, 2003 and runs 480 minutes. Also, if you want to watch Bonanza, you can find it on TV Land channel. Oftentimes on Saturdays and Sundays they have Bonanza marathons where TV Land has 12 straight hours of nothing but Bonanza. It’s like Christmas. Literally