Take the tried and tested gun slinging, two-fisted, appeal of the western genre and mix it with the potently powerful and enduring values of family loyalty, honour, square dealing and unswerving respect for what’s right. Bonanza was phenomenally successful television series of legendary status. The ranch was inhabited by three times widowed Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) and his three sons, all from different deceased mothers. Adam (Pernell Roberts), Hoss (Dan Blocker), and the youngest of the trio, Little Joe (Michael Landon).
A number of other characters to feature regularly included Virginia City Sheriff Roy Coffee, and the Cartwright’s Chinese chef Hop Sing. The show was notable for being the first TV western to be shot in colour and was filmed in the Lake Tahoe area. A major success on both sides of the Atlantic and sold to over fifty other countries, Bonanza was finally bought down by the untimely death of the immensely popular Dan Blocker, the last show, the 430th in the series, aired on 23rd January 1973. Along with Gunsmoke, Bonanza stands as the quintessential embodiment of US television’s longstanding affair with America’s most enduringly romanticised historical period.
