‘Bonanza’…September 12, 1959 – January 16, 1973
‘Bonanza’…September 12, 1959 – January 16, 1973
In the photo below we see Pernell Roberts, as Adam Cartwright, filming an episode from the first season, which was almost the last season. Initially the show aired opposite CBS blockbuster ‘Perry Mason’ and the ratings were so bad that NBC wanted to kill the show, but RCA had a different idea.
‘Bonanza’ was one of the first series to be filmed in color and looked great on RCA’s big color sets so they took over as the primary sponsor and sold a lot of sets, thanks in part to the scenic Lake Tahoe location footage.
For the first two years, the show aired at 9 on Saturday nights and didn’t break into the top 30 till the second year. In October of ’61, the third season debuted, but it was now on Sunday night at 9 and all across America, you could hear the channels flipping from CBS to NBC at the end of the ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ which ended at 9.
That year ‘Bonanza’ was the number two show and stayed in the top three till 1970 and was number one from ’64 till ’67. By 1970, Bonanza was the first series to appear in the Top Five list for nine consecutive seasons (a record that would stand for many years) and thus established itself as the single biggest hit television series of the 1960s. Bonanza remained high on the Nielsen ratings until 1971, when it finally fell out of the Top Ten.
Had CBS not put ‘The Judy Garland Show’ up against ‘Bonanza’ at it’s peak in the ’63 – ’64 season, who knows how long that great show would have lasted. Learning from the Garland experience, CBS put a show against ‘Bonanza’ in 1967 that no one expected to last more than one season, but ‘The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour’ was the show that could finally hold it’s own against the Cartwrights.
In the fall of ’70, the show dropped to number nine. In the fall of ’71, to number twenty and in the last season, the show didn’t even make the top thirty.
By the way, Michael Landon was the only resident of The Ponderosa that didn’t wear a hairpiece. Even Hop Sing, played by Sen Yung. wore a wig with a queue. Enjoy and share!
LOVED Pernell Roberts!
There were two reasons “Bonanza” dropped out of the top 30 in its final season (which was really a half-season): 1) Dan Blocker’s untimely death; and 2) moving the show Sunday to Tuesday, opposite “Maude.” I also seem to remember a disastrous fall ’72 premiere where Little Joe got married, and his wife died in the same episode – and really ticked off the audience.
Growing up in Canada, with one Station, (CBOT-4) Sunday night was Disney, Ed Sullivan and the Ponderosa. Only one had guaranteed Canadian Content.
BNC on a McAlister dolly. Super Baltar lens box on front of dolly. The camera is racked over. No video tap. Lordy, I would love to do a day with this set up again.
Yup. They were in our home every weekend.
The Ponderosa!
Just for fun, here’s a big smile from all!