No graceful exit for ‘Bonanza,’ NBC’s longest-running western

‘What did they want us to let them do? Film a last show where everybody on the Ponderosa was killed off?’ Andrew J. Klyde, archivist and executive producer of the official season DVD’s, investigates why the unforgettable family horse opera that sustained the Peacock network from 1959–1973 was suddenly cancelled over 50 years ago.

A stoic Lorne Greene, in character as Ben “Pa” Cartwright, goes the casual sidesaddle route atop Buck while filming the abbreviated final season of “Bonanza” in Brown’s Meadow, Stanislaus National Forest, Sonora, California, August 1972. Greene’s prized buckskin horse lived a staggering 45 years and died at the Fran Joswick Therapeutic Riding Center, which aids mentally and physically challenged children, in 1992, surviving both Greene, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon. Photography by Fred Sabine / NBCUniversal Photo Bank via Getty Images

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The Andy Klyde Interview, Part One

For Bonanza fans, what exactly went down on Jan. 16, 1973?

It’s hard to believe, but that date marks 50 years since the last first-run episode — “The Hunter” — aired on NBC. It was not the last one filmed or even the next-to-last one filmed. It was third to last. But because Michael “Mike” Landon wrote, directed, and primarily starred in it along with guest Tom Skerritt, it seemed a fitting last show, albeit one scheduled at the last minute. The cast and crew were told on a Monday that the series was cancelled as of Wednesday, and no more episodes would be made once they finished filming…