Saluting ‘Bonanza,’ the most popular TV show of the swingin’ sixties

Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, and Lorne Greene rest alongside a boulder as their alter “Bonanza” egos while filming the season six episode “The Hostage” in early June 1964, possibly at the Kern River Valley in Kernville and Onxy, California. Photography by Gary Null / Bonanza Ventures

Premiering September 12, 1959, on NBC, Bonanza was television’s first full hour western series filmed in color. For a prime time sagebrush saga, it is second only to Gunsmoke, running a staggering 14 seasons into 1973 and producing a grand total of 431 episodes.

Facing possible cancellation after its first season — the writing was clichéd and the characters were not always delineated sympathetically— Bonanza was saved by network executives keen on promoting new RCA color television sets to an audience still satisfied with black and white sets. And full disclosure — RCA was NBC’s corporate parent.

Given a new lease on life, Bonanza settled comfortably into the Nielsen Top Five by 1961, staying there through season 11 — ten astonishing years later. It was by far the most popular series of the 1960s. In fact, Bonanza ranked No. 1 from 1964–1967 in the ratings, and it still airs perpetually around the world.

During a July 5, 1973, Tonight Show appearance only six months after Bonanza’s untimely cancellation, Michael Landon related with unmitigated glee how awful pilot episode “A Rose for Lotta” was when it originally debuted.

“Two years ago we showed the pilot of Bonanza to the crew,” admitted Landon to pal Johnny Carson. “Now after all these years you…