Why Bonanza? Well, other than beautiful scenery, excellent storylines and wonderful actors, Bonanza deals with controversial issues, such as racial prejudice, wife abuse, psychological problems, drug and alcohol abuse, and mercy killing. It's characters have depth and complexity. Bonanza also offers a range of episodes from heart-wrending to absolutely hilarious. Many of the episodes make you think, and the Cartwrights have the most loyalty to morals than anyone I've ever seen.

Bonanza is loosely set in the 1870's in Nevada by Lake Tahoe. It is about the Cartwrights, a ranching family, and their adventures. "Pa" Ben Cartwright is a middleaged widower with three sons. Adam is the oldest, and might I say, wisest. He went to college and is always reading, but he has a wild side to him as well and can be quite a tease. Eric, aka "Hoss" is a large and lovable bumbler. He is best known for his phrase "dang burnit!" Little Joe is the youngest of the family and is always in trouble. His main purpose in life seems to be running after the latest girl. And as we all know, women in Bonanza either die or leave by the end of each episode. I think my favorite out of all of them was "Maria de la Questa".

The first episode of Bonanza aired on September12,1959. Color TV was a new phenomena at that time, and RCA (NBC's parent company) wanted a show that would encourage viewers to purchase the new television sets. Early episodes included many shots of the beautiful Lake Tahoe area as well as sets and costumes that featured rich, dark colors.

For some time Bonanza languished on Saturday night before NBC chose to move it to a Sunday night time slot. There the show found an audience and became a hit. For 10 of its 14 year run, Bonanza was consistently in the top 10 of all rated TV shows, and from 1964 to 1967, it was the single most watched television program in America.

The last new episode of Bonanza aired on January 16, 1973. But the phenomena of Bonanza was firmly established by the time NBC canceled the show. Bonanza quickly went into syndication, and re-runs appeared on TV stations around the world. Currently PAX TV is the most available station to show Bonanza.