BONANZA TV

Posted on by The Beard

A LOOK AT BONANZA TV

by

eli figueroa

BONANZA TV is a package of three episodes from the hit TV western series BONANZA. The three episodes come from its first and second seasons and it is offered on Amazon Prime for free.

BONANZA is a western series that ran on NBC from 1959 to 1974 making 14 seasons and 431 episodes. The only other TV western to beat it for longevity is GUNSMOKE. It initially starred Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon. The show was created by David Dortort who also created THE HIGH CHAPARRAL. He was also an executive producer. BONANZA tells the story of Ben Cartwright and his three very different sons – Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe. They own and run a ranch in Nevada called the Ponderosa.

The three episodes in this package are:

THE LAST TROPHY (episode #27)

A British aristocratic couple, the husband an old friend of Ben, visit the Ponderosa. It soon becomes obvious that the wife believes her husband to be a coward. All of that changes when the couple and Adam are kidnaped during a hunting trip. Hazel Court guest stars as Lady Beatrice and Edward Ashley as Lord Marion.

This was an interesting episode and highlights the way BONANZA was able to focus on one series regular (Adam) while still having the other regulars appear and center stage given to guest stars. No one did this better than BONANZA.

On our rating scale I give this four grey geeks.

THE AVENGER (episode #26)

A stranger named Lassiter helps Hoss and Little Joe. Ben and Adam have been unjustly convicted and sentenced to hang. Lassiter’s father was lynched in Kansas and he is searching for the men who did it. Vic Morrow guest stars as Lassiter.

This has always been my absolute favorite episode of Bonanza and I was delighted to see it included in this package. I love Vic Morrow and I’ve always felt this episode should have been used as a spinoff pilot for his own western series. His character was too good for just one story.

On our rating scale I give this four and a half grey geeks.

THE SPITFIRE (episode #49)

A Kentucky matriarch and her family seek revenge against Little Joe for having shot and killed one of her sons. It was in self-defense after he stopped the man from setting a forest fire. Katherine Warren guest stars as Maud Hoad and Anita Sands as Willow Hoad.  

This episode smoothly crosses from drama to comedy to drama and makes it work. This was another great thing BONANZA does. Its one shortcoming may be that the story is told too quickly in order to be resolved in an hour. But that can be said of most TV shows.

On our rating scale I give this four grey geeks.

I’ve always been a huge fan of BONANZA and can fondly remember watching it as a kid with my parents. I was delighted to come across this package while surfing thru Amazon Prime. Finding it felt almost like Christmas. I wholeheartedly recommend this package, I recommend the entire BONANZA series, and I recommend TV westerns in general. You will not be disappointed.

That’s it for now buckaroos. See ya next time and may you always ride into the sunset with the one you love. Yeeha!

One thought on “BONANZA TV”

  1. Hey there Beard! I remember watching Bonanza as a kid and my sister’s having a crush on Little Joe. I loved Hoss’s temperament and strength! Thanks for this nostalgic gem!

    Like

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Published by The Beard

I’m Eliseo Figueroa Jr. and you’re not. I was born in Saint Francis hospital across the street from Saint Mary’s Park in the Bronx. I was born there because that was where my mother was and I wanted to be near her. My parents came from Puerto Rico and moved to New York City when they were kids. My dad spoke fluent English – with an accent – but he’d had a stint in the army and had mastered the language. However, he needed a little work on reading and so everyday on the way to work he would buy a comic book and read it on the subway. In those days they were ten cents, a quick read, you could fold them and put them in your pocket, and when you finished you threw them away. Back home my mom would tell my dad to read me a story to put me to sleep. My dad had no desire whatsoever to read me any of my baby books so he read me one of his comic books instead. While other kids dreamed of Mother Goose, the Old Lady who lived in a shoe, or Little Red Riding Hood, I dreamt of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. And this went on for years. When I got older I asked him to give me the comic books. At that point he stopped throwing them out and I had a comic book collection even though I still didn’t know how to read. During the day I would make my mom read me my comics over and over again. I was dying to learn how to read and had been told that you learn to read in first grade. I remember being so excited the first day of school for the first grade. I couldn’t contain myself. I thought it was like magic – poof! – I was going to come back home and be able to read all of my comics. My mom had to sit me down and explain that it was a process. That over time I would learn how to read and by the time I finished the first grade I would be reading. I must say I was disappointed but more determined than ever to master this thing called reading. Over the years my comic collection grew (my dad had to keep building bigger and better shelves) and so did my interests. I mastered reading and went on to read books. I discovered the library where they actually let you borrow books – what a concept! And my interests in literary science fiction and fantasy expanded to include television and movies. Yes, I was and still am a full-blown geek! By the way, I’m the beard in our little duet. I have a goatee and no moustache. In all that time while growing up my dad never once complained. How could he? This was all his fault and he knew it. One time we were in a store where I was purchasing some comics and it all came to twenty bucks. As my dad was paying the man the owner commented on how much I was spending on comic books. My dad’s reply was, “Well, at least he’s not on drugs!” Science fiction, fantasy, horror, secret agents, giant monsters, and more are my drug of choice. Anyone who has ever sat in a darkened theater and has had their heart start racing in excitement as the music to STAR WARS begins to play knows exactly what I mean.