As a kid in the 70s and 80s, this was one TV Western I watched in rerun. Bonanza is probably the most well known of countless TV Westerns of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. It easy to think that TV Westerns are square and sophomoric. However, compared to most TV shows today these Western TV shows range from decent to great. My favorite one is Gunsmoke, but Bonanza was quite good. Although the cowboy period was actually a lot shorter than most people think nowadays, the Western was a great way to present moral lessons. The small towns with very little formal laws is reminiscent of times when having a moral code was key. The gunfighters in the TV Westerners are both idealized and pitied. Having a quick trigger makes one a celebrity, but also means that people constantly want to challenge you to a duel. In Bonanza, the fists are used more than guns. Lorne Greene plays the widowed father of the Cartwright family of three sons - Adam, Hoss, and Joe. Ben Cartwright is a very moral man who uses words and deeds to show why he is the largest landowner in the Virginia City, Nevada area. He can use his fists, but he is getting a little older. His sons use their fists, but all are heroic. Bonanza ran for 14 years, and had a host of guest stars. For example, Carroll O'Connor plays a ruthless entrepreneur who finds out the hard way that greed has a great cost in the long run. Bonanza is about moral values and lessons that people learn from their behaviors. This is something seriously lacking in the vast majority of today's TV. Too much canned laughter and gutter level, shock the audience humor and action. Lastly, Bonanza does a good job in showing about racism and class prejudice. Native Americans are neither portrayed in the brutal fashion like in A Man Called Horse with Richard Harris or like Dances With Wolves with Kevin Costner that idealized Native Americans. The show tried to show how people really were, and the challenges and conflicts in those days as honestly as they could on TV. The script writing on many of these westerns is underrated. Many, such as Sam Peckinpah, who wrote many of the scripts for The Rifleman, went on to become famous directors. Interesting too that the last season Tim Matheson from Animal House replaced Michael Landon while he went on to do Little House On The Prairie.

This should have been called 'The Lorne Greene Western Hour' because Lorne is the only good actor on the show.The dudes who play the three sons are all short miscast bad actors who look like they belong on a loading dock somewhere, not starring on a TV show.Hoss was the big guy with the giant hat, Adam was always dressed in black, and Little Shmo-- I mean Joe, was the little runt who liked to swagger around the town bar trying to impress the women if he could get one of them to give him the time of day.Lame show; 'Gunsmoke' was so much better than this.

This show ran for a loooong time. It started out in the late 1950's as a gloriously colorful, entertaining big TV western series, it was terrific and I highly recommend the first year and most of what was produced until "Adam" left circa 1965. After that event the producers were obviously stunned for a while and struggled to continue. They admirably tried to right the ship but TV westerns were in decline. In response to the overall western decline they attempted to convert "Bonanza" into a sort of relevant (what ever that means) TV drama series. However they made the mistake of losing the big, colorful entertainment value. We are left with many years of routine TV, mostly ordinary TV-style drama scripts and production. Maybe I am a little biased- I remember seeing the first episodes on my uncle's big color TV as they were broadcast in 1959- they seemed magnificent at the time.If the first season stood alone I would give it a solid "10" rating. Subsequently maybe "9" until 1965. After that this series is not a recommend for me.

I never grew up with Bonanza... in fact I only recently started watching some episodes. For its time it must have been a great show, but for today's standards it's not. However, I'm only watching the episodes with Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts) just because my mother liked him and I like him now.I will admit that I haven't watched a whole lot of episodes. TvLand is a channel I no longer get so I'm depended on Youtube for my source. Automatically you can tell it's a slightly corny show and not the mention the scenery but again it's an OK show. Not my favorite and I'm not an obsessed fan but let's say if it happens to come on, I wouldn't change the channel. It's a wholesome show that brings back the memories of cowboy days from when I was a child (even though those days consisted of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans...) I have read reasons as to why Pernell Roberts left the show, and honestly as I look at it, he does have a point, a very good point at that.All in all however it is a decent show. By today's standards there will be a different viewpoint but I'm sure that today's generation can stand to watch it every now and then.