SUPERCWFAN1's Thoughts on Bonanza

[SUPERECWFAN1]

As someone who has watched Bonanza with my dad and seen basically , nearly all the episodes ... the formula was basically simple.

1.) Cartwright's get in trouble ...usually one or all of the son's , their Pa comes to save them.

2.) Ben gets in trouble , the Cartwright boys go to save him.

3.) Little Joe mostly falls in love in a lot of episodes. The girls either A) Die , B) Leave or C) Fall for someone else.

This repeated thousands of times. In fact the formula broke apart the later seasons by 1965 when Pernell Robert's left. In 1964 , they introduced a nephew Ben Cartwright never knew he had...called "Will Cartwright".

The idea was to have one of the women that Adam falls for , marry him and leave in the season finale for the East. Pernell Robert's wanted out that previous year and producers decided they wanted to keep the 3 sons and their father deal.



Guy Williams was in 5 episodes that season and was supposed to become a main cast member. Instead fan reaction to him wasn't received well and the producers convinced Roberts to finish out the season. The episode he was supposed to depart with the girl , Will Cartwright did instead.

After Roberts left life went back to normal somewhat for the Cartwrights. The formula was a bit broken as now it was 2 Cartwright sons (Hoss and Little Joe) now joined by a ranch hand named Candy (David Canary).

Of course this formula would shatter for good by 1972 , Brian. In that year Dan Blocker died and his character "Hoss" was written as to have passed away. In the opening episode (which should really be the series finale of Bonanza) Little Joe (who is now grey headed) marries and his wife is killed.

Called "Forever" it has Joe go on a mission to kill those who did it. Candy (who Landon pleaded with producers to rehire) goes with him. At the end you sense the heart break Joe and his father shared. The family was forever shattered. Adam was gone and rarely mentioned , Hoss was dead and Little Joe was a broken man. His days as a lover and leave em type...done.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5fvf-mKgW4

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I wanna also bring up that Bonanza producers tried solutions to losing Cartwrights . To try and keep the 3 brothers dynamic flowing and letting David Canary go in 1970 , they had Ben Cartwright adopt 2 sons.

Jamie Hunter/Cartwright (Mitch Vogel) : its clear was to take the youngest Cartwright role that Landon once had. He was 23 when the show began and was 37 by the time it was ticking to its demise.

Vogel was 14 when he became added to the cast in 1970.



Girff King (Tim Matheson) : The actor most known for the role in "Animal House" was added to the cast that final season as the next likely one to be adopted by Ben Cartwright.

Matheson was 24.

So in the funniest aspect , producers were trying to recreate the 3 sons dynamic. By having Landon's "Little Joe" now move into the oldest.

Now it was told years later I believe on a Biography show that Landon wanted to bring back Pernell Roberts who wasn't doing anything at the time. That he told Roberts he could write him back in . But Landon was voted down by the producers.

It seems to bring up the feelings Landon told in his biography that by that final season he just didn't wanna be there without Blocker. He was wanting to move onto something else.