Bonanza: A Viewer's Guide to the TV Legend

I have a total of three of this authors books, including Gunsmoke and Rawhide. The Bonanza viewers guide is fun to read, lots of details regarding each season and a listing of the many wonderful guest stars, especially the character actors. My only comment would be that each season is divided numerically but to find a specific episode, you have to flip through many pages to find the right Season chapter, I wish he had put the Season number along with each episode number instead of just the number of the episode in the entire series, for example episode 225 would be better listed as Season 7, episode 225-quicker and easier to find.

The Cartwrights have been a cable television fixture for years. Currently, they appear on no less than five cable channels, and their adventures have appeared previously on four others. Not bad for a series that's been off network airwaves for almost 44 years.In "Bonanza: A Viewer's Guide to the TV Legend," David Greenland takes readers back to the days when Ben, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe not only ruled the NBC prime-time schedule, but were also a cultural phenomenon.The series inspired merchandise including novels for both adults and young readers, comic books, collector plates, View-Master reels, and soundtrack albums featuring the cast. (It even provided Ben Cartwright himself, Lorne Greene, a six-album recording career.) By 1966, the show was so popular that it was even being used to sell issues of "Rod and Custom" magazine. (The sight of Dan Blocker tooling around a Western backlot on a minibike must be seen to be believed.)Greenland argues that what inspired the big bonanzas of merchandising and viewer loyalty was not that the Cartwrights' adventures were the first network series to air in color, but that they had a humanity that other Westerns of the lone-gunfighter-wandering-the-West variety lacked. Indeed, series creator/producer David Dortort writes in a foreword that the difficulties of producing such a series ("The Restless Gun"), which was reliant on one star, inspired him to create a series in which an ensemble would "carry the freight."And "carry the freight" they did. Greenland shows how the series and its ensemble were able to handle both comedy and drama, and how, under the guise of an "oater," they examined contemporary issues such as racism, domestic violence, mental illness, political corruption, and the generation gap. The show's ability to reflect modern society, he believes, gives "Bonanza" a timeless quality other Westerns lack.He goes on to provide biographies of all the regular cast members and details of the series' production. Then he examines the series itself by dividing it into three eras: the "early classics," which includes the entirety of the Pernell Roberts era and the first two seasons of the "lost episodes"; the "ranging wide" era, in which the series took on more of the aspects of traditional Westerns; and the "back at the ranch" era, which includes Mitch Vogel's run as Jamie Hunter, a fresh outlet for Ben's paternal advice, and the death of Dan Blocker, which created a void the show struggled to fill as its ratings floundered in a new Tuesday-evening timeslot outside its longtime Sunday-night berth.Greenland also provides fresh perspective on Roberts' departure in 1965, noting that the actor wanted Adam to marry a Native American woman-and that he wanted an African-American actress to portray said bride. When his request was refused, because Dortort thought it "an empty gesture toward civil rights," Roberts decided to coast, delivering lines without conviction and fading into the background as much as possible in episodes not featuring Adam as the central character, before finally leaving.This book's only weakness, for which I deducted a star, is a perfunctory episode guide which provides little information about individual episodes beyond a one- or two-sentence plot description. I know the book would have been much thicker, and hence more expensive, but I'm the sort who enjoys as much detail as possible about individual episodes' production, as well as credit for individual writers and directors.Still, this is a valuable resource for "Bonanza" fans, and is highly recommended.

As a lifelong, die-hard Bonanza fan (I was five years old when the show began and it was my parents' favorite show!) I was very excited to see that this book had been re-released after being out of print for so long. All my fellow Bonanza fan friends highly recommended the book to me, and I'm very pleased that I bought it, and very pleased to have it in my collection, but their raves about it led me to believe there was more information in the book than what actually appeared. In spite of that minor disappointment, I am thrilled with the format, the photos, and that I have in my hands the brief rundown of each show without searching through many webpages for the episode description. I wish though that the episode descriptions had been more in depth, and that the guest stars and their roles had been listed with each episode. Also the writers, directors, etc. So once again, I have to turn to the web to get the more complete information. Other than that, I do recommend the book to avid Bonanza fans. You won't regret the purchase.

I won't give it an A+++ because I think he fell short on the original starring cast members bio's, with the exception of Mike Landon. But the reference section regarding all of the episodes is great and I refer to it often while watching the six seaons that I purchased. I just wish Mr. Greenland would write a follow up issue since this book went to publication in 1997 and that was a while ago. Especially since Bonanza went out of production 40 years ago and has been in syndication constantly since then. How many of the shows that have come and gone since then can boast that achievement? I have noticed many folks that comment on the different episodes were either small children or were not even born when the show was originally on from 1959 to the early 70's. That in itself speaks volumes or Mr. Dortorts quality production. Enough said.

As an authorized Bonanza novelist, I loved reading David Dortort's foreward, and am looking forward to much more information I never knew as I go through it, writing "A Cartwright Ride Through Virginia City History."

As many I grew up with Sunday night Bonanza I loved a look back at my favorite show growing up this book gives a look behind the scenes and a recap of all 14 seasons for me it was interesting and fun

I ordered this book for a coworkers birthday. This person is obsessed with Bonanza and I thought it would be such a great present, but I have to say that I had to return the book because the jerk coworker decided that he would act like a baby and have a pity party for himself instead of a normal birthday, and told me that he absolutely did not want the gift. So any of you wanting to order this book I would say YES go for it and order it. I think anyone would be pleased to have this book, unless they are a freaking nut, like I mentioned above. LOL

This book should be read by all Bonanza fans. I was only 7 when this series came out and can't get enough of it. The book goes into great detail about the cast, for instance I didn't know Pernell Roberts wore a hairpiece. I thought he turned bald later in life. It also lists all the episodes for each season with a detailed description. I've read the Michael Landon books but they left out some character details covered in this book. Any Bonanza fan will love adding this to their collection.

On glancing through this large paperback on its arrival i was impressed by how many photos there are of the four stars of the series. All the photos are in black-and-white - but of course colour would have added to the cost. Unfortunately, some photos are a bit blurry, which i think will matter a great deal to some readers. I wonder why the quality of these photos is so poor. Age?There is an interesting foreword by the producer, David Dortort, in which he explains why he chose to create Bonanza with four starring actors instead of just one.Mr Greenland writes in an intelligent and articulate way about how the series came to be created and how it developed over time.At the back of the book is a list of all the episodes, with a very short statement of what each episode is about. This list was my main reason for buying this book and I had expected more to be written about the plot of each episode. I wonder if Mr Greenland was afraid of spoiling the storylines for us; or was it simply lack of space? Only occasionally are the screenwriter(s) and director(s) of an episode listed and that only if there is something particularly noteworthy, such as if Michael Landon is directing as well as acting in an episode. The main guest actors in an episode are always listed but not which roles they played.Another reviewer mentioned the lack of an index at the back of this book. I admit i hadn't given a thought to the lack of an index until i read his review, but if someone wanted to use this as a reference book to check some fact or other, an index would save time. Again, of course, it would add to the cost.In one way i'm disappointed in this book. The print throughout is rather small and the print is very, very small under photographs. Don't the publishers realize many of us became fans by watching Bonanza on black-and-white television in the 1960s and now our eyes have aged so that we have difficulty with small print?All in all, i recommend this book. I thought at first it was a bit pricey but on reconsideration i think it is value for money.

I have now bought 3 books by David Greenland. The book on Bonanza is very disappointing, compared to his books on Rawhide & Gunsmoke. There is no index at the back, so you can't relate at random to listed episodes, or who guested in them. Plus there is no photo at all of the long standing member of cast, Ray Teal, who played Sheriff Roy Coffee. And there's only a half hidden photo of the long standing cook Hop Sing, played by Victor Sen Yung. Plus photographs aren't of the best print. So I only give 2 stars. There is another book available, but at twice the price. I'm guessing that would have a similar layout to the other 2 excellent books I mentioned.

This a very nice reminder of a classic TV series. Probably best used in conjunction with A Reference Guide to Television's Bonanza by Leiby and Leiby ( if you can find it ), which I think is unauthorised but has a more detailed episode guide with full cast details. Together these two books should be all you need!

Always liked Bonanza, liked this book even more.

I love this book brings back memories.