Bonanza is an American western/cowboy television series starring Pernell Roberts, Lorne Greene,
Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon, which aired on the NBC television network from September
12, 1959 until January 16, 1973. From 1964 through 1967, the show was #1 in the yearly Nielsen
ratings. In terms of longevity, the show remains NBC's second longest-running series, after
Law & Order. Bonanza was also the first hour-long network television series filmed in color.

The legendary and most-beloved TV Western series of all time. Today, the series is seen in
30 countries, in 12 languages, and over 280 million viewers worldwide in reruns since 1973. It was
the first televisionseries designated to be filmed and broadcast in color in the great outdoors and
second longest-running next to Gunsmoke.

Bonanza got its name from the Comstock Lode which was "an exceptionally large and rich
mineral deposit" of silver. Virginia City was founded directly over the lode and was mined for 19 years.
Ponderosa was an alternative title of the series, used for the broadcast of syndicated reruns while
"Bonanza" was in first run on NBC. Ponderosa is also the name of a series prequel airing on
PAX-TV from 2001-02.

The "Bonanza" pilot was written by David Dortort, who also produced the series. Dortort's other
creations include The Restless Gun, The High Chaparral, The Cowboys, and the Bonanza prequel,
Ponderosa. For most of its 430 episode run, the main sponsor of Bonanza was Chevrolet and the
stars occasionally appeared in commercials endorsing Chevrolet automobiles. All of the regular cast
members had appeared in numerous stage, television and film productions before Bonanza, but none
was particularly well-known.

This labor of love is going on 22 years strong and will continue to prosper in memory of Michael Landon,
Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker and the Cartwright Family.  America's most-beloved fictional-family of the
great Ponderosa Ranch on the glistening crown of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra's.