īonanza is set around the Ponderosa Ranch near Virginia City, Nevada and chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, consisting of Ben Cartwright ( Lorne Greene) and his three sons (each by a different wife), Adam ( Pernell Roberts), Eric 'Hoss' ( Dan Blocker), and Joseph ( Michael Landon). Bonanza also became a worldwide success as it was broadcast in nearly 50 countries, including Canada, Brazil, Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Australia, and Japan. It remained in the top ten of the ratings through its twelfth season and ranked at number one in its sixth, seventh, and eighth seasons.
In that time slot, the ratings soared and the series become second only to Wagon Train as the most popular program on American prime time television. Bonanza was moved to Sundays at 9:00 PM Eastern Time at the start of its third season.
During its second season, the series moved up to number 17. In its initial season, Bonanza aired on Saturday evenings and placed at number 45 in the Nielsen ratings. The premiere was on September 12, 1959, and the final episode broadcast on January 16, 1973.
The entire run of the series' 431 hour-long episodes was produced in color. Bonanza is an American western television series developed and produced by David Dortort and broadcast in the United States for 14 seasons on the NBC network.
