» Bonanza Options

[TheCustomOfLife]

Did anyone catch the marathon on TV Land this weekend? This show is so great and at the same time, so snarktastic. I thought someone would have started a topic yet.

You know what I realized? This show created the Very Special Episode. Each episode brought on "friends for years" that we'd never seen before and wouldn't ever see again. My favorite episode in the marathon was the topic du jour of "Don't knock interracial marriages!" Since it was 1968, you could tell it was thinly veiled and really carried the message of don't hate black people, but they used an indian to illustrate the "other race" instead. I couldn't get past said indian's last job: it was Dawn Wells, Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island. What made it even more hilarious was that they put bronzer on her, and made her the stereotypical indian who is wise and never speaks in contractions.

[Milz]

I remember the eppy, but I didn't see the marathon.

My favorite Bonanza's are the funny ones with Little Joe and Hoss. I also like the spooky Bonanza with Little Joe---ghost town that really IS a ghost town.

[TheCustomOfLife]

I think that episode was on the marathon but I'm not really sure. I don't think I taped it but I think I saw it before I realized, hey, put the tape in!

MARY ANN'S HUSBAND: What happened, darling?

MARY ANN: I do not know!

BEN: Honestly, speak with contractions!

MARY ANN: I can not not speak without them!

HOSS: WTF?

This post has been edited by TheCustomOfLife: Jun 21, 2004 @ 12:29 pm.

[Jerusha Mac]

I love Bonanza - it used to the be the one thing the kids I babysat for would all watch in the afternoon - I caught a few episodes this weekend and the guest stars! Telly Savalas. Charles Bronson. Tina Louise. Bo Hopkins. Steve Forrest. It was almost more fun identifying everyone.

eta: yes, but ranchogrande they were cowboy manly men. They only needed one outfit. And a best Sunday suit for.......well, Sundays. And days when they were going to propose.

What I noticed how many characters wore the same outfit. Adam, Candy, the sheriff on the show w/Steve Forrest.......they all had burgundy shirts w/black leather vests. No wonder I tried to buy it for the first and second hubby......

I did catch Ponderosa. No western has really lasted that long lately. Not Young Riders or The Magnificent 7......not even Peacekeepers: CSI Western Style. Bummer.

ETA - again TheCustomOfLife I knew him as Candy first, who I had a HUGE crush on, so consequently, I've always loved Adam. When did Adam start on AMC? Because one of the reasons why we watched Bonanza was because I made them watch the last 15 minutes of General Hospital with me when I got there after school.

This post has been edited by Jerusha Mac: Jun 21, 2004 @ 6:47 pm.

[ranchogrande]

I always assumed the Cartwrights had money. That being said, how come they each only had one outfit? And what did they wear on the day when Hop Sing was washing the one said outfit?

Anyone ever catch the "prequel" Bonanza show that ran a few years ago called "Ponderosa"? Was pretty cool. But of course it got cancelled after a handful of episodes. I guess not many people cared about Little Joe's childhood. Damn.

[Milz]

All I can say is that if you were a woman and wanted to die, all you had to do was marry Ben Cartwright or get engaged to one of his sons.

I remember one eppy where Little Joe was in love with some girl with a jealous ex-boyfriend or stalker or something like that. Anyhow, Joe and the guy get into a fight in the barn and the girl is there cowering in a corner. One of them throws a pitchfork and the other and misses. Then Joe kicks that guy's butt. But oh no! The pitchfork landed in the girl's back and she dies in Joe's arms. (That's why I liked the funny ones like "Hoss and the Leprechauns", the ones with the prospector and his dog Walter).

This post has been edited by Milz: Jun 21, 2004 @ 4:15 pm.

[TheCustomOfLife]

Tina Louise.

You know what was funny? During the marathon, I believe they scheduled the Tina Louise episode right before the Dawn Wells episode. Ginger before Mary Ann. Harrumph. :P

I feel so ashamed...I checked out Adam Chandler's ass. I know he's Candy on this show but I know him as Adam Chandler from All My Children, therefore making it gross.

ETA: Jerusha Mac, David Canary debuted as Adam in 1983. He was much older and curmudgeonly by then, but I suspect that he actually dyed his hair gray in the earlier years. Now he's only summat like 65.

This post has been edited by TheCustomOfLife: Jun 21, 2004 @ 10:24 pm.

[TheCustomOfLife]

I was watching some more of the episodes I've taped, and I ran across a really hot guest star named Ed Nelson. I was like, who ARE you? I've seen you before.

Then I realized he was the doctor off Peyton Place. Yes, that guy was hot. Probably still is even though he's about 65 or 70 now.

[Milz]

yes, but ranchogrande they were cowboy manly men. They only needed one outfit. And a best Sunday suit for.......well, Sundays. And days when they were going to propose.

Also if they wore different clothes all the time, how could Ben tell them apart?

Ed Nelson stuff

[TheCustomOfLife]

Thanks for the link. I'm not sure if his eyes were brown or hazel, but they were so captivating! He played the miracle maker, Garth, in an episode where Hoss's "friend for life," Susan (whom I don't think we ever see again) is crippled and relies on Garth to get her to walk again.

[thatsforsure]

I was watching some more of the episodes I've taped, and I ran across a really hot guest star named Ed Nelson. I was like, who ARE you? I've seen you before.

Hah, that is so funny because, though I hadn't seen an episode of Bonanza in at least 10 years, I was at a friend's house Saturday night and we watched this episode. We were wondering who the good-looking fraudulent healer was and found out through DirecTV that it was a guy called Ed Nelson. My friend's husband spent the rest of the show trying to convince us it was Judd Nelson's father.

Wow, that was some pretty craptastic TV! And Hoss could have really used an orthodontist.

[TheCustomOfLife]

Ed Nelson definitely looked young. Apparently when he did the guest spot on Bonanza, he was about 36 or so. I think this was right at the beginning of Peyton Place's run when it was very popular.

[ChelseaNH]

All I can say is that if you were a woman and wanted to die, all you had to do was marry Ben Cartwright or get engaged to one of his sons.

It's just like the Kirk kiss o' death on ST:TOS. Big Valley had similar stories, although Audra never bought it. (I can't recall if her paramours died on a regular basis.) Television was not a good place to be female.

Adam was the guy for me. Sure, Little Joe was cute and Hoss was a big ol' teddy bear, but Adam had the mellifluous voice.

[Jerusha Mac]

All I can say is that if you were a woman and wanted to die, all you had to do was marry Ben Cartwright or get engaged to one of his sons.

I think that was a standard plotline for decades. Nowadays you can have more than one True Love without looking like a playboy.

Also if they wore different clothes all the time, how could Ben tell them apart?

LOL, Milz. Not that Ben was helped out by the stream of replacement "Adam's" that streamed through the Ponderosa. About the most questionable was the redheaded kid. And Hoss, orthodontia challenged as he was, was insanely popular.

Adam was the guy for me.

Oh, me too. I wasn't happy when Pernell Roberts left until Candy showed up.

This ran from 1959 to 1973? Wow.

eta: I bet David Canary did dye his hair gray, TheCustomOfLife, since it was only ten years later and he was 45 at the time.

This post has been edited by Jerusha Mac: Jun 22, 2004 @ 5:00 pm.

[TheCustomOfLife]

I think Pernell Roberts ended up leaving for a movie career. Did he even have one? All I know is that he did Trapper John, M.D., so not only did he end up doing another drama, it was a sucky drama.

I love your SN, Jerusha Mac. Is the first part of the name from the Hawaii novel by Michener?