Airing between 1959 and 1973, Bonanza had a total of 431 episodes. It became NBC’s longest running TV series and was a show beloved by several generations.

Telling the story of an all-male family that lived in Ponderosa—a fictional, thousand-square-mile ranch near Lake Tahoe—around the time of the American Civil War, there wasn’t a family in America that wasn’t familiar with its cast of characters.

Several generations who grew up watching the show came to see Lorne Green as a sort of father figure and so unsurprisingly, in a 2007 TV Guide survey, Greene was voted Television’s #2 Favorite Father. In addition to his work on Bonanza, Greene might be known to science fiction fans as Commander Adama in the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica series.

Producer David Dortort, decided to portray Ben as independent, capable, and respectful, not just in his career, but in his parental duties as well. In order to make sure he had enough time to explore this new representation of fatherhood on screen, Dortort increased the show’s run-time from 30 to 60 minutes, to allow more room to explore its characters, their personalities, and their choices.

The story was written so that Ben had lost all three of his former wives. Even during the show, any woman that he fell in love with either left him or died. This became known as the “Cartwright Curse” and Ben ended up raising his three sons as a single father.

Being one of the earliest color TV shows, Bonanza soon became the reason for many households to purchase a new color TV. Even when the show had low ratings, NBC continued to air the show with the purpose of selling more color TVs in mind. It was the first show that was produced in 100% color. However, at least in the earlier seasons, many of its fans actually watched it in black and white.

As the actual cast of the show was fairly new, the producers had to bring in famous guest appearances in order to get the attention of the viewers. For this to happen, the production paid these guest stars more than the actual actors in the first season.

Producer Dortort wanted Bonanza to be a Western version of the legendary King Arthur and his knights. In his vision, Ben Cartwright would be King Arthur and his sons were his knights of the round table. Ponderosa, therefore, was a sort of Camelot.

In the sixth season episode “A Knight to Remember,” the Cartwrights actually encounter a knight in shining armor who scares away a group of robbers. The “knight” is actually a man by the name of Uncle Leo, who is convinced he is the real King Arthur.

Bonanza was an extremely expensive show to produce. Creating a believable Wild West world on screen, every week, for more than a decade demanded a lot of funds. Horses, outfits, and sets—not to mention actors, writers, and producers—all cost a lot of money.

Bonanza is iconic, not just thanks to its characters and setting, but also because of its easily recognizable outfits.

Interestingly, the show’s actors wore the same clothes throughout the show’s 14-year run. Despite being one of the most well-funded shows to be produced at its time, the length of each episode, as well as the elaborate sets, meant that each episode was very expensive to film, and the recurring outfits helped cut costs, at least in the wardrobe department.

One of the ways the producers of the show managed to spread their budget was by using stock footage for more general scenes: this helped cut back on the costs and saved thousands of dollars. Throughout the run of the show, Bonanza still cost around $150,000 per episode. When adjusted for inflation, that’s over $1.2 million per episode in today’s dollars!

Initially, Bonanza aired on Saturday nights and, in its early days, it failed to leave a lasting impression on its viewers. When it was on the very verge of being canceled, however, NBC decided to move the show to Sunday evenings, hoping the change in schedule would help the show reach more sympathetic audiences.

Soon after that, things began to pick up; the show found its legs, and by 1964 it had become the highest-ranking show on the network.

While no cars ever actually appeared on Bonanza, the car company Chevrolet heavily sponsored the show and helped the production finance over 430 episodes. In return, the show’s four lead actors endorsed the brand and appeared in many commercials, helping turn Chevrolet into a brand associated with the rugged outdoors, strong family values, and All-American ethos they depicted on screen.

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