Editing Bonanza (section)

== Premise ==
[[File:Map of Ponderosa Ranch.PNG|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Approximate location of the fictional Ponderosa Ranch, the home of Cartwright family. The map is oriented with North at the top (instead of East at the top, as in the map shown on the program).]]
The show chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, headed by the thrice-widowed patriarch Ben Cartwright ([[Lorne Greene]]). He had three sons, each by a different wife: the eldest was the urbane architect Adam Cartwright ([[Pernell Roberts]]), who built the ranch house; the second was the warm and lovable giant Eric "Hoss" Cartwright ([[Dan Blocker]]); and the youngest was the hotheaded and impetuous Joseph, or "Little Joe" ([[Michael Landon]]). Through exposition<ref name=":0">{{Cite episode |title=A Rose for Lotta |episode-link=Bonanza (season 1)#ep1 |series=Bonanza |series-link=Bonanza |network=[[NBC]] |date=September 12, 1959 |season=1 |number=1}}</ref> and flashback episodes, the viewer learns that each wife was accorded a different ancestry: English,<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Elizabeth, My Love |episode-link=Bonanza (season 2)#65 |series=Bonanza |series-link=Bonanza |network=[[NBC]] |date=May 27, 1961 |season=2 |number=33}}</ref> Swedish,<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Inger, My Love |episode-link=Bonanza (season 3)#95 |series=Bonanza |series-link=Bonanza |network=[[NBC]] |date=April 15, 1962 |season=3 |number=29}}</ref> and French Creole,<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Marie, My Love |episode-link=Bonanza (season 4)#120 |series=Bonanza |series-link=Bonanza |network=[[NBC]] |date=February 10, 1963 |season=4 |number=20}}</ref> respectively. The family's cook was Chinese immigrant Hop Sing ([[Victor Sen Yung]]).

The family lived on a thousand-square-mile (2,600&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) ranch called the [[Ponderosa Ranch|Ponderosa]] on the eastern shore of [[Lake Tahoe]] in [[Nevada]] opposite [[California]] on the edge of the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] range.<ref name=":0"/> The vast size of the Cartwrights' land was quietly revised to "half a million acres" (2,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) in Lorne Greene's 1964 song, "Saga of the Ponderosa". The ranch name refers to the ''[[Pinus ponderosa]]'' (ponderosa pine), common in the West. The nearest town to the Ponderosa was [[Virginia City, Nevada|Virginia City]], where the Cartwrights would go to converse with [[Sheriff]] Roy Coffee (played by veteran actor [[Ray Teal]]), or his deputy Clem Foster ([[Bing Russell]]).

''Bonanza'' was considered an atypical Western for its time, as the core of the storylines dealt less about the range but more with Ben and his three dissimilar sons, how they cared for one another, their neighbors and just causes.

<blockquote>"You always saw stories about family on comedies or on an anthology, but ''Bonanza'' was the first series that was week-to-week about a family and the troubles it went through. ''Bonanza'' was a period drama that attempted to confront contemporary social issues. That was very difficult to do on television. Most shows that tried to do it failed because the sponsors didn't like it, and the networks were nervous about getting letters," explains Stephen Battaglio, a senior editor for ''[[TV Guide]]'' magazine.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://americanprofile.com/articles/bonanza-1960s-tv-show/ | title=''Bonanza'', a 1960s TV Show Ahead of the Times | first=Paulette | last=Cohn | magazine=American Profile | date=May 24, 2009 | access-date=May 20, 2016}}</ref></blockquote>