Editing Bonanza (section)

=== Broadcast history and ratings ===
[[File:Lorne Greene Ben Cartwright Bonanza.JPG|thumb|right|Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright]]
Initially, ''Bonanza'' aired on Saturdays at 7:30&nbsp;p.m. Eastern, opposite ''Dick Clark's Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show'' and ''[[John Gunther's High Road]]'' on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], and ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'' on [[CBS]]. ''Bonanza''{{'}}s initial ratings were respectable, often coming in behind Mason but ahead of the ABC lineup. Ironically, executives considered canceling the show before its premiere because of its high cost. NBC kept it because ''Bonanza'' was one of the first series to be filmed and broadcast in [[Color television|color]], including scenes of picturesque [[Lake Tahoe, Nevada]]. NBC's corporate parent, [[Radio Corporation of America]] (RCA), used the show to spur sales of RCA-manufactured color television sets (RCA was also the primary sponsor of the series during its first two seasons).

For Season 3, NBC moved ''Bonanza'' to Sundays at 9:00&nbsp;pm Eastern with new sponsor [[Chevrolet]] (replacing ''[[The Dinah Shore Chevy Show]]''). The new time slot caused ''Bonanza'' to soar in the ratings, and it eventually reached number one by 1964, an honor it would keep until 1967. By 1970, ''Bonanza'' was the first series to appear in the Top Five list for nine consecutive seasons (a record that would stand for many years) and thus established itself as the most consistent strong-performing hit television series of the 1960s. ''Bonanza'' remained high on the [[Nielsen ratings]] until 1971, when it finally fell out of the Top Ten.

During the summer of 1972, NBC broadcast reruns of episodes of the show from the 1967–1970 era on Tuesdays at 7:30&nbsp;p.m. under the title ''Ponderosa'' while also rerunning more recent episodes on Sunday evenings in the show{{'}}s normal time slot as ''Bonanza''.<ref name="brooks"/> In the fall of 1972, off-network episodes were released in [[broadcast syndication]] to local stations by NBC under the ''Ponderosa'' name. After the series was canceled in 1973, the syndicated reruns reverted to the ''Bonanza'' name.