Way back in 1959, Ben Cartwright and his three boys – Adam, Hoss and Little Joe – brought their adventures to homes across America in the first western series ever shown in living color. Fifty years later their stories are finally out on DVD the way they were meant to be (and not in some hacked up/bargain bin collection that’s not worth watching). While not everything about Bonanza has aged well – the caricatures of the Chinese people feel borderline racists at times – there is a timeless element to these shows that still makes them hugely entertaining to watch. Each episode is like a mini-movie, complete with plenty of action, courtesy of Adam (Pernell Roberts), plenty of humor, courtesy of Hoss (Dan Blocker) and plenty of romance, courtesy of Little Joe (Michael Landon). Overseeing it all is the patriarch of the Cartwright clan, Ben (Loren Green), a Bible/Shakespeare quoting curmudgeon who loves nothing more than his three sons (from three different wives, mind you), unless it is the 1000-square miles of land he owns called The Ponderosa, land, we are told in almost every episode, that everyone else in the west wants to take from him.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Bonanza: The Official First Season
Way back in 1959, Ben Cartwright and his three boys – Adam, Hoss and Little Joe – brought their adventures to homes across America in the first western series ever shown in living color. Fifty years later their stories are finally out on DVD the way they were meant to be (and not in some hacked up/bargain bin collection that’s not worth watching). While not everything about Bonanza has aged well – the caricatures of the Chinese people feel borderline racists at times – there is a timeless element to these shows that still makes them hugely entertaining to watch. Each episode is like a mini-movie, complete with plenty of action, courtesy of Adam (Pernell Roberts), plenty of humor, courtesy of Hoss (Dan Blocker) and plenty of romance, courtesy of Little Joe (Michael Landon). Overseeing it all is the patriarch of the Cartwright clan, Ben (Loren Green), a Bible/Shakespeare quoting curmudgeon who loves nothing more than his three sons (from three different wives, mind you), unless it is the 1000-square miles of land he owns called The Ponderosa, land, we are told in almost every episode, that everyone else in the west wants to take from him.
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