I see his point since there was not a lot of hard gunslinging. And there was even one episode where Hoss kept seeing leprechauns.
A guy who loved "Gunsmoke", John Wayne and Clint Eastwood wouldn't have taken "Bonanza" seriously.
True. Bonanza was not conceived as a "gunslinging" type of western. There were a number of shootouts and some genuinely bad guys. But the focus was on the morally upright Cartwrights who only believed in using guns as a last resort.
It's creator, David Dortort, envisioned an all male family and their adventures in the old west. Of course a lot of the episodes such as "Hoss and the Leprechauns", "Ponderosa Matador" and "Woman of Fire" (which borrowed from "The Taming of the Shrew") were lighthearted comedies.
A real John Ford fan would see Bonanza as more "horse opera" than a true western.
You dad was correct.
However, I think the comedic episodes are the best as the pretentious Cartwrights are annoying.
Did you dad like Gunsmoke?
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Yeah, he loved "Gunsmoke". Actually, I think "Big Valley" took the "Bonanza" theme and did it right. Especially since it's hard to watch super-Christian Michael Landon without puking.
shareI agree about Big Valley vs.
Bonanza. I can still enjoy BV, tho obviously a 60s show.
IMO, Gunsmoke is very timeless. The focus was the stories, not the characters who were good.
I never cared much for BV. The male stars were bland, and Stanwyck wasn't there enough.
shareShut up, bigot.
shareSpoken like a true Christian!
The married actor [Micheal Landon] was having an affair with Cindy Clerico, then a teenager who was working as a stand-in for his co-star Melissa Francis (Cassandra Cooper Ingalls). The 18-year-old woman was more than 20 years Landon’s junior.share
https://nypost.com/2021/11/09/michael-landon-bragged-about-sex-life-on-little-house-set/
i always like Bonanza
shareI watched Bonanza as a child, but the only things I remember are the theme music and a burning map!
shareI liked Bonanza. I think it was smart in having a family centered show versus a shoot'em up. Plenty of the latter on the air back then.
shareNone of the classic TV Westerns were primarily focused on gunslinging. You couldn’t do a weekly series that was only about gunfights.
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No, on Sunday night, Bonanza followed The Wonderful World of Disney, which featured Mickey Mouse.