'Bonanza' creator dies at 93: David Dortort's series was the most-watched from 1964-67

The Hollywood Reporter ^ | September 7, 2010 | Mike Barnes

[EveningStar]

David Dortort, who created "Bonanza," the top-rated Western that aired for 14 years on NBC with family values as its centerpiece, died Sept. 5 in his apartment in Westwood. He was 93.

[mad_as_he$$]

How about in the White House?

[mad_as_he$$]

Yes, years after the Galactica got here.

[northwinds]

Nope, he’s still an illegal alien....LOL....never got around to filing the proper paperwork.

[northwinds]

The Wonderful World of Disney and Bonanza pretty much defined Sunday nights in my family as I was growing up...fond memories of a simpler, better time.

[RingerSIX]

>>How about in the White House?

Had Zero grown up watching Bonanza he'd have been a much better man. But instead, he grew up listening to this brand of claptrap...

[Pigsley]

I love this show. The Dad was so wise and caring. Sigh. They guys were cute and there was humor and always a good moral. Loved Hoss the most. I thought he was the bravest, most tender hearted and pretty smart in the horse sense dept.

[PushinTin]

That's the way it was at my house. If you had a color TV you didn't miss Bonanza and The Wonderful World of Disney. They were the only color shows on.

[mad_as_he$$]

Exactly. No Bonanza, no baseball, no football, no playing cowboys, No camping - I could go on and i might (credit to Levin!)

[tlb]

I occasionally will watch a bit of an episode but it is so bland I just can’t stay with it. I would have liked it much better if they had stuck with the original concept of the Cartwrights. The mountain men who viewed the townspeople with disdain and mistrust. The empire builders who made their own rules, and made them stick. In other words, the sort of people who actually would have carved out their own nation like the Ponderosa. Those Cartwrights would have laughed right in the face of the Cartwrights who were always sucking up to their neighbors.

The lyrics of the Bonanza song illustrate the point. They aren’t the original lyrics at all. The Cartwrights in the show pilot themselves sing the song as it was intended. It’s quite a scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8XLzCzbwWk

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[Impy]

I remember an ep based on assisted suicide (guy trapped in mine collapse IIRC) that came down against it (unlikely to see that in a show today). Ben told Litte Joe it was wrong.

However it was subverted in that it turned out the guy didn’t want to die, the “suicide assister” actually wanted the guy dead and murdered him (caused the mine accident I think and then finished him off).

Ah I remember the title. “The Quality of Mercy”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlpfCq1-Tqs

I didn’t know Dortort was still alive, RIP.