Thank you sir for giving us Bonanza, the original cast were absolutely superb, each one so perfect in the role, must be one of the best cast series in the history of television.
This brings back a precious memory. I had a writing teacher at Santa Ana College, Santa Ana, Califas, 1978. Man, she was grumpy and tough. She would get in your face, gravelly voice. There were about 20 of us, dropped down to 6. Everything I wrote, red marks, underlining, comments. More red marks. Yeah, it was bloody! She worked in the Hollywood industry for a long time. How she wound-up in Santa Ana, I will never know. I so loved her working stories! Ida Lupino!..."Marilyn was so sad. You know, had she lived, she would have been an out lesbian. For sure...she was so sad..." This is the one story, that, for some fucking reason, haunted and inspired me, for decades. I am a third rate writer, but I write no matter what, even here on my Philippine island coffee shop, with my fountain pen and stained notebook. God bless my writing teacher, she has been my guardian angel on my slow ferries to anywhere....
Dortort's revelations are wonderful to hear, to learn. Surely, the Pernell Roberts matter was more complex than instantly jettisoning him or having him just finishing the season's remaining six episodes. The Adam + Laura (Kathie Browne) love affair, intermittent throughout the fifth season beginning with that year's 10th episode, the excellent 'The Waiting Game,' took longer. And embarrassingly resulted in dumping the developed storyline by having Guy Williams' new-to-the-Ponderosa Cartwright, Will Cartwright, 'stealing' Laura in the 33rd episode, appropriately titled 'Triangle.' After "Bonanza" BECAME a bonanza for NBC, the network's muscling Dortort for the two million dollar difference to allow for increased expenses to fllm in color -- is 'one for the ages.' Despite the not unusual cool relationship between stars and producer, I think Lorne Greene, Michael Landon and Pernell Roberts would meet and charge into the second floor at NBC Burbank (i.e., executive offices) and charge the nitwits, "you dumb f_ks, you've never had it so good on Sundays at 9 -- the most viewed day of the week -- because of David Dortort's creation and continuation with the 'Bonanza' property and unselfish decision to fund the color filming. . . . Write it off." Or, Dortort could have gone to General Motors and let them 'shame' the network into coughing up the dough to compensate for their biggest hit being in color; which if it WASN'T in color, it wouldn't have been NBC's champion of the line-up. Yes, 'a contract is a contract,' but if these aren't extenuating circumstances (i.e., filming in color) that haven't gifted the network tens of millions of dollars i don't know what is. I'll wager that if Daily Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Broadcasting had wind of this, why they'd have a field day reporting on it. Thanks again, Writers Guild Foundation.
Probably because you bought bootlegs. No official release by the BONANZA series copyright holder of all episodes, yet (as of Dec. 2021). So cheapie fly-by-night entities put out episodes from whatever source would have altered music.
"disgruntled pedant," ironically your legitimate gripe is about a show that uniquely had fewer commercial interruptions, in part due to the three-act structure of "Bonanza" vs. the old-as-the-hills four-act format for one-hour dramas. And , surely, the single sponsorship, i.e., General Motors, played into that (welcome) arrangement.
Oh man, as the years went by those Bonanza scripts just got worse and worse. Didn’t stop us from watching them though! By the time Dan Blocker died the writing was on the wall for Bonanza.
"Karen Sinclair" I agree with your awareness and criticism of the devolving "Bonanza." Over the years I've plunked down $s for some half seasons / full seasons of the authorized DVD sets from CBS / Paramount (though not as enthusiastically as cash paid for ALL seasons of better westerns like "The Virginian" and "Gunsmoke" plus first two seasons of Dortort's "The High Chaparral."). "Bonanza," overall: some good episodes plus a few gems, i.e., exceptionally strong and good. Tragically, way, way too many clunkers. Some are SO bad they are unwatchable, e.g., year 8's 'Joe Cartwright, Detective' where the script and Michael Landon REALLY stretch reality with Little Joe's immersion in devouring a book on 'how to solve crimes' removes themselves nearly completely from their established characters. It was embarrassingly bad. Ironically, it aired the week following the well done 'Judgement at Red Creek,' It proves to be a real mystery, far from the Ponderosa, that Little Joe solves at a relay station where the stagecoach passengers and members of the sheriff's posse are murdered / disappear, one by one -- a "Ten Little Indians"-type mystery that's heavy, dramatic and deadly. How the drearily-deadly duds got past NBC's current programming department defies logic [ed. - as does the bean counter's in Burbank's insistence Dortort pay back the two million dollarss -- for a property that's conceivably earned the network, RCA and General Motors tens -- if not hundreds -- of millions of dollars with the domestic and international success and notoriety of "Bonanza." " . . . scripts just got worse and worse." Right, "Karen Sinclair." Barbara Stanwyck's Emmy-winning role of Victoria Barkley, matriarch on "The Big Valley" that launched in 1965 ("Bonanza"'s 7th season), had bigger balls then Ben Cartwright. Her adult children (Nick, Jarrod, Audra, Heath) and Murdoch Lancer's on "Lancer" (Johnny and Scott) come off as more mature too. Dortort was right, about the crisp, sharp colors of the magnificent Lake Tahoe locations (visited by cast and crew just a few times each season, with resultant footage strategically edited into episodes generally / primarily lensed in southern California locations and the western's home base, Paramount Studios in Hollywood. THAT'S where color was an advantage. The disadvantage was the revelation that the Cartwright men's wardrobe at times looked a bit contemporary AND consistently like it had just come back from the dry cleaners, no matter the story's circumstances. The actors attired as similarly wealthy owners of immense, family owned ranches on "The Big Valley" and its northern California counterpart, "Lancer," looked like they'd had some rugged, day-to-day use on the range, all the while, cleaning up for the dining room. Very much enjoyed this revealing, insightful recollection (i.e., passed off as an 'interview'). It's ironically sad to read how knowledgeable, dedicated and devoted Dortort was to writing and history that he let too many scripts get past the first draft to 'shooting final' where the lackluster plots and inconsistent writing betrayed the completed episodes. Many thanks to "Writers Guild Foundation" conducting and preserving this chapter of media history.
We have just been watching Bonanza for the last few months every day. We are in mid Season 13..the writing in season 13 in many of the episodes is as good and better than ever.
Thank you sir for giving us Bonanza, the original cast were absolutely superb, each one so perfect in the role, must be one of the best cast series in the history of television.
This is amazing... Thanks for giving this to the world to watch.
He tells stories as wonderfully as he wrote them. this is a writing masterclass and i enjoyed hearing his experiences.
What a genius Mr Dortort was! Brilliant man and a superb human for sure
Wonderful talk, thanks for posting.
Such a lovely lovely man...rest well lorne.
I'm a novelist and screenwriter and love this.
The greatest story of all!
This brings back a precious memory. I had a writing teacher at Santa Ana College, Santa Ana, Califas, 1978. Man, she was grumpy and tough. She would get in your face, gravelly voice. There were about 20 of us, dropped down to 6. Everything I wrote, red marks, underlining, comments. More red marks. Yeah, it was bloody! She worked in the Hollywood industry for a long time. How she wound-up in Santa Ana, I will never know. I so loved her working stories! Ida Lupino!..."Marilyn was so sad. You know, had she lived, she would have been an out lesbian. For sure...she was so sad..." This is the one story, that, for some fucking reason, haunted and inspired me, for decades. I am a third rate writer, but I write no matter what, even here on my Philippine island coffee shop, with my fountain pen and stained notebook. God bless my writing teacher, she has been my guardian angel on my slow ferries to anywhere....
Dortort's revelations are wonderful to hear, to learn. Surely, the Pernell Roberts matter was more complex than instantly jettisoning him or having him just finishing the season's remaining six episodes. The Adam + Laura (Kathie Browne) love affair, intermittent throughout the fifth season beginning with that year's 10th episode, the excellent 'The Waiting Game,' took longer. And embarrassingly resulted in dumping the developed storyline by having Guy Williams' new-to-the-Ponderosa Cartwright, Will Cartwright, 'stealing' Laura in the 33rd episode, appropriately titled 'Triangle.'
After "Bonanza" BECAME a bonanza for NBC, the network's muscling Dortort for the two million dollar difference to allow for increased expenses to fllm in color -- is 'one for the ages.' Despite the not unusual cool relationship between stars and producer, I think Lorne Greene, Michael Landon and Pernell Roberts would meet and charge into the second floor at NBC Burbank (i.e., executive offices) and charge the nitwits, "you dumb f_ks, you've never had it so good on Sundays at 9 -- the most viewed day of the week -- because of David Dortort's creation and continuation with the 'Bonanza' property and unselfish decision to fund the color filming. . . . Write it off."
Or, Dortort could have gone to General Motors and let them 'shame' the network into coughing up the dough to compensate for their biggest hit being in color; which if it WASN'T in color, it wouldn't have been NBC's champion of the line-up.
Yes, 'a contract is a contract,' but if these aren't extenuating circumstances (i.e., filming in color) that haven't gifted the network tens of millions of dollars i don't know what is. I'll wager that if Daily Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Broadcasting had wind of this, why they'd have a field day reporting on it.
Thanks again, Writers Guild Foundation.
I have a boxed DVD set of all the episodes of Bonanza but the theme song was changed. Does anybody know why?
Copy right reasons...as you should know by now(?)they got the theme song back, to use again
Probably because you bought bootlegs. No official release by the BONANZA series copyright holder of all episodes, yet (as of Dec. 2021). So cheapie fly-by-night entities put out episodes from whatever source would have altered music.
9 commercials.
Nope
"disgruntled pedant," ironically your legitimate gripe is about a show that uniquely had fewer commercial interruptions, in part due to the three-act structure of "Bonanza" vs. the old-as-the-hills four-act format for one-hour dramas. And , surely, the single sponsorship, i.e., General Motors, played into that (welcome) arrangement.
Your real name
Distort
Oh man, as the years went by those Bonanza scripts just got worse and worse. Didn’t stop us from watching them though! By the time Dan Blocker died the writing was on the wall for Bonanza.
"Karen Sinclair" I agree with your awareness and criticism of the devolving "Bonanza." Over the years I've plunked down $s for some half seasons / full seasons of the authorized DVD sets from CBS / Paramount (though not as enthusiastically as cash paid for ALL seasons of better westerns like "The Virginian" and "Gunsmoke" plus first two seasons of Dortort's "The High Chaparral."). "Bonanza," overall: some good episodes plus a few gems, i.e., exceptionally strong and good. Tragically, way, way too many clunkers. Some are SO bad they are unwatchable, e.g., year 8's 'Joe Cartwright, Detective' where the script and Michael Landon REALLY stretch reality with Little Joe's immersion in devouring a book on 'how to solve crimes' removes themselves nearly completely from their established characters. It was embarrassingly bad. Ironically, it aired the week following the well done 'Judgement at Red Creek,' It proves to be a real mystery, far from the Ponderosa, that Little Joe solves at a relay station where the stagecoach passengers and members of the sheriff's posse are murdered / disappear, one by one -- a "Ten Little Indians"-type mystery that's heavy, dramatic and deadly. How the drearily-deadly duds got past NBC's current programming department defies logic [ed. - as does the bean counter's in Burbank's insistence Dortort pay back the two million dollarss -- for a property that's conceivably earned the network, RCA and General Motors tens -- if not hundreds -- of millions of dollars with the domestic and international success and notoriety of "Bonanza."
" . . . scripts just got worse and worse." Right, "Karen Sinclair." Barbara Stanwyck's Emmy-winning role of Victoria Barkley, matriarch on "The Big Valley" that launched in 1965 ("Bonanza"'s 7th season), had bigger balls then Ben Cartwright. Her adult children (Nick, Jarrod, Audra, Heath) and Murdoch Lancer's on "Lancer" (Johnny and Scott) come off as more mature too.
Dortort was right, about the crisp, sharp colors of the magnificent Lake Tahoe locations (visited by cast and crew just a few times each season, with resultant footage strategically edited into episodes generally / primarily lensed in southern California locations and the western's home base, Paramount Studios in Hollywood. THAT'S where color was an advantage. The disadvantage was the revelation that the Cartwright men's wardrobe at times looked a bit contemporary AND consistently like it had just come back from the dry cleaners, no matter the story's circumstances. The actors attired as similarly wealthy owners of immense, family owned ranches on "The Big Valley" and its northern California counterpart, "Lancer," looked like they'd had some rugged, day-to-day use on the range, all the while, cleaning up for the dining room.
Very much enjoyed this revealing, insightful recollection (i.e., passed off as an 'interview'). It's ironically sad to read how knowledgeable, dedicated and devoted Dortort was to writing and history that he let too many scripts get past the first draft to 'shooting final' where the lackluster plots and inconsistent writing betrayed the completed episodes.
Many thanks to "Writers Guild Foundation" conducting and preserving this chapter of media history.
We have just been watching Bonanza for the last few months every day.
We are in mid Season 13..the writing in season 13 in many of the episodes is as good and better than ever.