---
product_id: 12421288
title: "Bonanza: A Viewer's Guide to the TV Legend"
brand: "david r. greenland"
price: "$89.00"
currency: USD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/12421288-bonanza-a-viewers-guide-to-the-tv-legend
store_origin: US
region: United States of America
---

# Bonanza: A Viewer's Guide to the TV Legend

**Brand:** david r. greenland
**Price:** $89.00
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Bonanza: A Viewer's Guide to the TV Legend by david r. greenland
- **How much does it cost?** $89.00 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.us](https://www.desertcart.us/products/12421288-bonanza-a-viewers-guide-to-the-tv-legend)

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## Description

Bonanza: A Viewer's Guide to the TV Legend

## Images

![Bonanza: A Viewer's Guide to the TV Legend - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51pgVO7fcpL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Fun fact book
  

*by F***E on Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2023*

I have a total of three of this authors books, including Gunsmoke and Rawhide.  The Bonanza viewers guide is fun to read, lots of details regarding each season and a listing of the many wonderful guest stars, especially the character actors.  My only comment would be that each season is divided numerically but to find a specific episode, you have to flip through many pages to find the right Season chapter, I wish he had put the Season number along with each episode number instead of just the number of the episode in the entire series, for example episode 225 would be better listed as Season 7, episode 225-quicker and easier to find.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    A valuable resource for "Bonanza" fans
  

*by L***Y on Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2016*

The Cartwrights have been a cable television fixture for years. Currently, they appear on no less than five cable channels, and their adventures have appeared previously on four others. Not bad for a series that's been off network airwaves for almost 44 years.In "Bonanza: A Viewer's Guide to the TV Legend," David Greenland takes readers back to the days when Ben, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe not only ruled the NBC prime-time schedule, but were also a cultural phenomenon.The series inspired merchandise including novels for both adults and young readers, comic books, collector plates, View-Master reels, and soundtrack albums featuring the cast. (It even provided Ben Cartwright himself, Lorne Greene, a six-album recording career.) By 1966, the show was so popular that it was even being used to sell issues of "Rod and Custom" magazine. (The sight of Dan Blocker tooling around a Western backlot on a minibike must be seen to be believed.)Greenland argues that what inspired the big bonanzas of merchandising and viewer loyalty was not that the Cartwrights' adventures were the first network series to air in color, but that they had a humanity that other Westerns of the lone-gunfighter-wandering-the-West variety lacked. Indeed, series creator/producer David Dortort writes in a foreword that the difficulties of producing such a series ("The Restless Gun"), which was reliant on one star, inspired him to create a series in which an ensemble would "carry the freight."And "carry the freight" they did. Greenland shows how the series and its ensemble were able to handle both comedy and drama, and how, under the guise of an "oater," they examined contemporary issues such as racism, domestic violence, mental illness, political corruption, and the generation gap. The show's ability to reflect modern society, he believes, gives "Bonanza" a timeless quality other Westerns lack.He goes on to provide biographies of all the regular cast members and details of the series' production. Then he examines the series itself by dividing it into three eras: the "early classics," which includes the entirety of the Pernell Roberts era and the first two seasons of the "lost episodes"; the "ranging wide" era, in which the series took on more of the aspects of traditional Westerns; and the "back at the ranch" era, which includes Mitch Vogel's run as Jamie Hunter, a fresh outlet for Ben's paternal advice, and the death of Dan Blocker, which created a void the show struggled to fill as its ratings floundered in a new Tuesday-evening timeslot outside its longtime Sunday-night berth.Greenland also provides fresh perspective on Roberts' departure in 1965, noting that the actor wanted Adam to marry a Native American woman-and that he wanted an African-American actress to portray said bride. When his request was refused, because Dortort thought it "an empty gesture toward civil rights," Roberts decided to coast, delivering lines without conviction and fading into the background as much as possible in episodes not featuring Adam as the central character, before finally leaving.This book's only weakness, for which I deducted a star, is a perfunctory episode guide which provides little information about individual episodes beyond a one- or two-sentence plot description. I know the book would have been much thicker, and hence more expensive, but I'm the sort who enjoys as much detail as possible about individual episodes' production, as well as credit for individual writers and directors.Still, this is a valuable resource for "Bonanza" fans, and is highly recommended.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Very Pleased
  

*by K***Y on Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2010*

As a lifelong, die-hard Bonanza fan (I was five years old when the show began and it was my parents' favorite show!) I was very excited to see that this book had been re-released after being out of print for so long.  All my fellow Bonanza fan friends highly recommended the book to me, and I'm very pleased that I bought it, and very pleased to have it in my collection, but their raves about it led me to believe there was more information in the book than what actually appeared.  In spite of that minor disappointment, I am thrilled with the format, the photos, and that I have in my hands the brief rundown of each show without searching through many webpages for the episode description.  I wish though that the episode descriptions had been more in depth, and that the guest stars and their roles had been listed with each episode.  Also the writers, directors, etc.  So once again, I have to turn to the web to get the more complete information.  Other than that, I do recommend the book to avid Bonanza fans.  You won't regret the purchase.

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*Product available on Desertcart United States of America*
*Store origin: US*
*Last updated: 2026-03-20*