A Rose for Lotta

Watching this very first episode of Bonanza reminds one of how the Cartwrights evolved from a very rough and tough family to the patriarchs of the Virginia City/Lake Tahoe area in Nevada territory. It was definitely for the better that this happened because I don't think Bonanza would have lasted had the Cartwrights stayed as they are shown here.

In those first years Lorne Greene and the boys are downright hostile to anyone on Ponderosa land, they are locked in a never ending battle with some of the silver kings in Virginia City. The number one villain is as you would expect George MacReady, just look at the cast list and you'll know.

MacReady hatches a plan to get the Ponderosa timber rights by hiring famous actress Yvonne DeCarlo to drive on to the Ponderosa and break down. After that just let some of the young Cartwright hormones do the rest. Of course it's a young Michael Landon's hormones that go into overdrive. Landon takes DeCarlo back to Virginia City and nearly becomes a captive.

In the earliest Bonanza episodes Little Joe's character is a teenager and over the run of the series we saw him mature most of all. But now he's a wild kid and the others have to rescue him.

In this first episode at the end of the show we hear the Cartwrights sing the theme from Bonanza. I'll bet a lot of you didn't think there were any lyrics.

It was a good beginning, but for the sake of the show the writers did soften the Cartwrights and insured their long run on NBC.

This was an amazing kick off for one of the best TV series ever on the air. I had no idea that these early episodes were done in color. We didn't get a color TV in our Family until about 1971, so I only knew them in Black and white. I'm sure if you were lucky enough to have a color TV back then you would have been blown away by Yvonne D Carlo as well as the scenery of the Ponderosa Ranch. It helped explain how the three brothers were from three different mothers. It must have been a major feat getting a big star like Yvonne D Carlo to do a TV show at the time. She has always been one the world's most beautiful and exotic looking actress's of all times, a true timeless beauty.

I also noticed a bit part by a guy named Ned Glass that I had recognized from a 3-stooges short (From nurse to Worse 1940)(he was in many 3-stooges and was a friend of Moe Howards) I remembered this as a kid but never could connect the dots until the invention IMDb. He always played a small time crook in many bits parts. Like Freddie the forger in Get Smart. He was from Poland born one year before my grandfather who was a Polish/Russian Immigrant also, that probably wouldn't have made it through WWII if he had stayed in Poland.

A Great start for one of the best and longest running westerns TV shows of all time! (I miss them all)

This is a great pilot episode for any Bonanza, or TV western fan, to watch. The introduction of the Cartwrights shows them to be much less sympathetic characters and more like a rough and tumble clan. Had this been premiered in 1979, rather than 1959, the characters would have likely remained the same or even gotten tougher, ala Dallas, and not have been softened as they eventually were.

The plot is a little thin because of the exposition to setup the characters and the setting. It does its job though and the great pleasure is seeing the Cartwrights as they could have been, as real westerners and not the 1960s PC westerners that they became. This episode is much closer to the truth of the times than the later episodes. For example, the whole issue of North vs South could have been a focal point as Adam is a Yankee and Joe is a Southern sympathizer and this is shown intently here but later never amounts to much.

There's a great scene where the Chinese men in the Chinatown camp gang up on two roughnecks looking for Joe who set fire to one tent. They really go at it and give the two a clobbering.

Also, it was a smart move to exclude the final sing-song of the Bonanza theme by the family. I've seen it and it is really not too good and doesn't fit well with the rest of the program.

I saw this only recently and agree with the view that the personalities were honed as the series developed. However, I was surprised at how clumsy some of the writing and acting was. Lorne Greene and Pernell Roberts in particular were very stilted and looked uncomfortable in their roles. The only one who really hit the ground running was Michael Landon but that may have been because his part was better written. The characters of Ben and Adam were one dimensional and crudely drawn. In this opening episode Adam is no more than a disapproving older brother who clearly resents his younger brother even going as far as to insult Little Joe's mother's background in New Orleans. Ben is a bullying blow- hard who snaps out crude orders to his sons and threats to opponents. Little Joe is headstrong and wild but also a charmer. Hoss (not a bad performance Dan Blocker) is shown as a reasonable counterpoint to his father and brothers, adopting a far more fatherly approach than Ben.

It is just as well that both acting and writing improved or I doubt it would have survived 1 series let alone 14.

Yeah, Pa's a lot more than a little over-the-top in this maiden voyage -- a sort-of would-be Mormon-style patriarch with a side helping of John Brown thrown in; a regular Bible-thumpin' menace.

Lorne Greene gives it a run for its money, but few in '59 would have welcomed THAT guy into their home on a weekly basis. Mellow him out just a touch to the stiff-necked (but ultimately reasonable) Ben we all know and we're good to go.

Not much else to remark on, since they manage to get the setting and characters established without too much "clunk" factor, but one thing I must protest loudly and long, and hope never to see again even as a joke:

Adam Cartwright does NOT wear a powder-blue hat to town, even when he's courtin' -- let alone when he rides into Virginia City lookin' for a scrap.

The NBC peacock should be ashamed of itself.

Not the worst pilot I've ever seen, not by a long shot -- and Little Joe is just so dad-blamed charmin' mos' anybody'd be minded to tune into Episode 2 ...