History Series / Bonanza

* TheBarber: Virginia City's barber shop gets the limelight in "The Last Haircut".

* OverprotectiveDad: An occasional one who often causes more pain for their children than they protect them from. Ben Cartwright is ''not'' like this, though he is a PapaWolf who'll do anything for his sons.

* FunnyForeigner: The ChineseLaborer Hop Sing -- though nowaday, [[OnceAcceptableTargets not so much]].

* CrusadingWidower:

** Hop Sing is an even ''scarier'' example. Normally a peaceful and joyful man, if you pick a fight with him, you're snookered. He knows martial arts and he can swiftly down a man ''twice'' his size before they even have a chance to lay hands on him! The prequel series to ''Bonanza'' took this aspect of him UpToEleven.

* CutShort: Season 14 has a very abbreviated run (only 16 episodes) compared to all the other seasons due to the death of Dan Blocker resulting in the termination of a huge chunk of episodes centered around Hoss- without him, they couldn't be produced. This also was the killing blow for ''Bonanza'' itself, as Blocker's sudden demise caused a production delay that kept the season from airing at its intended time, and got the show kicked to a weaker time slot that led to its downfall when it fell out of the top 30 most-watched programs of the year. Fortunately, it saw several sequel movie installments, though with a new generation of Cartwrights [[ActorExistenceFailure as more of the original cast passed away.]] The last season is also messily organized with the introduction of Griff King five episodes in and his character appearing in the opening title sequences in episodes before his chronological debut.

-->'''Hoss''': PICK THAT UP.

** A more subdued example, but trying to prove you're a bigger man than Adam will lead to old-fashioned fisticuffs to duke it out and see who's really fit to lead. In one case, it was practically an instance of "King of the Mountain" when he challenged lumberjacks working for his father to overthrow the "bull of the woods" while Ben was [[HeroicBSOD overcome with grief over the accidental death of one of his elderly workers that he personally felt and took the blame for.]]

** Hoss is a major example. Kind as can be, an animal-lover, and a child's best friend. But to someone up to no good, he's a ''beast''.

** The notorious mapburning at the start of the opening credits.
** The 1970 season opener, "The Night Virginia City Died," featured plenty of fire ... the burning of old buildings by an arsonist, that is. The fires were a way to explain the move of filming the series from Creator/{{Paramount}} to the new Creator/WarnerBros studios.

** The TropeNamer. Ben Cartwright has been thrice-widowed. His first wife, Elizabeth Stoddard, [[DeathByChildbirth died from complications after giving birth to Adam.]] His second wife, a Swedish woman named Inger Stevenson (and also Hoss' mother), was [[HoldTheLine killed during an Indian attack when she chose to help fight them and took an arrow to the back]]. Ben's third wife and the mother of Little Joe, Marie [=DeMarigny=], died from injuries after she [[DeathByFallingOver fell off her horse.]]

** Ben easily could completely control the local cattle farming industry with his wealth but sternly chooses not to, a point driven home in a 1967 episode "The Price of Salt," where a greedy rancher named Cash Talbot tries to tempt Ben into entering into a partnership with him and drive the price of salt so high it would bankrupt the other farmers. Ben refuses and, after calling him out, ultimately uses his own wealth to foil Talbot's plan; he was willing to take a loss -- one he could relatively easily afford -- to keep the smaller, family farmers in business ... unlike Talbot, Ben recognized these smaller farmers were the backbone and future of the business.

* ColdOpen: Most episodes before Season 14 would start before the title sequence. In Season 14, the final season, the title sequence was revamped so that the credits play over the episode footage, allowing for more content to be shot in lieu of an abbreviated run. This style transferred over to Michael Landon's subsequent series and SpiritualSuccessor to ''Bonanza'' (right down to recycled storylines that Landon himself had helped with or written himself on ''Bonanza'') that fully premiered later that same year, ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie''.

** The addition of Jamie Hunter Cartwright (Mitch Vogel) to open the 1970-1971 season, rounding out the Cartwrights where Adam had used to. As the character of Little Joe began maturing throughout the 1960s, he began to be too old to take Ben's intended-for-teenager's fatherly advice (his actor Michael Landon's aging becomes apparent when his hair suddenly grays and grows out long, and his chin starts to sag). That, and to maintain interest among younger viewers, justified Jamie's arrival on the Ponderosa. (To be fair, the series continued to be a top 20 hit for two more seasons, with the real dooming catalyst being Dan Blocker's death and a move of the series to Tuesday evenings from its longtime Sunday night home.)

* GrandFinale: Zig-zagged with "Forever". It sets up Little Joe's final departure from the Ponderosa after he suffers a loss so great it has made it too painful to keep living on that land. It is also the most dramatic and arguably most memorable story of the last season, and made TV Guide's top 100 TV episodes list. Oddly, it was aired ''first'', to address the death of Dan Blocker, but the tone and nature of the story makes it more appropriate to be aired last as a GrandFinale because it sets forth a MoodWhiplash for the remainder of the season's episodes, which don't come anywhere close to the emotion faced in this one except for the last one aired.
* GreenAesop: Quite frequently. The Cartwrights took their stewardship of their land seriously, refusing to allow activities that were not sustainable (such as over-logging) and it was shown in multiple episodes that whenever they did cut down a tree, they planted a new one to replace it.

* HighHeelFaceTurn: Lotta Crabtree, a young actress from the first episode. Though she wasn't really evil to begin with, she was originally hired by a gang of crooks into seducing Little Joe so they can take the Cartwright property for themselves. However her feelings for him were genuine. This causes her to feel guilt and remorse for her role in the plot, and is even willing to go against her employers in order to help Joe escape. She is later seen at the end attending a dance with him and enjoying herself.

** Real life historical figures from the West - like Mark Twain, Albert Michelson, and Emperor Norton - would make guest appearances. Chronologcally, their presence in the show is reasonably accurate historically. Twain's first appearance coincides with the time he was working as a newspaperman in Virginia City, Nevada. Michelson is shown as a young Jewish schoolboy from Germany in the same town, subject to antisemitism, which he was in real life. Michelson gets an extra coda showing what he did in real life.

* NeverLearnedToRead: Child, in the episode "Child," was illiterate. Sadly, this means [[spoiler:he went a long time not knowing what his name was (and going by "Child" because that's what everyone called him) until Hoss read the inscription in his Bible- his real name is Joshua, fittingly a Biblical name. Unfortunately, he doesn't live long enough to make much good use of it, but at least he willed the Bible to a good man]].

** In one episode Hoss get framed for murder when the blank rounds from a prop gun get switched for real bullets and the blanks turn up in his saddle bag.

* OverprotectiveDad: An occasional one who often causes more pain for their children than they protect them from. Not Ben Cartwright, though he is a PapaWolf who'll do any for his sons.

* ParanormalEpisode: In "Twilight Town", Little Joe's horse is stolen and he stumbles, more dead than alive, into Martensville. [[spoiler: At first the place appears to be a ghost-town, but Joe wakes up to find it inhabited. The inhabitants are, in fact, the long cursed souls of the townspeople who stood by as the sheriff was murdered trying to stand up to a gang of outlaws using the town as their base. They're waiting for someone to arrive to take the job of sheriff, lead them in a fight against the outlaws, and break the curse . . . .]]

* ReallyGetsAround: Little Joe is either seen or mentioned to be involved with upwards of ''fifty'' women over the course of the show, and his reputation as a reckless ladies man gets him into trouble quite a bit in the earlier seasons.

* ReplacedTheThemeTune: Yes, it happened; creator/executive producer David Dortort, who never much liked the Livingston-Evans theme song thanks to its lyrics (which is why they were never heard on the show), asked his composer of choice David Rose to write a new theme - it was used for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mto4YU_1WxE seasons 12]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhFw-PRTDaU and 13]] before viewer demand led to the first song coming back for the final season.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: John Harper, Alice's estranged brother in "Forever", gets cornered by the psychopathic Damion for running up a huge gambling debt of $5,000. Fearing for his life, John squeals on the Cartwrights and his newlywed and pregnant sister that they have the money to pay him off. Damion promptly corners Alice while her husband, Joe, is away, and John angers Damion. After ignoring his warning and laying hands on him, Damion puts a bullet in his gut, and he bleeds to death. Then, after Alice puts up resistance, he uses his brutish henchman Mr. Harley to make an example out of her and he murders her, and by extension, the unborn child inside of her. Then, the group burns down the homestead before Joe even had the chance to finish the baby's room. Even worse, when the authorities fish out the bodies of Alice and John, they at least recognize Alice's. John's is burnt beyond recognition. The Cartwrights bury her and erect a grave for the late Alice Cartwright, but because she rejected her brother, they had nothing to do with him and never learned he was dead because neither did the authorities, so his body was hauled off to be disposed of. That's right- he doesn't even get a grave to remember him by, because he doesn't deserve one. We also don't know if he died instantly from the gunshot wound, but he ''surely'' did when the homestead went up in flames, while Alice was already a goner. In other words, his sister went to Heaven while he burned in Hell.

* TheSevenWesternPlots: The [[TropeCodifier definitive]] ranch story, following the Cartwright family's running of the Ponderosa, a huge ranch. It would also qualify as an empire story given the sheer amount of land they own except for the fact that Ben [[HonorBeforeReason refuses to control the local cattle farming industry despite having the resources to]].

* StrawVulcan: Gerald Eskith, from the episode ''Badge Without Honor'', talks a lot about how emotions are the cause of most problems. [[spoiler: In his dying moments, he laments that he was defeated by emotion]].

* YouKilledMyFather: The driving motivation in "The Legacy".
----

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero = Ben
** TheLancer = Little Joe
** TheBigGuy = Hoss
** TheSmartGuy = Adam
** TheChick = Hop-Sing
** TheSixthRanger = Candy
** TheAtoner = Griff

--> "''The claim we hold is good as gold, Bonanza!\\

-->- Lyrics from {{Music/Johnny Cash}}'s version of the iconic theme song

We here belong and standing strong, wrong ain't got a chance!''"

* FunnyForeigner: The ChineseLaborer Hop Sing -- though [[SocietyMarchesOn nowadays]], [[OnceAcceptableTargets not so much]].

%%* BountyHunter

%%* HorsebackHeroism

%%* JustAFleshWound

%%* TheWestern

%%* TheWildWest

* Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts), his eldest son by his first (late) wife. He was the quiet, educated, broody one who dressed all in black.
* Eric "Hoss" Cartwright (Dan Blocker), his middle son by his second (late) wife. He was the affable GentleGiant and usually a peacemaker between his brothers.

* MaliciousMisnaming: Shanklin in the titular episode repeatedly calls Hoss "Bull Hoss" for surviving his bullet wounds, but applies the moniker in a spiteful manner.
* MrFanservice: Adam, Joe, and Candy. The last two in particular spend a ''lot'' of time [[HotMenAtWork working shirtless]].

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Alice Harper-Cartwright, a kind and gentle woman who had the monstrous luck of being saddled with a sinful brother whose gambling mania drove their mother, himself, and her ''and'' her unborn baby to an early grave. Father Harper [[DissapearedDad didn't even get a mention]], so one wonders if he's really to blame for rubbing off on his son.

* FeudingFamilies: The Mahans and the Clarks in "Blessed Are They". The Cartwrights get themselves into somewhat similar situation when Little Joe was forced to kill an arsonist squatter in self-defence and the rest of his family goes after the Cartwrights.

* FeudingFamilies: The Mahans and the Clarks in "Blessed Are They".

* TheSevenWesternPlots: The [[TropeCofifier definitive]] ranch story, following the Cartwright family's running of the Ponderosa, a huge ranch. It would also qualify as an empire story given the sheer amount of land they own except for the fact that Ben [[HonorBeforeReason refuses to control the local cattle farming industry despite having the resources to]].

* BarBrawl: A staple of the Bucket of Blood saloon.