History Series / Bonanza

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

* Ben Cartwright (Creator/LorneGreene), patriarch of the family, a former ship's chandler from New England who has [[DoomMagnet seen three wives lost to cruel fate]], each [[SomethingToRememberHerBy leaving him a son that never got to knew their respective mothers.]]

* Ben Cartwright (Creator/LorneGreene), patriarch of the family, a former ship's chandler from New England who has [[DoomMagnet seen three wives lost to cruel fate]], each [[SomethingToRememberThemBy leaving him a son.]]

* Ben Cartwright (Creator/LorneGreene), patriarch of the family, a former ship's chandler from New England who has [[DoomMagnet seen three wives lost to cruel fate.]]

* Ben Cartwright (Creator/LorneGreene), patriarch of the family, a former ship's chandler from New England

* BountyHunter

* ColdOpen

* HorsebackHeroism

* JustAFleshWound

* TheWestern

* TheWildWest

* RecycledSoundtrack: Unusually for the time, averted - every episode had an original score (mostly by David Rose, although his scores tended to avoid the theme song by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans). Combined with it being filmed in color from first show to last (a rarity for a series which began in 1959), it must have cost NBC a fortune. Safe to say they've made their money back now, however.
** Bonanza was actually [[UrExample the first]] television series both filmed and broadcast and color. Earlier shows had been filmed in color but broadcast in black and white (i.e. ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'']] or broadcast live in color but recorded on black and white film (one episode of ''Radio/TheBurnsandAllenShow'').

* ADayInTheLimelight: "The Lonely Man" focuses on Hop Sing (and shows that TheCartwrightCurse rubbed off on him).

* ChineseLaborer: Complete with AsianSpeekeeEngrish

** 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 Paramount to the new Warner Bros. studios.

* LongRunner: Take a look at the top of the page and count how many years it was on the air....
** For many years its run made it only the second longest running primetime American drama after ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'' before being surpassed by ''Series/LawAndOrder'' (20 seasons, itself tied with ''Gunsmoke'') and ''Series/{{ER}}'' (15 seasons) though only the former had more episodes.

* AmusingInjuries: Little Joe getting shot "right in the middle of the Ponderosa."

* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Gerald Eskith is always [[SharpDressedMan dressed well]], in silk and top hats and such.

* MountainMan: Jim Leyton

* ProfessionalKiller: [[spoiler: Eskith is hired to kill Jason]].
* ProWrestlingEpisode: "Old Sheba"

* SerialRomeo: All the Cartwrights have a slight tendency to consider the girl of the week to be the love of their life.

** Bonanza was actually [[UrExample ''the first'']] television series both filmed and broadcast and color. Earlier shows had been filmed in color but broadcast in black and white (i.e. ''Series/AdventuresOfSuperman'']] or broadcast live in color but recorded on black and white film (one episode of ''Radio/TheBurnsandAllenShow).

* Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts), his eldest son by his first (late) wife. He was the quiet, educated, angsty one who dressed all in black.

* CartwrightCurse: The trope namer. Ben Cartwright has been thrice-widowed. His first wife, Elizabeth Stoddard, died from complications after giving birth to Adam. His second wife, a Swedish woman named Inger Stevenson (and also Hoss' mother), was killed during an Indian attack. Ben's third wife and the mother of Little Joe, Marie [=DeMarigny=], died from injuries after she fell off her horse.

* CorruptBusinessman: Quite a few throughout the series, with "The Boss" featuring a prominent example.

** Ben's "criminal twin" was a con artist named Bradley Meredith, whose schemes to gain control of the Ponderosa (usually through gambling) come when Ben is out of the area on business. The two episodes aired as season finales in 1971 and 1972 (with another planned for 1973, had the series continued), and Ben always arrives back home in time to gather enough ammunition to run Bradley out.

* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler: Gerald Eskith]]

* ForgottenThemeTuneLyrics

* FrontierDoctor: Paul Martin

* GorgeousPeriodDress: Frequently.

*** Chronology 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 antisemism, which he was in real life. Michelson gets an extra coda showing what he did in real life.
* HollywoodHealing: Considering the number of times Little Joe was shot/stabbed/trampled by horses/otherwise injured over the course of the series, it's amazing his body was still functional.

* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Eskith is always [[SharpDressedMan dressed well]], in silk and top hats and such.

* StoutStrength: Hoss

* StrawVulcan: Eskith 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]].
* SyndicationTitle: ''Ponderosa''

* WallOfWeapons: A literal wall in the Ponderosa living room with a dozen or so guns lined on it

* TheCastShowoff: Pernell Roberts was also a talented singer; so some episodes had Adam singing during the plot.

* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: Implied with Hoss in several early Season 14 episodes, including "Forever" (Ben mournfully looks at a photo of Hoss on Joe's nightstand, with the camera zooming in on said photo) and "The Initiation" (Ben – angry that a lynch mob is after one of Jamie's friends – shouts out, "I've already buried one son!"). This comes following the unexpected death of Dan Blocker in May 1972 just months before production on Season 14 episodes was to begin.

* DawsonCasting: At the beginning of the series, the 17-year-old Little Joe was played by 22-year-old Michael Landon, and the 23-year-old Hoss was played by the 30-year-old Dan Blocker.

* MissingEpisode: When the show entered syndication in 1973, the original rerun package contained only the first six seasons (complete, minus one 1965 episode), plus select episodes from the eighth through 11th seasons (1966-1970, those considered to be the "most popular" amongst fans); this is the package that airs currently on [=TVLand=]. The entire 1965-1966 season, the episodes from 1966-1970 not included in the original syndicated package, and the final three seasons (1970-1973, which had Mitch Vogel as part of the cast as [[CousinOliver young teen-ager Jamie Hunter Cartwright]]) were not included and, amongst die-hard fans presumed to be "lost." However, the "missing" episodes were later included in a second rerun package, and these episodes have aired on CBN and the Hallmark Channel. That said, there are no known instances of the entire run of 430 episodes -- from the premiere to the final episode -- being aired as part of a single rerun package on a TV network or station.

* MeanwhileBackAtThe

* Joseph "Little Joe" Cartwright (Creator/MichaelLandon), his youngest son, by his third (late) wife. He was the young, hotheaded immature one.

Beyond the core cast of Cartwrights, the program had a vast ensemble of regulars and {{recurrer}}s numbering literally in the hundreds, including at times such current and future famous names as Creator/JamesCoburn, Creator/TimMatheson, Creator/JackElam, Creator/BuddyEbsen, Creator/MarietteHartley, Creator/TomSkerritt, Creator/HarryDeanStanton, Creator/GeorgeKennedy, Creator/BruceDern, Creator/BonnieBedelia, Creator/DawnWells, Creator/WayneNewton, Creator/MajelBarrett, Creator/JamesDoohan and Creator/DeForestKelley. Beyond the big name guest stars, there were rarely one-off characters on ''Bonanza'' -- almost every character ever seen, even bad guys, made appearances in at least two episodes; and even nameless extras in the background (such as "Blonde Saloon Girl" and "Brunette Saloon Girl") could and did have multi-year runs playing their characters. In fact, between the length of its time on the air and the scope of its storylines, ''Bonanza'' was virtually a gateway series for talent both new and established looking for television credits.

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

** Little Joe falling in love nearly every week. Oh, wait, that wasn't supposed to be funny?

* WickedCultured: Eskith.

* TheGamblingAddict: Helen Layton, who'd driven her husband to drink himself to death over her gambling debts, and latched onto Hoss as her new sugar daddy. When she was exposed, she left town with another man.

*** Chronology 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 antisemism, which he was in real life. [[ViewersAreMorons Michelson gets an extra coda showing what he did in real life.]]