Bonanza
Following Canary's departure, Frizzell's character accompanied Jamie Hunter to the Ponderosa and became the Cartwright's foreman.Initially, "Bonanza" aired on Saturday evenings opposite "Dick Clark's Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show" and "John Gunther's High Road" on ABC, and "Perry Mason" on CBS. "Bonanza"s initial ratings were respectable, often coming in behind Mason but ahead of the ABC line-up. Ironically, executives considered canceling the show before its premiere because of its high cost. NBC kept it because "Bonanza" was one of the first series to be filmed and broadcast in color, including scenes of picturesque Lake Tahoe, Nevada, although most of the episodes were obviously filmed on soundstages until the seasons near the end of the series. NBC's corporate parent, Radio Corporation of America (RCA), used the show to spur sales of RCA-manufactured color television sets (RCA was also the primary sponsor of the series during its first two seasons).
1970s in television
With the rise in socially responsible programming, the television western, a very popular genre in the 1960s, slowly died out. The first casualties were "The High Chaparral" and "The Virginian", both NBC staples, in the spring of 1971. "Bonanza" suffered a blow when actor Dan Blocker died during surgery in 1972, and the show quietly ended its run the next year. CBS's "Gunsmoke" outlasted them all, and finally ended its run with a star-studded series finale in 1975. "Bonanza" actor Michael Landon helped popularize a television adaptation of the popular children's book series "Little House on the Prairie". Debuting in 1974, the series ran for eight years. "Little House"'s competitor family drama was CBS's "The Waltons", which revolved around family unity but during a different time and place — Virginia during the Great Depression.