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).
List of Bonanza episodes
"Bonanza" was an American western television series developed and produced by David Dortort and broadcast in the United States for 14 seasons on the NBC network. The entire run of the series' 431 hour-long episodes was produced in color. The premiere was on September 12, 1959, and the final episode broadcast on January 16, 1973. In its initial season, "Bonanza" aired on Saturday evenings and placed at number 45 in the Nielsen ratings. During its second season, the series moved up to number 17. "Bonanza" was moved to Sunday nights at 9:00 PM at the start of its third season. In that time slot, the ratings soared and the series become second only to "Wagon Train" as the most popular program on American prime time television. It remained in the top ten of the ratings until its twelfth season and ranked at number one in its sixth, seventh, and eighth seasons. "Bonanza" also became a worldwide success as it was broadcast in nearly 50 countries, including Canada, Brazil, Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Australia, and Japan.