Bonanza fans!I am a brand-new fan to Bonanza.
I'll bet I'm one of only a few here. How many new fans does a 50-year old TV show get anyway? I am not even a baby boomer, I am of the generation that came after boomers (GenX, I think). So I never experienced Bonanza when it first aired in the 60s (wasn't born yet 
), and I somehow managed to avoid watching the re-runs throughout the 80s and 90s. I'd only recently started watching Bonanza because of Leonard Nimoy's death. I am a big Star Trek fan, so when Nimoy died in February I decided to DVR him—and various other Star Trek actors—to watch their old TV show appearances. Wow! What an education in 60s TV. Thank God for all of these nostalgia cable TV channels. I found myself watching cool old shows like The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke, Columbo, The Rifleman, The Virginian, Dragnet, Highway Patrol, Lone Ranger, and The Fugitive (excellent series, I never knew! I only knew of the Harrison Ford movie).
The one show that kept popping up on my recorded DVR list was Bonanza. Practically every Star Trek actor had made one or two guest appearances on this show. The episode that got me hooked was "Honor of Cochise" which guest starred DeForest Kelley. Not only was I impressed with Kelley's performance but Bonanza's family dynamic really appealed to me. This is something that was missing from the other Western TV shows I watched, such as Gunsmoke.
Watching a baby-faced Michael Landon on Bonanza has been a revelation to me.
I grew up knowing him only as Charles Ingalls on LHOTP. He does a lot more acting and emoting on Bonanza than he ever did on LHOTP, and I didn't know that he also became a licensed stuntman during this time which is pretty cool. 
The fight scenes on Bonanza are fun to watch (there are so few good old-fashioned fist-fights on TV nowadays). I remember how the media sometimes referred to Landon as 'Little Joe' but I had no idea what that meant! My introduction to Pernell Roberts was via 'Trapper John M.D.' which my grandmother loved to watch (I didn't; PR actually scared me 
), and I knew Lorne Greene only as the spokesman for Alpo dog food!So I've been watching the Bonanza episodes, in order, on TVLand. I missed seeing the first two seasons but hopefully it will start from the beginning again once the other seasons are finished airing. I am up to season five right now. 'Black Adam' (as I call him) has become my favorite character so I'm not really looking forward to watching Bonanza after he leaves the show.
It's funny how an actor who used to frighten me has managed to worm his way into my imagination. I like his dark, sarcastic presence on the show; he makes the Cartwrights less goody-two-shoes, you know?Thanks for letting me join all of you in the Bonanza celebration.
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happy you joined us.
Snapdragon. Glad you found us! 
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