Bonanza/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • The Character Died with Him: 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.
  • Missing Episode: 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 eleventh 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 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.
  • Dan Blocker, who played Hoss, founded the Bonanza Steakhouse restaurant chain. The chain was later bought out by Ponderosa Steakhouse, whose name was also inspired by the TV series.