Ponderosa Steakhouse and Bonanza Steakhouse under the Metromedia Restaurant Group. The names of the restaurants were derived from the classic TV series "Bonanza", which was set at a place called Ponderosa Ranch. In 1963, Dan Blocker, who played Eric "Hoss" Cartwright on "Bonanza", started the Bonanza Steakhouse chain. The first Bonanza opened in Westport, Connecticut. Sam Wyly and his brother Charles Wyly bought the small Bonanza restaurant chain three years later. The company grew to approximately 600 restaurants by 1989, when the Wylys sold it to Metromedia. In 1965, Dan Lasater, Norm Wiese and Charles Kleptz founded Ponderosa in Kokomo, Indiana, moving the headquarters to
Bonanza: Under Attack Bonanza: Under Attack Bonanza: Under Attack is a 1995 made-for-television film sequel to the 1959–1973 television series "Bonanza" and television films "" (1988) and "" (1993). The movie was directed by Mark Tinker and features noted character actors Ben Johnson, Jack Elam, Dennis Farina, and Richard Roundtree, as well as Leonard Nimoy and Dirk Blocker. None of the characters from the original series appears since the entire cast, with the exception of Pernell Roberts, had passed. The cast does include Michael Landon Jr. and Dirk Blocker, sons of the actors who originally starred as Little Joe and Hoss Cartwright. Nimoy