Bonanza Bonanza Bonanza is an NBC television western series that ran from 1959 to 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, "Bonanza" is NBC's longest-running western, and ranks overall as the second-longest-running western series on U.S. network television (behind CBS's "Gunsmoke"), and within the top 10 longest-running, live-action American series. The show continues to air in syndication. The show is set in the 1860s and it centers on the wealthy Cartwright family that live in the vicinity of Virginia City, Nevada, bordering Lake Tahoe. The series initially starred Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon and later featured (at
The Family (2003 TV series) pleasure." The popular reception was generally positive, but the show was temporarily pulled from the air at the start of the Iraq War to make room for additional ABC News reports. When the series returned at a later date, it had lost its momentum and was not picked up for a second season. Italian-American cultural critic George de Stefano credits this reality show, in lampooning the mores and lifestyles of East-coast urban Italian-Americans, as having been the inspiration for more successful yet similar programs such as "Growing up Gotti" and "Jersey Shore". The Family (2003 TV series) The Family is