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 Virginian (TV series) McIntire and Stewart Granger portraying different characters. The series ran for nine seasons—television's third longest running western, behind "Bonanza" at 14 seasons and 430 episodes, and "Gunsmoke" at 20 seasons and 635 episodes. The series is loosely based on "The Virginian: Horseman of the Plains", a 1902 western novel by Owen Wister. Percy Faith composed the theme. When Revue Productions' hour-long series "Wagon Train" moved from the NBC network to ABC, "The Virginian" was proposed to replace it. From the beginning, the series was filmed in color on 35mm film. Set in the late 19th century, and loosely based on