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
Planet of the Apes (TV series) and aired successfully in September 1973. Based largely on high viewership of "movie-of-the-week" TV broadcasts of the first few films, CBS began to focus away from other contenders for a new science-fiction series, including Gene Roddenberry's "Genesis II" (1973) and look solely at the prospects for an "Apes" TV series. Fox and CBS went on to continue Jacob's plans of a series the following year. CBS ordered 14 episodes of "Planet of the Apes" to be produced. The series was filmed for the most part on location at what is now Malibu Creek State Park, with a budget of about