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
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