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 Cowboys (TV series) The Cowboys (TV series) " The Cowboys " was a short-lived Western television series based on the 1972 motion picture of the same name starring John Wayne. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network from February 6 to May 8, 1974. The television show starred Jim Davis, Diana Douglas, Moses Gunn, A Martinez, Robert Carradine, and Clay O'Brien. David Dortort, best known for "Bonanza" and "The High Chaparral", produced the series. The television show, like the movie, followed the exploits of seven boys who worked on a ranch in 1870s New Mexico. "The Cowboys" began as an