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 Family (2011 TV series) suburb of Park Orchards. The Family (2011 TV series) The Family is an Australian fly-on-the-wall documentary series that began airing 24 November 2011 on SBS One. It is the Australian version of the British series of the same name. The first series will follow the Cardamone family—father Angelo, mother Josephine, and sons David (20), Stefan (18), and Adrian (14)--through their daily lives. They have allowed 35 remote-controlled cameras to follow their every move, day and night, for three months. Series 1 follows the lives of the Cardamone family—parents Angelo and Josephine and sons David (20), Stefan (18), and Adrian (14)--who