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 Questor Tapes (TV series) the TV movie was later created by D. C. Fontana. Herbert J. Wright, who had a long friendship with Roddenberry, had strong ties to the series that was never made. When the rights to the series reverted to the Roddenberry family in the early 2000s, Wright secured those rights with the blessing of Roddenberry's family to produce the series. Wright made several promotions for the series in 2003 at conventions. Wright even reserved production locations while working on a first script. The show suffered what was at first a simple setback when Wright fell ill within a year, which delayed