One question about "Bonanza" the TV series.

[Wcross]

I am on a TVland quest to watch every episode. I know its a corny show and all but I never watched it as a kid.
With all the gunfights they got into, how come their luck never ran out? Sure they had gunshot wounds from time to time but no fatal injuries.

[hfojvt]

1. for the same reason that nobody got hurt on the A-Team

and the same reason that Walker Texas Ranger can kick somebody in the face without knocking a tooth out.

[Sequoia]

2. But why did all their women folk get killed or die?

Yes, you'd think one of them would get shot laying up stairs with Hop Sing running about, but no...every thing's hunky dory.

[LaurenG]

3. ...bunch of misogynists I tell you, lol nt

[CBHagman]

10. Even Hop Sing couldn't sustain a relationship.

In what was a pretty progressive episode for the day, Hop Sing had an interracial romance but ended it when he realized the misery his girlfriend would be put through due to the bigotry they were encountering. But at least his lady friend was not killed off.

Otherwise, pretty much every woman on that show was doomed -- girlfriends, wives, etc. Better you should watch My Three Sons, where at least the women not only survived but joined the cast.

[Bunny]

4. Well, I don't know the answer to your question, but I have a huge

crush on Hoss. Sometimes I play a drinking game, wherein every time Hoss says "dadburnit" or "dadgummit" I have to drink. I've spent many a fine Saturday afternoon getting bombed and watching Hoss.

[theophilus]

5. Some of my relatives knew him when he was a kid. I think he sacked

groceries at the local store. He evidently was a great guy and left us far too soon.

[uppityperson]

6. a friend took care of him in the hospital before he died,said he was great

he was the same as his character on Bonanza. He was in for an operation, got better, went home, had a blood clot from his leg break lose and block blood flow to his heart. It happens suddenly, why they make you wear those stupid socks after surgery and now why the push is on to get up an move when flying. Anyways, she said he was a wonderful warm open hearted nice guy and they all cried when he came back DOA. RIP Hoss.

As far as no women, I always thought it was a sweet buddy show, bunch of guys hanging out with each other, loving each other, working together.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. I think Ben alluded to Hoss getting killed late in the series.

Unless he meant Adam dying in the Navy.

[hopein08]

12. Is that what happened to Adam?

He's my favorite character. I knew he left but I never knew what the story said about it, beyond him leaving town. Any more details to share?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

13. They didn't make a big deal of it but

sometime after he left the series there was a scene where they handed Adam's guitar to another character and off-handedly mentioned he didn't take the guitar with him to the navy.

[CBHagman]

15. They mentioned Hoss's death in the series.

Late in the series, they had an episode where Joe (Michael Landon) got married. Bonnie Bedelia played his (short-lived)wife. :cry:

Anyway, there was a scene where Joe made some comment about his brother Hoss, and his fiancee says something like "You must have loved him very much." To which Joe says, "We all did. He was that kind of a guy."

[Gidney N Cloyd]

16. Landon wrote that script and originally had Hoss getting married.

[skygazer]

8. Would have put rather a kibosh on the show, doncha think?

If the main characters ended up dead? Not like on 24 where everyone who ever comes within fifty miles of Jack Bauer better watch his/her back! :rofl:

[AirmensMom]

9. Script.

:shrug:

[MissB]

11. Because Ben had to live to become Adama.

Or something like that.

[RedG1]

14. 431 one-hour episodes...ran from 9.12.1959 to 11.16.1973

Set in Nevada, in the 1860s, Bonanza chronicled the adventures of the Cartwright family who owned a large ranch - The Ponderosa.

source
http://www.tv.com/bonanza/show/228/summary.html