BONANZA

Not a fan of the show but I tuned in to hear the hot guitar licks in the opening.

I've enjoyed Bonanza in reruns occasionally as an adult, and some of the episodes impress me. It could be an excellent show, although I've not found it so consistently good as many other westerns from the same period (The Rifleman, for instance).

When I was growing up it was one of my least favorite westerns, and that's when it was in its first run. The good stuff: Hoss, Adam (who comes off as sometimes arrogant now), the scenery, first rate production values. Stuff I didn't like: the emphasis on romance, (pre-teen boys were romance averse back then), moralizing, and overall goody two shoes approach to life's problems, and overall, not enough action.

Bonanza came to feel increasingly, as the years went by, like basically a "girlie" show, especially with more emphasis on "teen idol" Michael Landon's Little Joe as time went by, and he was my least favorite Cartwright.

There was one odd, ahistorical episode involving an alleged runaway slave.

Never watched it much. What I did see was slow-moving with unrealistic dialog (even for TV at the time). Also, I could never watch Bonanza, or think about it, without chuckling at some stand-up comic describing it as "A father with three sons, all the same age, living on a ranch."

Verily, RIP, IMDB guy and MikeF6: I don't think that Lorne Greene was old enough, or if so, just barely, to have been the biological father of Pernell Roberrt and Dan Blocker. Michael Landon, I suppose, yes.

Possibly she was not a shallow person and did not judge a person by his outward appearance 
Perhaps she did not find him ugly or dweeby. 

Perhaps the script called for "Laura Ingalls" to like the character he was playing.


He played the role of Lucius in the film adaptation of the William Faulkner coming-of-age novel. The Reivers (1969)
The film won both Mitch and star Steve McQueen Golden Globe nominations.

Following this success, Mitch became a popular face on TV and in 1970 joined the by-now classic western series Bonanza (1959), enjoying a two-year stint on the show playing the character of Jamie Hunter (later Cartwright), an orphan taken in by the Cartwright men and later adopted. In casting Mitch as Jamie, producers felt that the western needed a face lift as Michael Landon, at age 34, was a bit long in the tooth to be receiving fatherly guidance by patriarch Ben. The series ended in 1972. Mitch forged a friendship with Landon during that time and went on to appear in a few of Landon's Little House on the Prairie (1974) episodes.



Disney also took an interest in the fair, wholesome-looking lad with the vital homespun appeal. Mitch appeared impressively for them in lead roles with Menace on the Mountain (1970) and The Boy from Dead Man's Bayou (1971) [aka Bayou Boy]. He continued to be seen outdoors as well with episodes of Here Come the Brides,  Gunsmoke  and others.

He must have been acting well  enough if you followed his career and know how many  episodes of a program he was in. 

I have to disagree.  It was not at all unusual.  During that period many many shows including many Westerns addressed those issues.  It was quite common.  Just off the top of my head;

Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, The Big Valley, Daniel Boone, Branded, Trackdown, Have Gun Will Travel, even Wild Wild West addressed some of those issues at one time or another.