Theodore Sturgeon was a great science-fiction writer who made what has come to be known as Sturgeon's Observation:
"90% of anything is ****."
When it comes to television, the percentage is closer to 99%. Commercial TV (like commercial radio) was created to make money by selling advertising time. The quality didn't matter, as long as people watched and listened.
Executives and producers eventually discovered that the most-watched programming was what came to be dubbed "the least-offensive alternative". This was a polite way of saying that, given a choice, the audience would most-likely watch the least-challenging, most mind-numbing program. Rather than, say, shutting off the TV and reading a good book, or having a worthwhile conversation.
This was probably the audience producer David Dortort was aiming at. "Bonanza" was one of the worst Westerns, and one of the very worst TV "dramas". There's almost nothing believable, let alone plausible, about it.
When there's a moral conflict, the Cartwrights are almost always on the side of modern, liberal thought, ignoring the fact that their position as wealthy landowners and exploiters of cheap labor would likely have put them on the opposite side. (This distortion is hardly unique to "Bonanza". It occurs in just about every TV Western. See my review of "Doctor Quack, Modern Woman".)
The stories are usually trite, with predictable endings that rarely show any imaginative insight or "twist". "Bonanza" isn't afraid of "serious social issues", but they're handled in a shallow and unnuanced way. "Morally confused" people are almost always reformed.
I have yet to see a single episode that meets the //minimum// standards of scripting one would expect from a "quality" television program or motion picture. Some episodes -- such as "A Dollar's Worth of Trouble" -- seem to have been written by people who had never written anything more sophisticated than a sitcom. Even "Bonanza"'s dismal distaff Doppleganger, "The Big Valley", had several outstanding episodes. And "The Rifleman" (which sometimes verged on self-parody) had superb episodes (mostly from Sam Peckinpah and Cyril Hume).
Lorne Greene is one of the worst actors ever to disgrace television. Though occasionally delivering an understated performance, he is most-often an ox, blundering noisily through his role. There's an episode about a woman committing perjury to protect her boyfriend, the killer. (I don't remember the title.) Greene's performance is So Weird, one has to wonder if he was on drugs.
None of the principal characters is in any way believable. We're always aware they're actors playing roles (though Dan Blocker is occasionally sincere and charming).
And on a final note... I have to say something about the lousy makeup. Lorne Greene wore a "toop", and there's often a visible white "median strip" between the hairpiece and the tan makeup he affected. In the episode mentioned previously, Royal Dano -- who had a wonderfully craggy face -- is so slathered with makeup, it looks as if he's been hit with Max Factor's equivalent of gunite. In "Three Wives for Hoss", a "hillbilly" woman from Kentucky wears garish coral lipstick.
"Bonanza" is such a miserable series that every episode could be destroyed, and nothing of any value -- or interest -- would remain. Except the question of how such a program could have been produced in the first place. But, as H L Mencken said...
PS: After writing this, I watched "The Code". Honesty compels me to admit that this episode (about a man's need to prove his bravery, even when unjustly provoked) was not-bad. Though it could have been "better", it handled an important issue in a serious way. I should also add that David Rose was a good composer, and the quality of his scores is well-above that of most other TV series.
"90% of anything is ****."
When it comes to television, the percentage is closer to 99%. Commercial TV (like commercial radio) was created to make money by selling advertising time. The quality didn't matter, as long as people watched and listened.
Executives and producers eventually discovered that the most-watched programming was what came to be dubbed "the least-offensive alternative". This was a polite way of saying that, given a choice, the audience would most-likely watch the least-challenging, most mind-numbing program. Rather than, say, shutting off the TV and reading a good book, or having a worthwhile conversation.
This was probably the audience producer David Dortort was aiming at. "Bonanza" was one of the worst Westerns, and one of the very worst TV "dramas". There's almost nothing believable, let alone plausible, about it.
When there's a moral conflict, the Cartwrights are almost always on the side of modern, liberal thought, ignoring the fact that their position as wealthy landowners and exploiters of cheap labor would likely have put them on the opposite side. (This distortion is hardly unique to "Bonanza". It occurs in just about every TV Western. See my review of "Doctor Quack, Modern Woman".)
The stories are usually trite, with predictable endings that rarely show any imaginative insight or "twist". "Bonanza" isn't afraid of "serious social issues", but they're handled in a shallow and unnuanced way. "Morally confused" people are almost always reformed.
I have yet to see a single episode that meets the //minimum// standards of scripting one would expect from a "quality" television program or motion picture. Some episodes -- such as "A Dollar's Worth of Trouble" -- seem to have been written by people who had never written anything more sophisticated than a sitcom. Even "Bonanza"'s dismal distaff Doppleganger, "The Big Valley", had several outstanding episodes. And "The Rifleman" (which sometimes verged on self-parody) had superb episodes (mostly from Sam Peckinpah and Cyril Hume).
Lorne Greene is one of the worst actors ever to disgrace television. Though occasionally delivering an understated performance, he is most-often an ox, blundering noisily through his role. There's an episode about a woman committing perjury to protect her boyfriend, the killer. (I don't remember the title.) Greene's performance is So Weird, one has to wonder if he was on drugs.
None of the principal characters is in any way believable. We're always aware they're actors playing roles (though Dan Blocker is occasionally sincere and charming).
And on a final note... I have to say something about the lousy makeup. Lorne Greene wore a "toop", and there's often a visible white "median strip" between the hairpiece and the tan makeup he affected. In the episode mentioned previously, Royal Dano -- who had a wonderfully craggy face -- is so slathered with makeup, it looks as if he's been hit with Max Factor's equivalent of gunite. In "Three Wives for Hoss", a "hillbilly" woman from Kentucky wears garish coral lipstick.
"Bonanza" is such a miserable series that every episode could be destroyed, and nothing of any value -- or interest -- would remain. Except the question of how such a program could have been produced in the first place. But, as H L Mencken said...
PS: After writing this, I watched "The Code". Honesty compels me to admit that this episode (about a man's need to prove his bravery, even when unjustly provoked) was not-bad. Though it could have been "better", it handled an important issue in a serious way. I should also add that David Rose was a good composer, and the quality of his scores is well-above that of most other TV series.