Friday, February 7, 2014

BONANZA: The Television Series Needs Your Help!

Vintage Bonanza Advertisement
It was brought to my attention today that the "Cartwrights" are in trouble and need your help. Word is sales for BONANZA: The Official Sixth Season have been "soft," and CBS Paramount decision-makers are waiting to see if sales will pick up before going ahead with a Season Seven release and beyond. In other words, they placed a "sales expectation." So if you've been on the fence about buying any of the official DVD sets (especially Season Six), NOW is the time to do so. The sales of Season Six will be the decision maker whether CBS releases future seasons.

The Sixth Season was the final season to feature Purnell Roberts as Adam Cartwright. Roberts wanted to leave the years a year or two prior, but the producer convinced him to stay for an additional season. The program aired a total of 14 seasons, yet television reruns of BONANZA have consisted of episodes from the series' first six seasons. Television honchos have believed that most of the mainstream public won't care for episodes beyond the six seasons, which is why seasons seven through fourteen have rarely been seen since their initial telecast in the 1960s. (The Starz Encore Westerns Channel have recently begun airing season seven through 14, but unless you subscribe to the extra-paid channel, you won't see them unless the studios agree to green light DVD releases of seasons seven and up.)

There is a great website about BONANZA worth checking out:

Adam, Little Joe, Pa and Hoss.
The official DVD sets were executive produced by Andy Klyde -- a popular culture historian and long-time attorney for BONANZA's creator-producer David Dortort -- and a guest speaker at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention two years ago. Each DVD set contains full-length episodes restored and digitally remastered from original 35mm film elements, and have never looked better. And every set contains tons of bonus material unavailable anywhere else, including new commentary by BONANZA alumni Ben Cooper, Stella Stevens, Sue Ane Langdon, Audrey Dalton, Lisa Lu, Patricia Crowley, Greg Walcott, Keir Dullea among others, plus original Chevrolet commercials (some also featuring the cast of "My Three Sons," "Route 66," "Bewitched," and "The Man From UNCLE"), episode trailers, rare "behind-the-scenes" photos, and footage of the "Cartwrights" making appearances off the Ponderosa with notables like Henry Fonda, Buster Keaton, Ed Wynn and Allan Sherman.

But future seasons (seven through 14) may never happen unless you send the message. So log on to Amazon.com and buy Season Six today!!! And spread the word so more people know about this!

AMAZON DIRECT LINK: