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Michael Landon said Bonanza was a hard series to write for
Writing for Bonanza was difficult, even for a member of the show's fictional family.
Bonanza was one of the longest-running Westerns in TV history. It was no easy feat, either. While the Bonanza brothers—Adam, Hoss, and Joe Cartwright—made it look easy, in reality, many Westerns before and after the series struggled to make it big.
However, even with the best Westerns, once a series settles in, some role fatigue can set in. At this point, many actors try to find a creative spark elsewhere. This is what happened with Bonanza star Michael Landon.
According to a 1969 interview with the Biddeford-Saco Journal, as Bonanza was just beginning its 11th season on air, Landon found a new spark in both writing and directing.
"I wrote the first show I did because we were at a point where we were going to close down because we didn't have a script," Landon said. "It was a challenge. So I went home for the weekend and wrote it over Saturday and Sunday."
While growing up in the series as Little Joe Cartwright, his time was occupied, and he didn’t write for quite a while. But as the series settled in, he was ramping up his creativity in more ways than one for the series.
He wrote 21 episodes and directed 14, but few people were aware of his off-camera work.
According to the interview, when Landon wrote, he would seclude himself in the living room of his home, put a pad on the coffee table, and write in longhand.
"I sometimes go 18 hours at a time, get a little sleep, and finish the scripts the next day," Landon said. "I think about the people a long time before I sit down. I don't think much about the plot. I sometimes don't even know how it's going to end."
"I tried plotting it out once, but it seemed to be forcing the characters to do things," Landon added. "It seemed dishonest."
One limitation of his writing came with the Cartwrights. They represented a united viewpoint. He said the stories weren’t really about the Cartwrights, but rather their involvement with other people.
This made writing for Bonanza somewhat difficult, even for a member of the fictional family.
Landon wanted to keep writing even after Bonanza, but the thought was daunting because, after 14 years, Bonanza was an easy crutch to lean on.
"I want to see if I can walk without this gun," Landon said. "You see, I kind of lean funny."
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