{"id":7068311,"date":"2026-09-27T10:58:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T10:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/january-13-2026-the-boob-tube-in-the-60s-70s-bonanza\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T10:58:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T10:58:04","slug":"january-13-2026-the-boob-tube-in-the-60s-70s-bonanza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7068311","title":{"rendered":"January 13, 2026: The Boob Tube in the 60s & 70s: Bonanza"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[This week marks the 60th<\/sup> anniversary<\/a>
\nof the debut of the Batman<\/i> TV show & the 50th<\/sup><\/a> of The
\nBionic Woman<\/i>. So I\u2019ll AmericanStudy those shows & three others from the
\n60s & 70s, all of which happen to start with the letter \u2018B\u2019! I\u2019d love your
\nresponses and other TVStudying thoughts for a crowd-sourced weekend post that needs
\nno \u201cApplause\u201d sign.]<\/p>\n

Three diverse characters and plotlines through which the long-running and legendary Western<\/a>
\ncan help expand our collective memories of the West.<\/span><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Hop Sing: While Bonanza\u2019s<\/i> main
\ncharacters, members of the Cartwright family including father Ben and his three
\nsons (and eventually other relatives in later seasons), were all white, the
\nshow did feature a non-white recurring character who would become perhaps its
\nmost beloved: Victor
\nSen Yung\u2019s<\/a> family cook and housekeeper Hop Sing<\/a>. Much of the
\ntime as that second hyperlink illustrates Hop Sing was a minor character used
\nfor comic relief, but his presence alone reminds audiences of both the 19th<\/sup> century Chinese
\nAmerican community<\/a> and the multiracial diversity of the American West. And
\nhis character became so popular that in later seasons the writers created
\nepisodes focused on Hop Sing and his own identity and community, including one (\u201cThe Fear Merchants<\/a>\u201d)
\nwhich deals directly with the anti-Chinese sentiments that led to the Exclusion
\nAct (a couple decades after the show\u2019s 1860s setting). <\/span><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201cDay of Reckoning\u201d: Hop Sing was the show\u2019s only
\nnon-white recurring character, but Bonanza<\/i> did also dedicate full
\nepisodes to other non-white characters and related questions of race and
\nethnicity in its diverse mid-19th<\/sup> century Western world. One of the
\nmost complex is season 2\u2019s \u201cDay of Reckoning<\/a>,\u201d which
\nfeatures a number of Bannock
\nNative American<\/a> characters with a range of perspectives on neighboring
\nwhites, the future of the West, and more. While the fact that the main such character,
\nMatsou, was played by the Mexican American actor Ricardo Montalban<\/a>, is a
\ntelling one when it comes to indigenous representation in the early 1960s, it
\nalso adds one more layer to the episode\u2019s and show\u2019s depiction of the 19th<\/sup>-century
\nWest, and could be a way in to highlighting for white audiences both indigenous
\nand Mexican communities in that place and time.<\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201cThe Wish\u201d: As is often the case with long-running
\nshows, by the later seasons some of the show\u2019s stars had the chance to direct
\nepisodes, and the season 10 episode \u201cThe Wish\u201d<\/a> was helmed
\nby none other than Michael Landon (Joe Cartwright). It tells the story of a
\nformerly enslaved man, Sam Davis (the great Ossie Davis<\/a>), who
\nmoves to the area with his family and faces post-Civil War racism. Building on
\nearlier such plotlines, including season 5\u2019s \u201cEnter Thomas Bowers<\/a>\u201d in
\nwhich the titular touring Black opera singer (played by William Marshall) is
\nmistaken for a runaway slave and apprehended under the Fugitive Slave Act, \u201cThe
\nWish\u201d makes clear that diverse individuals aren\u2019t just visitors to the world of
\nBonanza<\/i>, but were part of its community alongside the Cartwrights. <\/span><\/p>\n

Next TVStudying tomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. What do you think? Other 60s and\/or 70s TV you\u2019d highlight? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This week marks the 60th anniversary of the debut of the Batman TV show & the 50th of The Bionic Woman. So I\u2019ll AmericanStudy those shows & three others from the 60s & 70s, all of which happen to start with the letter \u2018B\u2019! I\u2019d love your responses and other TVStudying thoughts for a crowd-sourced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12032],"tags":[9874,1851,11524,194167,3805,2947],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7068311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-history","tag-60s","tag-70s","tag-bonanza","tag-boob","tag-january","tag-tube"],"yoast_head":"\nJanuary 13, 2026: The Boob Tube in the 60s & 70s: Bonanza - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7068311\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"January 13, 2026: The Boob Tube in the 60s & 70s: Bonanza - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[This week marks the 60th anniversary of the debut of the Batman TV show & the 50th of The Bionic Woman. 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