Michael Landon’s passionate ‘Bonanza’ Q&A on a 1973 ‘Johnny Carson’ episode
Tantalizing footage assumed eternally buried from Michael Landon’s April 23, 1973, appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson has been hiding in plain sight on YouTube. Only five months after one of TV’s most enduring westerns was coerced by NBC suits to cease production midway through its 14th season, Landon kibitzed with recurring guest host, “It Must Be Him” pop songstress Vikki Carr. The first interview segment with Landon is lamentably unobtainable, even on his real life friend’s official clip licensing website [this is the fate of the majority of guest host episodes, even post-1972 when Carson supposedly took over the preservation of his archives after the show moved to the West Coast].
But what we do have are eight precious minutes following a commercial break. Fade in to a rare clip from Landon’s infamous Nov. 8, 1972, press conference marking the final day of filming Bonanza. Series creator David Dortort was too emotional to face the cameras, so Landon, by then the de facto producer, harnessed his anger and mischievously volunteered. In his trademark Little Joe Cartwright forest green corduroy jacket, Landon intones to the cameras, “Folks, we’ve been on 14 years with a bunch of the best guys I’ve ever met in my life. We like to be cry babies and say it hasn’t been fun, but it has. The only thing you can say now…is adios!” In the blink of an eye Landon, who was clandestinely wearing a stunt harness, is violently blasted by a shotgun through an open door on Bonanza’s Warner Bros. set.
Cutting back to the sunny Burbank stage of Carson’s revered late night juggernaut, Carr suggests to producer Freddy de Cordova that Landon take impromptu questions from the audience. The salt and pepper-haired beefcake, still nearly a year before Little House on the Prairie extended his hit-making TV streak, fluently takes on all comers, concurrently joshing — “I’m 36…going on Hadacol” — and injecting thoughtful, straight-from-the-heart replies. Landon supplemented his Bonanza income by flying to weekend personal appearances at rodeos so was a pro in front of audiences.
The undeniable Scorpio confesses where Bonanza’s Ponderosa scenes were filmed, the marvelous Lorne Greene fearfully mounting a horse, Pernell Roberts leaving the show for supposedly greener pastures, writing and directing scripts, and MVP Dan Blocker. Referring to his two-hour season 14 premiere “Forever” episode, Landon observes, “When we started back on the last year after Dan had passed away, no one really wanted to do a show that was action or funny. What we really needed was a catharsis. When you love somebody, it’s very difficult.” On the verge of tears and still reeling from his costar’s upsetting death at age 43 from a blood clot following routine gallbladder removal, the future Highway to Heaven headstrong angel tactfully moves on to the next question. Abysmal quality resolution aside, hopefully Landon’s early Tonight Show foray will someday turn up on Carson’s official YouTube channel. The audio component accompanied by a slideshow is bonus material in Bonanza’s jaw-dropping complete series DVD box.
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