Leif Erickson's Underrated Western Series Was Created By A TV Legend Who Deserves More Love

David Dortort could have left TV after creating the classic Western TV series "Bonanza." The second-longest running Western in television history, "Bonanza" aired for 14 seasons and 431 episodes between 1959 and 1972, becoming a major hit for NBC and establishing Dortort as a small-screen force. But rather than rest on his laurels, the creator left "Bonanza" behind in its eighth season to focus on a new show: "The High Chaparral."

Dortort wrote screenplays for several 1950s Western films, including 1956's "Reprisal!" and 1957's "The Big Land." He also wrote on several TV series, most notably "The Restless Gun" which starred John Payne as an itinerant gunslinger and which Dortort also produced. "The Restless Gun" ran for two seasons on NBC, and Dortort's experience no doubt influenced NBC executive Alan Livingston to hire him to write a pilot. That pilot was "Bonanza,"

Set in the 1860s, "Bonanza" starred Lorne Green as the thrice-widowed Ben Cartwright — hey, this was the Old West. Ben lived on Lake Tahoe's Ponderosa ranch alongside his three sons, Eric "Hoss" Cartwright (Dan Blocker), Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts), and Joseph "Little Joe" Cartwright (Michael Landon). As you might expect given the premise, "Bonanza" — which is one of several Western shows you can stream for free — was more family-focused than other series of its ilk, and that remained the case with "The High Chaparral," which starred Leif Erickson as the head of a ranch who is similarly widowed in the very first episode. But Dortort's second NBC series had a bit more of an edge.

In 1967, "Bonanza" was wrapping up its eighth season and heading into its ninth. Creator David Dortort, having created and shepherded one of the best Western TV shows ever made, was preparing to leave in order to establish a whole new Old West adventure. 

"The High Chaparral" stars Leif Erickson as "Big John" Cannon, a rancher living in 1870s Arizona Territory. There, he runs the titular ranch, a converted Hacienda where he also lives with his brother and former soldier Buck (Cameron Mitchell), son Billy Blue or "Blue Boy" (Mark Slade) and wife Anna-Lee Cannon (Joan Caulfield). In classic "Bonanza" fashion (no woman who dared to date a Cartwright survived long on the series), Anna-Lee didn't stick around for long. Much like Ben Cartwright's wife Inger Borgstrom Cartwright (Inga Swenson), John's wife is killed by a Native American arrow in the very first episode of "The High Chaparral." 

After this, John marries a Mexican woman named Victoria Cannon (Linda Cristal). Victoria is the daughter of Mexican rancher Don Sebastián Montoya (Frank Silvera), who is much more accomplished and of a higher social standing than John and his rugged Arizonan outpost. But it's not just social class that separates John and his new bride. The marriage is also just a little creepy, as Victoria is much younger than her husband. Still, the pair ultimately fall in love. Once Victoria's brother Manolito (Henry Darrow) moves into the High Chaparral, we have the basis for yet another Dortort show in which a bereaved family braves the harshness of the Old West together.

David Dortort brought his "Bonanza" collaborator David Rose with him to "The High Chaparral," tasking the prolific composer with writing the new show's theme song and scoring the two-hour pilot. But otherwise, the show was significantly different from his previous long-running NBC series. 

Though it lasted nowhere nears as long, "The High Chaparral" was much more rugged and action-packed than the more wholesome "Bonanza." Dortort designed it that way. As he told the Television Academy, "I wanted to do the other side, where the father and son did not get along." The creator also said that "The High Chaparral" was his attempt to "go against the grain" and "show how two families become friends on either side of the border. How different people can exist together in peace and harmony. They don't have to be at each other's throats."

It was clearly an interesting enough idea for audiences. Following the broadcast of the "High Chaparral" pilot in September 1967, the show remained popular enough to warrant four seasons, running until March 1971. During that time "Big John" Cannon and his family manage to broker peace with the nearby Apaches, overcome multiple issues with Don Sebastián Montoya concerning their fragile alliance, and deal with Buck's past as a Confederate soldier coming back to haunt him. The show also hosted several notable guest stars, including Rory Calhoun, Robert Loggia, and a young Kurt Russell, who had also guested on "Gunsmoke." Today, "The High Chaparral" isn't mentioned nearly as much as "Bonanza." But it remains an underrated Western TV show that everybody should watch at least once.