Bonanza is one of the most famous American television series of the 1960s and is set in the Western milieu of the 1860s. It ran from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973 on NBC and includes 431 episodes in 14 seasons. This makes it the second longest Western series in the world after Smoking Colts (635 episodes). However, since all Bonanza episodes were broadcast in Germany, but only 229 episodes of Smoking Guns, Bonanza is the longest Western series shown in Germany.