Alas! Poor Yorick. I Knew Him, Horatio

It's definitely all over now.

An integral part of my childhood, in addition to Sunday nights with Ed Sullivan, involved the weekly episode of Bonanza. My parents deemed it wholesome family entertainment: good guys win, bad guys lose; there was some character for all of us: Adam was the brainiac, Hoss was the "aw shucks" heart-of-gold puppy dog, and Little Joe was the impetuous shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later guy who attracted women like flies on...well, you get the idea.
Of course, Ben, the father, kept everyone straight and true and didn't treat the hired help like less-than-himan, even though Hop Sing was definitely out of place in the Virginia City silver society.
The show eclipsed the 60s and lasted into the year 1973, but by that time, Adam was gone, replaced by a character named "candy." Yeah, I was confused as well. Pernell Roberts (Adam) left the show after the 1965 season, embroiled in disputes with management over their refusal to hire minority actors and production people.
At the time, Roberts also characterized the show as having become "Junk TV...perpetuating banality." Huh?
Roberts worked steadily in television, eventually landing a role as Trapper John, M.D., a character back from the Korean War (remember M.A.S.H.?)
Why am I relating this to you? Pernell Roberts, the last surviving cast member of Bonanza, died this week. The man who trod the Shakespearean boards as Mercutio, Petruchio and McBeth prior to strapping on a six-gun, died of pancreatic cancer, ending all hopes for a reunion, save what I see in syndication on TV Land.
My late friend Karl had every episode of the program on tape, a map of old Virginia City and the Ponderosa, and would argue for hours with Mark Wautlet about the "real" words to the theme song. I found it all hilarious.
Now, at last, Karl can have his own reunion with the cast.