TCM Promo for Bonanza

If you've ever been on a cruise, you know that the television inside your stateroom isn't the box of joy it is at home. For those that never had the opportunity to experience cruise ship television, take your current 200 channel line-up and subtract 195 channels from it and bingo, you've got cruise ship TV.

Usually there's CNN International, ESPN, a few internal channels that broadcast port and tour information and one or two ship based movie channels. Don't expect any of the major networks and the channels you do get sometimes blank out due to lack of satellite reception.

On the ms Nieuw Amsterdam last week, we had a non-US version of TCM (Turner Classic Movies). The only spots it aired were station promos and 95% of them were in Spanish, so I can only assume this was TCM for Mexico and South America.

There was one promo that caught my attention the first time it aired, piqued my curiosity the second time it came on, and intrigued me enough to grab the iPhone and record it the third time I saw it.

Queue the theme from Bonanza and tell the voice over guy to start talking:

Ben Cartwright.

Landowner and guardian of Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe, all children of different wives.

There's also the friendly Hop Sing. Son of another woman and also of another father.

Discover many other stories like this one on.... Bonanza. A family just like yours. Mondays through Fridays on TCM.

"A family just like yours."

Do the people generally watching this channel in whatever country it was from all have "children from different wives" and an Asian houseboy who happens to be the "son of another woman and also of another father?"

Maybe they do and it really is "a family just like yours."

Maybe it was put in there as a subtle joke aimed at some group of people.

Maybe it was just poor writing.

Or really poor taste.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• TCM
• Bonanza
• Turner Classic Movies