I never noticed that the background music from Bonanza is exactly the same as the music on Little House on the Prairie. Right now I'm watching season 5 and sometimes when I'm listening from another room if Bonanza comes on, I think it's Little House. I remember that in a later season Bonanza even had an episode that featured the opening music from LHOTP, but I don't remember that episode. I'll be waiting for it to air in a few months.

Little House music is so familiar to me because it's a show I watched as a little kid, I automatically hear the music and recognize it.

I know the same person did the music for both shows...I just wonder, the people who watched Bonanza and then moved on to Little House when Bonanza ended, did it bother you that it's such a blatant use of the same music? Or did you like it that the music was the same? Did you notice?

Does watching Little House remind you of Bonanza? For me, watching Little House does not remind me of Bonanza, and Bonanza does not remind me of Little House, but the music 100% makes me think of Little House on the Prairie, right now to distraction.

‘Little House on the Prairie’ Theme Song Was Snagged by Michael Landon from a 1971 ‘Bonanza’ Episode

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/little-house-on-the-prairie-theme-song-was-snagged-by-michael-landon-from-a-1971-bonanza-episode.html/

We'll have to wait to hear from someone who first heard the music played on Bonanza, rather than the other way around.

I too grew up watching Little House -- so in much more recent years, I noticed immediately the familiar music on Bonanza and realized it was later incorporated into LHoP. I think it's fun, I like hearing it. They chose well for the Little House theme.

I'm reminded of how some My Three Sons pieces of music later popped up on Family Affair. It's neat when series that have no common characters, and no crossovers, still have a unifying aspect.

I grew up watching both, LHOTP after school and Bonanza at 6pm or 7pm, Monday to Friday, but I never connected the shows in any way. I thought of LH as a kid show, for kids, starring kids, and Bonanza was a western that my parents grew up watching, and liked to watch it with the family. They passed it on to their kids.

It was only gradually (and recently) that I noticed how similar the music on both shows is, and then by maybe season 3 or later - it's often exactly the same.

I'm not sure I would have liked it if I had watched Bonanza in it's original run, and then started watching LH and noticed that ML used the same music. It would probably have made me miss Bonanza.