Bonanza
The Cartwrights' one-thousand-square-mile Ponderosa Ranch is located near Virginia City, Nevada, site of the Comstock Silver Lode, during and after the Civil War. Each of the three sons was born to a different wife of Ben's; none of the mothers are still alive. Adventures are typical Western ones, with lots of personal relationships/problems thrown in as well.
- 1959-1973
- 14 seasons
- NBC
- Action & Adventure
- TV-PG
The Cartwrights' one-thousand-square-mile Ponderosa Ranch is located near Virginia City, Nevada, site of the Comstock Silver Lode, during and after the Civil War. Each of the three sons was born to a different wife of Ben's; none of the mothers are still alive. Adventures are typical Western ones, with lots of personal relationships/problems thrown in as well.
Season 8 Episode Guide
34 Episodes 1966 - 1967
Episode 1
Something Hurt, Something Wild
Sun, Sep 11, 1966 60 mins
Laurie Ferguson, daughter of a friend and neighboring landowner to The Ponderosa, is home after years of attending school in the East. First, she accuses Little Joe of taking liberties, causing trouble between the Fergusons and the Cartwrights. Two days later, Laurie similarly accuses one of her father's best ranch hands, Brett, and banishes him from the property. Either normal young men are suddenly acting like rakes or else there is something very, very wrong with Laurie Ferguson.
Episode 2
Horse of a Different Hue
Sun, Sep 18, 1966 60 mins
Colonel Robert Fairchild is an old friend of the Cartwright clan and a member of a gang of con artists out to swindle the Cartwrights in a crooked horse race.
Episode 3
A Time to Step Down
Sun, Sep 25, 1966 60 mins
Angered that his longtime friend, Ben Cartwright, would ask him to retire into easier work after 50 years of wrangling, aging ranch-hand Dan Tolliver falls in with two disgruntled drifters who plan to rob the Ponderosa payroll.
Episode 4
The Pursued: Part 1
Sun, Oct 2, 1966 60 mins
The Cartwrights come to the aid of a Mormon rancher being persecuted for his beliefs.
Episode 5
The Pursued: Part 2
Sun, Oct 9, 1966 60 mins
Mormon rancher Heber Clauson is forced out of town by bigots with his two wives -- one of whom needs medical attention.
Episode 6
To Bloom for Thee
Sun, Oct 16, 1966 60 mins
Hoss falls for a cold, indifferent woman with a shady past.
Episode 7
Credit for a Kill
Sun, Oct 23, 1966 60 mins
When it's unclear which of their two bullets, fired simultaneously, brought down a wanted horse thief, Little Joe allows his friend, rancher Morgan Tanner, to take the credit and claim the much needed reward money. But when the outlaw's brothers come to town for his body and revenge, Joe must make a difficult decision that will save his friend, but may destroy their friendship.
Episode 8
Four Sisters from Boston
Sun, Oct 30, 1966 60 mins
Four sisters come from Boston to try to prevent a property left to them by their uncle from being auctioned due to back taxes. They arrive the day of the sale but are short the full amount due. When Ben steps in and pays off all that is due, one of the sisters wonders what's Ben's motive. But are her suspicions aimed in the wrong direction?
Episode 9
Old Charlie
Sun, Nov 6, 1966 60 mins
Charlie is well liked by everyone. He's always full of stories and plans for making money. One day, a man with a reward on his head tries to rob his livery stable and is accidentally killed by his own knife. When the man's family comes to town looking for revenge, Hoss has to try to let everyone know who was actually in that knife fight before Old Charlie gives up his life for the reward.
Episode 10
Ballad of the Ponderosa
Sun, Nov 13, 1966 60 mins
A balladeer blames Ben for the hanging of his father.
Episode 11
The Oath
Sun, Nov 20, 1966 60 mins
Mean Big Charlie Monahan makes his son promise to kill Ben Cartwright after Ben's testimony sends Big Charlie to the gallows for the murder of an old prospector.
Episode 12
A Real Nice, Friendly Little Town
Sun, Nov 27, 1966 60 mins
Special Deputy Hoss goes in search of the gunman who shot Little Joe, tangling with testy townsfolk, two crafty brothers, and their mother, who is more interested in protecting her sons than seeing justice done.
Episode 13
The Bridegroom
Sun, Dec 4, 1966 60 mins
Maggie Dowling's father's indifferent insults about her appearance, and his embarrassing attempts at matchmaking, drive her to despair; but Little Joe intervenes to help her prod widower, Jared Wilson to declare his affections for her.
Episode 14
Tommy
Sun, Dec 18, 1966 60 mins
The Cartwrights protect a deaf-mute boy and his mother from his outlaw stepfather.
Episode 15
A Christmas Story
Sun, Dec 25, 1966 60 mins
A singer returns to Virginia City for Christmas along with his scheming uncle.
Episode 16
Ponderosa Explosion
Sun, Jan 1, 1967 60 mins
Brothers Hoss and Little Joe are sweet-talked by a pair of con men into "investing" in a pair of "exotic" animals who are indeed prolific--they're common rabbits.
Episode 17
Justice
Sun, Jan 8, 1967 60 mins
Joe sets out to avenge the death of his fiancée at the hands of a shy bank clerk who was infatuated with her.
Episode 18
A Bride for Buford
Sun, Jan 15, 1967 60 mins
Hoss must find out if a renowned saloon girl's sudden interest in a miner is for love or his newfound wealth.
Episode 19
Black Friday
Sun, Jan 22, 1967 60 mins
Little Joe puts his life on the line to help sick friend-turned-gunfighter, Steven Friday, who is holed up in a second-story hotel room and waiting a challenge from a gunman, hired by the father of one of Friday's victims to avenge his son's death on the anniversary of the killing - Friday the 13th.
Episode 20
The Unseen Wound
Sun, Jan 29, 1967 60 mins
Ben visits his old friend Paul Rowan, the sheriff of Concho. His wife Katherine says he has been complaining of headaches for six months now. When he starts shooting innocent people he swore to protect, the whole town has to decide how best to keep from killing their good friend.
Episode 21
Journey to Terror
Sun, Feb 5, 1967 60 mins
Initially suspected as being part of the bank-robbing Hollister gang while on his way to visit Tom and Ellie Blackwell's drought-stricken ranch, Little Joe is soon held hostage and his friends terrorized by the real desperadoes on the run to Mexico with a wounded man.
Episode 22
Amigo
Sun, Feb 12, 1967 60 mins
While riding posse after a band of vicious marauders led by a renegade ex-cavalry officer, Ben Cartwright captures a wounded comanchero and tries to protect him from the angry ranchers who want to lynch him, his own gang who wants the money he was carrying for them and an angry Little Joe who lost a friend when his ranch was raided.
Episode 23
A Woman in the House
Sun, Feb 19, 1967 60 mins
Ben has a problem on his hands when the girl he protected from her alcoholic husband mistakes gratitude for love.
Episode 24
Judgement at Red Creek
Sun, Feb 26, 1967 60 mins
A marshal's brother is shot by two men who held up the stage depot. Little Joe joins the posse who follows the trail left by those men. They come upon two men who say they didn't do it but since his brother may die, the marshal seems to have other ideas.
Episode 25
Joe Cartwright, Detective
Sun, Mar 5, 1967 60 mins
After Joe gets hooked on detective novels, he becomes suspicious of two strangers in town. He enlists Hoss' help to convince the deputy and Ben that they're really robbers before it's too late.
Episode 26
Dark Enough to See the Stars
Sun, Mar 12, 1967 60 mins
Ben begins to suspect that the shy young drifter he hired as a ranch hand may be running from the law.
Episode 27
The Deed and the Dilemma
Sun, Mar 26, 1967 60 mins
A bigot complicates Ben's efforts to help an immigrant wine-growing family.
Episode 28
The Prince
Sun, Apr 2, 1967 60 mins
Russian siblings Count Alexis and Countess Elena visit the Ponderosa where a fugitive Russian prince, once a beau to Elena, now leads an outlaw gang intent on the theft of Elena's jewels.
Episode 29
A Man Without Land
Sun, Apr 9, 1967 60 mins
Matt Jeffers is about to lose his land. Back taxes, no water and owes his foreman wages. When his foreman finds water on the land he hatches a scheme to buy the land and stick Little Joe with all the blame.
Episode 30
Napoleon's Children
Sun, Apr 16, 1967 60 mins
A gunslinger who believes he's Napoleon leads an army to terrorize Virginia City.
Episode 31
The Wormwood Cup
Sun, Apr 23, 1967 60 mins
A pretty woman arrives by stage and places this Notice up: "I will pay $1000.00 to the man who kills Joe Cartwright in a fair fight." When he finds out the story behind it, Joe tries to convince her she is wrong. Failing that, someone has already picked up the gauntlet to see Joe Cartwright dead.
Episode 32
Clarissa
Sun, Apr 30, 1967 60 mins
The Cartwrights get more than they bargained for when they welcome snobbish and overbearing Eastern cousin Clarissa.
Episode 33
Maestro Hoss
Sun, May 7, 1967 60 mins
A phony fortuneteller tells Hoss that he's a master violinist.
Episode 34
The Greedy Ones
Sun, May 14, 1967 60 mins
The Cartwrights fear they may have to fend off a gold-rush when word spreads that an old prospector struck it rich on Ponderosa land.