The best episodes of Bonanza
Ranked by viewer rating, highs first. Vote on a placement to back it or contest it.
- 01
When an Indian saves Ben Cartwright's life from a near fatal knife attack by another Indian, Ben later gives the Indian and his pregnant wife a strip of fertile farming land. Unfortunately the land is next to a very racist farmer and things turn deadly.
- 02
When their spring-fever antics injure miserly businessman, Jedediah Milbank, requiring recuperation at the Ponderosa, Ben orders each of his sons to carry out one of Mr. Milbank's seemingly simple tasks, unaware that they may prove impossible for the kind-hearted Cartwright boys to complete.
- 03
Western chronicling the adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons. When Ben refuses to sell his timber to Troy, he recruits Lotta to kidnap Ben's son.
- 04
When antelopes are slaughtered by poachers, the Cartwright's agreement is desecrated and sets events in motion which could start an Indian war.
- 05
The Cartwrights help Virginia City reporter Samuel Langhorne Clemens investigate suspected shady goings-on between a railroad company and a local judge.
- 06
Annie asks Adam to help her open a restaurant in her father's honour, but they face stiff competition from an old friend staking a claim to her deeds.
- 07
Ben considers marrying an actress when she comes to town, but his sons have some issues. The woman's former lover creates trouble when he also arrives in town.
- 08
- 09
- 10
- 11
Gunnar is a long-lost relative of the Cartwright family. When Gunnar arrives at the Ponderosa, the family takes him in for the evening. Gunnar is the brother to one of Ben Cartwright's late wives. Unbeknownst to the Cartwright family, Gunnar is also the leader of a band of criminals called The Comancheros. Little Joe is visiting his girlfriend away from the ranch. When Little Joe and his girlfriend are kidnapped by The Comancheros, the Cartwrights and Gunnar are forced into a difficult situation
- 12
Hoss falls for an invalid traveling with unscrupulous prospectors who want to mine the Ponderosa.
- 13
Wilson assaults two Paiute maidens and points the finger of blame at Adam, threatening a war between the Native Americans and the Californian militia.
- 14
Little Joe falls for cynical saloon owner Julia Bulette, despite family objections and warnings from a rival.
- 15
The Phillip Diedesheimer Story
Adam and Hoss put their lives in danger to help German engineer Philip Diedesheimer convince mine owners to adopt his innovative approach to preventing cave-ins.
- 16
The story of seasoned con man Henry Comstock comes to light when an old timer stakes a claim on the Cartwright's land; Little Joe romances a Paiute woman.
- 17
A woman dies. Her husband is in prison, and the sheriff needs someone to look after the boy until the boy's uncle can come to claim him. The Cartwrights begin to take care of the boy at the Ponderosa. When the boy arrives at the ranch, he does not know that his father is in prison. The boy learns the truth about his dad, and news reaches the Ponderosa that the convict has escaped from prison. The Cartwrights deal with the possibility that the boy's father may be coming their way
- 18
Angry with the way a beautiful deaf girl is treated by her father, a sheepherder living in a remote mountain cabin, Little Joe takes it upon himself to teach her sign language so they can communicate better. His plan backfires when the young woman falls in love with him and the girl's brutish neighbor resents her lavishing attention on the youngest Cartwright.
- 19
- 20
Hoss and Little Joe soon discover that the Shoshone Indian brave who tries to rob their hunting camp is actually a soon-due, pregnant Shoshone woman who refuses to tell them why she left her tribe and appears to be making her way towards Virginia City.
- 21
After tangling with bandits on the way to California to buy a prize bull for the Ponderosa, Little Joe fends off a pretty senorita and her jealous fiancé, while Hoss discovers that the bull has been spirited away by a little boy who is convinced that the Cartwrights plan to kill and eat his big bovine friend.
- 22
As is often the case on Bonanza, things are not always as they first seem. Hoss and Adam eventually learn who is the good guy and who is not. When a brutal U.S. Marshal arrests one of the Ponderosa's workers for murder to transport him to Los Angeles for trial, and a doubtful Hoss and Adam come along in the stagecoach, along with a Dr. and his beautiful daughter, to make sure the Marshal doesn't kill him before they get there. The question also arises later of whether the ranch worker is really guilty and dangerous after all.
- 23
When an English couple comes to the Ponderosa on vacation, the beautiful wife slowly makes it clear that she is no longer proud of her great hunter husband, because he has become less of the action man she married and more of a peaceful man, but that could all change when they are kidnapped for ransom along with Adam Cartwright.
- 24
The Cartwrights, with Hop Sing, finish a cattle drive in San Francisco. Ben warns the other men of the dangers of the big city. Nevertheless, some of the men are careless and naive. Two of the hired hands disappear, and Ben suspects that the men were shanghaied. With invaluable assistance from several of Hop Sing's cousins, the Cartwrights locate the missing men and break up the racket.
- 25
An outlaw gang robs Virginia City's bank and makes off with almost all of its money. The youngest member of the gang manages to get a job on the Ponderosa as a bronc buster with the intention of informing the bank robbers of any posses that may threaten their hideout. While Ben, Adam and Hoss welcome the newcomer, Little Joe becomes suspicious of his activities
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