Father Murphy

1. S01E01Pilot (1)November 3, 1981—In the late 1800s, John Murphy wanders into a wild mining town controlled by a local tycoon. Instant enmity is born, but the gritty Murphy j
2. S01E02Pilot (2)November 3, 1981—
3. S01E03Eggs, Milk and a Dry BedNovember 10, 1981—A handsome but ineffectual priest joins the school and provides comic opposition to Murphy and a pair of brothers in the orphanage, one of w
4. S01E04Establish Thou the Work of Our HandsNovember 17, 1981—Murphy befriends an embittered black boy and teaches him a useful trade—wagon driving. But a wagon wreck causes the boy to lose the use of
5. S01E05A Horse from HeavenNovember 24, 1981—Father Parker mistakenly trades some of the stock for a fast, beautiful horse... that no one can ride. He'd hoped to race it in the territor
6. S01E06By the Bear That Bit Me (1)December 1, 1981—A mountain man deposits a young boy at the orphanage. The boy soon turns out to be a young girl, attracting the amorous attentions of young
7. S01E07By the Bear That Bit Me (2)December 8, 1981—Murphy and Eli must finally wade in to con the authorities into releasing the kids from the workhouse.
8. S01E08False BlessingsDecember 15, 1981—Falling on hard times again, the school is seduced by an offer of ""state aid"" by a local official. Mae accepts the aid, only to learn that
9. S01E09The Ghost of Gold HillDecember 22, 1981—Comic episode in which the son of the original owner of Gold Hill Mine comes back to reclaim the school. Mae and Murphy are worried until th
10. S01E10GraduationJanuary 5, 1982—Claiming he's an orphan because his parents are dead, an old man joins the school to achieve a lifelong ambition... to learn to read and wri
11. S01E11Will's SurpriseJanuary 12, 1982—When Will happens upon a large gold nugget, his drunk father shows up in town and kidnaps him, convinced the boys know where there's more. W
12. S01E12Eighty-Eight Keys to HappinessJanuary 19, 1982—Moses discovers that music is the key to reaching a withdrawn blind girl. But the only way the school can afford a piano is by letting a loc
13. S01E13Knights of the White CameliaFebruary 2, 1982—A runaway Southern boy, formerly a bugler in the rebel army, comes to the school and has trouble accepting Moses' status there. Simultaneous
14. S01E14The Parable of AmandaFebruary 9, 1982—Amanda, a pretty accomplice to a bank robbery, is in a stage wreck near Gold Hill while escaping from her crime. She dons the habit of a nun
15. S01E15The SpyFebruary 16, 1982—When Rodman's unruly son is kicked out of boarding school, Rodman enrolls him at Gold Hill making him pose as an orphan in order to spy on t
16. S01E16The Heir ApparentFebruary 23, 1982—A wealthy widow with a railroad fortune comes to Gold Hill hoping to adopt a son to take over the family business. She's very taken with Wil
17. S01E17In God's ArmsMarch 2, 1982—The death of an abandoned child drives Father Parker to forsake the priesthood. He moves to Jackson where the only job he can find is cleani
18. S01E18The Dream DayMarch 14, 1982—The orphanage stages an Open House for potential adopting parents, and this all-kid show examines the reactions of many of the children to f
19. S01E19LaddieMarch 21, 1982—Lizette's heart is broken when Father Parker sells Laddie, an aging horse. When the kids learn the horse is bound for slaughter, Will leads
20. S01E20Matthew & ElizabethMarch 28, 1982—Richard Garrett, the infamous twin of the villain from the pilot show, comes to Jackson to take over his late brother's empire. He doesn't r
21. S01E21The First Miracle (1)April 4, 1982—When a teenage girl falls in love with Murphy, it forces him to examine his own feelings for Mae and he proposes marriage. At the same time
22. S01E22The First Miracle (2)April 11, 1982—Emma feels rejected and in her upset state she divulges the secret of ""Father"" Murphy's identity to Rodman, causing the church to reverse

Season 1 ranked & reviewed

1. S02E01Happiness Is.....September 28, 1982—Mae and Murphy take a well deserved honeymoon in the city, where they meet young Eli Matthews, a streetwise black orphan. They swear they wo
2. S02E02The Father FigureOctober 5, 1982—A mother delivers her son to Gold Hill, saying that he's been incorrigible in school. The real reason is that his father is a child abuser a
3. S02E03Stopover in a One-Horse TownOctober 26, 1982—Sam Clemens (Mark Twain) arrives in Jackson during his itinerant journalist days, and sets up a newspaper to fight the evil influence of Gar
4. S02E04Outrageous FortuneNovember 9, 1982—Murphy and Mae join the Pinkertons on a cross-country train chase when one of their young orphans becomes heir to a large inheritance... and
5. S02E05The Reluctant Runaway (1)November 16, 1982—Mae announces joyously that she's pregnant and the whole community rejoices... except Will. Finding out that the new bedroom Murphy is buil
6. S02E06The Reluctant Runaway (2)November 23, 1982—Will has run away to St. Louis and fallen in with a Fagin-type and his band of criminals. Murphy enlists Farley's help in searching for Will
7. S02E07Buttons and BeauxNovember 30, 1982—Lizette grows up; she begins work as an apprentice seamstress in town and falls in love with a n'er-do-well teenager. She's nearly drawn int
8. S02E08John Michael Murphy - R.I.P.December 7, 1982—Murphy and Moses find trouble on a freight run when an old yarn-spinner convinces a whole town that Murphy is a famous bank robber. The fire
9. S02E09The WitnessDecember 14, 1982—Young Matt is witness to a bank robbery. One of the robbers is a teenaged friend of Matt's who is the sole support of a sick mother, and Mat
10. S02E10Blood RightDecember 21, 1982—An ex-gunfighter gets out of prison and comes to Gold Hill to retrieve his son. He finds his son in love with his dad's old criminal image.
11. S02E11Sweet SixteenDecember 28, 1982—A teenaged girl in town becomes pregnant, and after a suicide attempt fails, she's found by the Murphys and brought to Gold Hill. She learns
12. S02E12The Rockets' Red GlareJune 1, 1983—Garrett ruins Gold Hill's benefit Fourth of July show by stealing all the fireworks Murphy has especially ordered and locking them in his sa
13. S02E13The MatchmakersSeptember 18, 1983—The kids decide Moses needs some romance in his life, so they send away for a mail-order bride. Her arrival precipitates comic explosions in

Season 2 ranked & reviewed