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The Best Episodes of Bonanza

Every episode of Bonanza ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Bonanza!

Binge this in 14d 15h•Peaking at 10.0/10

The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.

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#1 Fan Favorite
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10.0/10(1 votes)
#1 - The Medal
S11:E710/26/1969
Ben lends a hand to a down and out war veteran, Matthew Rush, who received the Congressional Medal Of Honor.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
8.0/10(1 votes)
#2 - A Rose for Lotta
S1:E19/12/1959
Lotta Crabtree is hired by mining tycoon Alpheus Troy to lure one of the Cartwrights into town and hold him for ransom in exchange for Ponderosa timber rights.
Director:Edward Ludwig
Writers:Fred Hamilton, David Dortort
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Director:Edward Ludwig
Writers:Fred Hamilton, David Dortort
8.0/10(1 votes)
#3 - Death on Sun Mountain
S1:E29/19/1959
Greedy opportunist Mark Burdette and his accomplice Early Thorne stir up trouble between the Paiute tribe and the citizens of Virginia City. Ben discovers Burdette and Thorne are selling antelope beef to the miners and finds the price too high. He offers the miners beef at a more reasonable price. Burdette and Thorne retaliate by framing the Paiute's for attacks, by dressing as them and killing ranchers. Based on a factual accounting. Lorne Greene's first voice-over narration, and no landing constructed yet for the Ponderosa stairway.
Director:Paul Landres
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Paul Landres
Writer:Unknown
8.0/10(1 votes)
#4 - The Secret
S2:E315/6/1961
Joe is the victim of an elaborate frame-up, accused of murdering a pregnant girl. When Ben is asked if Joe is telling the truth, he replies, "If I were to start doubting my son at this point, everything I've lived and worked for would be lost".
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
8.0/10(1 votes)
#5 - The Honor of Cochise
S3:E310/8/1961
The Cartwrights and a bigoted army captain are pinned down by Cochise and his braves, who claim the officer poisoned 30 of their people.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
8.0/10(1 votes)
#6 - Something Hurt, Something Wild
S8:E19/11/1966
The Cartwrights' friendship with a neighboring rancher is threatened by his mentally unstable daughter.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown

The 20 WORST Episodes of Bonanza

8.0/10(1 votes)
#7 - Journey to Terror
S8:E212/5/1967
Joe visits his married friends in Arizona Territory, only to discover the husband has become a criminal and is secretly part of a notorious gang.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
8.0/10(1 votes)
#8 - Maestro Hoss
S8:E335/7/1967
Hoss is conned into buying a violin from a gypsy fortune teller, and everyone on the Ponderosa--except for Hop Sing--suffers the consequences.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
6.0/10(1 votes)
#9 - Feet of Clay
S1:E304/16/1960
Hoss takes Billy Allen, the young son of a convicted felon under his wing, then is forced to kill his father and Billy will not forgive him. The most emotional Hoss story since "The Newcomers" and one of Blocker's best.
Director:Arthur Lubin
Writers:John Furia, Jr.
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Director:Arthur Lubin
Writers:John Furia, Jr.
3.0/10(1 votes)
#10 - Elizabeth, My Love
S2:E335/27/1961
At the bedside of a seriously ill Adam, Ben thinks back to his days as a first mate in the merchant marines and his marriage to Adam's mother, Elizabeth Stoddard.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#11 - The Newcomers
S1:E39/26/1959
John Pennington and his crew want to mine the Ponderosa land by hydraulic means. Ben is totally against this method and evicts them in short order. Hoss is given the task of telling Pennington's men to leave, but soon has a moral dilemma on his hands when he meets Pennington's beautiful sister, Emily. He soon discovers a heartbreaking secret...she's terminally ill; but their relationship soon leads to plenty of trouble for the Cartwrights.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#12 - The Paiute War
S1:E410/3/1959
Trader Mike Wilson attempts to escape punishment by the Paiute Indians after mistreating two of their women, by placing the blame on Adam. A fierce war between the Paiutes and the California militia follows, and the Paiutes seize Adam as hostage. Very impressive battle scenes in the this first mini-epic of the series. This episode did all it could to stage the real thing; 50 Indians were used and 50 cavalry actors and extras were used, and the production involved three days of shooting on location. This episode encompassed both the biggest cast and most costly stunts. This episode is based on the factual accounting that occured in May and June of 1860.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#13 - Enter Mark Twain
S1:E510/10/1959
Samuel Clemens arrives in Virginia City to write for the Territorial Enterprise at the same time a crooked politician tries to lay claim on the Ponderosa.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#14 - The Julia Bulette Story
S1:E610/17/1959
Little Joe is infatuated wih saloon owner Julia Bulette, whom he imagines is like his late mother. First episode to reveal backround details concerning Marie Cartwright, and inspired by the true story of a Virginia City madam. Also, the first episode to showcase Michael Landon.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#15 - The Saga of Annie O'Toole
S1:E710/24/1959
Adam defends the mining claim of Annie O' Toole in a court presided over by Judge Ben Cartwright. Annie comes to the Washoe Diggings with a claim to a mine filed by her beau, Swede Lundberg. Swede has two claims and sold one to an acquaintance of theirs named Gregory Spain, creating confusion, that only Judge Ben Cartwright can make a ruling on.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#16 - The Phillip Diedesheimer Story
S1:E810/31/1959
Adam and Hoss assist a German engineer in developing the concept of "square set timbering" in the mines. Based on fact, and the first episode not to include all four Cartwrights. Hoss refers to the character, Emily, with whom he was in love with in, "The Newcomers".
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#17 - Mr. Henry Comstock
S1:E911/7/1959
In a flashback, the legendary prospector arrives on the Ponderosa and participates in the founding of Virginia City. Coincidentally, guest star Jack Carson played a teller at the Comstock Bank and Trust in the 1942 film, "Gentleman Jim". This early classic was the second episode filmed.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#18 - The Magnificent Adah
S1:E1011/14/1959
Virginia City is visited by actress Adah Issacs Menken, who happens to be an old acquaintance of Ben's. Joe is badly beaten by Adah's jealous suitor, John C. Regan, who is bested in a fight with an enraged Hoss.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#19 - The Truckee Strip
S1:E1111/21/1959
Luther Bishop and Ben Cartwright have had an ongoing land dispute for a number of years, over a small tract called the Truckee Strip. One of Bishop's employee's has a grudge against the Cartwrights and wants to stir up the feud again, while also harboring designs on Bishop's pretty daughter, Amy. Joe meets and falls in love with Amy, in spite of the family differences and the two want to marry. Just when it looks like the feud will end with the union of the two young people, Bishop's man attacks Amy and Joe must come to the rescue.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#20 - The Hanging Posse
S1:E1211/28/1959
Adam and Joe reluctantly join a group of vengeful townsmen, who are out to lynch the three men who supposedly killed Vannie Johnson. The posse is run by Paiute Scroggs and Flint Johnson, the dead woman's husband. When Adam and Joe clash with them, they both separate and try to reach the three men before the posse does. This episode's storyline is a variation of the 1943 film "The Ox-Bow Incident".
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#21 - Vendetta
S1:E1312/5/1959
In a variation of "High Noon", Ben and Hoss must face a gang of outlaws practically all alone when most of Virginia City's citizens go into hiding. The most action-filled episode since "The Paiute War".
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#22 - The Sisters
S1:E1412/12/1959
This episode begins with Adam defending the honor of Sue Ellen Terry in a duel. No one gets shot because the other man misses Adam and Adam generously shoots in the air to end the duel. Sue Ellen lives with her sister, who seems nice but turns out to be fairly evil, consumed with jealousy because she's getting older and her sister is a young beauty. When Adam drops Sue Ellen off after a date one night, half way through this episode, someone shoots her dead, and Adam becomes a suspect and is thrown in jail. When the sheriff suggests that Adam escape, he does it, but when he walks out, someone tries to shoot him. He chases after them but doesn't find them, and soon after hears Sue Ellen's sister scream. He runs up the stairs to find her dead, and of course, is then suspected of that murder as well. Of course, his family helps him during the last half hour, and it all turns out that someone we should not have suspected did all the murders, but that he actually wasn't trying to hit
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#23 - The Last Hunt
S1:E1512/19/1959
Hoss and Joe come across a pregnant Indian woman while hunting bighorn sheep and must deliver her baby. Despite touches of humor, including a scene in which Joe refers to a meal as "cattle fodder", the story does not have an altogether happy ending.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#24 - El Toro Grande
S1:E161/2/1960
Ben sends Hoss and Joe to Monterey to purchase an expensive seed bull. The first of Blocker and Landon's many comic misadventures, although the casual use of violence, as in the rapier fight, is oddly uncharacteristic for the series. Hoss reveals his real name to be Eric for the first time.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(0 votes)
#25 - The Outcast
S1:E171/9/1960
Because she is related to criminals, a young woman is ostracized by everyone but the the Cartwrights. She unwisely seeks solace with an ex-con friend of Joe's, Clay Renton, and it's up to Ben to straighten everything out. First episode to have a chapter title after the cast credits.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"The Medal" is the best rated episode of "Bonanza". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 10/26/1969. This episode scored 2.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "A Rose for Lotta".