Bonanza backdrop
Bonanza poster
Western
Action & Adventure
Drama

The Worst Episodes of Bonanza

Every episode of Bonanza ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Bonanza!

The Worst Episodes of Bonanza

The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.
  1. Background image for The Hunter
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #1 - The Hunter

    S14:E16

    In what turned out to be the series finale, Little Joe is making a delivery for Ben when he meets Bill Tanner, a psychotic killer that is posing as a soldier he has killed. His delivery wagon stolen and sans supplies, food or water, Joe - whom Tanner has called his ""prey"" - tries to evade the well-stocked madman, who takes sadistic pleasure in his role as a predator.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for The Strange One
    5.4/10(110 votes)

    #2 - The Strange One

    S7:E10

    Hoss and Joe find a woman abandoned by a wagon train because her gift of prophecy is considered a curse. "Wouldn't it be wonderful," says Ben, "if eveybody made a real effort to understand whatever's strange and unfamiliar rather to fear it and try to destroy it?"

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for Frenzy
    5.6/10(87 votes)

    #3 - Frenzy

    S13:E18

    Ben helps shepherd a young family, the Kosovos (Nick; his wife, Anna; and his son, Sandor), who had recently immigrated from Serbia. Nick soon finds he can't handle the pressure needed to become successful in America and, one evening while Ben is visiting, his mind snaps. He goes on a rampage, trapping Ben (who becomes injured) and a terrified Anna and Sandor inside their home. Ben must do all he can to keep Nick at bay and try to reason with the mentally ill rancher.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for The Frenchman
    5.8/10(137 votes)

    #4 - The Frenchman

    S3:E12

    An irritating man who boasts of being the reincarnation of French poet Francois Villion shows up causing trouble for the Cartwrights.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for A Severe Case of Matrimony
    5.8/10(95 votes)

    #5 - A Severe Case of Matrimony

    S9:E33

    An untalented gypsy girl tries to get the Cartwrights to finance her career as an opera singer.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Saga of Whizzer McGee
    5.9/10(121 votes)

    #6 - Saga of Whizzer McGee

    S4:E30

    Hoss becomes concerned for the welfare of an insecure, belligerent fellow who is as small as Hoss is large. Interesting blend of comedy and pathos that ends unpredictably.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 BEST Episodes of Bonanza

    READ
  8. Background image for A Pink Cloud Comes from Old Cathay
    6.1/10(145 votes)

    #7 - A Pink Cloud Comes from Old Cathay

    S5:E28

    A headstrong Chinese girl (Marlo Thomas) visiting the Cartwrights incites labor unrest among local workers.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for Square Deal Sam
    6.1/10(118 votes)

    #8 - Square Deal Sam

    S6:E8

    A conman heads into town and takes advantage of the Cartwrights with a fake land deal. The conman ends up staying in Virginia city to run an orphanage.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for The Saga of Muley Jones
    6.2/10(124 votes)

    #9 - The Saga of Muley Jones

    S5:E26

    The Cartwrights are visited by their second cousin, Muley Jones of Weedville, Missouri who sings with a window-shattering voice and stirs up trouble with Indian negotiations that Ben is trying to ensure.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Hound Dog
    6.2/10(110 votes)

    #10 - Hound Dog

    S6:E25

    Cousin Muley Jones returns to the Ponderosa, along with a pack of noisy hound dogs, in this funny sequel to "The Saga Of Muley Jones".

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for Maestro Hoss
    6.2/10(117 votes)

    #11 - Maestro Hoss

    S8:E33

    Hoss is conned into buying a violin from a gypsy fortune teller, and everyone on the Ponderosa--except for Hop Sing--suffers the consequences.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for A Deck of Aces
    6.2/10(99 votes)

    #12 - A Deck of Aces

    S12:E18

    Bradley Meredith, a Ben Cartwright look-a-like, causes trouble when he sells land to the railroad. Ben has already turned down the deal, but Meredith, acting as Ben, accepts the deal, which stirs up all kinds of trouble.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for A Visit to Upright
    6.2/10(88 votes)

    #13 - A Visit to Upright

    S13:E25

    Ben's ability to close a lucrative livestock contract with a conspicuous widow hinges on the sale of a dilapidated saloon in Upright that Hoss and Joe had impulsively purchased. However, the boys put off the sale when the town drunk (who acts as ""saloon keeper"") insist the crumbling Trails End Saloon may house a fortune. Things get even more complicated when a woman, claiming to be the daughter of the deceased former owner, envisions turning the Trails End into a booming saloon, hotel and restaurant.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for Dark Star
    6.3/10(231 votes)

    #14 - Dark Star

    S1:E31

    Joe falls in love with Tirza, an undeniably strange gypsy girl who says she is cursed and never does seem to "snap out of it". The first episode of the series with a supernatural flavor, directed appropriately enough, by Lewis Allen, who made the classic ghost film "The Uninvited".

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for The Actress
    6.3/10(130 votes)

    #15 - The Actress

    S4:E22

    Joe becomes romantically involved with a woman who considers herself a serious dramatic actress. Unfortunately, she is the only one who does.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for King of the Mountain
    6.3/10(116 votes)

    #16 - King of the Mountain

    S5:E21

    When mountain man Jim Leyton decides to marry, he chooses Hoss as his best man. Julie's father, Grizzly, does not agree and Hoss must come to the rescue.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for The Genius
    6.3/10(84 votes)

    #17 - The Genius

    S7:E27

    Hoss chooses a difficult path when he decides to rehabilitate a famous poet, Will Smith, who is really William Warlock Evans, who spends too much time drinking and eventually his wife arrives at the Ponderosa.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for The Sound of Drums
    6.3/10(107 votes)

    #18 - The Sound of Drums

    S10:E10

    In the third and final installment of the Rossi family, Georgio Rossi doesn't understand why he cannot allow Indians who have left the reservation to live on his land.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for An Earthquake Called Callahan
    6.3/10(93 votes)

    #19 - An Earthquake Called Callahan

    S12:E28

    The only person who can get Dusty out of jail is a professional fighter who will not return to Virginia City, so Joe stays on the man's heels no matter where he goes.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for The Witness
    6.3/10(86 votes)

    #20 - The Witness

    S14:E14

    An elderly business associate of Ben's is killed after a man, posing as Candy, tries to rob her; the woman suffers a fatal heart attack, which - since it happens during the commission of a felony - is considered to be the same as if the assailant had pulled the trigger. The real Candy, who had been assaulted at a hotel by the same man, is held in connection with the old woman's death. A woman named Kate is the only one who can back up Candy's alibi, but she has left town with her husband, who is the thief. Griff agrees to go after Kate and have her provide a statement. Only thing is, he discovers - as Ben and Joe do later - that she, too, has a past that, if revealed at trial, could do serious harm to Candy's defense. Meanwhile, Ben is unsure about the young defense attorney's ability to defend Candy, particularly since the state's attorney has a nearly spotless conviction record. But the budding lawyer is determined to play David to the prosecutor's Goliath.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for The Last Trophy
    6.4/10(200 votes)

    #21 - The Last Trophy

    S1:E27

    Adam takes Ben's friends, Lord Marion Dunsworth and Lady Beatrice, on a hunting expedition, and they are captured by a gang of crude thieves and murderers. During one early scene, after listening to Ben reminisce, Hoss says, "Always like to hear Pa get wound up. He don't do it often."

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for The Savage
    6.4/10(172 votes)

    #22 - The Savage

    S2:E12

    Adam's life is saved by a woman known to the Indians as White Buffalo Woman, but who is actually the daughter of Norwegian immigrants.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for The Miracle Maker
    6.4/10(113 votes)

    #23 - The Miracle Maker

    S3:E34

    Hoss blames himself when a young woman is crippled in a wagon accident, and hopes a faith healer can help her walk again.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for The Companeros
    6.4/10(88 votes)

    #24 - The Companeros

    S5:E29

    Mateo Ibara and his wife Carla visit the Ponderosa. Ibara asks Will to return to Mexico with him. Ibara and Will fought together for Juarez's cause and Ibara saved Will's life. For this reason, Will feels obligated to Ibara, but Ben is suspicious of the man's motives.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for Devil on Her Shoulder
    6.4/10(110 votes)

    #25 - Devil on Her Shoulder

    S7:E6

    Ben is attracted to Sarah Reynolds, a member of a religious order led by her fanatical uncle. When she is accused of being a witch, the Cartwrights step in.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

Worst Episodes Summary

"The Hunter" is the worst rated episode of "Bonanza". It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/16/1973. This episode scored 5.4 points lower than the second lowest rated, "The Strange One".