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The Worst Episodes of Bonanza

Every episode of Bonanza ranked from worst to best. Explore 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.
Genres:WesternAction & AdventureDramaFamily
Network:NBC

Worst Episodes Summary

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

  • The Hunter
    NaN/100 votes
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    #1 - The Hunter

    Season 14 Episode 16 - Aired 1/16/1973

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Strange One
    5.4/10103 votes
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    #2 - The Strange One

    Season 7 Episode 10 - Aired 11/14/1965

    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?"

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Frenzy
    5.6/1086 votes
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    #3 - Frenzy

    Season 13 Episode 18 - Aired 1/30/1972

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • A Severe Case of Matrimony
    5.7/1092 votes
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    #4 - A Severe Case of Matrimony

    Season 9 Episode 33 - Aired 7/7/1968

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Saga of Whizzer McGee
    5.8/10118 votes
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    #5 - Saga of Whizzer McGee

    Season 4 Episode 30 - Aired 4/28/1963

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Frenchman
    5.9/10135 votes
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    #6 - The Frenchman

    Season 3 Episode 12 - Aired 12/10/1961

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • A Pink Cloud Comes from Old Cathay
    6.1/10138 votes
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    #7 - A Pink Cloud Comes from Old Cathay

    Season 5 Episode 28 - Aired 4/12/1964

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Square Deal Sam
    6.1/10110 votes
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    #8 - Square Deal Sam

    Season 6 Episode 8 - Aired 11/8/1964

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • A Deck of Aces
    6.1/1094 votes
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    #9 - A Deck of Aces

    Season 12 Episode 18 - Aired 1/31/1971

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • A Visit to Upright
    6.1/1087 votes
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    #10 - A Visit to Upright

    Season 13 Episode 25 - Aired 3/26/1972

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Saga of Muley Jones
    6.2/10118 votes
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    #11 - The Saga of Muley Jones

    Season 5 Episode 26 - Aired 3/29/1964

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Hound Dog
    6.2/10103 votes
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    #12 - Hound Dog

    Season 6 Episode 25 - Aired 3/21/1965

    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".

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Devil on Her Shoulder
    6.2/10103 votes
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    #13 - Devil on Her Shoulder

    Season 7 Episode 6 - Aired 10/17/1965

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Maestro Hoss
    6.2/10111 votes
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    #14 - Maestro Hoss

    Season 8 Episode 33 - Aired 5/7/1967

    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: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Dark Star
    6.3/10225 votes
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    #15 - Dark Star

    Season 1 Episode 31 - Aired 4/23/1960

    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".

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Savage
    6.3/10169 votes
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    #16 - The Savage

    Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 12/3/1960

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Actress
    6.3/10128 votes
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    #17 - The Actress

    Season 4 Episode 22 - Aired 2/24/1963

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

    Director: Christian Nyby

    Writer: N/A

  • King of the Mountain
    6.3/10108 votes
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    #18 - King of the Mountain

    Season 5 Episode 21 - Aired 2/23/1964

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Clarissa
    6.3/1095 votes
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    #19 - Clarissa

    Season 8 Episode 32 - Aired 4/30/1967

    The Cartwrights' cousin, Clarissa visits. Her assertive, snobbish ways result in nothing but trouble for Ben and his sons.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Sound of Drums
    6.3/10106 votes
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    #20 - The Sound of Drums

    Season 10 Episode 10 - Aired 11/17/1968

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • An Earthquake Called Callahan
    6.3/1091 votes
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    #21 - An Earthquake Called Callahan

    Season 12 Episode 28 - Aired 4/11/1971

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Last Trophy
    6.4/10194 votes
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    #22 - The Last Trophy

    Season 1 Episode 27 - Aired 3/26/1960

    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."

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Miracle Maker
    6.4/10112 votes
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    #23 - The Miracle Maker

    Season 3 Episode 34 - Aired 5/20/1962

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Genius
    6.4/1077 votes
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    #24 - The Genius

    Season 7 Episode 27 - Aired 4/3/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Napoleon's Children
    6.4/10119 votes
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    #25 - Napoleon's Children

    Season 8 Episode 30 - Aired 4/16/1967

    A gang of juvenile delinquents, led by an intelligent runt, who calls himself Napoleon, terrorizes Virginia City and the Ponderosa as well.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A