Bonanza season 6: Difference between revisions
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| Bonanza | |
|---|---|
| Season 6 | |
 Cast of Bonanza in 1959 | |
| Starring | |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Season chronology | |
Bonanza is an American Western television series developed and produced by David Dortort and broadcast in the United States for 14 seasons on the NBC network. The entire run of the series' 431 hour-long episodes was produced in color.[1] The premiere was on September 12, 1959, and the final episode broadcast on January 16, 1973.[2] In its initial season, Bonanza aired on Saturday evenings and placed at number 45 in the Nielsen ratings. During its second season, the series moved up to number 17.[3] Bonanza was moved to Sundays at 9:00 PM Eastern Time at the start of its third season. In that time slot, the ratings soared and the series become second only to Wagon Train as the most popular program on American prime time television.[4] It remained in the top ten of the ratings through its twelfth season and ranked at number one in its sixth, seventh, and eighth seasons.
Synopsis
Bonanza is set around the Ponderosa Ranch near Virginia City, Nevada and chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, consisting of Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) and his three sons (each by a different wife), Adam (Pernell Roberts), Eric "Hoss" (Dan Blocker), and Joseph (Michael Landon). Veteran actor Victor Sen Yung played the ranch cook, Hop Sing. In 1964, Pernell Roberts began expressing a desire to leave the series, and so prospective replacements were introduced via Barry Coe as Little Joe's wayward maternal half-brother Clay, and Guy Williams as Ben's nephew Will Cartwright. However, Roberts was persuaded to complete his contract, and remained through season six. The characters of Clay and Will were discontinued. In the ninth season, David Canary was added to the cast as ranch hand/foreman Candy Canady. After four years with the series, Canary left due to a contract dispute. In the twelfth season, Mitch Vogel joined the cast as Jamie Hunter, a teenage orphan who is adopted by Ben Cartwright.[5][6] Following Dan Blocker's death in May 1972 after season thirteen ended, Greene, Landon, and Vogel continued the series into a fourteenth season, with Canary returning as Candy (reportedly approached by Landon) and Tim Matheson was introduced as ex-prisoner and newly hired ranch-hand Griff King.[5][6] The program was moved to Tuesday nights where it slipped badly in the ratings to number 52 and was subsequently cancelled.[5][6] Bonanza has, however, continued to be popular in syndication. From 1964–1967, Bonanza became the most watched show in the U.S.
Cast and characters
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 169 | 1 | "Invention of a Gunfighter" | John Florea | Daniel B. Ullman | September 20, 1964 | |
|
Joe teaches to his friend Johnny Chapman (Guy Stockwell) how to use a six-shooter, only for the man to embark on a career as a ruthless bounty hunter. | ||||||
| 170 | 2 | "The Hostage" | Don McDougall | Don Mullally | September 27, 1964 | |
|
Ben is taken hostage by a band of outlaws demanding a ransom of $100,000. The Cartwrights formulate a plan to rescue their father. Harold J. Stone and Jacqueline Scott guest star. | ||||||
| 171 | 3 | "The Wild One" | William Witney | Jo Pagano | October 4, 1964 | |
|
Hoss is looking for a wild stallion for breeding and he chooses a gruff mountaineer (Aldo Ray), who is later confronted by the wife (Kathryn Hays) he left long ago. | ||||||
| 172 | 4 | "Thanks for Everything, Friend" | Christian Nyby | Jerry Adelman | October 11, 1964 | |
|
Tom Wilson (Rory Calhoun), who's an expert in cards and women, saves Adam from drowning. This event begins a friendship that Adam will later regret. | ||||||
| 173 | 5 | "Logan's Treasure" | Don McDougall | Story by : Robert Sabaroff Teleplay by : Ken Pettus | October 18, 1964 | |
|
Sam Logan (Dan Duryea) gets out of prison and tries to avoid those who are certain he's hidden a cache of stolen gold somewhere. Ben believes him and invites him to stay at the Ponderosa. | ||||||
| 174 | 6 | "The Scapegoat" | Christian Nyby | Rod Peterson | October 25, 1964 | |
|
Hoss befriends suicidal man Waldo Watson (George Kennedy), who turns out to be a scapegoat for three men who intend to do him harm. | ||||||
| 175 | 7 | "A Dime's Worth of Glory" | William F. Claxton | Richard Shapiro and Esther Mayesh | November 1, 1964 | |
|
Ben and Adam capture a known outlaw that tried to hold up the stage they were passengers on. After this episode, Ben turns down a dime novelist's offer to make the Cartwrights famous, so the novelist gives it to aging Sheriff Laramore (Bruce Cabot). | ||||||
| 176 | 8 | "Square Deal Sam" | Murray Golden | Jessica Benson and Murray Golden | November 8, 1964 | |
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The Cartwrights fall for the schemes of con artist Samuel T. Washburn, nicknamed Square Deal Sam (Ernest Truex). | ||||||
| 177 | 9 | "Between Heaven and Earth" | William Witney | Ed Adamson | November 15, 1964 | |
|
Joe and his friend Mitch Devlin (Richard Jaeckel) are chasing a sheep-killing puma and Joe has to climb a steep slope, but something goes wrong. | ||||||
| 178 | 10 | "Old Sheba" | John Florea | Alex Sharp | November 22, 1964 | |
|
Hoss injured traveling circus wrestler Bearcat Samspon (Henry Kulky). When the owner of the traveling circus squanders Hoss's winnings in a wrestling match, Joe and Hoss receive an elephant as payment. | ||||||
| 179 | 11 | "A Man to Admire" | John Florea | Mort R. Lewis | December 6, 1964 | |
|
Hoss is accused of murdering a scheming businessman, and then has to rely on his new friend, an alcoholic lawyer (James Gregory), to clear him. | ||||||
| 180 | 12 | "The Underdog" | William F. Claxton | Don Mullally | December 13, 1964 | |
|
Joe tries to help half Native American Harry Starr (Charles Bronson), who is accused of being a chronic horse thief. | ||||||
| 181 | 13 | "A Knight to Remember" | Vincent McEveety | Robert V. Barron | December 20, 1964 | |
|
A knight in shining armor who calls himself King Arthur (Henry Jones) scares away bandits trying to rob a stagecoach carrying Adam. | ||||||
| 182 | 14 | "The Saga of Squaw Charlie" | William Witney | Warren Douglas | December 27, 1964 | |
|
Old Indian Squaw Charlie (Anthony Caruso) befriends a little girl in spite of the townspeople ridiculing him. After she goes missing, the whole town wants his blood. | ||||||
| 183 | 15 | "The Flapjack Contest" | William F. Claxton | Story by : Tom Davison Teleplay by : Frank Cleaver | January 3, 1965 | |
|
Hoss has to stay on a strict diet before a flapjack-eating contest: he has to win against champion Big Ed Simpson (Mel Berger). | ||||||
| 184 | 16 | "The Far, Far Better Thing" | Bernard McEveety | Mort R. Lewis | January 10, 1965 | |
|
Joe competes with ranch hand Tuck (Warren Vanders) for the affections of Lucy Melviney (Brenda Scott), an Eastern girl with a thirst for adventure. | ||||||
| 185 | 17 | "Woman of Fire" | William F. Claxton | Suzanne Clauser | January 17, 1965 | |
|
Shakespeare-inspired Adam takes care of a temperamental señorita (Joan Hackett) while her father finds her a husband. | ||||||
| 186 | 18 | "The Ballerina" | Don McDougall | Frank Chase | January 24, 1965 | |
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An aspirant ballerina (Barrie Chase) falls for her teacher and faces resistance from her father, who is a traveling violinist. | ||||||
| 187 | 19 | "The Flannel-Mouth Gun" | Don McDougall | Leo Gordon and Paul Leslie Peil | January 31, 1965 | |
|
Desperate ranchers hire a gunman to take care of rustlers; tragedy follows and Sherman Clegg (Earl Holliman) is accused of murder. | ||||||
| 188 | 20 | "The Ponderosa Birdman" | Herbert L. Strock | Blair Robertson and Hazel Swanson | February 7, 1965 | |
|
An eccentric inventor (Ed Wynn) plans to take flight with his meticulously crafted wings. Hoss tries to help him and his overly-protective granddaughter. | ||||||
| 189 | 21 | "The Search" | William F. Claxton | Frank Cleaver | February 14, 1965 | |
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Adam searches for his troublesome lookalike Tom Burns. His search lands him in the Placerville jail. Lola Albright and Elaine Devry guest star. | ||||||
| 190 | 22 | "The Deadliest Game" | Gerd Oswald | Jo Pagano | February 21, 1965 | |
|
Aging circus aerialist Guido Borelli (Cesar Romero) grows jealous of his partner Petina's (Ilze Taurins) attraction to Joe, but he's quick to comfort her after a fistfight with her boyfriend Carlo (Fabrizio Mioni) lands Joe in prison. | ||||||
| 191 | 23 | "Once a Doctor" | Tay Garnett | Martha Wilkerson | February 28, 1965 | |
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A vengeful Englishman comes after Doctor P.A. Mundy (Michael Rennie), nicknamed Professor Poppy, that he blames for the death of his wife. | ||||||
| 192 | 24 | "Right Is the Fourth R" | Virgil Vogel | Jerry Adelman | March 7, 1965 | |
|
Adam tries to teach a course in frontier history and learns some unsettling facts about the territory's founders. Everett Sloane, Mariette Hartley and Barry Kelley guest star. | ||||||
| 193 | 25 | "Hound Dog" | Ralph E. Black | Alex Sharp | March 21, 1965 | |
|
Cousin Muley Jones (Bruce Yarnell) returns along with hound dogs, but Tracy Ledbetter (Sue Ane Langdon) claims he stole them from her. | ||||||
| 194 | 26 | "The Trap" | William Witney | Ken Pettus | March 28, 1965 | |
|
Married man Burk (Steve Cochran) sets a trap to keep Joe away from his wife (Joan Freeman), but when his plan backfires and he ends up dead, his twin brother decides to finish the job. Note: The death year on Burk's tombstone reads 1859, despite the fact that Bonanza shows that aired earlier in the series take place during Abraham Lincoln's presidency (1861–1865) (e.g., see "Calamity Over the Comstock" in season 5). This reveals that episodes did not always follow a contiguous time-line from year to year. | ||||||
| 195 | 27 | "Dead and Gone" | Robert Totten | Paul Schneider | April 4, 1965 | |
|
Adam tries to help wandering troubadour Howard Mead (Hoyt Axton) overcome his habit of stealing after he tried to rob Johann Brunner (Steve Ihnat) and his sister Hilda (Susanne Cramer). | ||||||
| 196 | 28 | "A Good Night's Rest" | William F. Claxton | Story by : Jeffrey Fleece Teleplay by : Frank Cleaver | April 11, 1965 | |
|
After dealing with Hoss' snoring, Adam's guitar playing and Little Joe's courting shenanigans, Ben checks into a hotel to try to get a good night's sleep. Eddie Firestone and Jean Willes guest star. | ||||||
| 197 | 29 | "To Own the World" | Virgil Vogel | Ed Adamson | April 18, 1965 | |
|
Wealthy tycoon Charles Augustus Hackett (Telly Savalas) is out to get the Ponderosa. Note: This episode features the final appearance of Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright. | ||||||
| 198 | 30 | "Lothario Larkin" | William Witney | Warren Douglas | April 25, 1965 | |
|
Infamous womanizer Lothario Larkin (Noah Beery, Jr.) returns to Virginia City, to the displeasure of the fathers and the sheriff. | ||||||
| 199 | 31 | "The Return" | Virgil Vogel | Story by : Frank Chase & Ken Pettus Teleplay by : Ken Pettus | May 2, 1965 | |
|
Ex-convict Trace Cordell (Tony Young) returns to town, but no one is glad to see him, especially Paul Dorn (John Conte), the banker he crippled in a bank robbery. | ||||||
| 200 | 32 | "Jonah" | William F. Claxton | Preston Wood | May 9, 1965 | |
|
Ranch hand George Whitman (Andrew Prine) is offered a job on the Ponderosa when he saves Hoss's life, but rumors state that he's a jinx. | ||||||
| 201 | 33 | "The Spotlight" | Gerd Oswald | Richard Carr | May 16, 1965 | |
|
Ben tries to talk retired opera star Angela Bergstrom (Viveca Lindfors) into resuming her career on the stage. | ||||||
| 202 | 34 | "Patchwork Man" | Ralph E. Black | Don Tait and William Koenig | May 23, 1965 | |
|
Hoss hires recluse Albert 'Patch' Saunders (Grant Williams) to work on the Ponderosa. After learning about Patch's past, Hoss decides to help him. | ||||||
References
Footnotes
- ^ Shapiro 1997, pp. 5, 65–157.
- ^ Shapiro 1997, pp. 65, 157.
- ^ "TV Ratings: 1960–1961". ClassicTVGuide.com. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "TV Ratings: 1961–1962". ClassicTVGuide.com. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ a b c "Bonanza World Home". Bonanza World. Bonanza Ventures, Inc., and NBC, Inc. 2002–2010. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
- ^ a b c Erickson, Hal (2010). "Bonanza". AllMovie. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
Bibliography
- Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.
- McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
- Shapiro, Melany (1997). Bonanza: The Definitive Ponderosa Companion. Cyclone Books. ISBN 978-1-890723-18-7.