The BEST episodes of Bonanza
Every episode of Bonanza ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Bonanza!
The show chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, headed by the thrice-widowed patriarch Ben Cartwright. He had three sons, each by a different wife: the eldest was the urbane architect Adam who built the ranch house; the second was the warm and lovable giant Eric "Hoss"; and the youngest was the hotheaded and impetuous Joseph or "Little Joe". Via exposition and flashback episodes and each wife was accorded a different ethnicity. The family's cook was the Chinese immigrant Hop Sing.
#1 - Feet of Clay
Season 1 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/16/1960
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.
#2 - Ponderosa Matador
Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/12/1964
Adam, Hoss, and Joe vie for the attention of a pretty young lady named Dolores. Hoss talks Joe into entering a bull fight, but it doesn't work out quite as planned.
#3 - Bitter Water
Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 4/9/1960
Len Keith, a miner, wants to purchase some land adjacent to the Ponderosa from rancher Andy McKaren. Andy's son, Tod, is anxious to sell. Keith has offered him a partnership,and more importantly, he is in love with Keith's daughter. When Ben warns Andy that a mine on the property would foul up Ponderosa water, Andy agrees not to sell the land. Len Keith, determined to get that land, plants tick infested cattle in a Ponderosa herd to turn Andy against the Cartwrights.
#4 - The Search
Season 6 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/14/1965
Adam sets out to track down the man who has been impersonating him to clear his reputation.
#5 - Death at Dawn
Season 1 - Episode 32 - Aired 4/30/1960
Virginia City is plagued by organized crime, Sam Bryant and his gang. One of his men, Farmer Perkins, kills a storekeeper, and at his trial, the wife of the store owner is afraid to testify. When Perkins is sentenced to hang, Bryant kidnaps Ben and wants to exchange Ben for Perkins, which leaves Adam with the most difficult decision of his life. A stellar cast.
#6 - Hoss and the Leprechauns
Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/22/1963
In what is arguably the best comedy of the series, Hoss swears he has seen green elves running around the Ponderosa and a smooth-talking Irishman complicates matters even worse.
#7 - 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.
#8 - The Toy Soldier
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/20/1963
Adam encounters drunken artist James Callan, branded a "squaw man" because he is married to an Indian, and whose talent is going to waste in the town of Sheep Head.
#9 - Ride the Wind (2)
Season 7 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/23/1966
Conclusion to the previous-week's episode, where the Cartwrights provide needed assistance to the Pony Express.
#10 - The Lila Conrad Story
Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/5/1964
Joe and Adam protect a saloon girl, who has killed in self-defense, from an angry lynch mob. The accompanying Judge, along with his wife, takes a liking to Lila, and before it is all over, he and Lila discover much more about themselves.
#11 - Elegy for a Hangman
Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/20/1963
A stranger, Bob Jolly, arrives in Virginia City to accuse a drunken Judge Harry Whitaker of sending his innocent father, Carl, to the gallows. Adam defends the judge's honor because of his long friendship with the Cartwrights. After Adam talks with Jolly, he begins to believe his story. Upon further investigation, Adam discovers that Senator Cal Prince and Hobie Klinderman as well as the judge might have had a lot to gain from Carl Jolly's murder. In an attempt to learn what really happened, Adam organizes an informal meeting in the saloon.
#12 - The Trouble with Jamie
Season 7 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/20/1966
The Cartwrights attempt to straighten out the snobbish young son of Ben's cousin.
#13 - The Duke
Season 2 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/11/1961
Hoss takes on The Duke Of London, an arrogant, abusive bare-knuckle fighter, though his brawn is no match for the Duke's agile skills.
#14 - My Brother's Keeper
Season 4 - Episode 28 - Aired 4/7/1963
While hunting for a wolf, Joe is attacked by the wolf. Adam also hunting for the wolf, hears Joe struggling with the wolf comes to Joe's aid. He fires his rifle but the bullet hits Joe. Adam hurries over knocks the wolf off Joe, shoots, and then kills the wolf. The damage has already been done with the wolf bite and Adam's bullet in Joe. Adam has to rush his little brother back to the Ponderosa. Will he make it back to save Little Joe's life, since the wolf's bite is fatal?
#15 - 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.
#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.
#17 - The Bride
Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/21/1961
The Cartwright boys are surprised to find that a woman, claiming to have recently married their father, shows up on their doorstep. When Ben gets home, he is just as surprised as they are. Has the lady been swindled by a con-man, or is she something of a con-woman herself?
#18 - Bank Run
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/28/1961
When they "rob" the bank in Virginia City to save depositors from being cleaned out by its president, Hoss and Joe wind up wanted by the law.
#19 - The Horse Breaker
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/26/1961
A professional wrangler working for the Cartwrights is paralyzed when thrown by a particularly mean bronco. The woman nursing him was once engaged to the late son of a neighboring rancher out to get Ben.
#20 - The Hostage
Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/27/1964
Outlaws capture Ben and hide him in an abandoned mine, holding him for a ransom. The boys must come up with a plan to save him before it's too late.
#21 - The Last Viking
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/12/1960
Gunnar Borgstrom is the leader of a vicious band called the Commancheros. They burn houses, kill people and steal anything of value. When the Commancheros get to Nevada, Gunnar decides to visit his relatives, the Cartwrights. Meanwhile the gang capture Little Joe and his girlfriend. When Gunnar returns to the gang, he has no idea who Joe is because he'd never met his nephew before.
#22 - Little Man...Ten Feet Tall
Season 4 - Episode 34 - Aired 5/26/1963
When a Italian immigrant comes to the Ponderosa, he decides he wants to give up the guitar to become a cowboy.
#23 - A Question of Strength
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/27/1963
Hoss and a pair of nuns, the younger one having a difficult time training for the order, are robbed and stranded at a way station.
#24 - Badge Without Honor
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/24/1960
Adam's life is saved by an enigmatic U. S. Marshal who has come to Virginia City to arrest a friend of the Cartwrights.
#25 - Vengeance
Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/11/1961
Hoss accidentally kills a drunk he was trying to disarm. The man's brother bushwhacks Hoss, who has lost the will to live. Joe makes a promise to Hoss that he will kill Red Twilight, the vengeful brother who bushwhacked Hoss, no matter what happens, and will not let Adam stand in his way.