The WORST episodes of Bonanza
Every episode of Bonanza ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst 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 - The Spotlight
Season 6 - Episode 33 - Aired 5/16/1965
Ben invites opera singer Angela Bergstrom to perform at Virginia City's anniversary celebration. She accepts, but does not tell him that her famous singing voice is long gone
#2 - The Grand Swing
Season 13 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/19/1971
Jamie deliberately disobeys Ben's order not to drive the supply wagons. During his recklessness, the wagon goes out of control on a sharp curve and is wrecked. Nobody is hurt but a badly injured horse has to be put to sleep. Fearing punishment, Jamie decides to run away, until Ben decides to take him on a tour of the Ponderosa, namely to see how others handle their mistakes in positive and negative ways.
#3 - One Ace Too Many
Season 13 - Episode 26 - Aired 4/2/1972
Ruthless land baron Bradley Meredith (Lorne Greene in a dual role) makes his return to Virginia City with a new scheme to get control of the Ponderosa. He learns the Cartwrights are on a cattle trip to Carson City and takes advantage of their absence when "Ben" claims is seriously ill and begins his holdings to friends.
#4 - A Good Night's Rest
Season 6 - Episode 28 - Aired 4/11/1965
First Ben's sons are making lots of noise, so he goes into town to sleep in the hotel. Then, various noises and things interrupt Ben's sleep. Will he ever get his desired good night's rest?
#5 - 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.
#6 - The Younger Brothers' Younger Brother
Season 13 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/12/1972
A comic tale of mistaken identity, as Hoss (and eventually Ben and Joe) are held in connection with a series of road gang robberies by the bumbling Younger Brothers.
#7 - Jonah
Season 6 - Episode 32 - Aired 5/9/1965
The Ponderosa hands are upset when new hand George Whitman is hired on, it is rumored he is a jinx. Hoss tells George to ignore such foolishness, but a gypsy fortune teller says otherwise.
#8 - First Love
Season 14 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/26/1972
Jamie becomes friends with the wife of an unpopular schoolmaster, who often browbeats her.
#9 - Bushwhacked
Season 13 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/3/1971
Joe is shot and wounded while he is on a cattle drive in the Nevada desert. Two ranchers find him, delirious from thirst and the heat, and take him to their home to recover. While the ranchers summon a doctor, Joe struggles for life, mumbling incoherently and having surrealistic nightmares about a teepee and a wagon wheel. Ben and Hoss try to dechipher Joe's ramblings to piece together what happened.
#10 - The Dublin Lad
Season 7 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/2/1966
After sitting on a jury that has convicted Terrence O' Tool of murder, Joe has second thoughts about the verdict and decides to do some investigating of his own.
#11 - The Hidden Enemy
Season 14 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/28/1972
Dr. Will Agar is Virginia City's new town doctor, and brings with him new skills and expertise to treat area residents' health maladies. Only thing is, Dr. Agar is seriously addicted to morphine, and it results in serious trouble for everyone.
#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".
#13 - Once a Doctor
Season 6 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/28/1965
Hoss' latest acquaintance, an Englishman named Professor Poppy, is actually Percival Alexander Mundy, M.D., who has given up the practice of medicine. However, when Hoss is shot in the back, only Mundy's skill can save his life.
#14 - 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.
#15 - Judgment at Olympus
Season 9 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/8/1967
Candy is arrested for committing murder in the town of Olympus. He is accused of killing Jed Wheelock, the son of wealthy A. Z. Wheelock. He insists on finding his son's killer but he wants a fair trial for Candy. Joe accompanies Candy to make sure things go smoothly, but when Joe is accused of killing a witness who claims he saw Candy kill Jed, Joe is locked up for murder with Candy, and it is up to Hoss to find the killer.
#16 - The Impostors
Season 12 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/13/1970
Hoss and Joe pretend to be stage robbers' partners in order to recover stolen Cartwright money. All goes well until the wife of one of the thieves shows up.
#17 - The Love Child
Season 12 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/8/1970
A dying woman and her son are rejected by her father because she had a child out of wedlock.
#18 - A Man to Admire
Season 6 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/6/1964
Hoss relies on clever attorney Whitney Parker, who has a drinking problem, to clear him of a murder charge.
#19 - Face of Fear
Season 13 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/14/1971
Neta, a teen-age girl who is a friend of Jamie's, witnesses an assault and robbery. The victim - Mr. Trumbull, a man who is about to inherit a fortune - dies. The culprit, a drifter named Griff Bannon, gets a glimpse of Neta and, after fleeing the scene, plots to assume his victim's identity and stalk the witness. Her father, meanwhile, is no help, since he raises her by "traditional values" and forbids her to socialize with the Cartwrights. Meanwhile, the imposter - now working for the Cartwrights – begins to track Neta's every move and plans to seal her silence, unless she can summon the courage to tell Jamie and the others about the crime she witnessed and identify the baddie.
#20 - The Twenty-Sixth Grave
Season 14 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/31/1972
Mark Twain ruffles dangerous feathers in Virginia City with accusations of claim-jumping and murder.
#21 - The Deadliest Game
Season 6 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/21/1965
The Cartwrights play host to Guido Borelli, a world renowed aerial acrobat who once saved Ben's life in Italy. Borelli's troup is beset by internal strife, and is performing in Virginia City.
#22 - The Rattlesnake Brigade
Season 13 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/5/1971
Jamie and three teen-agers - a girl and two boys - are kidnapped by Doyle, a hardened criminal with nothing to lose, and his gang of outlaws. The desperate outlaws use the youths as bargaining tools to make their escape from a trip to prison.
#23 - A Matter of Faith
Season 12 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/20/1970
Dusty takes in orphaned Jamie Hunter, the son of a recently-deceased rainmaker. Jamie is determined to carry on his father's tradition by using drought-stricken Virginia City to prove his talents.
#24 - The Last Mission
Season 7 - Episode 32 - Aired 5/8/1966
Ben and Hoss unwittingly aid a vengeful army colonel who plans to wipe out every Indian he can with a Gatling gun.
#25 - Mighty is the Word
Season 7 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/7/1965
Virginia City's newest preacher is an ex-gunfighter who wants only to build a new church, but the brother of one of his victims has other ideas. The blueprints for the church are said to be a gift from Adam.