Bonanza poster

TV series

Bonanza

1959TV-PG14 seasons7.5 / 10

America's Favorite TV Western

The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.

Streaming, rental and purchase options

Where to watch in United States

Checked Jul 22, 2026

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Synopsis

The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.

Season 10 episodes

Choose an episode, then use the watch options above for the show.

← Season 9

Episode 1

Different Pines, Same Wind

49m

The 10th season opens as Joe helps a widowed mountain woman, a recluse who is suffering from an infection that has become serious, in a battle to save her land from an unscrupulous timber baron.

Episode credits

Guest stars Irene Tedrow, John Randolph, G.D. Spradlin, George Murdock

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Episode 2

Child

49m

While Hoss is in a remote town on business, he is arrested for murder and robbery. The town's richest man has just been killed, and the townspeople are less concerned with justice, rather the old man's money. They are convinced that if they threaten Hoss, he'll break down and tell them where he hid the fortune. A few of the town's top citizens, including the mayor, form a lynch mob, but only hang Hoss "part of the way". But when cowboy Child Barnett sees the lynch mob coming, he breaks Hoss out of jail, and the two men form a friendship on the run.

Episode credits

Guest stars Yaphet Kotto, John Marley, Charles Maxwell

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Episode 3

Salute to Yesterday

49m

When on a cattle drive on Ponderosa land, the Cartwrights and Candy find a dying cavalry officer on the trail. With his last breath, he asks them to go help his commanding officer, Captain Harris. Riding atop a slope, they see Captain Harris and his soldiers fighting off Mexican bandits who are trying to steal the four kegs of gold hidden in the Army ambulance. The Cartwrights and Candy cut right between the soldiers and the Mexican bandits, in a spectacular chase through a little valley and wind up at a high and rocky outcrop, taking cover and assisting the soldiers.

Episode credits

Guest stars Sandra Smith, John Kellogg, Pat Conway, Troy Melton

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Episode 4

The Real People of Muddy Creek

49m

Ben is in charge of a vicious prisoner and gets virtually no help from the cowardly citizens of the town where he is holding him from the law.

Episode credits

Guest stars Jean Hale, Joe Don Baker, Clifton James, Susan Trustman, Troy Melton, Russell Thorson, Mitch Vogel, Stuart Randall

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Episode 5

The Passing of a King

49m

The son of a rancher to whom the Cartwrights are selling a prize bull is trying to get his father ruled mentally incompetant, and will let no one stand in his way.

Episode credits

Guest stars Al Bain, Jeremy Slate, Denver Pyle, Diana Muldaur, Dan Tobin, Russ Conway

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Episode 6

The Last Vote

49m

Hoss and Joe's bickering leads them into taking opposite sides in the Virginia City mayoral race. Their zealous actions leads into dividing Virginia City's citizens into 2 factions that causes nothing but arguments, fights and havoc in town.

Episode credits

Guest stars Tom Bosley, Bing Russell, Victor Sen Yung, Rudy Doucette, Robert Emhardt, Lane Bradford, Dick Cherney, Troy Melton

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Episode 7

Catch as Catch Can

49m

The residents of Tin Bucket claim the Cartwrights and Candy are dealing in stolen cattle hides. With most of the town accusing Joe, Hoss and Candy of various crimes, it is Ben who faces the most serious trouble when he determines who is actually responsible for the hide thefts.

Episode credits

Guest stars David Canary, Slim Pickens, Jack Gordon, Robert Yuro, John Quade, Paul Richards

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Episode 8

Little Girl Lost

49m

A bratty 10-year-old girl named Samantha, whose mother is Ben's cousin and is a third cousin of Hoss and Little Joe, comes to the Ponderosa. While she proves to be a handful, Ben (who tracks down the girl's mother) really has his hands full when her grandfather comes to the Ponderosa demanding custody.

Episode credits

Guest stars Linda Sue Risk, Antoinette Bower, Victor Sen Yung

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Episode 9

The Survivors

49m

A white woman abducted years before by the Paiutes is reunited with her husband, who is less than pleased to learn she has given birth to an Indian baby.

Episode credits

Guest stars David Canary, Mariette Hartley, Jack Gordon

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Episode 10

The Sound of Drums

49m

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.

Episode credits

Guest stars Brioni Farrell, Victor Sen Yung, Penny Santon, Jack Kruschen

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Episode 11

Queen High

49m

Joe and Candy win a stamping mill in a poker game, but the fact of them not knowing how to run it, is the least of their worries.

Episode credits

Guest stars Celeste Yarnall, Dabney Coleman

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Episode 12

Yonder Man

49m

An army scout Ben once knew comes to the Ponderosa and asks Ben to stake a cattle ranch in Mira Flores, Mexico.

Episode credits

Guest stars John Vernon, Melissa Murphy, Ray Teal

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Episode 13

Mark of Guilt

49m

Hop Sing tells Hoss and Candy they can use the ancient Chinese art of fingerprinting to prove Joe is innocent of murder.

Episode credits

Guest stars David Canary, Victor Sen Yung, Ray Teal, Jack Gordon, Lou Frizzell

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Episode 14

A World Full of Cannibals

49m

Ben agrees to hide a government witness in a land fraud case at the Ponderosa as part of the witness protection program. However, the witness - who along with eight men committed various crimes in connection with the case - is in constant danger, as his co-defendants ruthlessly track him down in an attempt to seal his silence.

Episode credits

Guest stars Linda Marsh, Peter Mark Richman

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Episode 15

Sweet Annie Laurie

49m

Hoss offers to help Annie Laurie, a beautiful young woman who is running away from her abusive husband, a career criminal who is determined to keep his wife under his control and travel with her throughout the southwest, any which way he can.

Episode credits

Guest stars Joan Van Ark, Ray Teal

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Episode 16

My Friend, My Enemy

49m

Only the testimony of an Indian wanted for horse theft can clear Candy of murder.

Episode credits

Guest stars John Saxon, Chick Chandler, Woodrow Parfrey, Raymond Guth, Gregory Walcott

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Episode 17

Mrs. Wharton and the Lesser Breeds

49m

Candy sets out to help a feisty and elderly British woman recover the jewels stolen from her in a stage holdup.

Episode credits

Guest stars David Canary, Jack Gordon, Charles Bail, Mildred Natwick, Chanin Hale

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Episode 18

Erin

49m

A neighbor of the Cartwrights threatens Hoss' fiancé, Erin - a beautiful young woman who has been raised by Indians since her childhood - when Ben allows the Paiutes to camp on Ponderosa land.

Episode credits

Guest stars Mary Fickett, Joan Tompkins

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Episode 19

Company of Forgotten Men

49m

A retired Army sergeant, bitter that he never received his pension from the government, kidnaps one-time friend Candy and forces him to go along with a daring plan to blow up the U.S. mint in Carson City and hold the gold and silver for ransom.

Episode credits

Guest stars James Gregory, Charles Maxwell

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Episode 20

The Clarion

49m

Ben's friend is struggling to keep her newspaper going in the face of harrassment by the town boss of Gunlock, so without telling her, Ben buys the business.

Episode credits

Guest stars Simon Oakland, Phyllis Thaxter, Connie Sawyer

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Episode 21

The Lady and the Mountain Lion

49m

A shady magician, with his twin daughters, comes to Virginia City and there is a lot of confusion with the daughters of the magician, twin confusion!

Episode credits

Written by Larry MarkesGuest stars Ray Teal, Dabbs Greer, Jack Gordon, Rhae Andrece, Alyce Andrece

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Episode 22

Five Candles

49m

The floor of the Virginia City courthouse collapses, trapping Ben in the basement with three other people, one of whom may or may not be guilty of murder.

Episode credits

Guest stars David Canary, Ray Teal, Jack Gordon, Don Knight, Ted Gehring, Tiffany Bolling

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Episode 23

The Wish

49m

Hoss spends his two-month vacation helping a black family get their farm in shape, and dealing with racism in the neighboring town.

Episode credits

Directed by Michael LandonWritten by Michael LandonGuest stars Ossie Davis, Charles Seel

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Episode 24

The Deserter

49m

Candy comes upon a soldier who is running from charges of desertion, and with Joe's help they foil a plan to sell rapid-fire rifles to the Indians.

Episode credits

Guest stars Bing Russell, Ford Rainey, Ben Johnson, Ellen Davalos

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Episode 25

Emily

49m

Joe is shocked to see his ex-fiancee, Emily Anderson, in Virginia City. He had met her in Monterey five years earlier, and they had planned to get married. But her strict father thought Joe was too wild, and he burned all of Joe's letters before Emily saw them. Emily and Joe are still in love with each other, but Emily conveniently forgets to tell Joe that she is now Emily McPhail, the wife of Deputy Marshal Wade McPhail. Wade is on assignment with Marshal Calhoun to help guard a $90,000 currency shipment. Emily tells Wade they have to leave Virginia City immediately, since Joe's presence might interfere with their marriage, but he refuses to leave. He finds Joe and Emily embracing and engages with Joe in a savage fight, almost killing him at gunpoint. That is the first Joe hears of Emily's marriage. That is by no means the end of her lies, which eventually get Joe shot and nearly framed for murder.

Episode credits

Guest stars Beth Brickell, Bing Russell

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Episode 26

The Running Man

49m

Joe and Candy travel to Butlerville and learn that one of Ben's closest friends is burning out new settlers, whom he regards as squatters. Candy's old ex-flame is married to Jess Parker, who always saw Candy as a rival in the past, but things have changed with both men and Jess' wife Barbara. Cal Butler is the real problem: he will stop at nothing to keep Parker from testifying alive.

Episode credits

Guest stars Robert Pine, Will Geer, Jennifer Douglas, Lawrence P. Casey

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Episode 27

The Unwanted

49m

Feeling unloved, a Marshal's daughter runs off with a Ponderosa hand her father thinks may be related to the man that shot him.

Episode credits

Guest stars Jan-Michael Vincent, Bonnie Bedelia

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Episode 28

Speak No Evil

49m

Coley Clayborn, who has always thought his mother abandoned him and his father, thinks she is only after the gold mine he inherited when she recently returned to Virginia City.

Episode credits

Guest stars David Canary, Jack Gordon, Dana Elcar, Chick Chandler, Patricia Smith, Debbie Smaller, Troy Melton

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Episode 29

The Fence

49m

While Ben and Hoss visit an old friend to negotiate the purchase of a mine, former Confederate soldiers arrive wanting to exact revenge on the Cartwrights' friend for starving POWs during the Civil War.

Episode credits

Guest stars Charles Dierkop, John Anderson, Verna Bloom, J.D. Cannon

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Episode 30

A Ride in the Sun

49mfinale

A pair of con artists swindle Ben out of nearly $30,000 after convincing the Cartwright patriarch to enter into a deal to buy his cattle. The brother and sister shoot Ben, rob the Virginia City Bank and go on the run with Little Joe hot on their trail.

Episode credits

Guest stars Ray Teal, Anthony Zerbe, Marj Dusay, Robert Hogan

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Episode information updated Jul 24, 2026

More about Bonanza

Cast

Lorne GreeneBen Cartwright
Pernell RobertsAdam Cartwright
Dan BlockerHoss Cartwright
Michael LandonJoe Cartwright
David CanaryCandy Canaday
Tim MathesonGriff King
Mitch VogelJamie Hunter Cartwright
Victor Sen YungHop Sing

Credits

Created by
David Dortort
Written by
Michael Landon, Leo Gordon, Larry Markes, Robert Vincent Wright, Fred Freiberger, Warren Douglas, David Dortort, Fred Hamilton, Robert E. Thompson, Ed Adamson, John Furia, Jr., Peter Packer, Steve McNeil, Michael Landon, Frank Cleaver

Production details

Status
Ended
Series type
Scripted
Episodes
431
Original language
English

Networks & production

  • NBCUnited States
  • NBCUnited States
  • NBC StudiosUnited States

Themes

19th centurycowboyearly americafamilyinspirationalnevadaranchsingle father