TV series
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
Checked Jul 22, 2026
Bonanza is available to stream on Shout! Factory TV (Via Amazon Prime), Fubo, Fawesome, Hoopla, Philo, Shout! Factory TV, The Roku Channel, Tubi, and Xumo Play in United States. You can also buy it from Amazon. Use the direct links below to open the provider.
The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.
Choose an episode, then use the watch options above for the show.
Episode 1
A drunk is killed in a saloon brawl with Hoss, and though the man's brother insists there are no hard feelings, he is actually a silver-tongued devil bent on revenge.
Guest stars Ray Teal, Robert Foulk, Cosmo Sardo, Ethan Laidlaw, Ray Spiker, Herschel Bernardi, Catherine McLeod, Bill Zuckert
Episode 2
A friend of Ben's (Mr. Milbank) arrives at the Ponderosa at a bad time...when the Cartwright boys are fighting in the mud. Mr. Milbank, who is injured by a flying log during the fight, gives an assignment to each of the three boys. Can they fulfill the assignments, or has Springtime gotten to them all?
Guest stars John Carradine, John Qualen, Jena Engstrom, Claude Johnson, Denver Pyle, Clegg Hoyt, Selmer Jackson
Episode 3
The Cartwrights and a bigoted army captain are pinned down by Cochise and his braves, who claim the officer poisoned 30 of their people.
Guest stars DeForest Kelley, Bing Russell
Episode 4
Little Joe pays a visit to the widow Lee Bolden, and brings her a bank draft for her husband's investments with Ben. Actually, the investments were losing propositions. Ben just wanted to help out his friend. During his visit, a wounded man stumbles into the house, and Joe recognizes him as Trock, who had just robbed the local bank. Lee Bolden was a nurse to her husband physician, and removes the bullet from Trock. Joe soon learns that Lee is in love with Trock, and that is the only thing standing between him and an early grave.
Guest stars Faith Domergue, Paul Richards
Episode 5
In this comic episode involving a precious emerald and the sweet widow, Clemantine Hawkins who is attracted to Ben, turns the tables on a pair of land swindlers.
Guest stars Victor Sen Yung, Ray Teal, Cosmo Sardo, Michael Jeffers, James Griffith, Charles Watts, Joan Staley, Wally Brown
Episode 6
Adam tries to help a reformed gunman who wants only to live peacefully near Virginia City. Good story without a tidy ending. Pernell's first chance to sing on the series.
Guest stars Robert Culp, Cosmo Sardo, Dabbs Greer, Robert Christopher, John Graham
Episode 7
Hoss and Joe become involved when "Bullethead" Burke vows revenge on an old man he claims cheated him in an investment deal.
Directed by Robert AltmanWritten by Robert Vincent WrightGuest stars Joe Turkel, Sue Ane Langdon, Ray Teal, Arnold Stang, Bobby Jordan, George Dunn, Ian Wolfe, Harry Swoger
Episode 8
Joe befriends and takes responsibility for an ex-convict named Danny. Danny loves horses and is not used to people's ways on the outside of jail. Will his rough jailhouse upbringing mar any hopes of friendship?
Guest stars Edward Faulkner, Stafford Repp, Norman Alden, Dean Jones, Janet Lake
Episode 9
A woman Ben once loved, Lady Chadwick, returns and attempts to trick him into marrying her by ruining his business. Ben says almost losing the Ponderosa will make him and his sons appreciate it more.
Guest stars Victor Sen Yung, Margaret Hayes, John Alderson, Norman Leavitt, Michael Ross
Episode 10
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.
Guest stars R.G. Armstrong, Ben Cooper, Sue Randall
Episode 11
Joe wins a card game and an unexpected prize...a young lady. She goes to the Ponderosa and serves them, not wanting to be set free. Meanwhile, an army is looking for her and the Cartwrights.
Guest stars Lisa Lu, Victor Sen Yung, Cosmo Sardo, Richard Loo, Philip Ahn, Mort Mills, Harry Lauter, Bill Clark
Episode 12
An irritating man who boasts of being the reincarnation of French poet Francois Villion shows up causing trouble for the Cartwrights.
Guest stars Erika Peters, Victor Sen Yung, Ray Teal
Episode 13
Joe accepts the job of temporary sheriff in the town of Rubicon, unaware he is being used to facilitate a scheme involving murder.
Guest stars Vic Morrow, John Litel, Robert Fortier
Episode 14
In this Christmas story, inspired by Johanna Spyri's "Heidi", Hoss and Joe come across a blind girl whose family has been killed in a wagon wreck, learning later that her grandfather is a bitter hermit who spent 21 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.
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Episode 15
The Ponderosa is overrun with settlers bearing phony property deeds, and one of Ben's oldest friends is responsible.
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Episode 16
Hoss plans to marry Margie, a pretty blonde, but Margie becomes fascinated with a tall, traveling stranger named Mark Connors. Margie marries Mark but soon finds it was far from a match made in heaven.
Guest stars Kathie Browne, Jacqueline Scott, Russell Thorson, Dorothy Neumann, Herschel Graham, Hal Taggart, Cosmo Sardo, John Breen
Episode 17
An overbearing friend of the family tries to force her daughter into marrying Joe, though she does not love him. The situation grows more complex when Adam stumbles onto the scheme.
Guest stars Audrey Dalton, Victor Sen Yung, Mercedes McCambridge, Robert Adler
Episode 18
Adam races against the clock to prove a man who was once his friend is guilty of robbery and murder and Adam is convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt he is guilty.
Guest stars Ray Teal, Grace Gaynor, Cosmo Sardo, William Meader, Bill Clark, Bert Stevens, Jan Merlin, Chubby Johnson
Episode 19
Joe plans to marry Laura White, daughter of a man Ben once sailed with, but she is fatally ill. Ben consoles him with words spoken years before, by the father of Adam's mother.
Guest stars Brooke Hayward, Frank Overton
Episode 20
The Cartwrights pretend the Ponderosa belongs to the town lush, when his aging mother from Ireland arrives.
Guest stars Jack Carr, Cheerio Meredith, Ray Teal, Keith Richards, Norman Leavitt, Cosmo Sardo, Bill Clark, James Dunn
Episode 21
The Cartwrights dig a well, build a rig and a windmill for a drought-stricken farm family.
Guest stars Royal Dano, Pam Smith, Ray Teal, Majel Barrett, James Doohan
Episode 22
Adam gives a second chance to a family man he suspects is one of the rustlers who has been hitting the Ponderosa herds.
Guest stars Bethel Leslie
Episode 23
When Ben fails to prevent the death of a friend's son, Adam and Joe, concerned by their father's depression, attempt to prove there was nothing he could have done.
Guest stars Anne Benton, Ray Teal, Charles Maxwell, Edward Platt
Episode 24
In order to keep peace on the ranch, Hoss and Joe try to help ranch hand, Hank Meyers woo the the plain-looking schoolteacher, Abigail Jones. When their first plan backfires, they convince Adam (who doesn't want to get involved) to help and this makes things worse because Abigail believes it is Adam who is wooing her and Hank Meyers believes Adam wants to steal her away.
Guest stars Eileen Ryan, Diana Darrin, Norma Varden
Episode 25
Ben supports the appointment of Asa Moran as Virginia City's temporary sheriff, but Moran goes overboard with his authority, jailing Adam in the process and pistol-whipping a Ponderosa hand.
Guest stars Ray Teal, Rosalind Roberts, Arthur Franz, Roy Engel, John Mitchum, Cosmo Sardo, Michael Jeffers, Herman Hack
Episode 26
A young genius, Albert Michaelson, vies for a scholarship. Adam assists Albert in the boy's experiments. Albert only needs the school teacher's approval to be granted a scholarship-which will be very difficult to get considering Albert was expelled from school.
Guest stars Douglas Lambert, Joe De Santis
Episode 27
In the town of Alkali, the Cartwrights are jailed on false charges of robbery and murder, but Joe escapes and returns with an army of Ponderosa hands.
Directed by William WitneyWritten by Michael Landon, Michael Landon, Frank CleaverGuest stars Emile Avery, John Breen, Charles McGraw, Ben Johnson, Robert Sampson, Joseph Walsh, Raymond Greenleaf, I. Stanford Jolley
Episode 28
Adam is left to die in the desert after two thieves take $5,000 and his horse from him. Near death, he stumbles into an old prospector named Kane who offers to lend him a mule and supplies in exchange for three day's work at his mine. Kane, however, turns out to be a demented madman. He holds Adam prisoner and tortures him to prove his theory that anyone could be driven to kill, even a man as rational as Adam. This is Pernell Robert's favorite episode along with "The Wooing Of Abigail Jones".
Guest stars Lee Marvin, Barry Cahill
Episode 29
Ben indulges in a nostalgic reverie about Hoss's deceased mother. Having worked his way west to Galesburg, IL., Ben is befriended by a girl named Inger, the fiancee of the tavern owner who gave him a job.
Guest stars Jeremy Slate, Troy Melton
Episode 30
When two feuding families argue over the custody of two orphaned children, a reluctant Ben is called upon to straighten out the situation before real trouble erupts.
Guest stars Tracy Stratford, Emile Avery, John Breen, Robert Foulk, Robert Brown, Ford Rainey, Irene Tedrow, Walter Sande
Episode 31
The Cartwrights get mixed up in the romance of a phony heiress and an equally phony land baron.
Guest stars Luciana Paluzzi, Lee Bergere, Cosmo Sardo, Steven Geray, Ken Mayer, Bill Clark, Roy Engel, Henry Wills
Episode 32
Ben, Joe and Adam travel to Bowleg to pay the yearly taxes on the Ponderosa. After the transaction is completed, Ben and Joe ride over the summit to join the cattle drive. Adam is on his way to Genoa and is carrying a $10,000 bank draft his father has given him. A prison guard rides into town and announces two hombres have broke out and escaped who are holdup men and killers. Elmer Trace and his partner Poindexter were assisted by a guard in escaping prison and they betray him on the trail. Trace takes his clothes, horse and firearms, leaving Poindexter with only a rifle and rides off. Meanwhile, the Sheriff of Bowleg organizes a posse immediately.
Guest stars James Coburn, Bing Russell, Dorothy Adams
Episode 33
Joe promises a dying sheepman he will make sure the old man's granddaughter gets her rightful inheritance from a wealthy San Francisco family. This episode was filmed immediately after "Inger, My Love", which explains why Blocker's arm is still in a sling.
Guest stars Victor Sen Yung, Nina Shipman, Warren Oates, Mary Treen
Episode 34
Hoss blames himself when a young woman is crippled in a wagon accident, and hopes a faith healer can help her walk again.
Guest stars Patricia Breslin, Raymond Bailey, Bill Quinn, Robert Adler
Episode information updated Jul 24, 2026
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
NBCUnited States
NBCUnited States
NBC StudiosUnited States
