Bonanza season 10
| Bonanza | |
|---|---|
| Season 10 | |
 Cast of Bonanza in 1959 | |
| Starring | |
| No. of episodes | 30 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 15, 1968 – May 11, 1969 |
| 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 304 | 1 | "Different Pines, Same Wind" | Leon Benson | Suzanne Clauser | September 15, 1968 | |
|
Little Joe tries to convince an ailing recluse that she needs to file a legal claim to her remote property to prevent a timber tycoon from logging on her land. | ||||||
| 305 | 2 | "Child" | Leon Benson | Jack B. Sowards | September 22, 1968 | |
|
Hoss, charged with robbery and murder, has to break out of jail in order to escape a lynch mob. | ||||||
| 306 | 3 | "Salute to Yesterday" | Leon Benson | John Hawkins | September 29, 1968 | |
|
Possession of an Army payroll brings danger to the Cartwrights, Candy and a small Army unit, with some of Candy's past coming to light in the process. | ||||||
| 307 | 4 | "The Real People of Muddy Creek" | Leon Benson | Alf Harris | October 6, 1968 | |
|
Ben is left alone with his prisoner (Joe Don Baker) to face a murderous and notorious gang after frightened citizens bail out. | ||||||
| 308 | 5 | "The Passing of a King" | Leon Benson | B. W. Sandefur | October 13, 1968 | |
|
Ben is cheated out of a valuable bull by the son (Jeremy Slate) of one of his old friends (Denver Pyle), a cattle baron who has been declared legally incompetent. | ||||||
| 309 | 6 | "The Last Vote" | Joseph Pevney | Robert Vincent Wright | October 20, 1968 | |
|
Hoss and Little Joe act as campaign managers for opposing mayoral candidates (Tom Bosley and Wally Cox) who are devoted friends. | ||||||
| 310 | 7 | "Catch as Catch Can" | Robert L. Friend | David Lang | October 27, 1968 | |
|
The Cartwrights are accused of being deadbeats in an effort to discredit their good name. | ||||||
| 311 | 8 | "Little Girl Lost" | Don Richardson | Michael Fessier | November 3, 1968 | |
|
The serenity of the Ponderosa is disrupted by a small relative of the Cartwrights, an unruly tomboy (Linda Sue Risk) who's the subject of a custody battle. Antoinette Bower guest stars. | ||||||
| 312 | 9 | "The Survivors" | Leon Benson | John Hawkins, Colin MacKenzie, S. H. Barnett | November 10, 1968 | |
|
A young woman endures scorn when she returns to Virginia City with a child fathered by a Native American after four years of captivity by renegade Indians. | ||||||
| 313 | 10 | "The Sound of Drums" | Robert L. Friend | William F. Leicester | November 17, 1968 | |
|
A stubborn landowner defies his family and neighbors by allowing Native Americans to live on his land. | ||||||
| 314 | 11 | "Queen High" | Leon Benson | Michael Fessier | December 1, 1968 | |
|
Little Joe and Candy win a damaged ore processing mill in a poker game and encounter opposition from their competitor. | ||||||
| 315 | 12 | "Yonder Man" | Leo Penn | Milton S. Gelman | December 8, 1968 | |
|
Ben's reunion with an old friend is marred when he learns that the man is wanted for stealing cattle and political crimes. | ||||||
| 316 | 13 | "Mark of Guilt" | Leon Benson | Ward Hawkins, Frank Telford | December 15, 1968 | |
|
When a rancher that Little Joe fought with is found dead, he's arrested for murder. | ||||||
| 317 | 14 | "A World Full of Cannibals" | Gunnar Hellström | Preston Wood | December 22, 1968 | |
|
Gunmen kidnap Little Joe and offer him in exchange for a grand jury witness. | ||||||
| 318 | 15 | "Sweet Annie Laurie" | Don Richardson | Jackson Gillis, John Hawkins, Jess Carneol, Kay Lenard | January 5, 1969 | |
|
Hoss takes a frightened young wife (Joan Van Ark) to the Ponderosa to protect her from her estranged outlaw husband (James Olson). | ||||||
| 319 | 16 | "My Friend, My Enemy" | Leon Benson | Stanley Roberts, Jack B. Sowards | January 12, 1969 | |
|
Candy has to rely on the testimony of a Native American horse thief to prove his innocence on a murder charge. | ||||||
| 320 | 17 | "Mrs. Wharton and the Lesser Breeds" | Leon Benson | Preston Wood | January 19, 1969 | |
|
A British widow (Mildred Natwick) involves Candy in her plan to recover valuables she lost in a holdup. | ||||||
| 321 | 18 | "Erin" | Don Richardson | Sandy Summerhayes | January 26, 1969 | |
|
Hoss announces his intention to marry a girl (Mary Fickett) who was raised by Native Americans. | ||||||
| 322 | 19 | "Company of Forgotten Men" | Leon Benson | Jess Carneol, Kay Lenard | February 2, 1969 | |
|
A group of retired Army veterans plan to rob a mint with the help of Candy. James Gregory guest stars. | ||||||
| 323 | 20 | "The Clarion" | Lewis Allen | John Hawkins, Frank Chase | February 9, 1969 | |
|
Ben buys a newspaper from a widow and proceeds to launch an exposé of an unscrupulous town boss. | ||||||
| 324 | 21 | "The Lady and the Mountain Lion" | Joseph Pevney | Larry Markes | February 23, 1969 | |
|
A magician (Richard Haydn) plots to involve the Cartwright boys with his identical twin daughters in a swindling plot. | ||||||
| 325 | 22 | "Five Candles" | Lewis Allen | Ken Trevey | March 2, 1969 | |
|
Ben and four companions are trapped in a collapsing courthouse and are forced to rely on an accused murderer for help. | ||||||
| 326 | 23 | "The Wish" | Michael Landon | Michael Landon | March 9, 1969 | |
|
Hoss tries to help a freed slave (Ossie Davis) cope with bigots of a white community. | ||||||
| 327 | 24 | "The Deserter" | Leon Benson | B. W. Sandefur, John Dunkel | March 16, 1969 | |
|
Candy tries to help an army sergeant locate a hidden arms plant. | ||||||
| 328 | 25 | "Emily" | Leon Benson | Elliot Gilbert, Preston Wood | March 23, 1969 | |
|
Hoping to save her broken marriage, a woman accuses Little Joe of theft and trying to run off with her. | ||||||
| 329 | 26 | "The Running Man" | Leon Benson | Ward Hawkins | March 30, 1969 | |
|
Little Joe and Candy try to protect a murder witness. Will Geer guest stars. | ||||||
| 330 | 27 | "The Unwanted" | Herschel Daugherty | Thomas Thompson, Suzanne Clauser | April 6, 1969 | |
|
A marshal's daughter steals her father's money and runs off with an ex-convict. | ||||||
| 331 | 28 | "Speak No Evil" | Leon Benson | Norman Katkov, B. W. Sandefur | April 20, 1969 | |
|
Ben and Hoss mediate a custody battle among relatives of a teenager who inherited a gold mine. | ||||||
| 332 | 29 | "The Fence" | Lewis Allen | Ward Hawkins, Milton S. Gelman | April 27, 1969 | |
|
Ben and Hoss aid an ex-Confederate prison commandant who's being threatened by his former captives. Larry Linville guest stars. | ||||||
| 333 | 30 | "A Ride in the Sun" | Leon Benson | John Hawkins, Peter Germano | May 11, 1969 | |
|
Bank robbers use the Cartwrights as dupes in a plot to loot the Virginia City bank. | ||||||
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.