Bonanza | |
---|---|
Season 9 | |
Starring | |
No. of episodes | 34 |
Release | |
Original network | NBC |
Original release | September 17, 1967 July 28, 1968 | –
Season chronology | |
The ninth season of the American Western television series Bonanza premiered on NBC on September 17, 1967, with the final episode airing July 28, 1968. [1] The series was developed and produced by David Dortort. Season nine starred Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon. The season consisted of 34 episodes of a series total 431 hour-long episodes, the entirety of which was produced in colour. [2] Season nine was aired on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. After three straight seasons at number one, it slipped to #6 in the Nielsen ratings. [3]
Bonanza is set around the Ponderosa Ranch near Virginia City, Nevada and chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, consisting of Ben Cartwright and his three sons (each by a different wife), Adam, Eric ( "Hoss"), and Joseph ("Little Joe"). A regular character is their ranch cook, Hop Sing.
On location filming took place at the following:
The episode "Showdown at Tahoe" used the M. S. Dixie II, an operating tour vessel on Lake Tahoe. [5]
No. overall |
No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
270 | 1 | "Second Chance" | Leon Benson | Story by :
Paul Schneider Teleplay by : John Hawkins and Paul Schneider | September 17, 1967 | |
Ben joins an Army patrol to try and save Hoss and Joe from Indians. When Joe is wounded, they meet a dying doctor who is willing to help them. James Gregory guest stars. | ||||||
271 | 2 | "Sense of Duty" | William Witney | Story by : Gil Lasky and Abe Polsky Teleplay by : John Hawkins | September 24, 1967 | |
Ben leads a militia troop unit that takes Paiute Indian Wabuska ( Michael Forest), a man who is seen as a God by the Indians, to prison. (The first episode to feature David Canary as Candy Canady). | ||||||
272 | 3 | "The Conquistadores" | Leon Benson | Walter Black | October 1, 1967 | |
Joe is kidnapped by a band of Mexicans miners searching for gold and held for ransom, but thieves are out to take the gold for themselves. John Saxon, John Kellogg and Carlos Rivera guest star. | ||||||
273 | 4 | "Judgement at Olympus" | John Rich | Walter Black | October 8, 1967 | |
Candy is framed for the murder of A.Z. Wheelock ( Arch Johnson)'s son in the town of Olympus, so Joe and Hoss try to clear him. | ||||||
274 | 5 | "Night Of Reckoning" | Leon Benson | Walter Black | October 15, 1967 | |
A band of outlaws, previously involved in wounding Donnie Buckler ( Ron Hayes), take Joe, Hoss, and Candy hostage as they search the Ponderosa for holdup money taken by one of their own. | ||||||
275 | 6 | "False Witness" | Michael Moore | Eric Norden | October 22, 1967 | |
Billy Slater ( Michael Blodgett) and Doug Slater (Bill Fletcher)'s gang stalk Joe, Hoss, Candy and a woman since they witnessed one of their crimes. | ||||||
276 | 7 | "The Gentle Ones" | Harry Harris | Frank Chase | October 29, 1967 | |
An animal-loving cowboy ( Robert Walker Jr.) must stand up to his brutish older brother in order to prove to a widow that he's not a coward. | ||||||
277 | 8 | "Desperate Passage" | Leon Benson | John Hawkins | November 5, 1967 | |
The Cartwrights encounter two survivors of an Indian raid—a suspected murderer and a woman ( Tina Louise) who knows he's innocent. | ||||||
278 | 9 | "The Sure Thing" | William Witney | Story by : Robert Vincent Wright Teleplay by : Robert Vincent Wright and Sidney Ellis | November 12, 1967 | |
A young woman, Trudy Loughlin ( Kim Darby), has a dream of riding her stallion in a big-stakes race, but this is jeopardized when her father, Burt Laughlin ( Tom Tully), associates himself with a gambler. | ||||||
279 | 10 | "Showdown At Tahoe" | Gerald Mayer | Thomas Thompson | November 19, 1967 | |
Candy sets a trap for a band of outlaws bent on robbing Ben's timber operation. | ||||||
280 | 11 | "Six Black Horses" | Donald R. Daves | Story by : William Jerome Teleplay by : William Jerome and Michael Landon | November 26, 1967 | |
An Irishman uses luck to outwit greedy businessmen. | ||||||
281 | 12 | "Check Rein" | Leon Benson | Story by : Robert I. Holt Teleplay by : Olney Sherwood and Robert I. Holt | December 3, 1967 | |
The Cartwrights get involved in a man's fight to save his inheritance and himself from his greedy uncle. | ||||||
282 | 13 | "Justice Deferred" | Gerald Mayer | Jack Miller | December 17, 1967 | |
Hoss realizes that his testimony has led to the hanging of an innocent man, so he sets out to convict the real killer. | ||||||
283 | 14 | "The Gold Detector" | Donald R. Daves | Ward Hawkins | December 24, 1967 | |
After buying a gold detector, Hoss tries to prove its worth and protect it from thieves. Guest starring Wally Cox, and Caroline Richter. | ||||||
284 | 15 | "The Trackers" | Marc Daniels | Story by : Frederick Louis Fox Teleplay by : Reuben Bercovitch | January 7, 1968 | |
Ben, Candy and Hoss try to protect a recently-released prisoner suspected of robbery and murder. | ||||||
285 | 16 | "A Girl Named George" | Leon Benson | William H. Wright | January 14, 1968 | |
The Cartwrights investigate a mystery involving an altered photograph. | ||||||
286 | 17 | "The Thirteenth Man" | Leon Benson | Walter Black | January 21, 1968 | |
The Cartwrights clash with a range detective ( Albert Salmi) who pressures his suspects into drawing first so he can kill them. | ||||||
287 | 18 | "The Burning Sky" | John Rich | Story by : Carol Saraceno Teleplay by : William H. Wright | January 28, 1968 | |
A ranch hand ( Michael Murphy) causes trouble when he arrives with his Indian bride ( Dawn Wells). | ||||||
288 | 19 | "The Price of Salt" | Leon Benson | B. W. Sandefur | February 4, 1968 | |
A woman ( Kim Hunter) who has a monopoly on the salt needed for cattle sets off the buyers when she raises the price. James Best guest stars. | ||||||
289 | 20 | "Blood Tie" | Seymour Robbie | Arthur Dales [B] | February 18, 1968 | |
One of three men tricks the Cartwrights into hiring him so he and his cohorts can rob them. | ||||||
290 | 21 | "The Crime of Johnny Mule" | Leon Benson | Joel Murcott | February 25, 1968 | |
Johnny Mule ( Noah Beery, Jr.), the man Hoss refused to convict for murder, breaks out of prison. | ||||||
291 | 22 | "The Late Ben Cartwright" | Leon Benson | Walter Black | March 3, 1968 | |
An assassin complicates Ben's fight to prevent a corrupt tycoon's lackey from being elected governor. | ||||||
292 | 23 | "Star Crossed" | William F. Claxton | Thomas Thompson | March 10, 1968 | |
Candy falls for a girl ( Tisha Sterling) being harassed by a former lawman-turned-blackmailer ( William Windom). | ||||||
293 | 24 | "Trouble Town" | Leon Benson | David Lang | March 17, 1968 | |
The Cartwrights must find out why Candy is being held in River Bend on a minor charge without bail. | ||||||
294 | 25 | "Commitment at Angelus" | Leon Benson | Peter Germano | April 7, 1968 | |
Joe gets involved in a miners' strike after the death of a friend leaves the miners without a leader. | ||||||
295 | 26 | "A Dream to Dream" | William F. Claxton | Michael Landon | April 14, 1968 | |
When a man's guilt over his son's death lead him to drinking, his wife and other children pay more attention to Hoss. | ||||||
296 | 27 | "In Defense of Honor" | Marc Daniels | Story by : Richard Wendley and
William Douglas Lansford Teleplay by : William Douglas Lansford | April 28, 1968 | |
An outcast jeopardizes negotiations with the Indians when he decides to rejoin the tribe he rejected his whole life. | ||||||
297 | 28 | "To Die in Darkness" | Michael Landon | Michael Landon | May 5, 1968 | |
Ben and Candy are trapped in a mine shaft by a vengeful ex-prisoner ( James Whitmore), who wrongly served time based on the testimony of the pair. | ||||||
298 | 29 | "The Bottle Fighter" | Leon Benson | Story by : Colin MacKenzie and S. H. Barnett Teleplay by : John Hawkins | May 12, 1968 | |
The only lawyer ( Albert Dekker) who can defend Hoss in the case of a murdered cattle buyer is an alcoholic. | ||||||
299 | 30 | "The Arrival of Eddie" | Marc Daniels | John M. Chester and Ward Hawkins | May 19, 1968 | |
Hoss seeks forgiveness from Eddie MaKay ( Jan-Michael Vincent) for killing his father. | ||||||
300 | 31 | "The Stronghold" | Leon Benson | John Hawkins and William Riley Burnett | May 26, 1968 | |
Joe and Candy are swindled out of a herd of cattle by the Farrell brothers ( Paul Mantee, Michael Witney), so they follow the sparring brothers back to their Arizona hideout. | ||||||
301 | 32 | "Pride of a Man" | William F. Claxton | Ward Hawkins and Helen B. Hicks | June 2, 1968 | |
Joe takes a job as a substitute teacher and must deal with two incorrigible boys and their father, who doesn't think his boys need an education. | ||||||
302 | 33 | "A Severe Case of Matrimony" | Lewis Allen | Michael Fessier | July 7, 1968 | |
A band of Gypsies arrives on the Ponderosa and one of them wishes to marry a Cartwright. Guest stars: J. Carrol Naish as Anselmo, Susan Strasberg as Rosalita, and Andre Philippe as Paco | ||||||
303 | 34 | "Stage Door Johnnies" | William F. Claxton | Alex Sharp | July 28, 1968 | |
Hoss and Joe allow their rivalry for the affections of an attractive singer ( Kathleen Crowley) to get them into damage suits. |
Season nine aired on Sundays from 9:00 pm–10:00 pm on NBC. [11]
After three straight seasons in the number one spot, it slipped to #6 in the Nielsen ratings. [3]