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1959
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1973
Original Air Date—12 September 1959
Lotta Crabtree is hired by mining tycoon Alpheus Troy to lure one of the Cartwrights into town and hold him for ransom in exchange for Ponderosa timber rights. |
Original Air Date—19 September 1959
The Cartwrights go up against two San Francisco men who plan to get rich by killing off the antelope herds--which the Indians rely on for their food--and selling the meat to Virginia City's swarms of gold miners. |
Original Air Date—26 September 1959
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Original Air Date—3 October 1959
In order to escape punishment for mistreating two Paiute women, a trader blames it on Adam Cartwright. The Paites seize Adam make him a hostage as war erupts between the tribe and a local militia. |
Original Air Date—10 October 1959
The Cartwrights help Virginia City reporter Samuel Langhorne Clemens investigate suspected shady goings-on between a railroad company and a local judge. |
Original Air Date—17 October 1959
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Original Air Date—24 October 1959
Feisty Annie O'Toole comes west with her old Da to mine silver and winds up feeding the silver miners, shanghaiing Adam Cartwright to be her partner in her tent-kitchen, "The Square Meal", and her attorney in Miner's Court when an old enemy challenges her right to her claim. |
Original Air Date—31 October 1959
Adam and Hoss put their lives and the Cartwright reputation on the line to help Dutch engineer, Philip Diedesheimer, convince greedy silver mine owners and shareholders to use his innovative honeycomb support system to improve mine shaft safety and save miners' lives. |
Original Air Date—7 November 1959
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Original Air Date—14 November 1959
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Original Air Date—21 November 1959
Caught in the middle of a longtime family feud over a disputed piece of land, star-crossed lovers Joe Cartwright and Amy Bishop try to convince their stubborn fathers to resolve their differences as tension escalates into violence. |
Original Air Date—28 November 1959
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Season 1, Episode 13: VendettaOriginal Air Date—5 December 1959
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Original Air Date—12 December 1959
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Original Air Date—29 December 1959
Hoss and Little Joe soon discover that the Shoshone Indian brave who tries to rob their hunting camp is actually a soon-due, pregnant Shoshone woman who refuses to tell them why she left her tribe and appears to be making her way towards Virginia City. |
Original Air Date—2 January 1960
After tangling with bandits on the way to California to buy a prize bull for the Ponderosa, Little Joe fends off a pretty senorita and her jealous fiancé, while Hoss discovers that the bull has been spirited away by a little boy who is convinced that the Cartwrights plan to kill and eat his big bovine friend. |
Original Air Date—9 January 1960
The Cartwrights come to the aid of Leta Malvet when she is ostracized by the community after her father and brother are hanged by a lynch mob for killing two men while trying to rob the stagecoach that they thought carried the Ponderosa's payroll. But Adam is sure that the gang will try again when they find out that the Malvets came up empty-handed and suspects that it's no coincidence when Leta's beau, bad boy Clay Renton, comes back to town. |
Original Air Date—16 January 1960
Ben tries to uncover the reason gold and silver exporter, Frederick Kyle, has befriended Little Joe before the shadowy businessman's hidden Civil War agenda tears Virginia City, and the Cartwright family, apart. |
Season 1, Episode 19: The GunmenOriginal Air Date—23 January 1960
Hoss and Little Joe are mistaken for bloodthirsty hired killers in a small Texas town dominated by two feuding families. |
Original Air Date—30 January 1960
The Cartwrights come to the aid of a Chinese-American stable hand accused of murder. Opposing them is a manipulative mayoral candidate who wants all "foreigners" to leave Virginia City. |
Original Air Date—6 February 1960
The Cartwrights try to disprove the validity of a Spanish land grant to stop the De La Cuesta family from seizing part of the Ponderosa and all of the Carson Valley settlers' homestead lands. |
Original Air Date—13 February 1960
When a cold blooded, murdering sheep herder and his men try to cross the Ponderosa with their large herd of sheep, Ben Cartwright orders them off his property. The owner of the sheep then plots to kidnap one of the Cartwrights and force Ben to sign over 50,000 acres of his land to him. |
Original Air Date—20 February 1960
When a brutal U.S. Marshal arrests one of the Ponderosa's workers for murder to transport him to Los Angeles for trial, and a doubtful Hoss and Adam come along in the stagecoach, along with a Dr. and his beautiful daughter, to make sure the Marshal doesn't kill him before they get there. The question also arises later of whether the ranch worker is really guilty and dangerous after all. |
Original Air Date—27 February 1960
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Original Air Date—5 March 1960
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Original Air Date—19 March 1960
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Original Air Date—26 March 1960
When an English couple comes to the Ponderosa on vacation, the beautiful wife slowly makes it clear that is no longer proud of her great hunter husband, because he has become less of the action man she married and more of a peaceful man, but that could all change when they are kidnapped for ransom along with Adam Cartwright. |
Original Air Date—2 April 1960
The Cartwrights, with Hop Sing, finish a cattle drive in San Francisco. Ben warns the other men of the dangers of the big city. Nevertheless, some of the men are careless and naive. Two of the hired hands disappear, and Ben suspects that the men were shanghaied. With invaluable assistance from several of Hop Sing's cousins, the Cartwrights locate the missing men and break up the racket. |
Original Air Date—9 April 1960
A neighboring rancher, Andy, is good friends with Ben, but his son (Todd) wants to sell their land for mining operations which will spoil the water rights agreement that Andy and Ben made years ago. |
Original Air Date—16 April 1960
A woman dies. Her husband is in prison, and the sheriff needs someone to look after the boy until the boy's uncle can come to claim him. The Cartwrights begin to take care of the boy at the Ponderosa. When the boy arrives at the ranch, he does not know that his father is in prison. The boy learns the truth about his dad, and news reaches the Ponderosa that the convict has escaped from prison. The Cartwrights deal with the possibility that the boy's father may be coming their way. |
Season 1, Episode 31: Dark StarOriginal Air Date—23 April 1960
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Original Air Date—30 April 1960
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Season 2, Episode 1: ShowdownOriginal Air Date—10 September 1960
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Original Air Date—17 September 1960
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Original Air Date—24 September 1960
After a U.S. deputy marshal apparently saves Adam's life by gunning down two men who shot at him, he eventually reveals that he in town to bring a close friend of the Cartwrights to San Francisco to testify in a statewide racketeering trial, but the Deputy Marshal's motives soon become suspect as to what he really want to do with the reluctant witness. |
Season 2, Episode 4: The MillOriginal Air Date—1 October 1960
The Cartwrights' neighbor Tom Edwards has lived as a paraplegic, ever since an accident involving Ben Cartwright and a gun. His ranch is going to waste. His wife Joyce is a longtime friend of Ben, and Ben decides to help the Edwards couple by making Tom a business proposition: the Cartwrights will build a grain mill on Edwards' land. In return, Ben only wants his investment money back, plus fifteen percent. Tom and his hired hand Ezekiel are suspicious of Ben, but Tom agrees to the deal. The Cartwright men build the mill, but tension begins to rise when Ezekiel makes comments which rekindle Tom's suspicion. |
Original Air Date—8 October 1960
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Original Air Date—15 October 1960
Ranchers are being killed, cattle stolen, and retired U.S. Deputy Marshall Denver Mckee leads various posses after the suspects but never seems to be able to find them. In the meantime, Mckee seems to have plenty of money to take care of his gorgeous daughter back home from schooling in the East. |
Original Air Date—22 October 1960
When an Indian saves Ben Cartwright's life from a near fatal knife attack by another Indian, Ben later gives the Indian and his pregnant wife a strip of fertile farming land. Unfortunately the land is next to and very racist farmer and things turn deadly. |
Original Air Date—29 October 1960
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Original Air Date—5 November 1960
Dolly Kincaid so feed up with her extremely dominant, controlling, sheriff father, that she runs away with her boyfriend. She later finds out he is the leader of some murderous bank robbers and when they kidnap Hoss and Joe, she still sticks with him. |
Original Air Date—12 November 1960
Gunnar is a long-lost relative of the Cartwright family. When Gunnar arrives at the Ponderosa, the family takes him in for the evening. Gunnar is the brother to one of Ben Cartwright's late wives. Unbeknownst to the Cartwright family, Gunnar is also the leader of a band of criminals called The Comancheros. Little Joe is visiting his girlfriend away from the ranch. When Little Joe and his girlfriend are kidnapped by The Comancheros, the Cartwrights and Gunnar are forced into a difficult situation. |
Original Air Date—26 November 1960
About to set out on a cattle drive, Ben hires a young drifter named Sam Jackson as one of his drovers. What he doesn't know is that Jackson is really outlaw Johnny Logan, who signed on to the drive because he knew it was going to pass near the town of Waycross, and Logan is determined to kill the Waycross sheriff--who is his father. |
Season 2, Episode 12: The SavageOriginal Air Date—3 December 1960
When Ben Cartwright is brutally attacked and gravely wounded by a hateful Indian, he is saved by a second Indian living on Ponderosa land with his beautiful wife, without permission. Ben later gives them a parcel of rich land to show his gratefulness, but the couple is then plagued by an extremely prejudice neighbor, and things turn deadly. |
Original Air Date—10 December 1960
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Season 2, Episode 14: The ApeOriginal Air Date—17 December 1960
Arnie is a lonely man with big muscles, a little brain and an ugly face. He is friendly by nature, but when somebody jeers at him and calls him an ape, he becomes mad. Then he is very dangerous. Most people avoid Arnie, but Hoss recognizes something of his own nature in Arnie and wants to help him. |
Original Air Date—31 December 1960
When 16 year old Todd Grayson arrives from Boston to Virginia City, he is told that his father has been killed by Ben Cartwright. Ben has shot Luke Grayson in self-defence, but Todd won't listen to this. The boy has only one thing in his head: to revenge his father by killing Ben Cartwright. |
Original Air Date—7 January 1961
Hoss falls prey to the wiles of a beautiful woman with a gambling addiction and refuses to believe she's only interested in his money in spite of Adam's proof to the contrary. |
Original Air Date—14 January 1961
After Joe kills a man in self defense who tried to set fire to the Ponderosa to clear himself some land, he has to take his lively, feisty, wild, daughter home and she, and her relatives, are now determined to kill Joe. |
Season 2, Episode 18: The BrideOriginal Air Date—21 January 1961
The Cartwright boys are shocked by the unexpected arrival of a beautiful young woman who claims to be Mrs. Ben Cartwright. But when Ben comes home to the Ponderosa that night, the new bride declares that he is not the man she married and the Cartwrights soon find themselves involved in what could become a fatal case of mistaken identity. |
Season 2, Episode 19: Bank RunOriginal Air Date—28 January 1961
Hoss and Joe rob a bank for altruistic reasons in and are pursued by the law. |
Original Air Date—4 February 1961
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Season 2, Episode 21: VengeanceOriginal Air Date—11 February 1961
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Original Air Date—18 February 1961
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Season 2, Episode 23: The RescueOriginal Air Date—25 February 1961
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Original Air Date—4 March 1961
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Season 2, Episode 25: The DukeOriginal Air Date—11 March 1961
The Cartwrights challenge an arrogant and cruel British prizefighter, the Duke, and his alcoholic manager to a bout with John Heenan (the Benicia Boy), after the Cartwrights' meek friend J.D. gets pulverized by the Duke in a bar-fight. J.D. is adored by saloon girl Marge, but he has been too shy to return her affections. While the Cartwrights wait to see if Heenan will actually take the bout and come from San Francisco, the Duke pursues Marge and assaults her when she rebuffs him. When the manager comes to Marge's rescue, he too is beaten up by the Duke (who, it turns out, is the manager's brother). Infuriated by all this, Hoss Cartwright himself challenges the Duke, and him knocks out in the fourth round of a bare-knuckle fight refereed by Sheriff Roy Coffee. The Duke and his brother-manager reconcile in the humility of defeat, then learn that the Benicia Boy will accept the proposed bout, but only the Duke comes to San Francisco. The Duke apologizes to all he has offended while in Virginia City and heads west to fight Heenan. |
Original Air Date—18 March 1961
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Season 2, Episode 27: The GiftOriginal Air Date—1 April 1961
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Season 2, Episode 28: The RivalOriginal Air Date—15 April 1961
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Original Air Date—22 April 1961
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Original Air Date—29 April 1961
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Season 2, Episode 31: The SecretOriginal Air Date—6 May 1961
Joe is accused of murdering a girl. Her father and brothers want to hang Joe and The Cartwrights race to prove his innocence. |
Original Air Date—20 May 1961
Hoss gets diverted by a hot air balloon while a family friend robs the Virginia City bank. |
Original Air Date—27 May 1961
At the bedside of a seriously ill Adam, Ben thinks back to his days as a first mate on a sailing ship and his marriage to Adam's mother, Elizabeth Stoddard. |
Season 2, Episode 34: Sam HillOriginal Air Date—3 June 1961
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Season 3, Episode 1: The SmilerOriginal Air Date—24 September 1961
The brother of a man Hoss killed in self-defense says he understands but secretly plans revenge. |
Season 3, Episode 2: SpringtimeOriginal Air Date—1 October 1961
When their spring-fever antics injure miserly businessman, Jedediah Milbank, requiring recuperation at the Ponderosa, Ben orders each of his sons to carry out one of Mr. Milbank's seemingly simple tasks, unaware that they may prove impossible for the kind-hearted Cartwright boys to complete. |
Original Air Date—8 October 1961
The Cartwrights must try to get help for Adam, seriously wounded by an Apache bullet, and find out why Cochise and his warriors have threatened to kill them all if they don't hand over an army captain taking refuge in their trail camp. |
Original Air Date—15 October 1961
Joe Cartwright and the young widow of a family friend are held hostage on her isolated ranch outside Platte City by the same gang that robbed Little Joe in the town bank earlier that day. |
Original Air Date—21 October 1961
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Original Air Date—29 October 1961
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Original Air Date—5 November 1961
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Original Air Date—12 November 1961
The Cartwrights convince the prison warden to free 23-year-old chain-gang convict, Danny Kid, imprisoned since he was an orphan of thirteen, and take him on as a ranch-hand to repay him for saving Little Joe from being dragged to death by a spooked horse. |
Original Air Date—19 November 1961
Unsettling events that could spell financial ruin for the Ponderosa mysteriously coincide with the arrival of a wealthy countess who seems determined to win the love of Ben Cartwright, the man she spurned twenty years before in New Orleans. |
Original Air Date—26 November 1961
The Cartwrights hope that time and therapy will get bronc breaker, Johnny Lightly, back in the saddle after a bad fall. But Johnny soon faces thinly veiled hostility from the young nurse sent to help him, threats from a rancher who blames Ben Cartwright for his family's calamities, and a growing fear that he may never walk again. |
Original Air Date—3 December 1961
His search for the two men who kidnapped his bride-to-be, Su Ling, will soon take angry Chinese warlord, General Tsung, from San Francisco to the Ponderosa where Little Joe has been challenged to explain how he won the girl in a poker game. |
Original Air Date—10 December 1961
Hoss insults a feisty Frenchman who demands satisfaction with swords, unaware that the little rogue believes himself to be the reincarnation of medieval, outlaw poet Francois Villon and is destined to suffer his namesake's fate of being sentenced to death on the gallows for murder. |
Original Air Date—17 December 1961
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Season 3, Episode 14: GabrielleOriginal Air Date—24 December 1961
The Cartwrights find a loving home for Gabrielle, a blind eleven year old girl, whose parents were killed in an overturned wagon; but Gabrielle wants to live with her grandfather, a crusty mountain hermit who wants nothing to do with anyone...including his orphaned granddaughter. |
Season 3, Episode 15: Land GrabOriginal Air Date—31 December 1961
The Cartwrights play host to an eccentric old soldier friend of Ben's while trying to track down a mysterious swindler named Polk who is illegally deeding parcels of the Ponderosa to settlers looking for homesteads. |
Original Air Date—7 January 1962
A handsome, charismatic con man sweeps Margie Owens off her feet with promises of excitement and adventure, jeopardizing Hoss Cartwright's hopes to wed the pretty rancher's daughter. |
Original Air Date—14 January 1962
Bitterly disappointed in her husband's financial failures, genteel matriarch Deborah Banning travels to visit her friends on the Ponderosa, hoping to turn her family's fortunes around by marrying her only daughter off to a Cartwright son. |
Season 3, Episode 18: The RideOriginal Air Date—21 January 1962
Because he didn't see the gunman's face, witness Adam Cartwright can't convince his family and the sheriff of his certainty that good friend, Bill Enders, was one of the hooded men responsible for robbing a way station and killing the attendant. |
Season 3, Episode 19: The StormOriginal Air Date—28 January 1962
While visiting the Ponderosa, Ben's old friend, sea Captain Matthew White, is forced to reveal a terrible secret after Little Joe Cartwright falls in love with and plans to wed the Captain's daughter, Laura, once a freckle-faced playmate from Joe's childhood in New Orleans, now grown into a beautiful woman. |
Original Air Date—4 February 1962
Town drunk Danny Lynch's letters written to his dear Irish mother tell her of his life as a wealthy Nevada rancher, and when the old lady comes to America to pay her son a surprise visit, Danny convinces the Cartwrights to let him pretend that he is the owner of the Ponderosa and they are the hired hands. |
Original Air Date—11 February 1962
A drought has ravaged the flat lands and Hoss stops to water at the Ganther farm where Jason Ganther is attempting to dig a well and get to water which he believes is just a few further feet down. Hoss decides to help him and they begin drilling for water. Meanwhile ranchers in the high country have started up a vigilante group to keep families from leaving the flat lands and settling in the high country where water is plentiful. Disgusted by the vigilantes the entire Cartwright family soon begins helping the Ganthers. Tensions mount between the two groups as the Cartwrights race against time to find the water before violence erupts. |
Original Air Date—18 February 1962
Searching for missing Ponderosa cattle, Adam Cartwright stops to aid injured rancher, Matt Grant, takes him home and stays to help his wife and son while he recovers. But Adam doesn't know that Matt is part of a gang of rustlers responsible for the missing cattle, and now that Adam can identify him, they want him dead before their next job. |
Season 3, Episode 23: The GuiltyOriginal Air Date—25 February 1962
Tuscon gunman, Jack Groat, swore to kill Sheriff Lem Partridge for putting him in prison after a bullet from Groat's gun during a drunken street brawl accidentally killed Sheriff Partridge's wife. Now, 10 years later and fresh out of prison, Groat has tracked retired Lem Partridge to Virginia City and is soon holding Lem's son, Jimmy, and good friend Ben Cartwright hostage. But things go bad and Ben must soon explain to Lem... and try to convince himself... that there was nothing he could have done that day to stop Groat from shooting Jimmy in the back. |
Original Air Date—4 March 1962
The Cartwright boys help cowhand Hank romance reluctant teacher Abigail. |
Original Air Date—11 March 1962
The Cartwrights may have to take the law into their own hands when Virginia City's temporary sheriff, rancher Asa Moran, uses his new badge as a license to kill. |
Original Air Date—18 March 1962
The Cartwrights encourage young genius, Albert Michelson, to pursue his scientific experiments while trying to discover why schoolmaster, George Norton, expelled Albert from school and seems determined to stand in the way of his appointment to the prestigious Annapolis Naval Academy. |
Season 3, Episode 27: The GambleOriginal Air Date—1 April 1962
Little Joe is his family's only hope when he escapes from a kangaroo court that has framed the Cartwrights for a bank robbery and sentenced them all to hang. |
Original Air Date—8 April 1962
After being robbed in the desert, Adam stumbles onto a seemingly chivalrous prospector named Peter Kane, who offers him a mule and supplies for three days work. However, Kane is a demented madman who is interested in psychological torture, hoping to drive a seemingly rational man like Adam to murder. As Ben, Hoss and Little Joe try to retrace the missing Adam's footsteps, Adam must rely on his own wits to defeat Kane. |
Original Air Date—15 April 1962
The back story behind Ben's three wives is up to Inger, Ben's second wife (and mother of Hoss). The story relates the first meeting between Ben and Inger, as Ben and a young Adam were traveling west. |
Original Air Date—22 April 1962
Ben Cartwright and Virginia City's enigmatic new minister work together to decide which set of feuding grandparents, the Mahans or the Clarkes, will have custody of their recently orphaned twin grandchildren. |
Season 3, Episode 31: The DowryOriginal Air Date—29 April 1962
A stagecoach carrying Alexander Dubois, his daughter Michele and her fiancé Don Ricardo Fernandez is held up. Her dowry is stolen and Miseur Dubois is injured trying to get it back. Little Joe brings them all to the Ponderosa where Dubois can recuperate from his wound. Adam and Hoss track the bandits and recover the dowry but the bandits get away and more attempts to steal it are made. The Cartwrights begin to grow suspicious of Don Fernandez and the way he seems to take all of this in stride. |
Original Air Date—6 May 1962
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Original Air Date—13 May 1962
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Original Air Date—20 May 1962
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Original Air Date—23 September 1962
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Season 4, Episode 2: The QuestOriginal Air Date—30 September 1962
Wanting to prove his independence and (at the same time) break out of the shadows of his Pa and older brothers, Little Joe sets out to win a lucrative timber contract for the Ponderosa. |
Season 4, Episode 3: The ArtistOriginal Air Date—7 October 1962
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Original Air Date—14 October 1962
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Original Air Date—21 October 1962
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Original Air Date—28 October 1962
Adam finds shelter overnight at a stagecoach way station. There he meets others ranging from a beautiful girl to a dangerous outlaw on the run. |
Original Air Date—11 November 1962
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Original Air Date—18 November 1962
Hoss Cartwright's good deed results in hard feelings when the mail order bride he has volunteered to escort to a neighboring rancher falls in love with him before she reaches her intended groom. |
Original Air Date—25 November 1962
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Original Air Date—2 December 1962
Mexican freedom fighters loyal to Benito Juárez take over the Ponderosa, gravely wound Little Joe, and force Ben to guide them to a wagon train loaded with gold being smuggled to California by Emperor Maximilian. |
Original Air Date—9 December 1962
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Original Air Date—16 December 1962
Hoss suffers a life-threatening injury. Only surgery by a doctor in jail for murder can save him. |
Original Air Date—23 December 1962
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Season 4, Episode 14: The JuryOriginal Air Date—30 December 1962
Hoss faces scorn and accusations of bribery when he refuses to vote with his fellow jurors to convict a man for murder based solely on the testimony of the victim's brother who witnessed the act on a dark night. |
Original Air Date—6 January 1963
One of Ben Cartwright's old war buddies who claims to be a business tycoon developing a new territory, woos a wealthy Virginia City widow and jeopardizes a Ponderosa land deal. |
Original Air Date—13 January 1963
Incriminating scratches on cowhand Danny Morgan's arm and his penchant for riding alone through the night strumming his guitar makes him the prime suspect when a woman is found strangled the morning after witnesses heard Danny's voice singing in the dark outside her cabin. |
Original Air Date—20 January 1963
Adam helps an angry young man to confront the "hanging judge" who sentenced his father to death in a high-stakes miscarriage of justice. |
Original Air Date—27 January 1963
Hoss harbors kindred spirit Big Jim Layton on the Ponderosa while trying to clear the wounded mountain man's name from charges of theft and murder. |
Original Air Date—3 February 1963
Little Joe finds himself at the scene of a murder, and befriends the victim's vengeance-minded son. |
Original Air Date—10 February 1963
Ben recounts his adventure in New Orleans during which he met his third wife, the then future mother of Little Joe. |
Original Air Date—17 February 1963
Unlucky Hoss loses his valuable Kentucky thoroughbred racehorse in a poker game then schemes with brother Adam to buy it back before the end-of-the-month entry deadline for the Virginia City Sweepstakes race. |
Original Air Date—24 February 1963
Little Joe falls in love with a beautiful woman who aspires to be an actress. |
Original Air Date—3 March 1963
Bushwacked and suffering from amnesia, Hoss is found wandering down the road by the Vandervorts, an older couple who are happy to take the gentle giant into their family to replace the son they lost. But when Ben comes looking for his missing son, the Vandervorts lie about seeing him and refuse to tell Hoss who he really is, planning to take him to Michigan with them and away from his real family, and the Ponderosa, for good. |
Original Air Date—10 March 1963
Adam helps a beautiful woman, and her father, a peddler of devout Jewish faith. |
Original Air Date—17 March 1963
An alcoholic saloon girl changes her life with the help of Ben and an ex-prizefighter who falls in love with her. |
Original Air Date—24 March 1963
Attacked by outlaws, Hoss takes cover in a prospector's shack with the old prospector and with Walter, the old man's surprisingly communicative dog. |
Original Air Date—31 March 1963
One of Ben's ranch hands on the Ponderosa finds his past catching up with him when his twin brother murders a man. |
Original Air Date—7 April 1963
During a wolf hunt, Adam accidentally shoots Little Joe, and must find help if Joe is to survive. |
Original Air Date—21 April 1963
A stagecoach accident in a windstorm leaves 5 stranded, after which Little Joe is accused when a man is found murdered with Joe's knife. |
Original Air Date—28 April 1963
Hoss tries to help Whizzer McGee, a man with a short height, short fuse, thin skin, and big ideas. |
Original Air Date—5 May 1963
As the uncle of Little Joe's girlfriend suffers a crippling stroke, a man posing as a Good Samaritan rapes and kills the woman. As the killer - a seemingly genial munitions expert who has gotten a job clearing stumps off the Ponderosa - ponders his next move, Little Joe vows to track down the killer. The only clue he has to go on: the uncle's feebly scrawled note saying "New Orleans Woman." |
Original Air Date—12 May 1963
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Season 4, Episode 33: The BossOriginal Air Date—19 May 1963
Ben confronts a former friend who has become a local strongman after monopolizing the freight business. |
Original Air Date—26 May 1963
An Italian immigrant and his son seek a new life after fleeing violence in their home country. |
Original Air Date—22 September 1963
Hoss falls under the spell of a beautiful shady lady from San Francisco and asks her to be his wife, believing his love can change her even after she tries to seduce his brother Adam. |
Original Air Date—29 September 1963
Famous author Charles Dickens visits the Ponderosa, and finds himself embroiled in controversy. |
Original Air Date—6 October 1963
A drought brings a rainmaker with a very sick daughter to Virginia City. |
Original Air Date—13 October 1963
Little Joe is attacked by outlaws, but finds that his biggest challenge is fighting his way through the secrets of a town shrouded in mystery. |
Original Air Date—20 October 1963
Adam helps an alcoholic artist married to a lovely Piute woman to find a new way to help the Piute Indians oppressed by a powerful local rancher. |
Original Air Date—27 October 1963
A stagecoach containing Hoss and two nuns is robbed. Later, one of the badly wounded robbers finds himself in their power. |
Original Air Date—3 November 1963
Trouble with a capital "T" that rhymes with "C" comes to Virginia City when Little Joe brings young Calamity Jane home to the Ponderosa after rescuing her from a deadly prairie raid. |
Original Air Date—10 November 1963
While Hoss is waiting for a mare to be born Ben begins reading from an old journal which tells of the journey he and Inger, Hoss' mother, made by wagon train out West. Ben is the leader of the small wagon train which will link up with a larger train in Ash Hollow. There are many obstacles on the way to contend with including a drunken wagon master, Indians, and the fact that Inger is with child. All of these things slow down their pace and it is essential to make good time to avoid impending winter snows. |
Original Air Date—17 November 1963
Little Joe struggles with his conscience, trying to believe that his friend, Seth Pruitt, did the right thing after Seth admits to the mercy-killing of his fiancée's father when the man was in agony from a broken back and begging for death. |
Original Air Date—8 December 1963
When Frank Dayton is thrown from his horse and killed, his wife Laura tells their daughter, Peggy, that he went on a long trip, preferring to let the little girl hold onto the hope that her daddy would come home again someday. But Laura's plan to shelter Peggy from her father's death is soon challenged when Adam Cartwright comes to call and the pretty widow finds herself falling in love. |
Season 5, Episode 11: The LegacyOriginal Air Date—15 December 1963
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Original Air Date—22 December 1963
Hoss scares a bear that has treed a green-clad little man, subsequently finds a buried strongbox filled with bags of gold dust and, when both the treasure and its owner disappear, unsuccessfully tries to convince his skeptical family that he'd discovered a leprechaun's hoard. But the whole town goes searching for the mythical men after a newly arrived Irish professor confirms the presence of multiple leprechauns...and their gold! |
Original Air Date—29 December 1963
Ben Cartwright doubts his fitness to run the Ponderosa when his impatience results in a logging camp accident that causes serious injury to himself and an old friend's death. |
Original Air Date—5 January 1964
Adam and Little Joe try to find a fair trial for a saloon girl accused of theft and murder, hiding her from a corrupt sheriff's lynch mob after she stows away in the back of their supply wagon, all while escorting a self-righteous, hard-nosed judge to Virginia City. |
Original Air Date—12 January 1964
While Adam relies on his charm and guitar to impress a visiting senorita, Hoss and Little Joe scheme to win her heart in a more south-of-the-border way...a bull fight! |
Original Air Date—19 January 1964
Ben's plans to wed widow Katherine Saunders are jeopardized after her son is accused of murder. |
Original Air Date—26 January 1964
A stubborn, career army sergeant appears to be his only hope when Little Joe is arrested after being robbed and knocked unconscious by a look-a-like escaped army prisoner and is unable to convince the fort commander that he isn't the man who has been sentenced to face the firing squad. |
Original Air Date—2 February 1964
Credible Hoss meets a flamboyant, sword-brandishing drunk claiming to be none other than the notorious pirate Jean LaFitte. Believing LaFitte is who he says he is and remembering that history considered him a patriot for his aid at the Battle of New Orleans, Hoss chooses to treat LaFitte like a hero and invites him to the Ponderosa. While skeptical Ben contacts old friends in New Orleans to try to verify his identity, LaFitte is accused of murder and Hoss must try to find not only the real killer but the answer to the question: who is Jean LaFitte? |
Original Air Date—9 February 1964
Angry with Adam Cartwright for constantly criticizing her decisions and refusing to take the next step in their romance, Laura Dayton becomes easy prey for a handsome grifter. |
Original Air Date—16 February 1964
Joe blames himself after a ricocheting bullet from his rifle blinds a young woman and decides that the only way he can atone for the accident is to make her his wife. |
Original Air Date—23 February 1964
Hoss finds himself smack dab in the middle of a mountain family feud when he agrees to be the best man at ornery Big Jim Leyton's wedding. |
Original Air Date—1 March 1964
Ben's Pygmalion-like efforts to 'civilize' a young, white woman, raised by a neighboring Paiute Indian tribe, have an unintended result when, instead of choosing a husband from among the eligible young men he has rounded up for her, she falls in love with him. |
Original Air Date—8 March 1964
When Hoss is set up to take the fall for a bank robbery in another town, the help of an eccentric gold prospector appears to be all that stands between him and the real bandit's bullet. |
Original Air Date—15 March 1964
Certain that he is too old to stand against a notorious gang of bank robbers when news arrives that Virginia City will soon be next in a long string of successful raids, the terrified townsfolk demand Sheriff Coffee's resignation to make way for a younger lawman. |
Original Air Date—22 March 1964
Ben gets word that his nephew Will has been murdered in nearby Pine City. As it turns out, Will has been shot and wounded while on the run from a counterfeiting gang that wants back the engraving plates Will has "appropriated" from them. |
Original Air Date—29 March 1964
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Season 5, Episode 27: The RoperOriginal Air Date—5 April 1964
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Original Air Date—12 April 1964
A mix-up in his request for mail-order Chinese fireworks brings Hoss instead a feisty mail-order bride whose militant ideas ignite a workers' rebellion and threaten the completion of a Virginia City railroad project. |
Original Air Date—19 April 1964
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Original Air Date—26 April 1964
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Original Air Date—3 May 1964
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Original Air Date—10 May 1964
Virginia City gossip and meddling Aunt Lil combine with unexpected attention from another Cartwright to complicate Laura Dayton's already fragile romance with Adam, especially when his preoccupation with Ponderosa business appears to be hiding an unwillingness to marry her. |
Season 5, Episode 33: TriangleOriginal Air Date—17 May 1964
Laura's and Adam's wedding plans begin to derail when another man's kiss puts doubt in Laura's heart and a bad fall from the roof of the house he is secretly building for their new life together lands Adam in a wheelchair. |
Original Air Date—24 May 1964
Hoping the clever canine will lead them to his master's gold, a trio of hapless outlaws plan to dog-nap Walter, Otis the prospector's best friend, after the old man goes on a brief vacation and temporarily leaves the pup with Hoss at the Ponderosa. |
Original Air Date—20 September 1964
Humiliated by a professional gunslinger in front of a bar crowd that included his girlfriend, timid Johnny Chapman asks Little Joe to teach him how to handle a gun. But, Johnny changes as he gains skill and confidence and Joe soon doesn't recognize his friend in the hard, ruthless man he's become. |
Original Air Date—27 September 1964
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Original Air Date—4 October 1964
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Original Air Date—11 October 1964
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Original Air Date—18 October 1964
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Original Air Date—25 October 1964
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Original Air Date—1 November 1964
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Original Air Date—8 November 1964
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Original Air Date—15 November 1964
Little Joe and his friend Mitch chase a sheep-killing puma into a canyon and Joe climbs a steep slope to get a better look at the terrain. When he slips, dropping his rifle into a rock crevice, Joe is suddenly paralyzed with fear. Mitch calls to him and Joe manages to climb down, but without his rifle. Ashamed, Joe tells no one of his experience and when his attempts to retrieve his rifle fail in panic, Joe's pent-up frustration causes him to behave recklessly. Ben knows something is wrong and confronts his youngest son. Will Joe reveal his secret and let his father give him the help he desperately needs? |
Season 6, Episode 10: Old ShebaOriginal Air Date—22 November 1964
After Hoss injures traveling circus wrestler, Bearcat Sampson, during an exhibition match, he and manager, Little Joe, agree that Hoss will take the Bearcat's place in the ring while he recovers; but the circus owner squanders Hoss' winnings and the Cartwrights end up with an unconventional paycheck...Old Sheba, the circus elephant. |
Original Air Date—6 December 1964
Knocked unconscious and framed for the murder of scheming rancher, Flint Durfee, Hoss Cartwright refuses his father's expensive lawyer and trusts his defense to new friend Whit Parker, a troubled trial attorney who is drowning his past in alcohol. |
Original Air Date—13 December 1964
Harry Starr, a half breed Commanche, is hired by the Cartwrights to work on the Ponderosa. When confronted with the prejudice of other hands he turns the other cheek. Meanwhile someone is stealing horses in the valley...is he involved? |
Original Air Date—20 December 1964
Arrested for robbing the stagecoach he was riding, Adam can't convince the sheriff that the real bandits were run off by a knight in shining armor who called himself...King Arthur! |
Original Air Date—27 December 1964
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Original Air Date—3 January 1965
Intending to confront the card-shark who he believes bushwhacked and robbed him, Little Joe instead decides to get his money back by betting the shady gambler that big brother Hoss will win the Founders' Day flapjack eating contest against champion Big Ed Simpson. But Hoss isn't sure that winning the five hundred dollar first prize is worth suffering through his little brother's training program, especially when it includes meals consisting of only carrots, apples and water...and no beer! |
Original Air Date—10 January 1965
Little Joe and his friend Tuck vie for the affections of pretty Lucy Melviney, a sheltered, naive young woman who soon puts all of their lives in danger when she chooses to believe that real life should mirror what she reads in the pages of her classic romantic novels. |
Original Air Date—17 January 1965
Shakespeare-inspired Adam tries to tame a shrewish senorita while she waits at the Ponderosa for her never-met husband-to-be. |
Original Air Date—24 January 1965
A crippled former ballet dancer falls in love while teaching classical dance to the daughter of a traveling violinist, wants to help her audition for the San Francisco ballet but meets resistance from her father who wants her to keep performing with him. |
Original Air Date—31 January 1965
Worrying that a hired gun may just cause more trouble for the ranchers, Adam Cartwright votes no when the Cattleman's Association asks ruthless range detective, Sherman Clegg, to stop a region-wide rustling problem; but when tragedy follows and Clegg is accused of murder, Adam appears to be the only one to take the side of the very man he originally opposed. |
Original Air Date—7 February 1965
Hoss goes above and beyond to help an eccentric, aging inventor and his overly-protective granddaughter realize their dream of manned flight. |
Season 6, Episode 21: The SearchOriginal Air Date—14 February 1965
Adam's search for troublesome look-a-like Tom Burns lands him in the Placerville jail for two murders committed by Burns. |
Original Air Date—21 February 1965
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Original Air Date—28 February 1965
Suffering from an infected foot, Hoss finds unexpected relief from Professor Poppy, an itinerant patent medicine peddler who secretly carries a medical bag. But Hoss soon finds that the professor may really be Doctor P.A. Mundy who is being trailed by a vengeful Englishman claiming that Mundy murdered his wife. |
Original Air Date—7 March 1965
Substitute teacher Adam Cartwright is unprepared for the violent resistance he meets when his research into the territory's history gets him too close to uncovering a long-buried Virginia City secret. |
Season 6, Episode 25: Hound DogOriginal Air Date—21 March 1965
The Cartwrights and their cousin Muley Jones tangle with feisty Tracy Ledbetter when she claims Cousin Muley stole her precious pack of baying bird dogs. |
Season 6, Episode 26: The TrapOriginal Air Date—28 March 1965
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Original Air Date—4 April 1965
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Original Air Date—11 April 1965
When Hoss' snoring, Adam's guitar playing and Little Joe's courting shenanigans keep a dog-tired Ben Cartwright awake, he rides wearily away from the Ponderosa to try to find a quiet room at the Virginia City hotel; but the wild, frontier town's chaotic night life soon makes him think he would have been better off back at the ranch. |
Original Air Date—18 April 1965
A rich tycoon who is known for destroying anything that stands in the way of getting what he wants, vows to have the Ponderosa, no matter what the cost. |
Original Air Date—25 April 1965
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Season 6, Episode 31: The ReturnOriginal Air Date—2 May 1965
When Trace Cordell comes back to Virginia City after serving his time for bank robbery, Ben Cartwright is among those at the stage to welcome his former neighbor home. But, except for Ben, no one is happy when the ex-con wants to take up where he left off, running his family's ranch outside of town; especially not banker Paul Dorn, the man who was put in a wheelchair by Cordell's bullet five years earlier. |
Season 6, Episode 32: The JonahOriginal Air Date—9 May 1965
A ranch hand who saves Hoss's life is offers a job on the Ponderosa, despite a rumor that he's a jinx. |
Original Air Date—16 May 1965
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Original Air Date—23 May 1965
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Season 7, Episode 1: The DebtOriginal Air Date—12 September 1965
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Original Air Date—19 September 1965
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Original Air Date—26 September 1965
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Original Air Date—3 October 1965
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Original Air Date—10 October 1965
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Original Air Date—17 October 1965
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Original Air Date—24 October 1965
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Original Air Date—31 October 1965
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Original Air Date—7 November 1965
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Original Air Date—14 November 1965
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Original Air Date—21 November 1965
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Original Air Date—5 December 1965
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Original Air Date—12 December 1965
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Original Air Date—19 December 1965
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Original Air Date—2 January 1966
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Original Air Date—9 January 1966
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Original Air Date—16 January 1966
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Original Air Date—23 January 1966
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Original Air Date—30 January 1966
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Original Air Date—6 February 1966
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Season 7, Episode 21: The CodeOriginal Air Date—13 February 1966
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Original Air Date—20 February 1966
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Original Air Date—27 February 1966
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Original Air Date—6 March 1966
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Original Air Date—20 March 1966
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Original Air Date—27 March 1966
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Season 7, Episode 27: The GeniusOriginal Air Date—3 April 1966
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Original Air Date—10 April 1966
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Original Air Date—17 April 1966
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Original Air Date—24 April 1966
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Original Air Date—1 May 1966
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Original Air Date—8 May 1966
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Original Air Date—15 May 1966
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Original Air Date—11 September 1966
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Original Air Date—18 September 1966
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Original Air Date—25 September 1966
Angered that his longtime friend, Ben Cartwright, would ask him to retire into easier work after 50 years of wrangling, aging ranch-hand Dan Tolliver falls in with two disgruntled drifters who plan to rob the Ponderosa payroll. |
Original Air Date—2 October 1966
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Original Air Date—9 October 1966
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Original Air Date—16 October 1966
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Original Air Date—23 October 1966
When it's unclear which of their two bullets, fired simultaneously, brought down a wanted horse thief, Little Joe allows his friend, rancher Morgan Tanner, to take the credit and claim the much needed reward money. But when the outlaw's brothers come to town for his body and revenge, Joe must make a difficult decision that will save his friend, but may destroy their friendship. |
Original Air Date—30 October 1966
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Original Air Date—6 November 1966
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Original Air Date—13 November 1966
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Season 8, Episode 11: The OathOriginal Air Date—20 November 1966
Mean Big Charlie Monahan makes his son promise to kill Ben Cartwright after Ben's testimony sends Big Charlie to the gallows for the murder of an old prospector. |
Original Air Date—27 November 1966
Special Deputy Hoss goes in search of the gunman who shot Little Joe, tangling with testy townsfolk, two crafty brothers, and their mother, who is more interested in protecting her sons than seeing justice done. |
Original Air Date—4 December 1966
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Season 8, Episode 14: TommyOriginal Air Date—18 December 1966
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Original Air Date—25 December 1966
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Original Air Date—1 January 1967
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Season 8, Episode 17: JusticeOriginal Air Date—8 January 1967
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Original Air Date—15 January 1967
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Original Air Date—22 January 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—29 January 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—5 February 1967
Initially suspected as being part of the bank-robbing Hollister gang while on his way to visit Tom and Ellie Blackwell's drought-stricken ranch, Little Joe is soon held hostage and his friends terrorized by the real desperadoes on the run to Mexico with a wounded man.
Next US airings: |
Season 8, Episode 22: AmigoOriginal Air Date—12 February 1967
While riding posse after a band of vicious marauders led by a renegade ex-cavalry officer, Ben Cartwright captures a wounded comanchero and tries to protect him from the angry ranchers who want to lynch him, his own gang who wants the money he was carrying for them and an angry Little Joe who lost a friend when his ranch was raided.
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—19 February 1967
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Original Air Date—26 February 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—5 March 1967
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Original Air Date—12 March 1967
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Original Air Date—26 March 1967
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Season 8, Episode 28: The PrinceOriginal Air Date—2 April 1967
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Original Air Date—9 April 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—16 April 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—23 April 1967
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Season 8, Episode 32: ClarissaOriginal Air Date—30 April 1967
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Original Air Date—7 May 1967
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Original Air Date—14 May 1967
The Cartwrights fear they may have to fend off a gold-rush when word spreads that an old prospector struck it rich on Ponderosa land.
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—17 September 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—24 September 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—1 October 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—8 October 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—15 October 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—22 October 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—29 October 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—5 November 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—12 November 1967
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Original Air Date—19 November 1967
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—26 November 1967
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Season 9, Episode 12: Check ReinOriginal Air Date—3 December 1967
The Cartwrights become unwitting pawns in a battle between wealthy rancher Gabriel Bingham and his penniless nephew Jayce Fredericks over the ownership of the valuable black horse Jayce needs to restart his herd and reclaim his ranch.
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—17 December 1967
Not long after bad-tempered Frank Scott is hanged for murdering a young woman in a dark Virginia City alley, witness for the prosecution, Hoss Cartwright, sees a man in a Carson City saloon who looks just like Frank, hears him whistling the same strange tune the killer whistled that fateful night, and begins to fear that his testimony has sent the wrong man to the gallows.
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—24 December 1967
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Original Air Date—7 January 1968
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—14 January 1968
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Original Air Date—21 January 1968
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—28 January 1968
Next US airings: |
Original Air Date—4 February 1968
Next US airings: |
Season 9, Episode 20: Blood TieOriginal Air Date—18 February 1968
Ben Cartwright finds himself in a fight for his life when he acts too late on his suspicion that there is more than meets the eye to an amiable, young drifter that Little Joe brought home to the Ponderosa. |
Original Air Date—25 February 1968
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Original Air Date—3 March 1968
When an assassin's bullet strikes him down on the Ponderosa, Ben Cartwright decides to stay "dead" until he can find out who's behind the failed attempt...and why. |
Original Air Date—10 March 1968
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Original Air Date—17 March 1968
Candy finally leaves the Ponderosa and the Cartwright family to marry his longtime fiancé, Lila, in River Bend. His life changes radically, however, when he arrives in the town and finds himself arrested and thrown in jail for something he didn't do. Getting word of his plight, the Cartwrights travel to River Bend, only to discover that the town is controlled by a murderous, corrupt sheriff and his equally crooked deputy. |
Original Air Date—7 April 1968
While in the nearby town of Angeles to treat Candy's injured hand, Little Joe offers horse wrangling work to an out-of-work miner friend, Steve Regan. But, when a rearing horse accidentally kills Steve, Little Joe and Candy stay to help the grieving widow and instead find themselves embroiled in a dangerous mine strike, resented by the angry Angeles miners, and discovering that there may be real cause to doubt the mine's safety...and their own. |
Original Air Date—14 April 1968
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Original Air Date—28 April 1968
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Original Air Date—5 May 1968
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Original Air Date—12 May 1968
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Original Air Date—19 May 1968
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Original Air Date—26 May 1968
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Original Air Date—2 June 1968
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Original Air Date—7 July 1968
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Original Air Date—28 July 1968
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Original Air Date—15 September 1968
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Season 10, Episode 2: ChildOriginal Air Date—22 September 1968
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Original Air Date—29 September 1968
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Original Air Date—6 October 1968
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Original Air Date—13 October 1968
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Original Air Date—20 October 1968
Hoss and Little Joe turn two old friends against each other and the town upside down when they become competing campaign managers in Virginia City's mayoral race. |
Original Air Date—27 October 1968
While in small town Tin Bucket to sell Ponderosa cowhides, Candy is accused of cheating in a card game and the Cartwrights are dogged by a mysterious rumor that claims they have fallen on hard times and are desperate for money. |
Original Air Date—3 November 1968
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Original Air Date—10 November 1968
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Original Air Date—17 November 1968
Brand new U.S. citizen and vintner, Georgio Rossi, riles his neighbors and risks government wrath when he allows an Indian family to break treaty and camp on his land; meanwhile, Candy woos pretty Regina Rossi, stirring up some trouble of his own when she and her mother try to take over the smitten ranch hand's life...and Hop Sing's kitchen! |
Season 10, Episode 11: Queen HighOriginal Air Date—24 November 1968
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Season 10, Episode 12: Yonder ManOriginal Air Date—1 December 1968
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Original Air Date—15 December 1968
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Original Air Date—22 December 1968
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Original Air Date—5 January 1969
A beautiful young woman running from a sinister gunman brings danger to the Ponderosa when she hides in Hoss' wagon while he's in Virginia City getting supplies. |
Original Air Date—12 January 1969
To prove Candy's innocence when he is accused of murder, Little Joe and Hoss must track down the only eye-witness to the incident... the Paiute Indian who was trying to steal Candy's horse. |
Original Air Date—19 January 1969
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Season 10, Episode 18: ErinOriginal Air Date—26 January 1969
Hoss is rescued from a band of hungry Paiutes rustling Ponderosa cattle after a hard winter by Erin O'Donnell, an Irish woman who was raised by the Sioux and revered by the tribes as a medicine woman and mystic. |
Original Air Date—2 February 1969
Candy is kidnapped by retired Army Sergeant Mike Russell and his band of fellow former soldiers when he uncovers their plan to blast their way into the Carson City Mint to steal the pension they believe they deserve, but never received, from their long years of Army service |
Season 10, Episode 20: The ClarionOriginal Air Date—9 February 1969
Ben Cartwright's effort to help friend Ruth Manning defend her ownership of nearby Gunlock's town newspaper, the Clarion, earns him the wrath of a corrupt, powerful judge who wants the Clarion for himself and will do anything to get it. |
Original Air Date—23 February 1969
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Original Air Date—2 March 1969
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Season 10, Episode 23: The WishOriginal Air Date—9 March 1969
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Original Air Date—16 March 1969
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Season 10, Episode 25: EmilyOriginal Air Date—23 March 1969
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Original Air Date—30 March 1969
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Original Air Date—6 April 1969
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Original Air Date—20 April 1969
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Season 10, Episode 29: The FenceOriginal Air Date—27 April 1969
Ben and Hoss are brought under siege with their friend, Sam Masters, and his daughter, Ellen, in an isolated miner's cabin by a former Union Army officer and his men who claim that Sam is really Confederate prisoner of war camp Commander Thomas Andrews who is guilty of Civil War crimes and on the run. |
Original Air Date—11 May 1969
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Original Air Date—14 September 1969
An eccentric Englishman arrives at the Ponderosa, his mode of transportation a land-rowing boat. His aim, as the Cartwrights learn, is to expose and challenge Nevada's silly, obscure laws. |
Original Air Date—21 September 1969
A young woman named Jenny Winters claims to have witnessed a stagecoach robbery which involves one man being killed. After she identifies the culprits as the Logan gang, Ben allows Jenny to stay in protective custody at the Ponderosa. However, the Cartwrights soon learn Jenny is not a very trustworthy person. |
Original Air Date—28 September 1969
Candy is accused of a string of serious crimes, including murder, robbery and arson in Stillwater, and when the Cartwrights come to his defense, the sheriff refuses to cooperate. Even worse: A young boy claims he positively saw the Ponderosa foreman commit those crimes. The Cartwrights work with the boy to jog his memory before an innocent Candy is convicted and sentenced to hang. |
Original Air Date—5 October 1969
When Sheriff Roy Coffee and Ben are subpoenaed to testify in a land sharking trial in San Francisco, Hoss is appointed the acting sheriff of Virginia City. Hoss soon finds plenty of trouble on his hands, namely dealing reluctant bridegroom Hiram Peabody, who wants to get arrested so as to avoid an impending marriage to an undesirable woman (whom has been his pen pal and has never met in person). He also must deal with a smooth-talking salesman who plans to sell shares in a planned resort in Virginia City. |
Original Air Date—12 October 1969
Will Griner is acquitted of a murder after two key witnesses disappeared before the trial. When a bloodthirsty lynch mob comes after him, thinking him to have silenced the witnesses, Griner goes to the Cartwrights for help. |
Original Air Date—19 October 1969
Joe's old friend, Dan Logan, is hired as a range detective to stop a cattle rustling outbreak. While the usual problems arise, Logan's job is jeopardized when a ruthless rancher shoots a suspected rustler in the back and then pins the blame on Logan. |
Season 11, Episode 7: The MedalOriginal Air Date—26 October 1969
Ben offers moral support to Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Matthew Rush when comes down on his luck. But that's the least of Matthew's problems, for he must also contend with the embittered Nagle clan, who has been transplanted from Georgia after they lost their house and land to Yankees. When the Nagles' daughter, Susan, falls in love with Matthew, she risks much more than just estrangement from her family and, in the process, the Cartwrights become involved. |
Original Air Date—2 November 1969
After Candy shoots and kills armed robber James Campbell in self defense, he learns that he left behind his widow, Lisa, and young son ... and a farm to operate. A remorseful Candy decides to help the young woman out, not knowing that Lisa plans to hire a hit man to kill the Ponderosa's foreman in revenge. However, Lisa learns that Candy had all the qualities that her husband never had and changes her mind, but then they must work together to stop the hit man from completing his mission. |
Season 11, Episode 9: MeenaOriginal Air Date—9 November 1969
Joe and Candy compete for the attention of pretty Miss Meena Calhoun, who has come to Virginia City with her irascible gold panning father, Luke. While pursuing the young lass, they run into the Potts brothers, a trio of gold claim jumpers who are convinced that Joe and Candy have more than love on their minds. |
Original Air Date—23 November 1969
Joe's friend Wade Turner, a storekeeper who is engaged and has been offered a promotion at work, tries to deal with a devastating brain tumor that leaves him with a paralyzing sensitivity to bright light and will soon render him blind. Turner lets his pride get in the way and decides to put off both his marriage and a surgery that could save his sight, but his attitude could be far more costly when a co-worker tries to rob him in a remote area. |
Season 11, Episode 11: Dead WrongOriginal Air Date—7 December 1969
During a long ride back to the Ponderosa, thirsty Hoss and Candy stop at the Sunville saloon where Salty Hubbard, known for his tall tales and practical jokes, tells his cronies that Hoss is the notorious bank robber, Big Jack. The town folk initially scoff at Salty's claim but a series of unfortunate events gives the prevarication a ring of truth and there is talk of a hanging. When a contrite Salty admits to Hoss that he lied to impress his friends, Candy thinks of a way to save both Salty's pride and Hoss' life but, as with most best laid plans, this one goes awry when the real Big Jack comes to town. |
Season 11, Episode 12: Old FriendsOriginal Air Date—14 December 1969
Two men whom Ben once worked with during a gold claim arrive in Virigina City ... on opposite sides of the law. Naturally, Ben is caught in the middle. |
Original Air Date—21 December 1969
While returning home from a horse-buying trip, Joe is met by old seafaring friend Abner Willoughby, who has returned to Nevada to find a stash of gold he hid 17 years earlier in Glory Hole. |
Original Air Date—4 January 1970
Circus midget and new widower George Marshall struggles to deal with the prejudice of Mr. Flynt, the town's banker, when he refuses to hire him despite Ben's recommendation. |
Season 11, Episode 15: Danger RoadOriginal Air Date—11 January 1970
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Original Air Date—18 January 1970
Candy quits his job at the Ponderosa after inheriting a fortune from an old Indian friend. He takes a job as vice president of a land promotion firm, unaware that the president is defrauding customers by selling barren desert land in lieu of the fertile farmland he promised them. Candy soon finds out and recruits the Cartwrights to expose the fraud. |
Original Air Date—25 January 1970
Ben comes to the aid of Amy Wilder, an eccentric old woman and animal hoarder, when a scheming neighbor wants her declared incompetent so he can purchase her home and property. |
Original Air Date—1 February 1970
Former Ponderosa ranch hand Chris Keller seeks refuge at his old workplace after con artists stalk him for his $67,000 fortune. While at the Ponderosa, he meets a beautiful young woman who has plans of her own for the money. |
Original Air Date—8 February 1970
The daughter of Ben's friend Harry Carlisle, Jennifer, develops a huge crush for the Cartwright patriarch. Ben notes that Jennifer is the same age as oldest son (and long-since departed Adam), but that doesn't matter. It soon does matter when Jennifer's ex-fiancé, a wealthy banker from San Francisco, shows up demanding to take her back ... or else it will be the end of the Ponderosa! |
Original Air Date—15 February 1970
A new school is opened in Virginia City, and one of the students is an angry teen-aged boy named Billy Burgess. After a difficult day at school, Billy angrily wishes that his teacher would die. Sure enough, the teacher is found murdered and Billy is fingered as the suspect. Ben, who has been working to counsel the teen and get at the root of his anger, knows the lad is innocent comes to his aid - even if Billy insists that he killed his teacher. |
Original Air Date—22 February 1970
A ruthless meat packer named Emit Whitney schemes to monopolize the local cattle industry by buying the rail line that is used to transport the cattle to market, then force the cattle farmers to sell at deeply reduced prices. Ben, championing the smaller farmers and knowing that Whitney could drive many of the Cartwrights' friends out of business, devises a plan to drive Whitney out - even if it means he will lose the Ponderosa if his plan fails. |
Original Air Date—1 March 1970
Eleven years after her last stop in Virginia City caused trouble for a young Joe Cartwright, actress Lotta Crabtree returns for another engagement in the Nevada town. This time, it's Hoss who finds himself in the thick of a murder case when he is accused of killing Lotta's co-star during a performance. |
Original Air Date—8 March 1970
Joe helps a young Mexican boy who has suffered from years of abuse by two sadistic slave owners who now want the lad's gold claim and will do anything to get it. |
Original Air Date—15 March 1970
While in Los Robles, Mexico, Ben is critically wounded by the town's cruel boss, John Walker. Ben manages to shoot and kill Walker, but now his son - the splitting image of his father - is hellbent on revenge. While Joe tends to his father's care, he tries in vain to embolden the town's residents, who for years have been intimidated into submission by Walker and their cronies. Eventually, Joe's efforts pay off and the Los Robles residents mount a stand against Walker's gang. |
Original Air Date—29 March 1970
In the series' only Easter-themed episode, a Quaker woman convinces Hoss to pose as the Easter bunny for the orphanage. While wearing a rabbit costume, Hoss must try to foil the efforts of a bumbling gang that is plotting to loot the Wells Fargo coach. |
Original Air Date—5 April 1970
Meena Calhoun has gotten engaged to bumbling outlaw Virgil Potts, who is now trying to make an honest living in the livery business. Virgil soon finds himself in a heated rivalry with Joe and Hoss, who have opened up a stable of their own. |
Original Air Date—12 April 1970
A pair of Easterners have read tall tales about the Wild West and come to Virginia City to live out their dream - be bank robbers in the tradition of their heroes. Hoss somehow becomes involved with their adventures. |
Original Air Date—19 April 1970
Alone at the Ponderosa while everyone else is away on a cattle drive, Joe suffers a compound fracture in his left arm when he kicked by a horse spooked by a severe thunderstorm. Joe fights to stay conscious and treat his wounds. When he becomes delirious, he fears that gangrene has infected his arm, leaving Joe with a difficult decision: Amputate, or not amputate? |
Original Air Date—13 September 1970
A series of destructive fires has Virginia City residents on edge and anxious to catch the arsonist. But Deputy Clem's new love interest seems to know a lot more about the fires than what she's letting on. |
Original Air Date—20 September 1970
An orphaned rainmaker named Jamie Hunter comes to Virginia City, hoping to help relieve the drought-stricken area. When Jamie's efforts aren't immediately successful, Ben helps the lad fend off the frustrated ranchers. |
Original Air Date—27 September 1970
The Cartwrights lend their support to The Weary Willies, a group of Civil War veterans who are struggling to re-enter society. |
Season 12, Episode 4: The WagonOriginal Air Date—5 October 1970
A murder suspect escapes a prison wagon. Sheriff Price Buchanan, who covets an appointment to Deputy U.S. Marshal, finds an injured Hoss. Buchanan, knowing his career is at risk if he fails his appointed duty, arrests Hoss and plans to substitute him in as his prisoner. Hoss befriends a fellow prisoner named Madge Tucker, whom knows Hoss was falsely arrested. Together, the two scheme to escape the wagon and Buchanan's clutches. |
Original Air Date—11 October 1970
The Cartwrights are part of a posse that is after Davis, who shot and killed an Army colonel. When Ben and Joe capture Davis in the desert, they are attacked by a rouge Indian tribe, and Ben is seriously wounded. While Joe crosses the desert on foot to seek medical attention (for his Pa) and the posse (to take Davis into custody), Ben and Davis must set their differences aside to survive their hostile surroundings. |
Original Air Date—18 October 1970
Gideon Yates, a corrupt lawman whose wife had shot her soon-to-be ex-husband in cold blood, tries to silence the murder's only witness - Little Joe Cartwright. |
Original Air Date—25 October 1970
Hoss unwittingly volunteers to be named sheriff of an aptly named town named Trouble. While dealing with problems that one might expect to associate with the town, he must find a way to capture the nefarious Clanton gang. |
Original Air Date—1 November 1970
After Ben is seriously injured in a horse-riding accident far from home, Joe seeks help from valley settlers who are terrified of a corrupt rancher and his foremen. While Ben suffers from recurring nightmares of Joe being unable to help, Joe tries to persuade Thornton to do the right thing. |
Original Air Date—8 November 1970
Old-school Zach Randolph refuses to make amends with his gravely ill daughter, Etta, because her son had been born out of wedlock. Joe risks his family's friendship with the Randolphs to set the stubborn old man straight. |
Season 12, Episode 10: El JefeOriginal Air Date—15 November 1970
The Cartwrights come to the aid of Mexican farmers in the Prince River vicinity, after they were run off the land by a corrupt tycoon wanting to strip mine the area. |
Original Air Date—22 November 1970
A reformed outlaw named Pepper Shannon comes to the Ponderosa seeking a job. Ben agrees to hire him, but has to keep both Pepper and an impressionable Jamie away from each other - a task that's easier said than done. |
Original Air Date—29 November 1970
Joe and Hoss pose as stagecoach robbers in an effort to track down their stolen money. However, their plans are forced to change after the wife of one of the robbers shows up. |
Season 12, Episode 13: Honest JohnOriginal Air Date—20 December 1970
Honest John, a drifter is looking for a nest and hopes to settle on the Ponderosa through his rapport with the newly adopted Jamie. But John's breakthrough with the boy must be weighed against the seamier side of his character. |
Original Air Date—3 January 1971
Jamie's friend Carrie Sturgis, herself an orphan, is the subject of a heated custody battle between her scheming aunt and uncle, Gifford and Vella Owens, and her gravely ill grandfather. The point of contention: The grandfather owns a gold mine ripe to be harvested, and Carrie is believed to be the heir. The Cartwrights become involved when Jamie rescues Carrie and the Owens couple want anyone named Cartwright arrested. |
Original Air Date—10 January 1971
Hoss is seriously wounded while accompanying the Brennan clan, Virginia natives who are settling out West, across Nevada Territory. The Brennans debate whether to seek much-needed medical attention for Hoss or let him die. |
Original Air Date—17 January 1971
In this adaptation of the Prodigal Son, Jamie - who is struggling to adjust to life on the Ponderosa and at his new school - damages Ben's valuable rifle. Refusing to take responsibility, he runs away. |
Season 12, Episode 17: Top HandOriginal Air Date—24 January 1971
During a cattle drive, Ben finds himself involved in a power struggle between the trail boss the Cartwrights appointed and a fellow rancher's foreman, who schemes to take over the job. |
Original Air Date—31 January 1971
Ben's dead-on lookalike, the scheming Bradley Meredith, causes serious problems when he poses as the Cartwright patriarch and sells area ranchers' land to the railroad. Ben, who refused to deal with the railroad, must find a way to expose Meredith and convince the farmers that he wasn't responsible. |
Original Air Date—7 February 1971
It's a case of reverse racism, as a white-hating black outlaw couple kidnap Hoss and scheme to kill him. |
Original Air Date—14 February 1971
Leslie and Gillian Harwood arrive from England to Nevada to take over the daily management a poorly performing ranch owned by their holding firm. At first, the Harwoods mistake the Ponderosa as the poor performer and make themselves at home, much to the sheer horror of the Cartwrights when they return home. Eventually, the Cartwrights realize there is a misunderstanding and agree to help the Harwoods restore their ranch to sound financial health. one they have purchased. They begin to "move in," unaware that the Cartwrights are simply away on a cattle drive. When the Cartwrights return home, the confusion |
Original Air Date—21 February 1971
Gen. Ira Cloninger, an old friend of the Cartwrights, is toasted at a ceremony as a hero and asked to run for governor. Cloninger accepts and Ben enthusiastically backs the candidate ... unaware that Cloninger has a very sinister hidden agenda involving the massacre of all Native Americans from Nevada Territory. |
Original Air Date—28 February 1971
When an influenza outbreak strikes the Ponderosa, the treatment methods and philosophy of two women from different generations clash. A nurse named Harriet Clinton believes in old-fashioned methods, while the other nurse, Evangeline Woodtree, has studied up on more recent methods. Not helping matters: Doc Martin backs Harriet, in large part because be believes Evangeline's husband is a fraud. |
Original Air Date—7 March 1971
A white supremacist named Mr. Ganns plans to disrupt a peace-treaty signing between the people of Virginia City and the Paiutes by massacring the entire town, then pin the blame on the Indian tribe. |
Original Air Date—14 March 1971
Little Joe is blinded by an explosion and wallows in self-pity as he struggles to come to grips with his condition, which may be temporary or permanent. Ben hires a teacher from the Institute for the Blind to help Joe deal with his predicament. |
Original Air Date—21 March 1971
Ben's friend, April Christopher, is bitten by a rabid wolf during her visit. With no treatment available, the Cartwrights and April's family struggle to watch her condition deteriorate. |
Season 12, Episode 26: Winter KillOriginal Air Date—28 March 1971
During a harsh winter that kills off the stock of many ranchers, Ben offers to test a new breed's endurance by herding a cow from the stock on Sawtooth Mountain. A rival rancher attempts to undermine Ben's plans by having his foreman shoot the cow, then claim it had succumbed to the cold. |
Original Air Date—4 April 1971
A delusional mining tycoon has the Cartwrights and Candy arrested on false trespassing charges and sentences them to slave labor at a gold mine. |
Original Air Date—11 April 1971
A traveling professional wrestler named Tom Callahan is the only person who can prove Dusty Rhoades' innocence when the Ponderosa foreman is falsely jailed. But when Callahan stubbornly refuses to come to Virginia City to provide the alibi, Joe decides to pursue him and do everything he can to bring him back. |
Original Air Date—19 September 1971
Against Ben's orders, Jamie drives a supply wagon on a route he's not supposed to; he loses control and wrecks the wagon. Jamie escapes uninjured but one of the horses is so badly hurt it has to be shot. To teach Jamie a lesson in responsibility, Ben decides to take his adopted son on an extended tour of the Ponderosa, to see how various residents and employees deal with their mistakes. The lesson makes an impression on Jamie, who is then asked to carve his name in the a tree, signifying he is the latest Cartwright to take "The Grand Swing" (Hoss and Little Joe also made the trip). |
Original Air Date—26 September 1971
Jill Conway is an alcoholic mother whose husband was sent to prison (for robbery) on Hoss' testimony. In a pent-up rage, Jill demands that Hoss look after her son, Petey. Hoss, however, wants Jill to see this as an opportunity to reform herself and is determined to use tough love to help her realize it. |
Season 13, Episode 3: BushwackedOriginal Air Date—3 October 1971
Two ranchers find a seriously wounded Little Joe in the Nevada desert. As he struggles for life, Joe mumbles incoherently about his surrealistic nightmares about a teepee and a wagon wheel. Ben and Hoss are left to decipher what Joe is talking about and determine what happened. |
Original Air Date—10 October 1971
A "beautiful baby" contest that Hoss is judging quickly turns into a circus, thanks to the fortune-hunting parents who are determined to win at all costs. |
Original Air Date—17 October 1971
Little Joe helps an old-time sheriff escort cunning outlaw Hank Simmons to jail. The crafty Simmons kills the sheriff and injures Joe, but Joe turns out to always be one step ahead of Simmons. |
Season 13, Episode 6: CassieOriginal Air Date—24 October 1971
The Cartwrights assist Jamie's friend, Cassie O'Casey, and Cassie's mother in dealing with their father and husband, Kevin, who is running a race horse scam. Hoss uses a "fixed" horse race of his own to outwit Kevin. |
Original Air Date—31 October 1971
Virginia City's new doctor, Mark Sloan, is dealt a double-blow when his wife leaves him, blaming him for their baby being stillborn. In the heat of the moment, Sloan kidnaps the baby of another woman. |
Original Air Date—7 November 1971
Jamie's girlfriend, Neta Thatcher, witnesses a drifter named Griff Bannon rob and kill a man at a roadside camp. Bannon - who assumes his victim's identity and inherits his fortune - is aware that Neta has witnessed the crime and begins stalking her. Neta is terrified to tell anyone about the crime she witnessed, but has even more problems on her hands: Her tough love father, who refuses to allow her to socialize with the Cartwrights. Meanwhile, Bannon takes a job at the Ponderosa using his victim's identity, and he and Jamie become friends. However, Bannon's cover is quickly blown when Neta fingers him as the killer. Just when Bannon has Jamie and Neta trapped, an unlikely hero saves their lives. |
Original Air Date—21 November 1971
Civil War veteran Will Hewitt returns to Virginia City, blinded and determined to solve the mystery behind the death of his brother. |
Original Air Date—28 November 1971
Vengeful Sen. Carson pins the blame on Hoss when his son is killed by his ex-girlfriend. The Cartwrights do all they can to stop Carson from destroying the Ponderosa. |
Original Air Date—5 December 1971
In the series' 400th episode, Jamie and three of his schoolmates - Lester, Judith and Roberto - are kidnapped after church by the nefarious Doyle gang, whom escaped from a wagon carrying them to prison. Doyle plans to use the teens as bargaining tools to ensure that the authorities will enable his gang's escape to Mexico. After Doyle makes his demands and warns that any attempts by the Cartwrights to interfere will result in the teens' deaths, Ben comes up with a plan to rescue Jamie and his friends, but is constantly undermined by the father of one of the boys, whose plan would surely result in death. Only after the teens' own attempt to escape fails (resulting in Lester being killed) does the father agree to go along with Ben's plan, which ultimately is successful. |
Original Air Date—12 December 1971
In the third episode featuring the Calhouns, Luke is bankrupted after a stock investment gone bad, so he and his daughter, Meena, move to the Ponderosa until he can get back on his feet. Without Ben's permission, Luke turns the Ponderosa into a casino, with lap dances and gambling all over the place. |
Original Air Date—19 December 1971
Ben begins the process to adopt Jamie as his son, but the process is complicated when Jamie's maternal grandfather, Paris Callahan, comes forward wanting custody. Ben must bear the heartbreaking news to Callahan that Jamie has bonded with the Cartwright family. |
Season 13, Episode 14: WarbonnetOriginal Air Date—26 December 1971
Joe is caught in the middle of a bitter dispute between an aging Native American chief and the man who stole the Indian's warbonnet years ago as a saloon decoration. |
Original Air Date—2 January 1972
In a rare episode with Hop Sing in the spotlight, the Cartwright's servant is panning for gold during a vacation when he falls in love with a white woman. The relationship blossoms into an engagement, but the marriage never takes place. Ben bears the heartbreaking news that a judge confirms: Territorial law forbids interracial marriage. |
Original Air Date—9 January 1972
Hoss turns to a clairvoyant named Judith Coleman to help in a search for Jamie, who has gotten lost in the high country. However, Judith is reluctant to help out, fearing that her psychic abilities will ruin her engagement to a minister who opposes her gift as witchcraft. |
Original Air Date—16 January 1972
Cactus Murphy, an embittered ranch whom Ben fired, suggests that the Cartwright patriarch is getting a little old to "put in a real week's work." Ben's response: Take a job under the assumed name Ben Brown and show Murphy that he is still more than capable of sweating out the job of a rancher. |
Season 13, Episode 18: FrenzyOriginal Air Date—30 January 1972
Ben's friendship with the Kosovos, a young immigrant family from Serbia, puts him in danger when family patriarch Nick suffers a psychotic snap, goes on a rampage and barricades them in their home. Ben does all he can to reason with Nick, whose wife and son have become deathly afraid of him in the process - especially since the consequences could be deadly if Ben says the wrong thing. |
Original Air Date—6 February 1972
In a satirical look at unusual, silly laws and customs, Joe and Hoss try to explain to their skeptical father why their delivery run to Agua Santos, Mexico took so long. An unimpressed Ben listens as his sons explain their story, which all started when Joe forgot to take his hat off in church and was exasperated when Hoss ran into trouble trying to bail his younger brother out of jail. |
Season 13, Episode 20: ShanklinOriginal Air Date—13 February 1972
A band of rouge ex-Confederate soldiers comes to the Ponderosa to demand a $25,000 ransom. Hoss tries to disrupt the robbery and is critically wounded by the group's leader, Shanklin. While Jamie escapes and tries to search Virginia City's saloons for Joe, Ben learns that Shanklin is an outstanding surgeon and demands that since he wounded him, he can perform the surgery to save Hoss' life. |
Original Air Date—20 February 1972
The Cartwrights attempt to reconstruct a 24-hour period of Ben's life after he fears he may have been the unknown gunman who shot down Sid Langley, a corrupt real estate broker who has become hated in Virginia City. The reason? Ben had suffered a concussion from an unknown source just before his meeting with Langley and happened to be his last appointment before Langley's body was found. Oh, and Ben strongly disapproved of Langley's unethical business practices. |
Original Air Date—5 March 1972
Jamie's 7-year-old friend, Jonah Morgan, is badly wounded when he and Jamie walk into the Virginia City Bank during a robbery by the evil Springer gang. The boy later dies of his injuries. Joe and Jamie accompany Jonah's grief-hardened, paraplegic grandfather on the hunt for Springer and his cronies. |
Original Air Date—12 March 1972
It's a case of comic mistaken identity when Hoss - on a delivery run for the Ponderosa - is mistaken as a member of the bumbling Younger Brothers gang. Ben and Joe are eventually able to convince the authorities to let Hoss go, but not after a series of misunderstandings wherein they too are involved with the Youngers' gang. |
Original Air Date—19 March 1972
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Original Air Date—26 March 1972
Ben's ability to close a lucrative cattle purchase with a picky livestock heiress hinges on Hoss and Joe's ability to sell a dilapidated saloon they were duped into buying. However, the Cartwright brothers are convinced that the shanty of a saloon contains a valuable painting. |
Original Air Date—2 April 1972
In his second attempt to cash in on Ben's good name, crooked lookalike Bradley Meredith learns that the Cartwrights are in Carson City and, posing as Ben, pretends that he is seriously ill and begins to liquidate the Ponderosa's assets. The Cartwrights come just in time to foil Meredith's plans. |
Season 14, Episode 1: ForeverOriginal Air Date—12 September 1972
Little Joe finds true love in newcomer Alice Harper. Following a courtship, the two are engaged. Unlike most of the Cartwrights' previous girlfriends, Alice makes it to the altar. Joe and Alice are starting their new life together, and she soon becomes pregnant. Alas, their life together is doomed. Alice's indolent brother owes money to a ruthless professional gambler named Sloan and has not repaid him. One day while Joe is gone, Sloan and his gang - with John at gunpoint - visit Alice to collect the money. When she refuses to cooperate, Sloan's hired muscle, Mr. Hanley, brutally beats Alice to death. Then, to cover up the murder, they burn the house down. Joe, along with Ben and Jamie, return to find - to his horror - his entire world crashing down in flames. Joe decides he needs "a little time away" to grieve over his wife's death, but then stumbles across a couple who have the music box he gave Alice as a present (and was subsequently taken by Sloan). Joe recruits Candy to help him track down Sloan and his gang and bring them to justice. |
Original Air Date—19 September 1972
Ben helps ex-convict John Dundee re-adjust to society. However, Dundee's boorish attitude complicates matters, and it may have to do with his former business partners framing him for a crime he didn't commit. |
Original Air Date—26 September 1972
Jamie joins an elite club and endures the initiation rites. However, when a classmate dies from cardiac arrhythmia during the initiation (touching a piece of ice to his chest, after getting him to believe it was a hot branding iron), the club's president Ted Hoag is blamed. A posse forms to track down Ted and hold him responsible for the hazing. Blood almost sheds, but then Jamie reveals he and the other boys were just as responsible for their friend's death. |
Season 14, Episode 4: RiotOriginal Air Date—3 October 1972
Ben becomes horrified while inspecting living conditions at the Nevada State Prison. So are the frustrated inmates, who take Ben hostage and make a series of demands to improve conditions. One of the inmates - Griff King - decides to act as a go-between to communicate the prisoners' demands with the state prison board. In the end, Griff is paroled to Ben's custody. |
Season 14, Episode 5: New ManOriginal Air Date—17 October 1972
In this sequel episode to "Riot," Ben helps parolee Griff King adjust to life outside of prison, giving him a job as a ranch hand. At first, Griff resists the Cartwrights' attempts to rehabilitate him, but he soon grows to appreciate their help and tries to change. |
Original Air Date—24 October 1972
Ben and a pregnant woman are held hostage by a gang of robbers, who are plotting a stagecoach robbery and are determined to prevent interference by anyone with the name Cartwright. |
Original Air Date—31 October 1972
Samuel Clemens makes his return to Virginia City, this time offering tall tales over an unsolved murder that was tied to a claim jumping. |
Season 14, Episode 8: StallionOriginal Air Date—14 November 1972
Joe is given a beautiful, black stallion for his birthday present, but winds up sacrificing it when he rides to the rescue of a young boy who was accidentally shot by his outlaw father. |
Original Air Date—28 November 1972
Dr. Will Agar is Virginia City's new town doctor. He's exceptionally gifted and can bring many new procedures to Nevada Territory. However, Dr. Agar is addicted to morphine, which results in trouble ... and in the end, tragedy. |
Original Air Date—5 December 1972
Griff's friend, widowed farmer Jonathan May, wants to adopt two young orphans, one of whom is unable to talk. When Jonathan is told he cannot adopt the boys, Griff decides to set the adoption agency folks straight on what a loving father is. |
Original Air Date—19 December 1972
Jamie forms a bond with an Irish setter he names April. However, April was a runt and - according to its rightful owner - should be put to sleep because it is a disgrace to the breed. When April competes in a field trial, the dog's owner soon learns that it's not the size of the dog that matters, but the size of the fight in the dog. |
Season 14, Episode 12: First LoveOriginal Air Date—26 December 1972
Jamie becomes friends with Kelly Edwards, who is abused by her husband, Dan. The catch: the husband happens to be the new teacher at the Virginia City School, and he quickly becomes unpopular because he belittles the students. Soon, Jamie helps Kelly come out of her shell, which sets none to well with Dan, who orders an end to the friendship. |
Season 14, Episode 13: The WitnessOriginal Air Date—2 January 1973
A man posing as Candy robs one of Ben's elderly business associates; during the robbery, the woman suffers a fatal heart attack. Candy is quickly arrested and brought to trial. While Griff scrambles to track down the witness - a young woman with a checkered past of her own - who can prove that Candy is innocent, Ben has serious reservations about Candy's rookie defense attorney. |
Original Air Date—9 January 1973
Unknown to the Cartwrights, Griff is asked to be a government witness in helping to bring a gang of war criminals to justice. Griff is asked to pose as the husband of beautiful Theodora Duffy, whom the Cartwrights think Griff had abandoned years ago. |
Season 14, Episode 15: The HunterOriginal Air Date—16 January 1973
During a delivery run, Joe meets Cpl. Bill Tanner, who turns out to be a war-deranged madman who enjoys stalking down his helpless victims before killing them. After stealing Joe's wagon and his supplies, the psychotic Tanner explains that Joe just became his latest "prey," and that he intends to stalk him down and brutally murder him. With no help in sight, Joe must rely on his wits and intuition to defeat Tanner. |
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