The fifth season of the American Western television series Bonanza premiered on NBC on September 22, 1963, with the final episode airing May 24, 1964.[1] The series was developed and produced by David Dortort, and season five starred Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon. The season consisted of 34 episodes of a series total 431 hour-long episodes, the entirety of which was produced in color.[2] Season five was aired on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. It ranked #2 in the Nielsen ratings, the highest rated Western for the 1963-1964 season.[3]
| Bonanza | |
|---|---|
| Season 5 | |
 Cast of Bonanza in 1959 | |
| Starring | |
| No. of episodes | 34 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 22, 1963 – May 24, 1964 |
| Season chronology | |
Synopsis
editBonanza is set around the Ponderosa Ranch near Virginia City, Nevada and chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, consisting of Ben Cartwright and his three sons (each by a different wife), Adam, Eric ("Hoss"), and Joseph ("Little Joe"). A regular character is their ranch cook, Hop Sing.
Cast and characters
editMain cast
edit- Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright
- Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright
- Dan Blocker as Eric "Hoss" Cartwright
- Michael Landon as Joseph "Little Joe" Cartwright
Recurring
edit- Victor Sen Yung as Hop Sing
- Ray Teal as Sheriff Roy Coffee
- Bing Russell as Deputy Clem Foster
- Guy Williams as Will Cartwright
Guest cast
edit- Philip Abbott
- Stanley Adams
- John Anderson
- James Best
- Patricia Blair
- Joan Blondell
- Kathie Browne
- Judy Carne
- Anjanette Comer
- Lloyd Corrigan
- Christopher Dark
- Davey Davison
- John Dehner
- Andrew Duggan
- Glenda Farrell
- Jay C. Flippen
- Jonathan Harris
- Robert H. Harris
- Stacy Harris
- Marianna Hill
- Dennis Hopper
- Clegg Hoyt
- John Hubbard
- Arthur Hunnicutt
- John Kellogg
- Jean LaFitte
- Sean McClory
- William Marshall
- Strother Martin
- Marlyn Mason
- Slim Pickens
- Phillip Pine
- Stefanie Powers
- Wayde Preston
- Gena Rowlands
- Richard Rust
- Frank Silvera
- Julie Sommars
- Robert Sorrells
- Katie Sweet
- Inga Swenson
- Marlo Thomas
- Jesse White
- Teresa Wright
- Keenan Wynn
- Bruce Yarnell
Production
editCasting
editPernell Roberts had been unhappy with the show from the beginning and had threatened to leave the show multiple times. To plan for a possible early departure of Roberts, Guy Williams was cast as a potential substitute character, cousin Will Cartwright. Roberts ultimately completed the term of his six season contract and Williams was only used for the single season.[4]
Filming
editFilming locations for season five included Golden Oak Ranch ("The Waiting Game",[5] "The Lila Conrad Story",[6] and "Triangle"[7]), Vasquez Rocks ("Alias Joe Cartwright"),[8] Golden Oaks Ranch ("Bullet for a Bride"),[9] and
Iverson Movie Ranch ("Walter and the Outlaws").[10]
Episodes
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 135 | 1 | "She Walks in Beauty" | Don McDougall | William L. Stuart | September 22, 1963 | |
|
Hoss takes a liking to a woman (Gena Rowlands) whose good looks have only led to unhappiness and a questionable choice of professions. Hoss asks her to be his wife and believes she can change even after she tries to seduce his brother Adam. | ||||||
| 136 | 2 | "A Passion for Justice" | Murray Golden | Peter Packer | September 29, 1963 | |
|
Charles Dickens (Jonathan Harris) founds himself embroiled in controversy and antagonizes the citizens of Virginia City with his arrogance. | ||||||
| 137 | 3 | "Rain from Heaven" | Lewis Allen | Robert Vincent Wright | October 6, 1963 | |
|
A rainmaker (John Anderson) offers his services to Virginia City during a drought. He brings with him his very sick daughter. | ||||||
| 138 | 4 | "Twilight Town" | John Florea | Cy Chermak | October 13, 1963 | |
|
Bushwhacked, Joe wanders into a seemingly deserted town and collapses. He awakens and Louise (Davey Davison) tends to his wound, telling him he is in Martinville. Louise's father (Stacy Harris) and others enlist Joe's help to combat a terrorizing outlaw gang, but the town's sheriff's widow (Dorris Dowling) warns Joe to leave while he can. At the conclusion of a mighty battle, Joe's family finds him alone in a deserted town with no signs of life. Did Joe rally the town's citizens, or did he have a supernatural encounter? | ||||||
| 139 | 5 | "The Toy Soldier" | Tay Garnett | Warren Douglas | October 20, 1963 | |
|
Adam helps an alcoholic artist (Philip Abbott) deal with bigots opposed to his marriage to a Paiute woman. | ||||||
| 140 | 6 | "A Question of Strength" | Don McDougall | Frank Cleaver | October 27, 1963 | |
|
Hoss journeys through the wilderness with two nuns after bandits wreck their stagecoach. Judy Carne and John Kellogg guest star. | ||||||
| 141 | 7 | "Calamity Over the Comstock" | Charles R. Rondeau | Warren Douglas | November 3, 1963 | |
|
Little Joe befriends and brings home to the Ponderosa Calamity Jane (Stefanie Powers), only to face the wrath of her boyfriend (Christopher Dark). Note: The real Calamity Jane and her family didn't reach Virginia City, Nevada until 1866, at which time she was only 14 years of age. Also, the time-frame of this episode was during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, 1861–1865 (see season five, episode five, "The Toy Soldier" which aired two weeks earlier). | ||||||
| 142 | 8 | "Journey Remembered" | Irving J. Moore | Anthony Lawrence | November 10, 1963 | |
|
Ben remembers his journey west with his second wife, Hoss's mother, Inger (Inga Swenson), after seeing Hoss in the barn waiting for a mare to be born. | ||||||
| 143 | 9 | "The Quality of Mercy" | Joseph H. Lewis | Peter Packer | November 17, 1963 | |
|
Joe struggles with his conscience after witnessing a mercy-killing committed by his friend Seth Pruitt (Richard Rust). Note: This was one of Michael Landon's favorite episodes. | ||||||
| 144 | 10 | "The Waiting Game" | Richard Sarafian | Ed Adamson | December 8, 1963 | |
|
Adam becomes attracted to Laura (Kathie Browne), a widow who's unwilling to tell her daughter Peggy (Katie Sweet) the bad news about her father, Frank Dayton (Wayde Preston), being dead. | ||||||
| 145 | 11 | "The Legacy" | Bernard McEveety | Anthony Wilson | December 15, 1963 | |
|
Believing their father to be dead after he goes missing while tracking poachers, the Cartwright boys set out to find the men who did it. Robert H. Harris, Phillip Pine and James Best guest star. | ||||||
| 146 | 12 | "Hoss and the Leprechauns" | John Florea | Robert Barron | December 22, 1963 | |
|
Hoss brings home a strongbox filled with gold, claiming it belongs to leprechauns. A newly arrived Irish professor confirms the mythical creatures' presence and the whole town goes searching for them. Sean McClory, Robert Sorrells and Clegg Hoyt guest star. | ||||||
| 147 | 13 | "The Prime of Life" | Christian Nyby | Peter Packer | December 29, 1963 | |
|
Ben competes with an old rival to win the railroad's lumber contract, but he soon questions his fitness to run the Ponderosa after an accident wounds him and kills a ranch hand. Jay C. Flippen guest stars. | ||||||
| 148 | 14 | "The Lila Conrad Story" | Tay Garnett | Story by : George Waggner Teleplay by : Preston Wood | January 5, 1964 | |
|
The Cartwrights protect dance-hall girl Lila Conrad (Patricia Blair) from the friends of the man she killed in self-defense and from self-righteous Judge David Knowlton (Andrew Duggan) intent on saving her soul. | ||||||
| 149 | 15 | "Ponderosa Matador" | Don McDougall | Alex Sharp | January 12, 1964 | |
|
The Cartwright boys compete for the attention of a visiting señorita (Marianna Hill): Adam relies on his charm and guitar, Hoss and Little Joe opt for a bull fight. | ||||||
| 150 | 16 | "My Son, My Son" | William F. Claxton | Denne Petitclerc | January 19, 1964 | |
|
Ben's marriage to widow Katherine Saunders (Teresa Wright) is jeopardized by the widow's son being accused of murder. | ||||||
| 151 | 17 | "Alias Joe Cartwright" | Lewis Allen | Robert Vincent Wright | January 26, 1964 | |
|
Joe is mistaken for an Army deserter who looks similar to him and has only a stubborn career army sergeant (Keenan Wynn) to help him avoid being executed. | ||||||
| 152 | 18 | "The Gentleman from New Orleans" | Don McDougall | William Bruckner | February 2, 1964 | |
|
Hoss befriends a flamboyant, sword-brandishing newcomer from New Orleans (John Dehner) who claims to be Jean LaFitte. | ||||||
| 153 | 19 | "The Cheating Game" | Joseph Sargent | William L. Stuart | February 9, 1964 | |
|
Laura Dayton (Kathie Browne) is told by a handsome grifter that she'll receive a large sum from her deceased husband's insurance, but it's actually part of a ruse to cheat her out of her money. | ||||||
| 154 | 20 | "Bullet for a Bride" | Tay Garnett | Tom Seller | February 16, 1964 | |
|
Taken by feelings of guilt, Joe proposes to Tessa Caldwell (Marlyn Mason) he blinded by accident on a hunting trip. | ||||||
| 155 | 21 | "King of the Mountain" | Don McDougall | Robert Sabaroff | February 23, 1964 | |
|
Hoss tries to stop Big Jim Leyton (Slim Pickens) and his fiancée's father from killing each other. | ||||||
| 156 | 22 | "Love Me Not" | Tay Garnett | Frank Cleaver | March 1, 1964 | |
|
A girl (Anjanette Comer) who's been held captive by the Paiutes for many years falls in love with Ben when he takes her to the Ponderosa. | ||||||
| 157 | 23 | "The Pure Truth" | Don McDougall | Lois Hire | March 8, 1964 | |
|
As acting deputy, Hoss is sent to bring in a prisoner, but he ends up in the wrong town and accused of robbing the bank. Glenda Farrell, Stanley Adams and Lloyd Corrigan guest star. Note: This was the highest-rated episode of the series (source: Nielsen Media Research and quoted in numerous books). | ||||||
| 158 | 24 | "No Less a Man" | Don McDougall | Jerry Adelman | March 15, 1964 | |
|
The citizens of Virginia City believe Sheriff Roy Coffee (Ray Teal) is too old to stop a raid from the Wagner gang and they demand his resignation. | ||||||
| 159 | 25 | "Return to Honor" | Don McDougall | Jack Turley | March 22, 1964 | |
|
Ben hears his nephew Will (Guy Williams) has been murdered in Pine City, only to learn Will is alive and on the lam from counterfeiters whose engraving plates he swiped (First episode of Will Cartwright). | ||||||
| 160 | 26 | "The Saga of Muley Jones" | John Florea | Story by : Alex Sharp and Robert V. Barron Teleplay by : Robert V. Barron | March 29, 1964 | |
|
Muley Jones (Bruce Yarnell), a distant cousin of the Cartwrights with a voice that can shatter glass, visits the Ponderosa. Meanwhile, the sheriff is looking for two moonshiners: Eskey (Jesse White) and Yuri (Strother Martin). | ||||||
| 161 | 27 | "The Roper" | John Florea | Peter Packer | April 5, 1964 | |
|
Will (Guy Williams) is taken hostage by outlaws who robbed Ben and killed three Army soldiers. He tries to save Ben and his sons, the doctor (John Hubbard), and the wife of one of the outlaws (Julie Sommars). | ||||||
| 162 | 28 | "A Pink Cloud Comes from Old Cathay" | Don McDougall | Lewis Clay | April 12, 1964 | |
|
Hoss receives a Chinese mail-order bride (Marlo Thomas) by mistake. Her militant ideas ignite a workers' rebellion and threaten the completion of a Virginia City railroad project. | ||||||
| 163 | 29 | "The Companeros" | William F. Claxton | Ken Pettus | April 19, 1964 | |
|
Will Cartwright (Guy Williams) is asked by his old friend Mateo Ybarra (Frank Silvera) to return to Mexico with him to defend President Juarez. | ||||||
| 164 | 30 | "Enter Thomas Bowers" | Murray Golden | Jessica Benson and Murray Golden | April 26, 1964 | |
|
Black opera singer Thomas Bowers (William Marshall) comes to Virginia City for a concert, but is suspected of being a runaway slave; some people want him arrested or worse. | ||||||
| 165 | 31 | "The Dark Past" | Murray Golden | William Bruckner | May 3, 1964 | |
|
Bounty hunter Dev (Dennis Hopper) appears to be haunted by a mysterious incident from his past. | ||||||
| 166 | 32 | "The Pressure Game" | Tay Garnett | Don Tait | May 10, 1964 | |
|
Adam is pressured by Laura Dayton (Kathie Browne)'s aunt Lillian (Joan Blondell) into proposing, but he's unwilling to marry her. | ||||||
| 167 | 33 | "Triangle" | Tay Garnett | Frank Cleaver | May 17, 1964 | |
|
As Adam secretly builds a home for his bride-to-be Laura (Kathie Browne), a love triangle ensues when Will (Guy Williams) falls for Laura Dayton. | ||||||
| 168 | 34 | "Walter and the Outlaws" | Ralph E. Black | Lois Hire | May 24, 1964 | |
|
Old prospector Obie (Arthur Hunnicutt) asks Hoss to help him rescue his dog from gold thieves. | ||||||
Release
editSeason five aired on Sundays from 9:00 pm–10:00 pm on NBC.[11]
Reception
editAwards and nominations
edit| Award | Year[a] | Category | Nominee(s) / Work | Result | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Globe Awards | 1964 | Best Series—Drama | Bonanza | Nominated | [12] |
| Best TV Star—Male | Lorne Greene | Nominated |
- ^ Indicates the year of ceremony. Each year is linked to the article about the awards held that year, wherever possible.
References
editFootnotes
edit- ^ Shapiro 1997, pp. 89, 94.
- ^ Shapiro 1997, pp. 5, 65–157.
- ^ "TV Ratings: 1963–1964". ClassicTVGuide.com. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ Leiby & Leiby 2015, p. 211.
- ^ Leiby & Leiby 2015, p. 80.
- ^ Leiby & Leiby 2015, p. 81.
- ^ Leiby & Leiby 2015, p. 87.
- ^ Leiby & Leiby 2015, p. 82.
- ^ Leiby & Leiby 2015, p. 83.
- ^ Leiby & Leiby 2015, p. 88.
- ^ Brooks & Marsh 2007, p. 164.
- ^ "The 21st Annual Golden Globe Awards (1964)". GoldenGlobes.com. Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Retrieved 2 May 2015.
Bibliography
edit- Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.
- Greenland, David R. (2010). Bonanza: A Viewer's Guide to the TV Legend. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-62933-722-7.
- Greenland, David R. (2015). Michael Landon: The Career and Artistry of a Television Genius. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-785-0.
- Leiby, Bruce R.; Leiby, Linda F. (2015). A Reference Guide to Television's Bonanza: Episodes, Personnel, and Broadcast History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 9781476600758.
- McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
- Shapiro, Melany (1997). Bonanza: The Definitive Ponderosa Companion. Cyclone Books. ISBN 978-1-890723-18-7.