The twelfth season of the American Western television series Bonanza premiered on NBC on September 13, 1970, with the final episode airing April 11, 1971.[1] The series was developed and produced by David Dortort. Season twelve starred Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon. The season consisted of 28 episodes of a series total 431 hour-long episodes, the entirety of which was produced in color.[2] Season twelve was aired on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. It finished the season at #9 in the Nielsen ratings, behind #5 Gunsmoke.[3]
| Bonanza | |
|---|---|
| Season 12 | |
 Cast of Bonanza in 1959 | |
| Starring | |
| No. of episodes | 28 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 13, 1970 – April 11, 1971 |
| 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 (Lorne Greene) and his three sons (each by a different wife), Adam (Pernell Roberts), Eric "Hoss" (Dan Blocker), and Joseph (Michael Landon). Veteran actor Victor Sen Yung played the ranch cook, Hop Sing. In 1964, Pernell Roberts began expressing a desire to leave the series, and so prospective replacements were introduced via Barry Coe as Little Joe's wayward maternal half-brother Clay, and Guy Williams as Ben's nephew Will Cartwright. However, Roberts was persuaded to complete his contract, and remained through season six. The characters of Clay and Will were discontinued. In the ninth season, David Canary was added to the cast as ranch hand/foreman Candy Canady. After four years with the series, Canary left due to a contract dispute. In the twelfth season, Mitch Vogel joined the cast as Jamie Hunter, a teenage orphan who is adopted by Ben Cartwright.
Cast and characters
editMain cast
edit- Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright
- Dan Blocker as Eric "Hoss" Cartwright
- Michael Landon as Joseph "Little Joe" Cartwright
- Mitch Vogel as Jamie Hunter Cartwright
Recurring
edit- Victor Sen Yung as Hop Sing
- Ray Teal as Sheriff Roy Coffee
- Bing Russell as Deputy Clem Foster
- Lou Frizzell as Dusty Rhodes
Guest cast
editEpisodes
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 362 | 1 | "The Night Virginia City Died" | William Wiard | John Hawkins | September 13, 1970 | |
|
A series of destructive fires has Virginia City residents on edge and anxious to catch the arsonist. | ||||||
| 363 | 2 | "A Matter of Faith" | William Wiard | Jack B. Sowards, John Hawkins | September 20, 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. | ||||||
| 364 | 3 | "The Weary Willies" | Leo Penn | Robert Pirosh | September 27, 1970 | |
|
The Cartwrights lend their support to The Weary Willies, a group of Civil War veterans who are struggling to re-enter society. Richard Thomas guest stars. | ||||||
| 365 | 4 | "The Wagon" | James Neilson | Ken Pettus | October 4, 1970 | |
|
Hoss is falsely accused of murder by a corrupt sheriff named Price Buchanan (Denver Pyle). While en route to prison, Hoss manages to escape the prison wagon with a woman named Madge Tucker (Salome Jens). | ||||||
| 366 | 5 | "The Power of Life and Death" | Leo Penn | Joel Murcott | October 11, 1970 | |
|
The Cartwrights are part of a posse that is after Davis, who shot and killed an Army colonel, when they are attacked by a rogue Indian tribe. | ||||||
| 367 | 6 | "Gideon, the Good" | Herschel Daugherty | Ken Pettus | October 18, 1970 | |
|
Gideon Yates (Richard Kiley), a corrupt lawman whose wife (Terry Moore) had shot her soon-to-be ex-husband, tries to silence the murder's only witness - Little Joe Cartwright. | ||||||
| 368 | 7 | "The Trouble with Trouble" | Herschel Daugherty | Jack B. Sowards | October 25, 1970 | |
|
Hoss unwittingly volunteers to be named sheriff of an aptly named town named Trouble. | ||||||
| 369 | 8 | "Thornton's Account" | William F. Claxton | Preston Wood | November 1, 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. | ||||||
| 370 | 9 | "The Love Child" | Michael Landon | Michael Landon | November 8, 1970 | |
|
Old-school Zach Randolph (Will Geer) refuses to make amends with his gravely ill daughter, Etta (Carol Locatell), because her son had been born out of wedlock. Ben risks his family's friendship with the Randolphs to set the stubborn old man straight. | ||||||
| 371 | 10 | "El Jefe" | William F. Claxton | Ken Pettus | November 15, 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. | ||||||
| 372 | 11 | "The Luck of Pepper Shannon" | Nicholas Webster | John Hawkins | November 22, 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. | ||||||
| 373 | 12 | "The Impostors" | Lewis Allen | Robert Vincent Wright | December 13, 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. | ||||||
| 374 | 13 | "Honest John" | Lewis Allen | Arthur Heinemann | December 20, 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. | ||||||
| 375 | 14 | "For a Young Lady" | Don Richardson | B. W. Sandefur | December 27, 1970 | |
|
Jamie's new friend Carrie Sturgis, herself an orphan, is the subject of a heated custody battle between her scheming aunt and uncle. Joe takes it upon himself to see that the girl is protected. | ||||||
| 376 | 15 | "A Single Pilgrim" | William Wiard | Arthur Weingarten, Suzanne Clauser | January 3, 1971 | |
|
Hoss is seriously wounded while accompanying the Brennan clan, Virginia natives who are settling out West, across Nevada Territory. | ||||||
| 377 | 16 | "The Gold-Plated Rifle" | Joseph Pevney | Preston Wood | January 10, 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. | ||||||
| 378 | 17 | "Top Hand" | William F. Claxton | Arthur Heinemann, John Hawkins | January 17, 1971 | |
|
During a cattle drive, Ben finds himself involved in a power struggle between the trail boss the Cartwrights appointed (Ben Johnson) and a fellow rancher's foreman (Roger Davis), who schemes to take over the job. | ||||||
| 379 | 18 | "A Deck of Aces" | Lewis Allen | Stanley Roberts | January 31, 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. | ||||||
| 380 | 19 | "The Desperado" | Philip Leacock | George Lovell Hayes | February 7, 1971 | |
|
It's a case of reverse racism, as a white-hating black outlaw couple (Louis Gossett Jr., Marlene Clark) kidnap Hoss and scheme to kill him. | ||||||
| 381 | 20 | "The Reluctant American" | Philip Leacock | Stanley Roberts | February 14, 1971 | |
|
Leslie and Gillian Harwood (Daniel Massey and Jill Haworth, respectively) come to Nevada from England to take over the operation of a failing ranch near the Ponderosa. | ||||||
| 382 | 21 | "Shadow of a Hero" | Leo Penn | John Hawkins, Mel Goldberg | February 21, 1971 | |
|
Gen. Ira Cloninger (Dean Jagger), an old friend of the Cartwrights, is toasted at a ceremony as a hero and asked to run for governor. | ||||||
| 383 | 22 | "The Silent Killer" | Leo Penn | John Hawkins | February 28, 1971 | |
|
When an influenza outbreak strikes the Ponderosa, treatment methods and philosophy clash between two women from different generations, Harriet Clinton (Louise Latham) and Evangeline Woodtree (Meg Foster). | ||||||
| 384 | 23 | "Terror at 2:00" | Michael Landon | Michael Landon | March 7, 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. | ||||||
| 385 | 24 | "The Stillness Within" | Michael Landon | Suzanne Clauser | March 14, 1971 | |
|
Joe is blinded by an explosion and wallows in self-pity as he struggles to come to grips with his condition. Ben hires a teacher (Jo Van Fleet) from the Institute for the Blind to help Joe deal with his predicament. | ||||||
| 386 | 25 | "A Time to Die" | Philip Leacock | Don Ingalls | March 21, 1971 | |
|
Ben's friend, April Christopher (Vera Miles), 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. | ||||||
| 387 | 26 | "Winter Kill" | William Wiard | Story by : Jack Rummler Teleplay by : John Hawkins and Robert Pirosh | March 28, 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. | ||||||
| 388 | 27 | "Kingdom of Fear" | Joseph Pevney | Michael Landon | April 4, 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. Richard Mulligan guest stars. | ||||||
| 389 | 28 | "An Earthquake Called Callahan" | Herschel Daugherty | Preston Wood | April 11, 1971 | |
|
A traveling professional wrestler named Tom Callahan (Victor French) is the only person who can prove Dusty Rhodes's innocence when the Ponderosa foreman is falsely jailed. Sandy Duncan guest star. | ||||||
Release
editSeason twelve aired on Sundays from 9:00 pm–10:00 pm on NBC.[4]
Reception
editSeason twelve finished the season at #9 in the Nielsen ratings, behind #5 Gunsmoke.[3]
Awards and nominations
edit| Award | Year[a] | Category | Nominee(s) / Work | Result | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 1971 | Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition—For a Series or a Single Program of a Series (First Year of Music's Use Only) | David Rose (for "The Love Child") | Won | [5] |
| Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming—For a Series or a Single Program of a Series | Ted Voigtlander (for "The Love Child") | Nominated | [5] |
- ^ Indicates the year of ceremony.
References
editFootnotes
edit- ^ Shapiro 1997, pp. 147, 150.
- ^ Shapiro 1997, pp. 5, 65–157.
- ^ a b "TV Ratings: 1970–1971". ClassicTVGuide.com. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ Brooks & Marsh 2007, p. 164.
- ^ a b "Television Academy Emmy Awards & Nominations—Bonanza". emmys.com. Archived from the original on March 26, 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
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.