Skip to content
Back
Playback unavailable Playback is disabled.

Playback is currently unavailable for S2 E1 · Showdown. Episode details remain available below.

Poster for Bonanza

Bonanza

7.5/10 506 votes
WesternAction & AdventureDramaFamily

The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.

Created by:
David Dortort
Cast:
Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, David Canary, Tim Matheson
Language:
English
Country:
United States of America
Network:
NBC

Episode guide

Seasons

14 available

Season 2

Episodes

Episode 1 selected
Still from Showdown E01

Episode 1

Showdown

1960-09-10 · 49m

A young bank robber hires on at the Ponderosa in order to keep his gang informed of the law's efforts to discover their whereabouts.

Current episode
Still from The Mission E02

Episode 2

The Mission

1960-09-17 · 49m

Filmed almost entirely outdoors, this is more like a feature than a series. Captain Pender is looking for a scout to lead him and his company of men across the desert, along with a currency shipment they are carrying to another army fort. Charlie Trent, a former scout and now a drunk, still blames himself for his troops being led to massacre. Hoss sees that this is Charlie's opportunity to redeem himself and win back his honor. Meantime, Captain Pender is having trouble with Cutter, another scout who is a devious and cunning bear of a man, who agreed to lead him across the desert, but Pender lets him go and with Hoss' suggestion, Captain Pender agress to have Charlie be their scout.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from Badge Without Honor E03

Episode 3

Badge Without Honor

1960-09-24 · 49m

Adam's life is saved by an enigmatic U. S. Marshal who has come to Virginia City to arrest a friend of the Cartwrights.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Mill E04

Episode 4

The Mill

1960-10-01 · 49m

The Cartwrights construct a grist mill to provide income for a crippled rancher who blames Ben for his predicament. Ben has to contend with the man's depraved caretaker, and finds himself attracted to his wife. "Sons can't be everything," Ben tells her.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Hopefuls E05

Episode 5

The Hopefuls

1960-10-08 · 49m

Adam guides a wagon train of Quakers and falls for the leader's daughter, Regina. The force Adam must employ to protect them, conflicts with their passive philosophy of life.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from Denver McKee E06

Episode 6

Denver McKee

1960-10-15 · 49m

While celebrating the return of his daughter Connie, former lawman McKee is asked to assist in the capture of an outlaw gang. While Joe is courting Connie, no one realizes that McKee is involved with the outlaws.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from Day of Reckoning E07

Episode 7

Day of Reckoning

1960-10-22 · 49m

Prejudice erupts on both sides when Ben gives an Indian named Matsou and his wife, some of his land, after saving Ben's life from a renegade Indian who almost killed him on the Ponderosa. An intense and magnetic performance by Ricardo Montalban.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Abduction E08

Episode 8

The Abduction

1960-10-29 · 49m

Hoss and Joe take their sweethearts to a colorful and strange carnival for the day. Joe's recent girlfriend Jennifer Beale is abducted by the sinister owner, Philip Reed and his accomplice Gerner. Her father is Joshua Beale, the richest man in the Comstock. Gerner convinces Reed to hold her for a $1 million dollar ransom, and her father will gladly pay them to ensure her safe return. Reed's girlfriend Della Thompson is jealous of Jennifer and has second thoughts about the abduction. Hoss and Joe take notice of Jennifer's disappearance and travel deep into the bowels of the carnival, meeting fierce resistance from the carnival people at every avenue. They come up without a trace of finding her.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from Breed of Violence E09

Episode 9

Breed of Violence

1960-11-05 · 49m

Joe's friend Dolly Kincaid is the daughter of the sheriff and she's always getting caught up with the wrong crowd. When she gets close to Vince Dagen, Joe gets worried and tries to intervene.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Last Viking E10

Episode 10

The Last Viking

1960-11-12 · 49m

Gunnar Borgstrom is the leader of a vicious band called the Commancheros. They burn houses, kill people and steal anything of value. When the Commancheros get to Nevada, Gunnar decides to visit his relatives, the Cartwrights. Meanwhile the gang capture Little Joe and his girlfriend. When Gunnar returns to the gang, he has no idea who Joe is because he'd never met his nephew before.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Trail Gang E11

Episode 11

The Trail Gang

1960-11-26 · 49m

On a cattle drive back to Nevada from Texas, Ben hires a young man who is both an outlaw and the son of the sheriff whose town the Ponderosa cowhands are entering.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Savage E12

Episode 12

The Savage

1960-12-03 · 49m

Adam's life is saved by a woman known to the Indians as White Buffalo Woman, but who is actually the daughter of Norwegian immigrants.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from Silent Thunder E13

Episode 13

Silent Thunder

1960-12-10 · 49m

Captivated by the pretty, deaf-mute daughter of a reclusive mountain man, Little Joe teaches the young woman sign language. Thrilled with her newfound ability to communicate, Annie mistakes her gratitude to Little Joe for love, much to the chagrin of Albie, who is determined to have her for his own.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Ape E14

Episode 14

The Ape

1960-12-17 · 49m

Hoss becomes friends with dull-witted Arnie Gurnie, who is a brute of a man with the mentality of a child. His temper scares everybody, including the Cartwrights.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Blood Line E15

Episode 15

The Blood Line

1960-12-31 · 49m

Ben feels responsible for the son of a man he was forced to kill, but the young man is determined to get even. A professional gunman offers to do the job for him.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Courtship E16

Episode 16

The Courtship

1961-01-07 · 49m

Hoss plans to marry the widow of one of Ben's friends, not knowing she is a compulsive gambler and refusing to believe it when the other Cartwrights confront him with the truth.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Spitfire E17

Episode 17

The Spitfire

1961-01-14 · 49m

Joe becomes the target of a tough and vengeful Kentucky family, after he kills one of them who almost sets the Ponderosa on fire and the Cartwrights take in the dead man's daughter.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Bride E18

Episode 18

The Bride

1961-01-21 · 49m

The Cartwright boys are surprised to find that a woman, claiming to have recently married their father, shows up on their doorstep. When Ben gets home, he is just as surprised as they are. Has the lady been swindled by a con-man, or is she something of a con-woman herself?

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from Bank Run E19

Episode 19

Bank Run

1961-01-28 · 49m

When they "rob" the bank in Virginia City to save depositors from being cleaned out by its president, Hoss and Joe wind up wanted by the law.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Fugitive E20

Episode 20

The Fugitive

1961-02-04 · 49m

Adam goes to Mexico to find out how the son of a family friend was killed, only to learn the man is still alive.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from Vengeance E21

Episode 21

Vengeance

1961-02-11 · 49m

Hoss accidentally kills a drunk he was trying to disarm. The man's brother bushwhacks Hoss, who has lost the will to live. Joe makes a promise to Hoss that he will kill Red Twilight, the vengeful brother who bushwhacked Hoss, no matter what happens, and will not let Adam stand in his way.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Tax Collector E22

Episode 22

The Tax Collector

1961-02-18 · 49m

The kindness Hoss extends to shiftless Jock Henry is not exactly repaid when Henry becomes an assistant assessor and raises the Ponderosa's annual tax bill from $375 to $1700.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Rescue E23

Episode 23

The Rescue

1961-02-25 · 49m

The Cartwright boys are concerned that Ben might be getting on in years, yet it is he who saves them from cattle rustlers.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Dark Gate E24

Episode 24

The Dark Gate

1961-03-04 · 49m

Adam is confused by the sudden behavior of his good friend, Ross Marquette. He beats up his wife, Delphine, after accusing her of having an affair with Adam. He also joins a group of rustlers and killers and helps rob a gold shipment. Adam thinks Ross is suffering from insanity, in this highlight of season two.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Duke E25

Episode 25

The Duke

1961-03-11 · 49m

Hoss takes on The Duke Of London, an arrogant, abusive bare-knuckle fighter, though his brawn is no match for the Duke's agile skills.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from Cutthroat Junction E26

Episode 26

Cutthroat Junction

1961-03-18 · 49m

When freight company detective Jed Trask is fired after a decade of service, he joins the thieves preventing supplies from reaching Virginia City.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Gift E27

Episode 27

The Gift

1961-04-01 · 49m

While crossing the desert to Yuma, Arizona with a white stallion intended as a birthday present for Ben, Joe runs into a pack of merciless comancheros. His companion, a former comanchero, Emiliano, who raised the horse, must get he and Joe through safely.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Rival E28

Episode 28

The Rival

1961-04-15 · 49m

Jim Applegate, Hoss' rival for the affections of Cameo Johnson, is a member of a vigilante group who lynched an innocent man and his wife.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Infernal Machine E29

Episode 29

The Infernal Machine

1961-04-22 · 49m

Hoss believes in his friend's primitive version of the automobile in this lighthearted, yet sad episode. When the "car" uses up the last of its fuel, Hoss remarks, "Dadburn it, I still say it woulda worked".

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Thunderhead Swindle E30

Episode 30

The Thunderhead Swindle

1961-04-29 · 49m

With Virginia City on the verge of economic ruin, out of work miners put their hopes in word of a strike at a mine everybody believed was played out. Ben suspects the new owners have been stealing silver from an adjoining mine also thought dry, and resolves to prove it.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Secret E31

Episode 31

★ 8.0

The Secret

1961-05-06 · 49m

Joe is the victim of an elaborate frame-up, accused of murdering a pregnant girl. When Ben is asked if Joe is telling the truth, he replies, "If I were to start doubting my son at this point, everything I've lived and worked for would be lost".

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from The Dream Riders E32

Episode 32

The Dream Riders

1961-05-20 · 49m

To finance his dream of constructing an airship capable of crossing the Atlantic, Ben's old friend plans to rob the Virginia City bank while diverting the citizens' attention with a hot air balloon.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from Elizabeth, My Love E33

Episode 33

★ 3.0

Elizabeth, My Love

1961-05-27 · 49m

At the bedside of a seriously ill Adam, Ben thinks back to his days as a first mate in the merchant marines and his marriage to Adam's mother, Elizabeth Stoddard.

Watch progress · Not tracked
Still from Sam Hill E34

Episode 34

Sam Hill

1961-06-03 · 49m

Blacksmith Sam Hill fights to keep the land on which his mother is buried, after his drunken father signs the deed over to Colonel Tyson and his private army. Poetic episode written by John T. Kelley and directed by Robert Altman.

Watch progress · Not tracked

Cast

Lorne Greene

Lorne Greene

Ben Cartwright

Michael Landon

Michael Landon

Joe Cartwright

David Canary

David Canary

Candy Canaday

Tim Matheson

Tim Matheson

Griff King

Mitch Vogel

Mitch Vogel

Jamie Hunter Cartwright

More Like This

Drag to explore