The Cartwrights' friendship with a neighboring rancher is threatened by his mentally unstable daughter.
Guest Stars:
Lynn Loring, Ron Foster
So the Cartwrights will not be killed, one of Ben's oldest friends must make sure Joe does not win a horse race.
Guest Stars:
Rudy Doucette, Julie Parrish, Jack Gordon
After the Cartwrights put wrangler Dan Tolliver out to pasture, the embittered old man plans to take part in robbing the Ponderosa.
Guest Stars:
Ed Begley, Sherwood Price, Don 'Red' Barry
A Mormon with two wives is badgered by the town's people and then things get much worse.
Guest Stars:
Dina Merrill, Eric Fleming, Lois Nettleton, Jack Gordon
As the persecuted party awaits Ben and Hoss' return, Herber is shot and killed. Joe retaliates and shoots Herber's assassin.
Guest Stars:
Dina Merrill, Eric Fleming, Lois Nettleton, Dee Carroll
Hoss is engaged to Carol Attley, a troubled woman with a past darker than he imagines.
Guest Stars:
Victor Sen Yung, Jack Gordon
Though his friend is badly in need of the reward money, Joe insists it belongs to him, to protect his friend from the dead outlaws' brothers.
Guest Stars:
Luana Patten, Charles Maxwell, Jack Gordon, Edward Faulkner, Troy Melton
The Cartwrights come to the rescue of four inexperienced homesteaders, when devious cattle ranchers try to run them off their property.
Guest Stars:
Vera Miles, Morgan Woodward, Ray Teal, Melinda Casey, Rand Brooks
A young cowpoke is killed during a fight with Hoss, but the old blowhard who runs the Virginia City stables, takes the credit, placing him in danger from the dead man's brothers.
Guest Stars:
John McIntire, Ray Teal, Jack Gordon, Jeanette Nolan, Bill Fletcher
A young troubadour, who blames Ben for the death of his father, returns to Virginia City. In one scene, Ben says the young man is welcome to use Adam's guitar.
Guest Stars:
Rudy Doucette, Jack Gordon, Victor Sen Yung, Randy Boone, Robert Foulk
While in another town, on business, Ben runs into a saloon employee who is a big figure, and after he kills an old miner, who has burned down his house, Ben takes him into the sheriff. He is sentenced and hung. Before his departure, Charlie Monahan, has made his half-breed son, Charlie Two, swear an oath to kill Ben. Little Joe is made aware of this and must track him down to prevent him from carrying out his oath against Ben. Charlie Two is unaware that Joe is Ben's son, as they meet on the trail.
Guest Stars:
Tony Bill, Dal McKennon, John Daheim
When the woman he was planning to marry is strangled, Joe forces the only suspect to come forward, in a very tense-filled episode.
Guest Stars:
Louise Latham, Jack Gordon, Robert Foulk, Herb Vigran
Joe plays matchmaker in this story of a rancher attempting to marry off his supposedly unremarkable daughter.
Guest Stars:
Jack Gordon, Jeff Corey, Joanne Linville
The Cartwrights protect a woman and her deaf-mute little son from the boy's outlaw stepfather.
Guest Stars:
Teddy Quinn, Victor Sen Yung, Ray Teal, Janet De Gore, Frank Puglia
Warbling Andy Walker returns to Virginia City a big success, along with his shifty Uncle Thaddeus.
Guest Stars:
Jack Oakie, Dabbs Greer, Wayne Newton, Victor Sen Yung, Ray Teal
Two Virginia City old-timers fool Hoss and Joe into raising rabbits, and the Ponderosa is overrun with paws and whiskers.
Guest Stars:
Chubby Johnson, Dub Taylor, Victor Sen Yung, Chick Chandler
When the woman he was planning to marry is strangled, Joe forces the only suspect to come forward.
Guest Stars:
Shirley Bonne, Beau Bridges, Bing Russell, Victor Sen Yung, Jack Gordon
Dolly Bantree has a crooked manager ""Blackie"", who blackmails Dolly to fleece newly rich miner Buford out of his newfound wealth. Hoss suspects something and gets all duded up to pose as a rich mark to test Dolly.
Guest Stars:
Jack Elam, Lola Albright, Victor Sen Yung, Ray Teal, Jack Gordon
In the town of Chiso, Joe encounters a former Ponderosa cowhand who is now a gunfighter and expecting to be killed on Friday the 13th. John Saxon makes the first of his three appearances in the series, in this episode as Steven Friday.
Guest Stars:
John Saxon, Ford Rainey, Robert McQueeney
Ben discovers that his friend, Sheriff Paul Rowan, is suffering from stress brought on by his wartime experiences.
Guest Stars:
Leslie Nielsen, Nancy Malone, Bill Fletcher, Douglas Henderson, Percy Helton
Joe visits his married friends in Arizona Territory, only to discover the husband has become a criminal and is secretly part of a notorious gang.
Guest Stars:
Jason Evers, Lory Patrick, John Ericson, Kevin Hagen, C. Lindsay Workman
A wounded comanchero sides with the Cartwrights when the rest of the gang, led by Captain Fenner, shows up to burn and rob the Ponderosa.
Guest Stars:
Henry Darrow, Anna Navarro, Ray Teal, Gregory Walcott, Warren J. Kemmerling
Mary Wharton, an old friend of the family, comes to live on the Ponderosa with her shiftless husband. When Ben learns Mary is the victim of domestic abuse, he sends Russ packing.
Guest Stars:
Diane Baker, Paul Richards, Victor Sen Yung
Hoss and Joe have their doubts as to who really robbed a way station, suspecting the two men they captured are innocent.
Guest Stars:
John Ireland, Martin West, Harry Carey, Jr., Bartlett Robinson, James B. Sikking
Joe becomes fascinated by detective literature and drags Hoss into the picture when he suspects the bank is going to be robbed.
Young Billy Wilcox wanders onto the Ponderosa, sick, hungry, and alone. Ben finds him, and after he regains his strength, offers Billy a job. Jennifer Yardley, who with her father is visiting the Cartwrights, is interested in Billy. Billy is more concerned about a lawman that has come to town because he has a past that could be problematic: he killed a man in self-defense and ran.
Guest Stars:
Linda Foster, Victor Sen Yung
Ben assists Georgio Rossi in his battle for water on adjoining property.
Guest Stars:
Brioni Farrell, Bing Russell, Jack Gordon, Penny Santon, Michael Stefani
The Cartwrights play host to Russian royals, who are the target of jewel thieves.
Guest Stars:
Lloyd Bochner, Warren Stevens, Claire Griswold, Victor Sen Yung, Adam Williams
The foreman of a neighboring ranch frames Joe for murder as part of a scheme to get his employer's property.
Guest Stars:
Royal Dano, Bing Russell, Victor Sen Yung, Jack Gordon, Jeremy Slate
A gang of juvenile delinquents, led by an intelligent runt, who calls himself Napoleon, terrorizes Virginia City and the Ponderosa as well.
Guest Stars:
Kevin O'Neal, Robert Biheller, Bing Russell, Victor Sen Yung, Michael Burns
A woman - convinced Little Joe intentionally killed her brother - offers $1,000 to the man who kills the youngest Cartwright in what she deems a ""fair fight."" Joe, meanwhile, must overcome his guilt over killing another man in self defense while trying to avoid the dead man's bitterly grieving father.
Guest Stars:
Judi Meredith, Bing Russell, Victor Sen Yung, Frank Overton
The Cartwrights' cousin, Clarissa visits. Her assertive, snobbish ways result in nothing but trouble for Ben and his sons.
Guest Stars:
Nina Foch, Victor Sen Yung, Ray Teal, Roy Roberts, Norman Leavitt
Hoss is conned into buying a violin from a gypsy fortune teller, and everyone on the Ponderosa--except for Hop Sing--suffers the consequences.
Guest Stars:
Zsa Zsa Gabor, Victor Sen Yung, Ray Teal, Kathleen Freeman

33 Episodes