Bonanza
The First Born
TV Flash files “The First Born” as the first listed hour of season 4 — Bonanza (1959–1973) on NBC, season 4, episode 1, aired 1962-09-23, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E01: listed hour 101 of 431 in the Bonanza guide, first listed hour of season 4. It aired 1962-09-23 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Miracle Maker” (S03E34). Next is “The Quest” (S04E02). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A young stranger with a fast gun and questionable past shows up on the Ponderosa, and reveals he is a half-brother to Little Joe Cartwright (Michael Landon.)
Viewer FAQ
Where does The First Born sit in the Bonanza guide?
S04E01 is listed hour 101 of 431 — first listed hour of season 4, season 4 episode 1.
When did Bonanza S04E01 air?
The First Born aired 1962-09-23 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need to watch 14 seasons of Bonanza in order?
No. It is an episodic family western. The Cartwrights continue; plots reset. Sample famous hours, then wander by season if the ranch takes. A thermos-and-scholar marathon is optional.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Sunday-night NBC color as ritual: a family western that treated the Ponderosa like a parish. Watch it for glossy production, rotating guest-star ethics, and the Cartwrights as household gods before prestige TV invented the phrase.
Sunday night, 1959, and NBC is not merely airing a western. It is selling color sets as furniture. Bonanza walks into the living room in a palette the neighbors can envy through the window: the Ponderosa as parish, Lorne Greene's Ben Cartwright as patriarch with a three-son chord, and a Virginia City orbit that could host a moral, a guest star, and a fistfight before the late news. The western was already television's default weather. This one proved the genre could be glossy, emotional, and endlessly…
Filed against
- Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright
Lorne Greene patriarch-ed Bonanza as Ben Cartwright, color TV’s family western as Sunday ritual. Ponderosa warmth and authority made the Cartwrights a franchise before the word was fashion — NBC selling color sets as furniture while the…
- Michael Landon as Little Joe Cartwright
Michael Landon’s Little Joe Cartwright is the matinee face of Bonanza — the youngest son as Sunday-night color, the through-line who remained when the Ponderosa roster broke. NBC’s glossy family western treated the ranch like a parish;…
- Dan Blocker as Hoss Cartwright
Dan Blocker’s Hoss Cartwright was Bonanza’s gentle giant — color TV’s family western as Sunday ritual, heart the camera could not fake under NBC’s glossy parish. A death the company had to write around because he was not a replaceable…
- Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright
Pernell Roberts’s Adam Cartwright was Bonanza’s restless chord — the son who walked off the Ponderosa while NBC was still selling color sets as furniture. Fourteen seasons of Sunday ritual outlasted him. TV Flash still files the empty…