Bonanza
The Quality of Mercy
TV Flash files “The Quality of Mercy” as hour 143 of 431 in the TV Flash guide — Bonanza (1959–1973) on NBC, season 5, episode 9, aired 1963-11-17, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E09: listed hour 143 of 431 in the Bonanza guide, hour 9 of 34 in season 5. It aired 1963-11-17 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Journey Remembered” (S05E08). Next is “The Waiting Game” (S05E10). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Little Joe struggles with his conscience, trying to believe that his friend, Seth Pruitt, did the right thing after Seth admits to the mercy-killing of his fiancée's father when the man was in agony from a broken back and begging for death.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Quality of Mercy sit in the Bonanza guide?
S05E09 is listed hour 143 of 431 — hour 9 of 34 in season 5, season 5 episode 9.
When did Bonanza S05E09 air?
The Quality of Mercy aired 1963-11-17 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…