Bonanza
The Gold-Plated Rifle
TV Flash files “The Gold-Plated Rifle” as hour 377 of 431 in the TV Flash guide — Bonanza (1959–1973) on NBC, season 12, episode 16, aired 1971-01-10, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S12E16: listed hour 377 of 431 in the Bonanza guide, hour 16 of 28 in season 12. It aired 1971-01-10 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “A Single Pilgrim” (S12E15). Next is “Top Hand” (S12E17). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Gold-Plated Rifle sit in the Bonanza guide?
S12E16 is listed hour 377 of 431 — hour 16 of 28 in season 12, season 12 episode 16.
When did Bonanza S12E16 air?
The Gold-Plated Rifle aired 1971-01-10 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…