Bonanza
An Earthquake Called Callahan
TV Flash files “An Earthquake Called Callahan” as the last listed hour of season 12 — Bonanza (1959–1973) on NBC, season 12, episode 28, aired 1971-04-11, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S12E28: listed hour 389 of 431 in the Bonanza guide, last listed hour of season 12. It aired 1971-04-11 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Kingdom of Fear” (S12E27). Next is “The Grand Swing” (S13E01). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Joe searches for a professional fighter who can clear the name of Dusty Rhoades, who is sitting in jail, but Tom Callahan refuses to ever step foot in Virginia City ever again.
Viewer FAQ
Where does An Earthquake Called Callahan sit in the Bonanza guide?
S12E28 is listed hour 389 of 431 — last listed hour of season 12, season 12 episode 28.
When did Bonanza S12E28 air?
An Earthquake Called Callahan aired 1971-04-11 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…