Best of Bonanza (34 episodes)

BONANZA, one of the earliest series filmed in color, was a Sunday night tradition for fourteen seasons on the NBC-TV network. Even when being bounced around the weekly schedule (the show aired on Saturdays, Sundays and Tuesdays over the years), this family-style oater always got good ratings. The stars were Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon and Dan Blocker (although Roberts chose to leave less than halfway through the show's 14 season run).

The BEST OF BONANZA DVD box set is a terrific package of classic TV westerns. You get 25 hours of programming for one great low price. This MILL CREEK collection consists of four single-sided dual layer DVDs. There's 31 BONANZA episodes here and three WAGON TRAIN shows. The list of prominent actors who appeared in these (primarily) 1960 programs is quite extensive (see below).

The BEST OF BONANZA is most definitely for all fans of early television and especially TV westerns.

The following list includes 1 to 10 poll ratings found a film website, also season/episode/airdate and guest stars for each show,

DISC ONE--
(7.2) The Gunmen (S.1, #19 - 1/23/60) - Ellen Corby/Dorothy Crehan/King Donovan
(7.5) The Fear Merchants (S.1, #20 - 1/30/60) - Philip Ahn/Gregg Barton/Alexander Campbell
(7.7) The Spanish Grant (S.1, #21 - 2/6/60) - Salvador Baguez/Holly Bane/Sebastian Cabot
(6.8) Blood on the Land (S.1, #22 - 2/13/60) - Ray Daly/Glenn Holtzman/Everett Sloane
(7.8) Desert Justice (S.1, #23 - 2/20/60) - Claude Akins/Tom Greenway/Ron Hayes
(???) The Stranger (S.1, #24 - 2/27/60) - Hal Baylor/Lloyd Nolan/Elizabeth York
(6.8) Escape to Ponderosa (S.1, #25 - 3/5/60) - Chris Alcaide/Dayton Lummis/Joe Maross
(8.0) The Avenger (S.1, #26 - 3/12/60) - Jean Allison/James Anderson/Vic Morrow

DISC TWO--
(7.0) San Francisco Holiday (S.1, #28 - 4/2/60) - Kathleen Crowley/Richard Deacon/Tor Johnson
(8.3) Bitter Water (S.1, #29 - 4/9/60) - Clarke Alexander/Merry Anders/Rhys Williams
(7.7) Feet of Clay (S.1, #30 - 4/16/60) - John Eldredge/Logan Field/Tom Greenway
(8.5) Dark Star (S.1, #31 - 4/23/60) - Arthur Batanides/Argentina Brunetti/Hugo Haas
(8.3) Death at Dawn (S.1, #32 - 4/30/60) - Paul Carr/Nancy Deale/Peter Leeds
(8.5) Showdown (S.2, #1 - 9/10/60) - Ben Cooper/Jack Lambert/Norman Leavitt
(???) The Mission (S.2, #2 - 9/17/60) - Robert Adler/Harry Carey Jr./John Dehner
(7.8) Badge Without Honor (S.2, #3 - 9/24/60) - Fred Beir/Dan Duryea/Wendell Holmes
(8.0) The Mill (S.2, #4 - 10/1/60) - Claude Akins/Dianne Foster/Harry Townes

DISC THREE--
(???) The Hopefuls (S.2, #5 - 10/8/60) - Patricia Donahue/Larry Gates/Paul Genge
(8.2) Denver McKee (S.2, #6 - 10/15/60) - Bob Barker/Stephen Cortleigh/Franchot Tone
(7.9) Day of Reckoning (S.2, #7 - 10/22/60) - Gail Bonney/Anthony Caruso/Ricardo Montalban
(8.4) The Abduction (S.2, #8 - 10/29/60) - Bob Hopkins/Barbara Lawrence/Robert 'Big Buck' Maffei
(7.4) Breed of Violence (S.2, #9 - 11/5/80) - Norman Alden/Val Avery/Hal Baylor
(8.4) The Last Viking (S.2, #10 - 11/12/60) - Neville Brand/Herbert Lytton/Ric Marlow
(9.6) The Trail Gang (S.2, #11 - 11/26/60) - Edgar Buchanan/Harry Antrim/Richard Davalos
(7.9) The Savage (S.2, #12 - 12/3/60) - Anna-Lisa/Maurice Jara/Victor Millan

DISC FOUR--
(8.0) The Last Trophy (S.1, #27 - 3/26/60) - Edward Ashley/Jimmy Carter/Hazel Court
(8.1) Silent Thunder (S.2, #13 - 12/10/60) - James Griffith/Albert Salmi/Stella Stevens
(7.7) The Ape (S.2, #14 - 12/17/60) - Leonard Nimoy/Cal Bolder/Rodolfo Hoyos Jr.
(8.7) The Blood Line (S.2, #15 - 12/31/60) - Lee Van Cleef/Thomas Brown Henry/Allan Lane
(7.7) The Courtship (S.2, #16 - 1/7/61) - Julie Adams/Paul Dubov/Lyle Talbot
(8.7) The Spitfire (S.2, #17 - 1/14/61) - Jack Elam/Claude Hall/Don C. Harvey
(???) Alias Bill Hawks (WAGON TRAIN) (S.6, #34 - 5/15/63) - Jeannie Bal/Hal Baylor/Ed Nelson
(???) The Dr. Denker Story (WAGON TRAIN) (S.5, #18 - 1/31/62) - Theodore Bikel
(???) The Malachi Hobart Story (S.5, #17 - 1/24/62) (WAGON TRAIN) - Franchot Tone/Irene Ryan/Wally Brown

The other reviews here are spot-on. The faux theme music sounds like something from a bad spaghetti western. The picture is a bit choppy at times, but that's what you get when you cram eight or nine episodes of an hour-long show onto a SINGLE-SIDED DVD! Yes, these are single-sided, so you can image the compression that was required.

And yet, for the price I would glady endure all that, if the silly discs would actually play. I've tried three separate copies, Discs 1 and 3 won't play properly in any of them. (The ones stored above another disc in the overlapping clamshell box. Coincidence? Maybe, since no scratches are visible.) Shame on Mill Creek for putting out such a poor product.

You can get these same 31 episode for a little more coin in a more reliable set, try: Bonanza 8-DVD Pack

The correct title should have been "Uncopy-righted Episodes of Bonanza". Obviously, Mill Creek didn't want to pay any royalties so even the theme song was substituted with a cheesy recording of the company owner's brother strumming a guitar (just my guess). My poor review is not a slight against the Bonanza series. These are actually excellent. I just feel duped because I can pull these epsidoes down off the Internet for free.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 60 reviews  3.1 out of 5 stars