Episode Guide

Bonanza: The Lost Episodes Story

In 1973, NBC had the task of syndicating Bonanza for U.S. airplay on local television stations. They chose 260 episodes from the first six years and from the later era into the 1969-70 season, titled as "Bonanza" and the syndicated title "Ponderosa."         They signed a distribution agreement with National Telefilm Associates, who would act as the worldwide distributor for the series. The original 35mm negatives and magnetic audio soundtracks were taken to 16mm film prints for airplay. They also selected 51 episodes from the 1966-1970 seasons that were prepared in the same manner. They were part of 170 episodes NBC didn't want to air, because they preferred to go with the theme of popularity, as with the 260 episode set, syndicated in May of 1973.         By the early 80's, NBC and NTA pulled out the later seasons and distributed them for viewing in the United Kingdom, but none of them appeared in U.S. reruns at that point in time. By 1986, the advent of digital video and audio by Sony prompted NBC to start preparing Bonanza for resyndication for cable television.         The process required NBC to take out the 35mm interpositives and soundtracks that were stored in the warehouse at Fort Lee, New Jersey since 1972. The materials were taken into the studio and NBC technicians supervised the film-to-tape transfers onto Sony Digital 1 and digital audio tape. They would go in season order and make the digital masters for all 430 episodes.         The work took a good deal of time, as with such a large amount of film and audio materials that had be be digitally remastered for the best quality to return to cable TV and various locals. NBC had to make a backup set and a syndication set. The latter had the editor making edits on certain episodes he chose, where other episodes had no edits at all. The running time of the series was 48 minutes.         By 1988, NBC was in the final stages of getting most of the episodes completed for airplay. They struck a deal with The Family Channel, a new cable television network, owned by the ultra-conservative and ex-Baptist minister, Pat Robertson. National Telefilm was now going by the name of Republic Pictures, since they acquired the name and logo in 1986. Republic shipped Family Channel 120 episodes that began with season seven and concluded with season fourteen. Oddly, NBC held back season six's "Lothario Larkin" which was included in the first shipment.         In-house duplication at the cable network had the editor trimming out 4 minutes of shots when making their digital dubs for airplay. A character generator was used to make the sub-title "The Lost Episodes" line up under Bonanza and it was now part of the main title sequence. As of note, this added title was not present when season 10's "Emily" was duplicated and the same holds true for eleven's "Decision at Los Robles."         In the summer of 1989, Republic shipped 51 other episodes that weren't part of the first shipment in 1988. NBC took longer to remaster these, as the original prints were used heavily for past reruns and they had age-related problems. The results still had them looking good for airplay. The 120 set was aired on weekdays, but the set of 51 episodes was aired on weekends. As a note of interest, ten's "Emily" wasn't first aired until the summer of 1994. How this occured could remain a mystery, or someone may have gotten careless and left it sitting on a shelf for too long.         Pat Robertson would censor any program that his extreme Christian beliefs opposed. His programming staff were instructed to censor and five Bonanza episodes were far from exempt. Season seven's "The Strange One" dealt with a young woman who is a psychic that can predict events and tragedy would result. The Christian religion sees a psychic as a witch; a disciple of Satan, and this is why the episode was censored.         Season eight's "The Pursued" was a two-part epic with feature quality, that dealt with a Morman rancher and his two wives. The local townsfolk don't understand it and the new Christian preacher turns into a fanatic over the issue of polygamy. The rancher and his wives are forced out of their ranch by the preacher, who has the townsmen following his order to punish them for what he considers is sinning. In this case, the two-parter was censored.         Season thirteen had two episodes that Robertson also considered not suitable for the viewing audience. "Second Sight" deals with a lovely woman who is a clairvoyant, that can foretell events. Her husband is a man of the cloth and isn't comfortable in their marriage with her ability of "second sight." Jamie is missing and injured, so the Cartwrights call on her for help. In the eyes of Christians, a clairvoyant is said to be a witch and disciple of Satan, so this episode was censored, too. In 1989, the episode was compiled by NBC into a feature with "The Strange One" and aired on USA Network. It went under the title of "Bonanza: The Movie."         The fifth entry is "A Visit to Upright." In the story, the Cartwrights buy a rundown saloon and the plot revolves around a picture of a naked lady. Once again, the episode was censored. Robertson didn't like the painting and in his mind, it was a negative factor that could be linked with sexual overtones and lustful desire, which is a sin. On the contrary, it isn't a sin for a Christian man to look at a naked woman. In this case, Robertson was too extreme in his mind. Family Channel gave no explanation for censoring and never publically revealed it. The final example of their censoring was applied to fourteen's "Forever."*         The full-length episode aired in the fall of 1989, with the two-part syndicated version replacing it in 1990. Robertson refused to air it in early 1991, as some things in the plot disturbed him. He sold Family Channel to Fox in 1996 and their new management took over in 1997. "Forever" suddenly came back on that year, as Fox had no objections to the story at all. The last day of Family Channel's programming was August 14, 1997. Robertson's "700 Club" was the only program that remained on the air with Fox as the new owner. Bonanza had 10 years of airplay on Family Channel. It was the end of an era.         Incidentally, NBC made the set of 171 Bonanza episodes a cable exclusive, so they could avoid paying high residual fees for surviving actors and stuntmen who worked the series. Michael Landon got post-1970 residuals for the final two seasons of the series, effective in 1988. At the time of his passing, he had $1 million in residuals from seasons thirteen and fourteen.         Goodlife TV, a Christian-based cable network in Washington, purchased the viewing rights to the 171 episodes in 1999. In-house duplication made the digital dubs and used time-compression to speed up the episodes, so they would fit in a 60-minute timeslot with commercials. Not only did they sound a little faster, but a viewer could see the entire presentation sped up slightly. This meant Goodlife TV made no additional edits to the episodes. They were still shown in the 120 episode set, followed by the 51 episodes that followed, for seven days a week. The "Lost Episodes" sub-title was visibly absent and no episodes were censored. Airplay concluded in September of 2001 and "Highway to Heaven" replaced the series.         In 2002, the so-called Lost Episodes were purchased by Hallmark Channel, which I had major involvement with getting them back on the air. Paramount, who began distribution, finally corrected the episode sequence and made it one set, where the above examples had it the opposite way around. In-house duplication made the digital dubs, with edits for sponsors. A few of the syndication masters were damaged from age and couldn't be duplicated for airplay. They were "Winter Kill," "The Grand Swing" and "A Home for Jamie." Hallmark contacted Paramount, who made replacements for airing later on.         The main problem with Hallmark was they aired the series too early in the day and this didn't help the viewership ratings. In October of 2004, they were taken off the lineup, due to this reason. They put them back on in June of 2006, but they lasted for only a week and the were removed from the lineup for good. Their cable license expired in 2007 and they opted not to renew it. Presently, Bonanza's so-called Lost Episodes are still waiting to find a new cable network for airing. One may hope it will be soon. In May of 2011, I spoke with with Encore Westerns and suggested they carry the lost episodes. In private, they said "yes" and purchased the airplay rights from Paramount Pictures. Encore signed a 2-year contract and they had to make their own set of episodes from the set that Paramount sent them. The episodes were shown with no edits and commercial free. The Lost Episodes concluded their run in late June of 2014 with a three-day marathon on Encore Westerns. The Inspiration Channel bought the rights to the Lost Episodes in 2014. They begin airplay on March 30, 2015 with a marathon of episodes, and regular airplay will follow immediately. Inspiration wanted to buy the rights to the Lost Episodes some years before Encore did, but they couldn't afford to buy them at that time. After the run ended on Encore, Inspiration had more than enough money to buy the rights from Paramount. The programming department of Inspiration has had to cut down the episodes to make room for sponsors, so they won't be uncut as they were on Encore, but anyone who loves to watch the show shouldn't have anything to complain about. In the summer of 2015, NBC made the Lost Episodes non-exclusive for airplay on television. This means that many TV statons and networks can air the Lost Episodes unlike in past years, they could only be seen on one channel. NBC licensed out the airplay rights to MeTV in the summer of 2015. Lost Episodes can be seen at 2:00 PM, Monday through Saturday.         Note: Each of the Lost Episodes listed below is linked to its description in the Bonanza episode guide.

Season 6 Lothario Larkin Season 7 The Debt The Dilemma The Brass Box The Other Son The Lonely Runner Devil On Her Shoulder Found Child The Meredith Smith Mighty Is The Word The Strange One The Reluctant Rebel Five Sundowns To Sunup A Natural Wizard All Ye His Saints The Dublin Lad To Kill A Buffalo Ride The Wind - Parts I & II Destiny's Child Peace Officer The Code Three Brides For Hoss The Emperor Norton Her Brother's Keeper The Trouble With Jamie Shining In Spain The Genius The Unwritten Commandment Big Shadow On The Land The Fighters Home From The Sea The Last Mission A Dollar's Worth Of Trouble Season 8 Something Hurt, Something Wild Horse Of A Different Hue The Pursued - Parts I & II To Bloom For Thee Ballad Of The Ponderosa The Bridegroom Tommy A Christmas Story Ponderosa Explosion Justice A Bride For Buford A Woman In The House Joe Cartwright, Detective Dark Enough To See The Stars The Deed And The Dilemma The Prince Clarissa Maestro Hoss Season 9 The Sure Thing Six Black Horses The Gold Detector The Crime Of Johnny Mule Star-Crossed Trouble Town A Dream To Dream To Die In Darkness The Bottle Fighter The Arrival Of Eddie The Stronghold Pride Of A Man A Severe Case Of Matrimony Stage Door Johnnies Season 10 Different Pines, Same Wind Child The Real People Of Muddy Creek The Passing Of A King Little Girl Lost The Survivors Queen High Yonder Man Mark Of Guilt Mrs. Wharton and the Lesser Breeds The Lady and the Mountain Lion Five Candles The Wish Emily Speak No Evil A Ride In The Sun Season 11 Another Windmill To Go The Silence At Stillwater Meena Abner Willoughby's Return It's A Small World Danger Road The Big Jackpot The Lady and the Mark Is There Any Man Here? The Law and Billy Burgess The Long Way To Ogden Return Engagement The Gold Mine Decision At Los Robles Caution: Easter Bunny Crossing The Horse Traders What Are Pardners For? A Matter Of Circumstance Season 12 The Night Virginia City Died A Matter Of Faith The Weary Willies The Wagon The Power Of Life and Death Gideon The Good The Trouble With Trouble Thornton's Account The Love Child El Jefe The Luck Of Pepper Shannon The Imposters Honest John For A Young Lady A Single Pilgrim The Gold-Plated Rifle Top Hand A Deck Of Aces The Desperado The Reluctant American Shadow Of A Hero The Silent Killer Terror At 2:00 The Stillness Within A Time To Die Winter Kill Kingdom Of Fear An Earthquake Called Callahan Season 13 The Grand Swing Fallen Woman Bushwhacked! Rock-A-Bye Hoss The Prisoners Cassie Don't Cry, My Son Face Of Fear Blind Hunch The Iron Butterfly The Rattlesnake Brigade Easy Come, Easy Go A Home For Jamie Warbonnet The Lonely Man Second Sight The Saddle Stiff Frenzy The Customs of the Country Shanklin Search In Limbo He Was Only Seven The Younger Brother's Younger Brother A Place To Hide A Visit To Upright One Ace Too Many Season 14 Forever Heritage Of Anger The Initiation Riot New Man Ambush At Rio Lobo The Twenty-Sixth Grave Stallion The Hidden Enemy The Sound Of Sadness The Bucket Dog First Love The Witness The Marriage Of Theodora Duffy The Hunter

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