Episode 101. The First Born - First aired on September 23, 1962.

Blooper: In the scene where the Cartwrights and their hands are in the saloon, Joe is wearing a white shirt. In the next scene when Ben and Joe are in Roy’s office – Joe is wearing his usual work shirt.

In the original script it is Adam who is going to be hung, not Hoss.

Episode 106. The Way Station - First aired on October 29, 1962.

According to an article, guest star Dawn Wells (Marty) liked working with the cast. “Lorne Greene and Michael Landon were warm and friendly, smiling and laughing most of the time. I was fairly new in the business at that time, but they were helpful to me. I think Pernell Roberts was unhappy with himself at the time. He mostly kept to himself, played his guitar and didn’t say much when he wasn’t in a scene. Dan Blocker had a good sense of humor. He was always a jolly guy, like a big, warm teddy bear.” Dawn Wells, 2001.  

Blooper: At the beginning Adam meets a man who says his name is Cody, in a later scene Adam calls him Luke (but he has not been told his name is Luke). When the stage arrives a couple know him and the man calls him Luke Martin. Blooper number two: Luke goes to a window to look out, he is not wearing his gunbelt, in one quick scene while he is at the window, he has the gunbelt on. 

Blooper: Towards the end of the episode, Ben comes into the room where Mrs Johns is sitting with Hoss. He has no bandana around his neck. Just after Mrs Johns tells Ben to call her if he needs anything, he has a black bandana tied around his neck and a darker shadow of a beard. Straight after that as he turns and walks over to Hoss, the bandana and beard shadow are gone.

Guest star Gregory Walcott (Danny Morgan) does his own singing in this episode. David Dortort told Gregory to ring David Rose who composed the music used on Bonanza during this time. David Rose asked Gregory to sing a few lines of something over the phone so he could know what Gregory Walcott’s voice sounded like and then he wrote the music for “Under The Red Rock Rim” in about twenty minutes.  

In the photo Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon & guest star Keir Dullea (Bob Jolley) are reportable listening to a report on the radio about the Cuban missile crisis.

Episode 118. Half A Rogue - First aired on January 27, 1963. 

Originally Marie was to have been killed by a jealous lover but by the time this flashback episode was filmed it had been changed to a riding accident. The following is from an interview with Michael Landon from an Australian magazine in 1962, where Pernell, Dan and Michael were talking about their mothers on the series. “According to what I’ve been told, my mother had formed some questionable alliances during her younger, carefree days in New Orleans. After Dad married her, a former suitor tried to blackmail her and Dad killed him. In an effort to help erase the background that maybe wasn’t the best, Ben Cartwright took off for Nevada and The Ponderosa. But another suitor followed. Right after I was born, this suitor killed her in a fit of jealousy.”

 Felicia Farr plays Marie. 

Blooper: At the beginning in the scene where Joe’s horse falls and Ben goes to his son, some people say that Ben tells Hoss to “Get the car.” Others say they can’t hear it, that he doesn’t say that. Next time you watch it, have a listen and see what you think.

This was Alex Sharp’s first script and in the following article piece, he talks about how he came to write it: Alex Sharp recalls how a simple act of friendship by Michael changed the scope of his career: “We were on the golf course. Here I’m a stuntman, I’ve never written anything in my life. And I just happened to say, ‘Mike, I could write over a weekend (better than) that piece of crap that was on Sunday.’ And he said, ‘Why don’t you?’ I said ‘I’m a stuntman; they wouldn’t even read it anyway.’ He said, ‘You write it and if it’s any good I’ll take it to Dortort.’ So I said, ‘Okay.’ I sat down, had a couple of beers and I flew one through, a 59 page epic. I handed it to him and went on about my thing. About three weeks later I get a call from NBC, from Larry Bub. He said they wanted to buy it. Well, with a name like Larry Bub, I thought, Oh geezuz. I don’t know if this is for real or whether that goddam Mike is throwing a curve at me. But I wasn’t sure, so I played along. But then I got a call from the story department to come over to make the changes. And when I walked over there, Mike had a big grin on his face and he said, ‘You see? Your Prince Charming worked for you.’ And I went on to do five more, and I did a ‘High Chapparal’ and the ‘Cowboys’ for David Dortort. But I’d have never got the door opened if Mike hadn’t said, ‘That’s a good script, Alex.’ ‘It’s pretty funny;’ he said, ‘it’s not as funny as I could do, but it’s funny.’ And he never said afterward, ‘Remember, I got you in through the door with that script.’ And there’s a caste system, not so much now, but there used to be. Wherever you came from in the business, you stayed there; it was very difficult to move above it. As a matter of fact, we used to have some arguments about things, and I never heard him say, ‘See what I did for you?’ 

The following pieces are from a TV Guide article where the reporter spent the day on the set during the filming of this episode: 11am. The four stars are in the barn for a brief scene. The three sons sit together beside the ring watching the fight. Pernell Roberts, in his black shirt and hat, is a dark presence between the other two, who cuff each other and shout across the ring when the camera is not turning. After each brief take, the makeup man applies bloody marks to the boxer’s face and before each scene he pats the faces of the four stars with powder. It is hot in the barn. 1.30am Because of the morning’s delays, the stars are kept in the barn with only brief pauses between takes. Michael Landon puts on a false mustache during rehearsal and says, “I’ve been waiting here a long time.” In one scene, Pernell Roberts has to say a line which he cannot remember. “What little gem do I have here?” he asks. The script girl supplies him with the line – “Told him what, Pa?” 3.00pm David Dortort, producer of Bonanza, arrives on the set. A cluster forms around him. Lorne Greene asks him about his next line, which he feels is not quite right, and Dortort spends 15 minutes re-writing it and the lines around it. 3.45pm Dortort leaves the set, and work resumes. When the warning bell rings and the assistant director shouts “Quiet!”, Lorne Greene is in conversation with his three co-stars at the side of the ring. Suddenly it is his cue to speak. “Are we shooting?” he asks. The director says, “You were talking – nobody can tell you anything.” But he says it lightly, and everyone laughs. When Pernell Roberts is told to sponge off the sweating boxer in the next shot, he says, “Let the father do it.” 4.00pm Michael Landon and Dan Blocker are told that they are through for the day. Just before Landon leaves, Lorne Greene massages his neck (“My father gives the best massage I’ve ever had”). Landon and Blocker go out together. Blocker does not take off his makeup or change clothes (“I like to get home and spend some time with the kids. I usually don’t get there till about 7.30, and they go to bed at 8.”) 4.15pm Pernell Roberts leaves. His chair stands empty, a few feet from the cluster of chairs where the others have been sitting. 

Carolyn Kearney plays Sheila Reardon.

Blooper: After Adam arrives at the Ponderosa with Joe who is hurt, Hoss helps Joe out of the carriage and as he does, he calls him "Mike."

Blooper: Joe is wearing his tan boots but during the fight scene he has on black ones. Then in the next scene he has his tan ones back on.