Episode 270. Second Chance - First aired on September 17, 1967.

Blooper: After Joe is shot by an arrow, Hoss sees smoke and goes for help. He finds a small wagon train. He doesn’t introduce himself to anyone but Doctor Dawson calls him Mr. Cartwright.

David Canary (Candy) made his first appearance in this episode. According to Robert Blees, (Bonanza line producer) "Canary is the sand in the gears. He's there to shake up the Cartwright establishment, put a bomb under all those cliche morality plays. While Papa Ben is yelling for a fair trial, Candy is capable of something a little more underhanded - and human."

Episode 275. False Witness - First aired on October 22, 1967.

In the biography “My Father’s Voice” written about her father, Lorne, Linda Greene Bennett talks about some of the pranks that were played on her father. According to Linda, one of them happened during a scene where Michael (as Joe) fell from his horse into a river. Dan Blocker was standing there screaming and yelling that Michael had drowned. Every one else was in on the joke and they convinced Lorne that it was true. (We are not sure that happened during the filming of this episode but there are not a lot of episodes involving water where it could have happened.)  

A press conference was held during the making of this episode to introduce David Canary. This is part of an article from TV Guide: Greene and Landon (Blocker is temporarily detained) are preparing for the initiation ceremonies now. The jokes are rib-tickling and needle sharp. The executive producer and creator of Bonanza, David Dortort, acts as a sort of kindly referee. He begins by explaining the new Canary character. “Candy is a loner, a stray,” says Dortort. “He is not a Cartwright, so he is not necessarily bound by family ties. He has no Ben Cartwright to fall back upon in solving his problems.” “Yeah,” cracks Landon. “We find out he’s illegitimate only midway in the season.” From the same article: The day following the press conference we are sitting on the beach watching the director set up the pilot house shot aboard The Dixie and discussing the nuances of playing the outsider role both on the screen and off. “I’m the new kid on the block,” says David Canary pleasantly. “They don’t know me. I can’t expect to be accepted right away. They have too many memories, confidences. It’s hardest when they’re cutting up, telling stories on the set. I’m not there – like when you first walk into a party. I may never catch up. Maybe it’s not necessary that I do.”

Teleplay by Michael Landon & William Jerome. Story by William Jerome.

Episode 287. The Burning Sky - First aired on January 28, 1968.

This was guest star Dawn Wells (Moon Holt) second appearance on Bonanza. In the following piece Dawn Wells talks about a fight scene with guest star Victor French (Aaron). “I was tackled, choked and shaken around. Victor was as gentle as he could be under the circumstances, especially since I didn’t have a stunt double. We worked out a lot of the action ourselves, rolling here and there in the dirt and hitting each other. By accident, I smacked Victor during rehearsal, and he had a great comeback. He said, ‘You’re a good actress, but you don’t have to be that good.'” 

Guest star, William Campbell (White) became friends with Michael Landon. I loved working on Bonanza, and Michael Landon was one of the great guys of the world. On Bonanza, I had a scene when I walked in and did that fast-talking scene, and as I walked out, I slammed the door, and it became very quiet, but they hadn't yelled 'cut.' Evidently they panned the camera, and then I heard the word, 'cut,' and then I heard Michael Landon say, 'Now, that's an actor,' which was sweet." Years after Bonanza, Michael bought the rights to a book called “Where Pigeons Go To Die” making the movie in 1990. The book was written by William Campbell’s brother, R. Wright Campbell.

Blooper: After Joe talks to Ben at the ranch and starts to ride back to Angelus, when he starts out on the road he hasn't got his black gloves on but the next time we see him, his gloves are on. 

Blooper: Towards the end Ben shoots a man in the leg - the man clutches below his knee, Ben ties his bandana above the knee (it’s possible he’s trying to tie a tourniquet). In that scene it looks like Ben has split his trousers in the crotch.   

Blooper: After Hoss takes the little boy, Timmy, for a ride, Timmy tells Hoss that his father won’t let him have a horse. Just after this Hoss calls the boy, Johnnie. Timmy is played by Johnnie Whitaker.

According to guest star Ned Romero (White Wolf) Lorne Greene and Ben Cartwright were almost the same person, saying, “I never worked with Lorne Greene. But I did work with Ben Cartwright, even off camera. It was something amazing to see. In fact, he even introduced himself to me as Ben Cartwright when I first walked onto the set.” About Michael Landon and Dan Blocker, he said, “It’s so sad that both died so young. Michael was a really nice guy. He reminded me, only because of his physical prowess, of Robert Conrad. I worked with both. Bob was kind of hard to get to know, which is okay; we worked well together, that was the main thing. But Michael was always very friendly.”     

Written & Directed by Michael Landon. 

This was the first episode that Michael directed. Michael said that before he was given a chance to direct, people believed that it was something he wouldn’t be able to do, he was only considered an actor. At a press conference during the filming of “Showdown At Tahoe,” David Dortort was talking and when he said that Michael had written some screenplays and someday may direct, Michael didn’t let the chance go by. In front of the press, Michael asked David Dortort when he would be given the chance to direct, when David tried to fob him off by saying he had to check the schedule, Michael said that show seventeen was free and that he had the screenplay written for it. There was no way David Dortort could get out of it so he agreed the episode would be Michael’s to direct.  

(In an article Lorne Greene talked about his bad back and how guest star Albert Dekker (Barney Sturgess) suggested he try acupuncture. “Actually, I can’t really pinpoint how I hurt my back. But I think it happened one day on the Bonanza set. On any soundstage there are many electrical cables on the floor, and I tripped over one. I caught myself in time from falling to the floor. By doing this I believe something in my back snapped. You know, a lot of times it’s better to take a small fall instead of catching yourself – because your muscles get very tight and possibly strained. I started feeling great pain within a few days, and my doctor sent me to an orthopaedist. He admitted there was little he could do, and told me that ten percent of the people in the world are born with a back like mine. This really puzzled me, because I had never had any back problems before. In order to ease my discomfort slightly I started to wear a cumbersome back brace. Still the pain continued, and I was unable to sit down. In fact, they had to build me a special chair on the set so I could sort of lean against it. The pain increased as the weeks went by, and at times I felt like screaming out, I was in such misery. Fortunately, Albert Dekker was signed to guest star in a segment. Albert is a wonderful person, and his first morning on the set he noticed that I was in terrible pain. I remember I was perspiring heavily. My face was covered with sweat as I fought to continue working. Greatly concerned, he asked me if he could help. I told him about my back, and that nothing could be done. He told me I should see his Oriental doctor and try it. ‘Try what?’ I asked him. He mentioned acupuncture. I didn’t know then what the word meant….Albert explained it was the science of inserting needles into the body to reach nerve centers as a treatment in relieving or eliminating pain. I told him, ‘Forget it! Nobody is going to stick pins into me.’ Bless Albert! He persisted and the next day brought me a little book printed in 1823. I read it, and learned that the Chinese first discovered and used acupuncture some five thousand years ago. But I still had doubts – the method sounded too fancy for me. By the end of the week I was in such pain, I was willing to try anything, and so I told Albert, ‘Take me to your doctor.’ (Lorne goes on to talk about how the acupuncture relieved his pain.)