They were repeating this 1964 episode of Bonanza yesterday, wherein the comedy is again centered on Hoss with Adam and Little Joe just entering in on the sidelines.
In an earlier episode, Arthur Hunnicutt portrayed Obie, a sometime mountain man and sometime prospector who got into an adventure with Hoss. Like all of Hunnicutt's best characters he is a slow going type who is never at a loss for accepting his lot in the world, and making one realize that the Calvin Coolidge piece of wisdom has a bit or reality to it: if you see ten pieces of trouble coming down the road at you, stand still and at least eight will peter out and stop before they hit you. Unlike Hoss, who if he confronts a situation starts looking for ways to confront and conquer it, Obie realizes that most problems solve or stymie themselves. He takes comfort in this type of rationale, and finds his pet hound dog Walter (who rarely if ever moves - unless he thinks it's worthwhile to look up) quite comforting in sharing that type of philosophy.
In this case, Hoss stumbles upon Obie's shack near an old, abandoned mine that Obie is still working. The shack is under siege by three desperadoes. Although Steve Brodie is their leader, and appears to have some brains, he is saddled with two less than intelligent associates - especially the youngest one. They do pin down Hoss with Obie, because they figure that Hoss might try to get the prospector some more help in fighting them off. The shack, unfortunately, is right next to the mountain that the mine shaft was sunk into. There is only one escape route - the front door. On the other hand, the desperadoes can't sneak around to surprise Obie and Hoss. They have to concentrate on frontal assaults, which usually give an advantage to the people being attacked.
Hoss soon discovers that Obie, who never imagined he'd be under siege by three thieves, has nothing in the way of ammunition. He also finds that there is little in the way of food (Obie cooks beans badly). He does have some liquor available. Also he has his checker set - at which he is a real whiz (he keeps beating the preoccupied Hoss with a series of rapid checker jumps around the board).
In the meantime, disturbed that Hoss has not returned home, Adam and Little Joe go searching for him, finding that his date for the upcoming dance (a fitting amazon type for Hoss's height and size) has not seen him, and thinks he is two-timing her. She is not the sort you want to two time (without intending it she almost knocks out both Adam and Joe while carrying a large wooden rail twice).
The ease with which BONANZA switched gears to do these comic episodes never ceases to amaze and amuse. I may add that a final donnybrook at the conclusion is a fitting climax to this particular episode.
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