High Chaparral Production Order

The High Chaparral was created by David Dortort. It premiered on television on September 10, 1967, and for the duration of Season One, it ran in the coveted NBC Sunday evening time slot of 10-11 PM, right on the heels of Bonanza. For Season Two through Season Four, its time slot was changed to Friday night from 7:30 - 8:30 on NBC. Its last telecast was March 12, 1971.

In the charts below, the episode titles on the left are the ones which aired on the dates represented in the middle column. The episode titles on the right are the order in which they were filmed. You can see that they aired out of the order in which they were filmed, which does make watching them somewhat confusing, as it causes some continuity glitches which fuel the on-going debate about the proper or intended order of the episodes. The order is critical to the story in the first half of the first season because the Montoyas and the Cannons begin the series unfamiliar with each other. By the middle of the first season relationships are fairly established and the viewed order is not as important.

The other place where order makes a difference is in the third season when the plot element of Buck and Mano's ranch, the C-Bar-M is introduced. This element carries through at least six episodes, "The Brothers Cannon" (where we first meet Lou Frizzell's character, Jeff Patterson, and learn that he is trying to sell his ranch), "A Piece of Land" (where it is acquired), "Friends and Partners" (where they fix it up), "Lady Fair" (where Buck proposes to Charley), "Little Thieves", and "Trail to Nevermore" (where it is referred to in passing). The first two definitely need to occur in order and ahead of all the others for any of it to make sense. Still, The High Chaparral is one of the finest television Westerns ever made - no matter what order you watch the episodes in!

Visit the Episode Guide pages to see the official Story Lines, written by the NBC-TV Publicity Department as well as fan-produced Character Highlights and a Complete Episode Synopsis for each one. The Character Guide pages show which characters played prominent roles in each episode.

Original Order Aired	Original Air Date	Production Order
The High Chaparral	10 September 1967	The High Chaparral
The Arrangement	10 September 1967	The Arrangement
The Ghost of Chaparral	17 September 1967	Best Man for the Job
Best Man for the Job	24 September 1967	Shadows on the Land
A Quiet Day in Tucson	1 October 1967	Gold Is Where You Leave It
Young Blood	8 October 1967	A Quiet Day in Tucson
Shadows on the Land	15 October 1967	The Price of Revenge
The Filibusteros	22 October 1967	Young Blood
The Doctor from Dodge	29 October 1967	Sudden Country
Sudden Country	5 November 1967	Mark of the Turtle
A Hanging Offense	12 November 1967	Ghost of Chaparral
The Price of Revenge	19 November 1967	The Assassins
Widow from Red Rock	26 November 1967	A Hanging Offense
Mark of the Turtle	10 December 1967	The Terrorist
The Terrorist	17 December 1967	Widow from Red Rock
The Firing Wall	31 December 1967	The Doctor from Dodge
The Assassins	7 January 1968	The Filibusteros
Survival	14 January 1968	The Firing Wall
Gold Is Where You Leave It	21 January 1968	The Kinsman
The Kinsman	28 January 1968	Survival
Champion of the Western World	4 February 1968	The Hair Hunters
Ride the Savage Land	11 February 1968	Peacemaker
Bad Day for a Thirst	18 February 1968	Champion of the Western World
Tiger by the Tail	25 February 1968	Ride the Savage Land
The Peacemaker	3 March 1968	Tiger by the Tail
The Hair Hunters	10 March 1968	Bad Day for a Thirst
A Joyful Noise	24 March 1968	A Joyful Noise
Threshold of Courage	31 March 1968	Threshold of Courage

Original Order Aired	Original Air Date	Production Order
The Stallion	20 September 1968	The Promised Land
Ten Little Indians	27 September 1968	For What We Are About to Receive
Follow Your Heart	4 October 1968	The Deceivers
Tornado Frances	11 October 1968	Sea of Enemies
The Covey	18 October 1968	The Stallion
The Promised Land	25 October 1968	The Covey
Ebenezer	1 November 1968	Ten Little Indians
North to Tucson	8 November 1968	The Buffalo Soldiers
The Deceivers	15 November 1968	Ebenezer
The Buffalo Soldiers	22 November 1968	Tornado Frances
For What We Are About to Receive	29 November 1968	Follow Your Heart
A Way of Justice	13 December 1968	Shadow of the Wind
Our Lady of Guadalupe	20 December 1968	North to Tucson
Sea of Enemies	3 January 1969	A Way of Justice
Shadow of the Wind	10 January 1969	No Irish Need Apply
No Irish Need Apply	17 January 1969	The Last Hundred Miles
The Last Hundred Miles	24 January 1969	Our Lady of Guadalupe
The Glory Soldiers	31 January 1969	Surtee
Feather of an Eagle	7 February 1969	The Glory Soldiers
Once on a Day in Spring	14 February 1969	Stinky Flanagan
Stinky Flanagan	21 February 1969	Feather of an Eagle
Surtee	28 February 1969	Once on a Day in Spring
A Fella Named Kilroy	7 March 1969	The Lion Sleeps
No Bugles, No Drums	14 March 1969	A Fella Named Kilroy
The Lion Sleeps	28 March 1969	No Bugles, No Drums
For the Love of Carlos	4 April 1969	For the Love of Carlos

Original Order Aired	Original Air Date	Production Order
Time of Your Life	19 September 1969	Time of Your Life
A Time to Laugh, A Time to Cry	26 September 1969	Apache Trust
The Brothers Cannon	3 October 1969	A Time to Laugh, A Time to Cry
A Piece of Land	10 October 1959	Bad Day for a Bad Man
Bad Day for a Bad Man	17 October 1969	A Piece of Land
To Stand for Something More	24 October 1969	Auld Lang Syne
Trail to Nevermore	31 October 1969	The Lost Ones
Apache Trust	7 November 1969	To Stand for Something More
Lady Fair	14 November 1969	Trail to Nevermore
The Lost Ones	21 November 1969	The Brothers Cannon
The Legacy	28 November 1969	Lady Fair
Alliance	12 December 1969	The Little Thieves
The Little Thieves	26 December 1969	The Legacy
The Long Shadow	2 January 1970	Friends and Partners
The Journal of Death	9 January 1970	Alliance
Friends and Partners	16 January 1970	Mi Casa, Su Casa
Jelks	23 January 1970	The Long Shadow
Guns of Johnny Rondo	6 February 1970	The Lieutenant
Mi Casa, Su Casa	20 February 1970	Jelks
The Lieutenant	27 February 1970	Journal of Death
The Reluctant Deputy	6 March 1970	No Trouble at All
New Hostess in Town	20 March 1970	Generation
Too Many Chiefs	27 March 1970	New Hostess in Town
Auld Lang Syne	20 April 1970	Guns of Johnny Rondo
Generation	17 April 1970	The Reluctant Deputy
No Trouble at All	5 May 1970	Too Many Chiefs

Original Order Aired	Original Air Date	Production Order
An Anger Greater than Mine	18 September 1970	Spokes
Spokes	25 September 1970	It Takes a Smart Man
Only the Bad Come to Sonora	2 October 1970	Only the Bad Come to Sonora
Wind	9 October 1970	Wind
A Matter of Survival	16 October 1970	An Anger Greater than Mine
It Takes a Smart Man	23 October 1970	A Man to Match the Land
A Good, Sound Profit	30 October 1970	A Matter of Survival
Too Late the Epitaph	6 November 1970	Sangre
The Forge of Hate	13 November 1970	A Good, Sound Profit
Fiesta	20 November 1970	Too Late the Epitaph
A Matter of Vengeance	27 November 1970	Pale Warrior
Pale Warrior	11 December 1970	The Forge of Hate
The Badge	18 December 1970	The Hostage
The New Lion of Sonora	19 February 1971	Fiesta
Sangre	26 February 1971	The Badge
The Hostage	5 March 1971	A Matter of Vengeance
A Man to Match the Land	12 March 1971	New Lion of Sonora