Remember Dancing Bear on Captain Kangaroo? He used to make me cry because I was so sad that he couldn't talk. His mouth had no opening.

....just a big old smile.
On My Three Sons, there was a 2 part episode where Ernie ran away....maybe it was Chip, but I think it was Ernie. My mother told me I fretted the entire week until he came home safely.
Regarding Bonanza, I remember my parents saying the last thing a girl should do is marry a Cartwright, because it was a guaranteed way to die fast.

They barely lasted an episode before they all met tragic deaths......Even all three of Papa Ben's wives.
My father was a Western junkie. We also watched The Virginian....James Drury was sooo handsome..., High Chaparral, Big Valley, The Guns of Will Sonnet, The Wild West and pretty much any other western on TV. Gunsmoke was a given.
Has anyone mentioned The Courtship of Eddie's Father?