Did "Bonanza" ever have a grand finale episode?

[TMC]

Or was it just dumped by NBC on a short notice basis? It seems like Dan Blocker's death and the move to Tuesday nights pretty much sealed its fate.

[Coffeecup]

I have just finished up the last season and some of the plots were a bit slow moving. I didn't know it was moved to another night. Some say the newer shows really pack a audience and Bonanza just couldn't hang on. Season 14 episode 16 was the last episode. So it must have been cancelled mid season.

[James28]

Even though Bonanza still finished in the Nielsen Top-20 during the 1971-72 season (its 13th), Dan Blocker died of a pulmonary embolism after that season ended, and Bonanza was moved to Tuesdays at 8pm for season 14 the following Autumn. The new All in the Family spin-off Maude was scheduled against Bonanza, and the ratings for Bonanza plummeted in that new slot. The cancellation of Bonanza was announced in early November of 1972; Bonanza and The Bold Ones (which was down to just The New Doctors by that point) made room for The NBC Tuesday Movie. Bonanza ended-up being the longest-running scripted network TV program ever to be cancelled at midseason.

That Tuesday Movie proved to be just a stop-gap measure to fill the Tuesdays at 8 and 9 hours until the end of the 1972-73 season, as NBC the following season would premiere three new dramas in the fall of 1973: The Magician, Chase, and Police Story. (BTW, that Chase is not to be confused with another one-season series of the same name which would also air on NBC in 2011.)

If NBC had let Bonanza finish-out the 72-73 season with, like, 8 to 10 more episodes (provided that its 14th season were still announced as its last in November of '72), there could have easily been a 2-hour grand finale episode for Bonanza (which would have aired around late March/early April of 1973).