In 1959, in what was considered a career blunder, Blake turned down the role of Little Joe Cartwright, a character ultimately portrayed by Michael Landon, in NBC's western television series "Bonanza." He did appear that year as Tobe Hackett in the episode "Trade Me Deadly" of the syndicated western series "26 Men," which dramatized true stories of the Arizona Rangers. Blake also appeared twice as "Alfredo" in the syndicated western "The Cisco Kid" and starred in "The White Hat" episode of "Men of Annapolis," another syndicated series. He appeared in three distinctive guest lead roles in the CBS series "Have Gun Will Travel", as well as one-time guest roles on John Payne's NBC western "The Restless Gun", Nick Adams's ABC western "The Rebel", and in season 3, episode 25 of "Bat Masterson", the NBC western series "The Californians", the short-lived ABC adventure series "Straightaway", and the NBC western television series "Laramie".