Little House On The Prairie - General Discussion

[Blergh]

I agree with all the above- and it IS odd that no attempt was made to have had Mary and Carrie interact in any capacity during that rather heart tugging scene! It was almost as if Carrie herself was blind to Mary being taken away to a still-uncertain fate.

That was one of the very few times Laura showed any semblance of affection to her next youngest sister so I guess Carrie somehow was supposed to take comfort in that.

[debraran]

I only watched two minutes of this because I’m working, but if anyone’s interested in Victor Frenchs son and how they used to play on the set, their life with dad and LHOP, these podcasts are great

Edited December 5 by debraran

[Blergh]

Thanks for the heads up on the podcast.

 

One thing I found interesting is how  his surviving offspring attested that Mr. French's entire offscreen demeanor did a 180 upon getting the role of Mr. Edwards since he actually had become quite burdened to the point of letting it darken his POV of himself by the villainous roles he had frequently played beforehand. I've often heard performers claim to have had their fun playing villains but I can't help but think that after a time, the roles would become somewhat of a burden if one truly wasn't a malevolent individual.

In any case, despite his other faults, it's good that ML gave him (and his career) a new lease on life via that role -and it's also good that they gained a sincere friendship that (despite the Carter Country stumble) managed to survive to the end of Mr. French's days.

[tearknee]

"... survive to the end of Mr. French's days."

 

ML didn't outlive VF too long :(

[debraran]

I found this interview with Mike months before he died about his new show and a little on his life. Not a "hard" interview, he mentions divorce for instance and how angry his older kids were, but then the interviewer went on to something else. I get it, he's not 60 min or a tabloid but he seemed afraid to go there even though Mike brought it up. I just wanting to hear him talk about "Us" and how quickly it all came to an end is a reminder how fast life is.

He talks a little about politics and how hard it was to buy a house then....lol, it was 1991 when he died, how things don't change. Bush was president, had to look it up because he was talking how people vote and about 46 min in, how high prices are in CA, how Willie Nelson was selling his condo for 16,000...I'm like that's cheap. : ) He mentioned how in his business people think they'll always have money and it's not like that. MG mentioned she did shockingly and it dried up quickly. I am too insecure to think like that but many athletes and stars do.

I did FF a little through parts and some might feel cringy, but it was who he was, it wasn't like I was listening to a potential date. He was always honest about who he was and how he felt. The fact he had the tumor then and didn't know, just made me emotional at one point. I think I would have liked that show, I remember liking the pilot and thinking it wasn't as "hallmark" as Highway to Heaven.

 

I'm not good with podcasts that aren't videos, a bit ADHD, but I left most of it as background as I did other things.

https://brioux.tv/blog/2022/08/30/from-laughter-to-tears-my-interview-31-years-ago-with-michael-landon/

Edited December 6 by debraran

[The Wild Sow]

And once again, I'm just bemused about "Once Upon a Time" and "Home Again" being back-to-back!

The more I think about it, the more I'm guessing Michael Landon had to have done that on purpose!

[jason88cubs]

Lady at bar last night

 

"Oh that dad on Little House cried every single episode!!!!"

[tearknee]

On 12/3/2024 at 1:12 AM, tearknee said:

Saw the follow-up to BBR again recently - who of "us" doesn't love to snark on  how Mary is wearing strong makeup including quite a bit of orange rouge when she's catatonic? ;)

Visible makeup on female characters - even kid characters that are not supposed to be wearing any - seemed to be a thing from the 1970s through to the '90s:

 

Oh, and Nellie Oleson and Christy Kennedy are now on my "girl kids in heavy makeup that they aren't supposed to be wearing in-universe" list:

 

 

A different show but here's Tabitha Stephens with the same problem:

Edited December 15 by tearknee

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, jason88cubs said:

Lady at bar last night

 

"Oh that dad on Little House cried every single episode!!!!"

Perhaps her consumption might have gotten her to exaggerate- though it wasn't by much!

Of course, the irony is that while Charles cried a river at the drop of a dime, it took a LOT to shake Caroline's stoicism yet I can't recall Charles crying once in Mrs. Wilder's works!

[Zella]

10 hours ago, Blergh said:

I can't recall Charles crying once in Mrs. Wilder's works!

I don't either, now that you mention it. 

[jason88cubs]

Woke up in middle of the night to my favorite episode

 

Let's sit around telling stories and laughing while 10 feet of snow are being dumped on us outside

[Mr. Sparkle]

On Roku/Pluto TV, they're showing all the Christmas episodes (and loosely related Christmas episodes like "Blizzard") twice every night. That includes "Bless All the Dear Children." 

[debraran]

12 hours ago, Mr. Sparkle said:

On Roku/Pluto TV, they're showing all the Christmas episodes (and loosely related Christmas episodes like "Blizzard") twice every night. That includes "Bless All the Dear Children." 

yes, I keep seeing an old one like Marvin's Garden and then Plum Creek will come on and earlier it followed one with Almonzo on a train. Odd but they didn't have too many nice Xmas ones.

[tearknee]

Mary:

 

 

Mary:

 

Yes... ;)

[shipmate]

In honor of the fact that Christmas at plum Creek has been on TV every evening for over a week….

Do you think Pa ever got his eight dollars back from Mr. Olsen??? Ha!

[debraran]

On 12/18/2024 at 7:00 AM, jason88cubs said:

Woke up in middle of the night to my favorite episode

 

Let's sit around telling stories and laughing while 10 feet of snow are being dumped on us outside

I assume it kept you from thinking "I have to go to the bathroom". Even a chamber pot in that home had no privacy. ; /

[debraran]

9 hours ago, shipmate said:

In honor of the fact that Christmas at plum Creek has been on TV every evening for over a week….

Do you think Pa ever got his eight dollars back from Mr. Olsen??? Ha!

My husband pointed out only listening from another room, "Is the sell my horse to the nasty girl on again?"  lol  I said to him, if Charles for once didn't have the money to buy the stove, it would have been worse, having your kid sacrifice her horse to bad treatment and you could have stepped up with a gift this year. I assume since nothing new ever entered the home, she saved as credit for shopping just in case a tornado had their address this time or some other calamity. I think ML knew how fans would react so had plans to get Bunny back and then kill it later, but the extra shirt (did she waste the material?) and money from wheels remained a mystery. I said giving THAT one to Chris would have been a nice tie in....No Mary, this is one I made the same year you did. Hid it under the bed until Charles wore his out.

I love 3/4 of the show, but never, ever will that part. I get it, but don't like who she gave it too, if it was Garvey's kid or anyone but Bartholomew, lol,  I'd be okay. She just stuck her tongue out to her earlier in the show and lauded the horse over her. Never made sense.

I chalk it up to Ma never got gifts really and if she did we never saw them again. The famous, gorgeous dishes disappeared with the barrel and the pin she got once, the painting the blind painter gave her, the necklace from step dad we only saw one Xmas. Never got a store bought dress (but came close) never had the girls buy her a nice hat or coat later in life, never a new lamp or even a book.  Charles got gifts though, pajamas, shirts, lots of scarves.

[tearknee]

The many faces of Carrie:

 

 

 

 

 

[jason88cubs]

I woke up to "Once upon a time" Never seen this episode.

 

All I know is I woke up to some funky 70s music and a girl running into a library. The confusion I felt

[debraran]

On 12/20/2024 at 7:03 AM, jason88cubs said:

I woke up to "Once upon a time" Never seen this episode.

 

All I know is I woke up to some funky 70s music and a girl running into a library. The confusion I felt

I think many fans went to check the channel back in the day...one of ML kids and I just saw on a weird Highway to Heaven about the world ending, his daughter with Cindy had a role as an 'angel" of some kind. Another cute blonde.

[Blergh]

On 12/20/2024 at 6:03 AM, jason88cubs said:

I woke up to "Once upon a time" Never seen this episode.

 

All I know is I woke up to some funky 70s music and a girl running into a library. The confusion I felt

 

Let's not overlook the confusion that got sewn for those viewing ML's closing narration celebrating Mrs. Wilder's eventual publication of works that would still be popular in contemporary (early 1980's) times as evinced by the uncredited Landon daughter running in said library to pick this out.

I'm sure the bulk of viewers knew that ML not only played Charles but also produced, direct and wrote the bulk of the series' episodes. Hence, no surprise he used all that behind-the-scenes clout to permit himself to do said narration.

However, ML's narration didn't once say 'I'm Michael Landon' before the 'blah blah blah'. Hence, it's probable that at least some younger and/or naive viewers might have wondered if this meant that somehow Charles Ingalls himself was narrating Mrs. Wilder's and  the Little House tomes eventual fates. .having somehow lived to the age of 153 yet still vocally sounding as though he was at least a  century younger!

Edited Sunday at 04:39 PM by Blergh

[tearknee]

Although Mac Carey still does the "like sands through the hourglass..." 30 years after he went to meet his maker (and they don't use the second half where he gave his name).

[Blergh]

On 12/22/2024 at 12:58 PM, tearknee said:

Although Mac Carey still does the "like sands through the hourglass..." 30 years after he went to meet his maker (and they don't use the second half where he gave his name).

But ML was alive during that 1993 one-shot narration while Charles Ingalls had been deceased for 91 years! However, at NO point in the series did anyone allude to Pa's eventual passing- even though Mrs. Wilder wrote all those books decades afterwards and wouldn't get her own reward until over a half-century after his demise.

[jason88cubs]

Merry Christmas!

 

Hopefully no one gets 2 stoves!

[Snow Apple]

Merry Christmas! I hope everybody got a new tin cup, peppermint stick, and a bright new penny.

[Blergh]

2 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

Merry Christmas! I hope everybody got a new tin cup, peppermint stick, and a bright new penny.

I'm somewhat surprised that no one on Walnut Grove seemed to get an orange on Christmas Day!

Folks on both sides of the Pond  from the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries would save up to pool their resources so their children would get ONE fresh orange in the toe of their Christmas Stockings- and for many of those children (outside places like Florida and California), that would be the ONLY fresh orange they'd get the entire year so they looked forward to them (and often their mothers would insist on them saving the peels so she could make orange marmalade from them).

Just wondering.

Edited Wednesday at 08:06 PM by Blergh

[The Wild Sow]

On 12/20/2024 at 7:03 AM, jason88cubs said:

I woke up to "Once upon a time" Never seen this episode.

The most hilarious and ironic thing is that the episodes immediately following "Once Upon a Time" are "Home Again" (parts 1 and 2.)

You know, the ones where "Albert Ingalls," the (non-existent, non-historical, added to the show for drama!) adopted son falls in with the gang (drama!) in Chicago (where I don't think the real Charles and family ever actually lived , so....drama!) 

And gets addicted to mor-PHINE (how's that for DRAMA!)  And of course Pa tough-loves him through the cold turkey withdrawal (quite dramatic, no?) but it all works out and Albert grows up to be Dr. Albert Ingalls (Happy Ending after all the drama!)

So, the real Laura Ingalls Wilder wasn't willing to make up stuff in her books to add drama.  Michael Landon, it seems, had no such qualms!  And I still think he timed the episodes that way on purpose 😜

[tearknee]

Anyone seen Baby Cheeseits today? Or is Alyssa giving him his baby bottle?

[Snow Apple]

2 hours ago, Blergh said:

I'm somewhat surprised that no one on Walnut Grove seemed to get an orange on Christmas Day!

Folks on both sides of the Pond  from the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries would save up to pool their resources so their children would get ONE fresh orange in the toe of their Christmas Stockings- and for many of those children (outside places like Florida and California), that would be the ONLY fresh orange they'd get the entire year so they looked forward to them (and often their mothers would insist on them saving the peels so she could make orange marmalade from them).

Just wondering.

You just explained something in the books to me. In one of the books, Laura was thrilled to get an entire orange at her friend Ben's birthday party. In a later book, Almanzo contributed a bag of oranges for Christmas. 

[tearknee]

A nice glass of cool orange juice is a good early morning pick me up ;)

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, Snow Apple said:

You just explained something in the books to me. In one of the books, Laura was thrilled to get an entire orange at her friend Ben's birthday party. In a later book, Almanzo contributed a bag of oranges for Christmas. 

One of the more touching reflections from The Waltons had to do with Grandpa recalling the wonder of getting  his 1st Christmas orange as a child and from that, believing that he'd NEVER be poor again which had sustained him through many tough times thereafter!

Peppermint sticks and shiny pennies were fine but they didn't reflect the awe of how special Christmas oranges were for so many folks for generations! Yeah, an LHTOP missed opportunity.

[debraran]

18 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

Merry Christmas! I hope everybody got a new tin cup, peppermint stick, and a bright new penny.

One year, 20 years ago, a catalog had for sale, a tin cup, peppermint stick and penny taped to the bottom. I had to get it even though my LHOP girls were pushing 10 but they still loved it. One tin cup still standing. ; )

Luckily we got a new gas stove in time for Xmas and our pup Gabe was safe.....

Edited Thursday at 11:31 AM by debraran

[tearknee]

thinking of reviving my old Psycho Carrie fics from TWOP and elsewhere with their running theme of Carrie's obsessive hatred for Cassandra Cooper for taking what little character function and screen time she still had.

In keeping with the Anachronism Stew of the TV show, Carrie riffs off the scene from "Reservoir Dogs" - Cassandra is gagged and bound to a chair while Carrie dances to a recording of fiddle music from one of Nellie's recording devices before leaning in and cutting off Cassandra's

Spoiler

lovely hair ;)

 

[jason88cubs]

Caroline: Remember 10 years ago when you were going to get me a stove but Laura did
Charles: Yes

Caroline: Well I;m still waiting for my make up present

[tearknee]

Oil of Olay?