Little House On The Prairie - General Discussion

[Maherjunkie]

Pre-Beavis and Butthead.

[scowl]

I'm just strarting season two and I'm amazed that Melissa Sue Anderson foreshadowed her famous mline scene in "Four Eyes":

 

"Nellie kept calling me floor eyes!"

 

I've played it five times. She says "floor eyes". It almost sounds like "fluoride".

[DoughGirl]

Sylvia was just on again. Not much more to say about it, but I always wonder where Albert learned blacksmithing. Not from Charles since Bunny had to be shoed by the blacksmith. Not in the city or at the orphanage.

I'm just strarting season two and I'm amazed that Melissa Sue Anderson foreshadowed her famous mline scene in "Four Eyes":

 

"Nellie kept calling me floor eyes!"

 

I've played it five times. She says "floor eyes". It almost sounds like "fluoride".

It's "The MSA Word Slurring Method" of trying to cry convincingly when she's just a terrible actress.

[PrairieSmoke]

Ever notice how nobody's ever hungry when they're upset about something? "I'm not hungry."

They're doing farm work all day! Yes you are hungry. I'd be like, "And you'll never guess what that Nellie Oleson did today, nom nom nom. Pass them peas over here. And then she did nom nom nom.  Pass some chicken over here, nom nom nom."

 

Oh, and I watched I'll be Waving as you Drive Away. You guys are right, mline, that's exactly what it sounds like.

Pa, "Your eyes are fine, they're just tired."

Two days later, "Mline, You mean I'm going mline?"

[camom]

Watching "He Was Only 12," and Pa building the schlong of healing.  In the first part, when they are chasing the bad guys, why didn't Pa's beard grow then?  I don't know how long they were gone, but it was several days.  And while his beard was growing up on the Minnesota mountain (heh) why didn't James' hair grow?  It truly is one of the more bizarre episodes.

[Maherjunkie]

I only passed it by but did they show some sort of supernatural element?  I saw Pa with his beard looking up.

[bunnywithanaxe]

Just have to ask: at the time LHotP aired, did people think it was batshit crazy? Or was it only afterward, looking back, when people were like: "Um, this warm-hearted family show is actually kind of bonkers"?

I was a very early reader, and had gone through all of the books up to "Farmer Boy" by the time I was eight or so. I think it was Laura's apple-- boob stunt that finally made me think," oh, they make up so much crap on this show. Not just crap, but stupid crap."

And as I got older, and read the sweet, funny, action- packed saga of the Laura/ Almanzo courtship, I found the Landoninan interpretation of that fantastic story pretty silly and TV'ed up. Manzo strokes a ho? Really?

Edited October 30, 2014 by bunnywithanaxe

[Maherjunkie]

Did that really happen?  I missed that episode.

[merylinkid]

He delivering ice to the saloon.   Ho was flirting with him and somehow got water on her back.   She asked him to wipe it off.   Laura saw and got hysterical.   I always loved her description of the Ho's outfit:   It didn't have much top or bottom either.   It was more like a belt.   Delivered while sobbing uncontrollably.

 

 

Do not ask me why I remember that line, but can't remember how many kids one of my clients has.

Edited October 30, 2014 by merylinkid

[Maherjunkie]

Because you know what's important.

[DoughGirl]

I only passed it by but did they show some sort of supernatural element?  I saw Pa with his beard looking up.

That would be at the healing lightening crashing down from God, through the schlong of healing and into James. It knocks Pa out and he wakes to healed James standing over him saying "Pa? Pa?"

[scowl]

Ever notice how nobody's ever hungry when they're upset about something? "I'm not hungry."

They're doing farm work all day! Yes you are hungry. I'd be like, "And you'll never guess what that Nellie Oleson did today, nom nom nom. Pass them peas over here. And then she did nom nom nom.  Pass some chicken over here, nom nom nom."

 

I don't think the girls did all that much farm work other than feeding the horses and the cow. We only see them going to school, going to church and having conversations in the loft. Laura also spends a lot of time fishing.

 

And look what they had to eat: corn, potatoes, and mystery meat. Every damn meal. Night after night. 

[scowl]

I'm a few episodes into season three. I mostly notice boring technical changes. The lighting has gotten more realistic. It bugged me that the Ingall's home was lit up with full-intensity studio lighting at night. This season someone realized that their home must have been very dark at night when lit by only a lantern or two so they just have a single light pointed down at the dinner table. Good idea! They contrast this with the Oleson's house which is still being brightly lit. I still wish Pa would get off his ass, buy a bag of plaster and finish the wall around Carrie's bed. Hell, he spent days fixing up Mariette Hartley's house last season.

 

Arngrim's breakout episode "Bunny" wasn't quite as good as I thought it would be. She described her two trips down the hill in the wheelchair in her book but there are really only a few seconds of it (one great shot between her feet). 

 

It's crazy that "Little Girl Lost" is just like what happened to Baby Jessica ten years after it aired, right down to the men digging a parallel tunnel next to the hole. Jack is the best TV dog ever.

 

There was an entire episode about a goat. Hard to believe the writers passed on worse ideas than "Let's get a goat and have him do something funny over and over." Ah, 70's television. Remember when we had a variety show hosted by mimes?

 

I can't believe it took three seasons to see Pa beat the shit out of someone in "Bully Boys". Even more incredible, Reverend Alden, after preaching non-violence during the first 40 minutes of the episode, thanks the mob of children for beating up a bully and showing them the way. What?

 

Season four will be out on Blu-ray in January!

[oceanblue]

Does anyone remember seeing Pa hunt?  Where did the meat come from?

[scowl]

Pa hunted in the pilot when they lived on a real prairie. Then the hunter became the prey! 

 

I guess the meat and food products would be coming from other farmers in the area. In Minnesota that would give them cheap beef and pork. The Oleson's don't appear to sell much food other than grain products and candy.  In season two we learned that the Ingalls don't have cold storage (get off your ass, Pa!) so they must be eating very fresh food.

 

From the books we know that most of the food during the winter came by train. Before refrigeration the trains shipped lots of perishable food only during the winter. It was possible to get very exotic food like oranges and bananas.

[oceanblue]

And apparently, candy, which was a staple on the prairie among farmers who paid cash on the barrel.

[Maherjunkie]

But Nellie and Willie kept amazingly slim!

[scowl]

I'd be more concerned about their teeth. Hard candy is the worst thing for them. Too bad Nellie didn't get dentures for her 18th birthday.

[scowl]

Does anyone remember seeing Pa hunt?  Where did the meat come from?

 

I'm watching a season three episode called "The Hunters" with Laura and Pa out on a hunting trip. The only thing Pa was able to shoot was himself.

[alegtostandon]

Just watching another pre 1900's show..."Here Comes The Brides"...this is now the 2nd episode I have seen that is very similar to a LHOTP episode. This show aired in the late '60's.

The episode I just watched was about a deaf boy who could not communicate & was being dragged around in a cage as a wild boy in a side show act. The deaf boy was played by Mitch Vogel, who was also in a few LHOTP episodes. But the main characters in this show saved the deaf boy from his caged life and taught him to communicate. Two little kids in this show,too, whose parents died & were taken in by a relative. Same story line,too, where deaf boy would flash back to his abusive past.

[kickedinthehead]

I'd be more concerned about their teeth. Hard candy is the worst thing for them. Too bad Nellie didn't get dentures for her 18th birthday.

Willie's teeth were pretty bad, if I recall correctly (though they might have been magically straightened toward the end of the show's run).

[scowl]

Willie's teeth were pretty bad, if I recall correctly (though they might have been magically straightened toward the end of the show's run).

 

With all the candy Nellie and Willie eat, their teeth should be rotting out of their faces by the third season. 

[Maherjunkie]

Scowl, do you think if they were older, wiser, the Gilbert-Lowe union might have had a shot?

[scowl]

I know nothing about Rob Lowe. I know even less than nothing after attempting to read Gilbert's book. 

[Maherjunkie]

You're a regular Sgt.Schultz.  How far did you get?

[Maherjunkie]

I know this has been said before, but the thought of them taking the blind kids to the circus makes me laugh.

[scowl]

You're a regular Sgt.Schultz.  How far did you get?

 

I gave up when Gilbert decided that a boob job would solve all of her problems. I didn't bother to read how she became the president of the SAG. She seemed to be completely unaware of the productions she worked on (mostly Lifetime movies) other than she showed up and did some acting and she seemed completely clueless and uninterested in the industry she was employed in.

 

I just saw the episode that young Todd Bridges was in. I guess thanks to the success of Roots, they were able to use the "n word" freely on the show. Of course the term "black" didn't show up for another hundred years but they couldn't dare say Negro over and over. At least no one said "colored". I thought it was clever that they had the black doctor working on the reservation since white people wouldn't "be doctored" by a black. Pretty good episode. 

[Maherjunkie]

To be fair I think a lot actresses thought that.  AA, however, took a different route.  I think remaining natural hurt her career, somewhat.

[scowl]

As Arngrim said, Hollywood is full of actresses with beautiful noses and perfect breasts who work in restaurants and bars. She wasn't going to get a part through surgery. 

[Maherjunkie]

The shame is her brother works more than she does!

[scowl]

I finished season three and can't believe the season ended with "Election", a completely routine episode about a school election. The previous season ended with the Ingals barely surviving a tornado yet leaving the family (once again) with a ruined crop. Pa believed that God had forsaken him and he prepared to leave Walnut Grove to go back to that dumpy cabin we saw in the pilot.

 

This election plot would have been too weak for an afterschool special. In fact several of the plots this season (like "Music Box") were simple moral lessons, not really drama. Season three focused more on the kids than the last season and the kids aren't that interesting to me yet. 

 

Season four arrives on Blu-ray next month.

[scowl]

The Blu-ray of season four arrived yesterday and I was so excited and... what? Jack dies? In the first episode? Say it ain't so! He was the best dog on television!

 

I guess his agent asked for too much money or something. 

[Maherjunkie]

Maybe Bandit was perceived as the hot new thing at the time.

[scowl]

We don't even see Bandit in the next few episodes. Jack was bouncing everywhere in the first three seasons. I wonder if the dog got old or couldn't stand the boiling heat of Simi Valley (the poor thing was constantly panting).

[Moxie Cat]

Hey everyone - longtime TWOP LHOTP lurker here who just found the PTV Little House forum. All I can say is: don't read these boards while sitting in a public area. I literally could not control my tears of laughter when I read the posts that set the Benny Hill theme to the blind school fire.

 

Anyway, just started catching up again with Little House in the afternoons on Hallmark (after watching them regularly when they aired in the evenings a few years ago). The show is at my favorite spot right now, namely the seasons with "all the husbands": Adam, Percival, and (to a lesser degree) Zaldamo. Plus Albert, who's always been a favorite of mine.

 

That said, I don't know why I always rewatch HLM, HLMN and LIW, since Almanzo is a flat-out ass in both of them--but I always do. 

 

"May We Bake Them Brown" was just on, and holy cow, that is a sad episode (I actually never saw it that much over the years). I did watch carefully for the Baby Battering Ram, as I know it's a favorite moment around here, but I had a hard time seeing it--isn't Alice just holding the baby in one arm and hitting the glass with her other elbow? In any case, the scenes with Alice screaming at the window are truly horrifying. If I were Hester Sue, I would have needed therapy.

 

What IS 100% ridiculous: that scene in which Adam runs in to the bedroom, tells Mary the school is on fire, and they just LEAVE THE BABY....what parents would do that?! They didn't know how bad the fire was or how much time they had! Even if they wanted to help the kids and thought the baby would be a hinderance, you still grab the baby FIRST and pawn it off on Hester Sue or Alice (who could more easily hold the baby while running around). I just can't believe the director (or writer, or ML) would think that scene made sense! 

 

I also noticed an odd script choice in these eps: why does Adam often refer to "seeing"? For example:

 

In "May We Bake Them Brown," he says (about Mary): "I can't stand seeing her like this!"

Me: "Well, then it's good that you can't."

 

And then in "HLM, HLMN", he says (about the courthouse): "You gotta see this place!"

Me: "....because I can't."

 

Is this a common occurrence? It seems like a really weird script choice for a blind character. I mean, instead of "You gotta see this place!" Adam easily could have said, "This place is huge....you won't believe it...." It's just strange.

[scowl]

Season Five will be out on Blu-ray in two or three weeks for only $18 at Amazon.

 

Incredible that many HD television series still on the air are only released on DVD yet this old show is getting the high definition treatment. 

[DoughGirl]

The husbands....

I didn't mind Adam until he got his sight back but can't stand Almanzo. And Percival was okay in the beginning but I hated his treatment of Nellie when she was expecting and he was too much of a control freak.

I always watch LIW because of Eliza Jane's story line.

[Moxie Cat]

Yeah--when I was younger, I used to dislike LIW because at least 80% of it is actually about Eliza Jane (and as a kid, I was all about Zaldamo and Laura!). This week was one of the first times I watched it all the way through in forever. It's a shame that the Eliza Jane character wasn't more explored until the episode in which she left!--she had the potential to be a really complex character. I love her speech to Charles at the end. And thank you to whoever posted about the real Eliza Jane on this board--so interesting!--it's a shame THAT person wasn't written into the show!

 

Two more winners from Adam in "To See the Light." Both lines are addressed to Mary (which is key):

 

When they are driving in the rig, Adam gazes at a field and says:

"Would you look at that?!"

("Um...I can't.")

 

Then later, Adam is rhapsodizing about the lawyer's picnic:

"Did you ever SEE so much food?"

("Well....you know I am blind, Adam.")

 

Seriously tone-deaf writing. Adam is a piece of work in that episode, too. I think we're supposed to assume that his restlessness with teaching occurs over a period of time after his sight returns, but all we see is that one day he's in the hospital, and the next day he's back in the school, gazing out the window wistfully.

[psychoticstate]

The husbands....

I didn't mind Adam until he got his sight back but can't stand Almanzo. And Percival was okay in the beginning but I hated his treatment of Nellie when she was expecting and he was too much of a control freak.

I always watch LIW because of Eliza Jane's story line.

 

I always liked Adam but found it a little irksome how everything worked out hunky dory for Mary (Sue).  She meets Adam at the blind school, falls in love with him in about 90 seconds and then she's off to teach with him.  With the blessing of Ma and Pa, of course, because Mary was so darn perfect.  Course Mary was always on the fast track to get married - - weren't she and John Jr. engaged when she was 14?  And when Pa was very strict and said they had to wait until Mary was 15?  (But Laura had to wait until she was 17!)

 

I loved Almanzo/Zaldamo/Manly when I was younger - - I always had a thing for blondes.  I didn't notice so much then as I do now the age difference between Dean Butler and Melissa Gilbert.  He didn't look old for his years or anything but she looked so darn young - - it's hard to imagine him falling in love with her 5 minutes after she took her braids out and put her hair up to get to teachin'. 

 

I watched Back to School for the first time in ages and I loved seeing Pa get all irate, after being run down by the mill wheel, and stomp over to the Wilder homestead to punch out Almanzo.

 

I think Percival was the perfect compliment to Nellie.  He was like Nels initially but had the outspoken personality of Harriet.  I always loved Nellie - - the episodes with her in them were fantastic.  Never cared much for Nancy, or James and Cassandra for that matter. 

[DoughGirl]

I think that Mary was actually only 13 when she got engaged!

I hate when shows have a character do an about face just to create drama, which I think is why they had Charles insist on Laura waiting until she was eighteen to get married. "I don't think a girl should get married until she's eighteen." But Mary was only sixteen. Laura should have told him to make up his mind.

Yeah, "Manly" and Laura's age difference was skeevy at the beginning. Especially in those episodes where she was wearing her hair down and loose. IMO it made her look even younger. And he kept acting like he couldn't wait to jump her bones.

[killer.noona]

Watching the episode Laura Ingalls Wlder and oh hell no. Laura can't work as a teacher after almanzo loses everything (he said no and they aren't even married yet) and Ma tells her it's okay because one day she'll have babies to teach.

Liza Jane dates an equally shy and awkward man, and they dance to music from a record player, at least 15 years before records were created.

[scowl]

I'm zipping through season four so I can watch the season five Blu-rays that just showed up. I'm amused that Willow Run, the small town in which Mary gets her first teaching job is full of people even stupider than the residents of Walnut Grove.

 

"Jezebel!"

"Devil's disciple!" 

"You should be on your knees praying to the Lord!"

"Telephones don't exist!"

"Who's the President?"

"What's two plus two?" <crickets>

 

There are at least a dozen hilarious lines in this one.

[scowl]

As I zipped through season four (had to get to the "mline" episode), one thing that cracked me up is Caroline Ingalls' consistent reaction to absolutely everything: a pause followed by intense worry.

 

Bad news: "Oh, Charles, what are we going to do?"

 

Good news: "Oh, Charles, what are we going to do?"

 

This was especially funny in "Inheritance". A letter arrives and Caroline immediately says, "Oh dear, I hope it isn't bad news!" Charles replied, "Shut your mouth, silly woman!" Oh wait, this is Michael Landon, so he actually said something like, "Gosh, Caroline, I haven't even opened the envelope yet!" 

[Runningwild]

Country Girls is on Hallmark right now. Yay!

[juneday]

This thread gave me a good laugh tonight! Lol

I always thought Laura and Almanzo's courtship was too short. It was like one episode Laura was pining away after him and he hadn't even noticed her as anything other than a little girl. Then bam-the next episode, Laura gets her teaching certificate, puts her hair up, and wears a more mature-looking dress that shows off her curves and Almanzo notices her. Then suddenly they're courting. And that didn't bother me as much as how short their actual courtship was-like they court for one episode-Sweet Sixteen. Then they are engaged in HLM, HLMN. Then a few non-memorable (IMO) episodes in between and they're married. I guess we are supposed to believe that more time passed in between Sweet Sixteen and HLM, HLMN but I would have liked to have seen at least another episode or two about it. Although I do always enjoy the engagement and LIW two-parters.

[jird]

Watching Albert die of fatal nosebleeds, and there's a scene with Pa and Mr. Edwards, and I realized that it's never before occurred to me that both Pa and Mr. Edwards have dead (gay) adopted sons.  Huh.

[Maherjunkie]

You mean in real life?  (Matthew and Radames)

 

I don't see how Albert was dying, he didn't look sick and was playing baseball.

[SmallTownMom]

I used to watch this show faithfully, but somehow missed the last season.  I caught a few reruns over the years, but this week I saw 2 episodes on INSP that I never saw before.

 

Did Albert have leukemia or what?  I missed the first few minutes of this one, so don't know if it was ever explained.

 

Tonight I watched the 2 hour season finale called "Let's blow this damn town up" or something like that.  Let's all stand around and watch the dynamite do the dirty work.  I kept thinking?  What about hearing protection.  No, I really did.  And why would you let your kids watch that?  The bad guys evidently never heard anything, just rode into town after it was all over.  And my big question was, why didn't one person say, "I guess I have to stay here and be an indentured servant because I have nowhere else to go, so this is better than losing everything"?  Seriously, blowing up the town was a unanimous decision?

 

Then the men from other towns said don't try it in our towns.  We'll fight you, it won't work for you to try to take over our town.  And my husband said, "sucks that they started with Walnut Grove."

 

ETA:  where was Harriet Olson?

 

Oh, I just remembered why I stopped watching.  Because I hated Shannon Doherty and that little blonde Nellie 2.0. 

Edited October 1, 2015 by SmallTownMom

[Snow Apple]

 

I don't see how Albert was dying, he didn't look sick and was playing baseball.

Until I read it on the old TWOP thread, I had no idea Albert and Sylvia died in their respective episodes. All I remember was that Albert had a new girlfriend in the following season after Sylvia and thinking "What the.........," but still had no clue until decades later. 

[oceanblue]

If you believe Laura when Albert recovered from drug addiction, he returned to WG as Dr. Albert Ingalls.  If you believe her in the movie, he got leukemia and died.  It's like a write your own adventure type series.