Little House On The Prairie - General Discussion

[Mr. Sparkle]

13 minutes ago, Zella said:

Season 8 has been as much of a slog as all of you warned me. The main thing I've noticed is just how shrilly and frantically unfunny it is, even when it appears to desperately be trying to be funny. 

Then I have some bad news for you about Season 9... 

I won't spoil it, and I know you've probably read about it here, but the 2nd part of "He Was Only 12" is so bat-shit crazy that it's downright entertaining. That's the last episode of the season. 

 

[Zella]

8 minutes ago, Superclam said:

Then I have some bad news for you about Season 9... 

I won't spoil it, and I know you've probably read about it here, but the 2nd part of "He Was Only 12" is so bat-shit crazy that it's downright entertaining. That's the last episode of the season. 

 

Knowing that it can be so awful it is entertaining will sustain me through the darkness. 🙂 

[Mr. Sparkle]

19 minutes ago, Pirpana said:

By the way, here's a good YouTube video about the infamous Thylvia episode: 

 

Guy makes a valid point there which has been overseen even over here, I think. So there's a rapist in Walnut Grove but no one seems to mind that. Where is the posse finding that creep?

Sad that rape is only one part of the horror of this 2-parter. 

[debraran]

3 hours ago, Superclam said:

Say what you want about Michael Landon, but he does "emotionally destroyed" face as good as anybody. Both his and MSA's acting in Enchanted Cottage are top-notch. I got a little moved at the end. 

"Someone Please Love Me" on the other hand, is pretty crappy, as we've discussed here before. I'm surprised to find out ML didn't write/direct it, because it's a classic "Charles is better than anyone else" episode. I also realized for the first time that the daughter was played by the same actress who played Alicia. Also, the father seems to be wearing a really bad wig. 

ETA: Wiki says ML did direct it and it's a copy of a Bonanza episode that he wrote. Imdb says Blanche Hanalis wrote it. I'm gonna go with wiki. 

2nd edit: I read imdb wrong. It was indeed Landon. 

Yes, he took quite a few scripts from Bonanza but I liked the one with Hoss better. No bad wigs (it really was) no naming a son after Charles. I found it on youtube. He wrote both but enhanced the LHOP one a bit so he had a few more shining moments. ;_) I suppose giving the cast a week off and he didn't really have to write it again was like a vacation while working. I did this before, like an old shoe type of thing.

 

[Katy M]

4 hours ago, Superclam said:

Say what you want about Michael Landon, but he does "emotionally destroyed" face as good as anybody. Both his and MSA's acting in Enchanted Cottage are top-notch. I got a little moved at the end. 

I love that episode.  the scene in the eye doctor's office is just amazing.  With Mary joyously saying that yes, she can see the non-existent light and Charles's face.  Perfection.

[Mr. Sparkle]

7 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I love that episode.  the scene in the eye doctor's office is just amazing.  With Mary joyously saying that yes, she can see the non-existent light and Charles's face.  Perfection.

Yes! That's exactly what I meant. His face in that very scene was heartbreaking. 

 

[Pirpana]

2 hours ago, debraran said:

Yes, he took quite a few scripts from Bonanza but I liked the one with Hoss better. No bad wigs (it really was) no naming a son after Charles. I found it on youtube. He wrote both but enhanced the LHOP one a bit so he had a few more shining moments. ;_) I suppose giving the cast a week off and he didn't really have to write it again was like a vacation while working. I did this before, like an old shoe type of thing.

 

Thanks for that, debraran, I watched it just for fun. It was a bit strange to watch that 'cause I basically knew what was going to happen in the next scene and the next. Only that fist fight at the surprised me. I'd say the story worked better on Bonanza since Hoss was a bachelor and in that sense he and Sarah could have had a future together. On LH we knew all along Charles had his family waiting for him in Walnut Grove.

And it was funny to hear familiar musical cues which I only know from Little House. For example, the music playing in the background when the children are having their milk is the same one playing when Adam gets his eyesight back on LH after surviving blasting oil explosion. (How likely is that, by the way?) I wonder if David Rose recycled his themes even on Highway to Heaven, haven't watched that show.

Also, I know at that time it was a standard practice to shoot a lot on soundstages, but boy it was strange when they went out of the house and it felt like they were inside still, with those matte paintings of trees. And one last thing, holy moly was that house huge! Just look at the scene in the kitchen mentioned above. The walls are as high as in some freaking cathedral! 

[Zella]

36 minutes ago, Pirpana said:

 

And it was funny to hear familiar musical cues which I only know from Little House. For example, the music playing in the background when the children are having their milk is the same one playing when Adam gets his eyesight back on LH after surviving blasting oil explosion. (How likely is that, by the way?) I wonder if David Rose recycled his themes even on Highway to Heaven, haven't watched that show.

The actual theme from LHOTP is also stolen from Bonanza! There's an episode of Bonanza called "Top Hand" (which is a pretty good one for a post-Adam episode--I usually boycott those) that features it repeatedly. I can't find the full episode online but here's a snippet with the music in question:

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by Zella

[Pirpana]

^Whoa, lol! Guess their philosophy was "why to reinvent the wheel". Or why fix something that ain't broken.

[debraran]

I didn't want to watch the whole show where Hoss dies or isn't there, it's implied. Michael takes the place of Hoss in the episode, he meets the girl that eventually died (of course) I did catch the end on you tube where Joe is saying goodbye to his bride at her grave and he looked so much like Charles then and Charles from the horrible (IMHO) episode when James is in a coma. He didn't start out that way in the 2 part show but was chasing people for a while in the second half he couldn't shave. I guess I stopped watching the show or reruns when he started to age and look more like Ingall's in my mind than Cartwright.

There was an interview with Mariette Hartley who I realized now was on Bonanza multiple times. I cringe at the indian character she played and how blonde and light her baby was etc  and they had to dirty it up. The PC and accuracy was not the norm at the time. She did say how dirty in talk Michael was and I heard other Hop Sing jokes that were "colorful" but it was a different time and most of it was on late night shows kids couldn't hear.

Luckily Michael made the LHOP story a step up by having the woman go with the Indian on her own and her son was loved and wanted but her Indian husband died. The Cartwright's were the Ingall's the only good family who did the right thing. : )

 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by debraran

[debraran]

I posted this in another LHOP page but am I the only one that didn't know Michael was the bear in episode about Mr Edwards forcing his son (persuading heavily) to hunt?  Glad there is one thing I didn't know after 30 years. ; )

[Mr. Sparkle]

@debraran I can tell you that you are definitely NOT the only one who didn't know that! 

 

[Zella]

OK I need to bitch. Like, a lot.

I just watched the multipart "Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow." I'd actually been curious about this one since it's more based on things that happened in Laura's early married life.

But, if as I noted a few days ago, the "funny" episodes of season 8 are stridently and frantically trying too hard to be funny, the same can be said even more from the dramatic ones. OMG such narm. I started laughing at several inopportune times because the acting was so bad.

I'll admit that I've often been pulled in by the more melodramatic episodes early in the show's run. Even as late as Mary going blind, I got sucked into it because it was well acted. But this? Yeesh.

Also if I was Ma, I'd be damned if I'd give Laura's little pissy ass a repaired version of that plate she broke during her hissy fit. 

Oh and I didn't post about this a couple of days ago, but the "Stone Soup" episode also left me scratching my head. Overall, it was probably one of the better ones of the season. But I was baffled by everyone in Minnesota acting like Charles and Almanzo going to Arizona meant they were escaping the heat. Have any of you Walnut Grove yokels ever even heard of a desert? Also Manly's been on my shitlist ever since he failed Basic Horsemanship 101 at the end of the episode by pulling his team in during a thunderstorm after a long drive and apparently just leaving them out in the elements in front of the house rather than putting them up and doing all the associated chores because he instead goes to stuff his face. 

Also is poor Hester Sue the new punching bag now that Mary's not around? That episode where her ex-comes back--which I watched last night--was infuriating. Run, Hester Sue! RUN! You deserve better! 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Zella

[jird]

10 hours ago, Zella said:

Also if I was Ma, I'd be damned if I'd give Laura's little pissy ass a repaired version of that plate she broke during her hissy fit. 

Oh and I didn't post about this a couple of days ago, but the "Stone Soup" episode also left me scratching my head. Overall, it was probably one of the better ones of the season. But I was baffled by everyone in Minnesota acting like Charles and Almanzo going to Arizona meant they were escaping the heat. Have any of you Walnut Grove yokels ever even heard of a desert? Also Manly's been on my shitlist ever since he failed Basic Horsemanship 101 at the end of the episode by pulling his team in during a thunderstorm after a long drive and apparently just leaving them out in the elements in front of the house rather than putting them up and doing all the associated chores because he instead goes to stuff his face. 

 

 

So much pissiness in Days of Sunshine! Laura's hissy fit was a little over the top, but it was also pretty crappy of her family not to tell her her house had been destroyed. Recurring theme that drives me nuts on this show: "Oh, let's not tell the person whose life this affects, because we know better! Mary doesn't need to know she's going blind."

And Stone Soup was ridiculous. Ma had 687 kids at that house, and I refuse to believe that she wouldn't have insisted that they spend some of their time helping at Laura's house, or that James and Albert wouldn't have decided that on their own.

[ctlady]

On 3/4/2021 at 7:03 PM, debraran said:

Annabelle wouldn't be considered as big today and probably not a show on it but he did have overweight characters another time., the dad in the evil city and Elmer? I did love the Nel's hug at the end and the enthusiastic clapping of his children.

I really did like this episode.  The scene I thought was most awkward was where Annabelle was giving a talk at the blind school and invited the kids to come up and 'touch' fat body to prove she was fat.  They all got up and started feeling her.  Blind or not, I thought that was cringy

On 3/4/2021 at 7:03 PM, debraran said:

It could have been better but having blind children "watch" a circus when if blind from birth wouldn't make much sense to them. To touch a clown or elephant, maybe but it seemed odd having Charles narrate it.

I know - that was just ridiculous leaving these kids to picture things in their mind.  

[Zella]

2 hours ago, jird said:

And Stone Soup was ridiculous. Ma had 687 kids at that house, and I refuse to believe that she wouldn't have insisted that they spend some of their time helping at Laura's house, or that James and Albert wouldn't have decided that on their own.

Yeah I've been reading memoirs from the time and a little later, and when men would be away, it was pretty normal for arrangements to be made for another man or boy to stop by morning and evening to tend to the barn chores. I'd think that would be even more true for a pregnant woman who was just starting an orchard during a drought and who has her family just down the road. 

The entire depiction of Laura's work world is so anachronistic that I giggled like a loon when she and Manly had a chat yesterday about her working after the baby was born since she wouldn't be teaching school as soon as she got married. And I may have damaged my eyes from rolling them every time they act like she's just going to casually whip up something in her 19th century kitchen after being gone all day. It's so obviously storylines from the early 1980s rather than the 1880s. 

2 hours ago, jird said:

Laura's hissy fit was a little over the top, but it was also pretty crappy of her family not to tell her her house had been destroyed. Recurring theme that drives me nuts on this show: "Oh, let's not tell the person whose life this affects, because we know better! Mary doesn't need to know she's going blind."

Oh it was crappy of them for sure. (They also did the same thing to Hester Sue. Let's not tell her that her husband hasn't reformed!) I just have very little patience for Laura. I really loved her character in the first season or so, but I find her absolutely insufferable now and have for a long time. It would bother me less if she didn't always get a pass. If Ma had just been like, "Screw you, you little hag! You're not getting another plate from me!" I would have been less bothered by it. 

[Tamiele]

I am watching the daily episodes on Vision TV.  Today's show is all about when Perley Day comes for a visit.  The annoying thing is that Albert decides to beat on Andrew Garvey over the love of a girl at school.  How soon they forget that Albert's pipe smoking carelessness literally killed his nephew and Andrew's mother in the previous episode.  Good grief!! 🙄

[CountryGirl]

15 minutes ago, Tamiele said:

I am watching the daily episodes on Vision TV.  Today's show is all about when Perley Day comes for a visit.  The annoying thing is that Albert decides to beat on Andrew Garvey over the love of a girl at school.  How soon they forget that Albert's pipe smoking carelessness literally killed his nephew and Andrew's mother in the previous episode.  Good grief!! 🙄

Oh the one with Penelope. She was such a little snip.

[debraran]

12 hours ago, Tamiele said:

I am watching the daily episodes on Vision TV.  Today's show is all about when Perley Day comes for a visit.  The annoying thing is that Albert decides to beat on Andrew Garvey over the love of a girl at school.  How soon they forget that Albert's pipe smoking carelessness literally killed his nephew and Andrew's mother in the previous episode.  Good grief!! 🙄

Yes how awkward is that, they just wrap up an episode with hugs after that deplorable fire episode but then he is friends with the kid who's mom he killed. Life goes on but don't beat on him. He had enough pain.  I liked it when they just left town to start over.

Laura is insufferable when older, some fans say she was tired of the show, Michael was, ratings were dipping a lot, and the writers grew bored. I just can't watch most of them. I don't need a total believable episode with food, cooking etc. but at least try. In real life I don't think she liked teaching but it fit with the show more. One of the most realistic but gross episodes had Almonzo giving Laura a dirty diaper when she came home and she brought it outside to dump somewhere. I wanted to kiss my washer after that. : ) Of course on the set it was different. In the episode with Jane, Laura's friend, I read when Laura handed baby Rose to Jane, you could see that Rose was wearing a disposable diaper. That was almost 100 years before they were invented but you can't blame them for that one.

 

[Pirpana]

54 minutes ago, debraran said:

In the episode with Jane, Laura's friend, I read when Laura handed baby Rose to Jane, you could see that Rose was wearing a disposable diaper. That was almost 100 years before they were invented but you can't blame them for that one.

Well, in a way we can. For using a camera angle from which we can see that! 🙂

[Tamiele]

After watching the 2-part May We Make Them Proud, I realized how good of an actor Matthew Labyorteaux was.  Most of the shows I don't get to emotional over but the scene where Mary is screaming and he is backing out of the room saying he didn't mean it - it made me tear up.  He and Michael Landon could pull the tears out of me.  Too bad Matthew really didn't do more acting after LHTP.  Patrick had some acting success but Matthew must not have pursued it.

[Mr. Sparkle]

3 hours ago, Tamiele said:

Too bad Matthew really didn't do more acting after LHTP.  Patrick had some acting success but Matthew must not have pursued it.

Didn't he do one show afterwards? Something with computers or something like that? I have very vague memories. 

ETA: it was called "Whiz Kids." I don't think I ever watched it. Beyond that, it looks like he did some voiceover work. 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Superclam

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, Superclam said:

Didn't he do one show afterwards? Something with computers or something like that? I have very vague memories. 

ETA: it was called "Whiz Kids." I don't think I ever watched it. Beyond that, it looks like he did some voiceover work. 

I watched it back in the day. It wasn't a bad show. He also did a horror movie Deadly Friend, where he reanimates a female friend of his with bad consequences. 

[Zella]

6 hours ago, Tamiele said:

After watching the 2-part May We Make Them Proud, I realized how good of an actor Matthew Labyorteaux was.  Most of the shows I don't get to emotional over but the scene where Mary is screaming and he is backing out of the room saying he didn't mean it - it made me tear up.  He and Michael Landon could pull the tears out of me.  Too bad Matthew really didn't do more acting after LHTP.  Patrick had some acting success but Matthew must not have pursued it.

Yeah even as uneven as the latter seasons and performances are, he always does a good job. 

[Blergh]

On 3/10/2021 at 4:09 AM, debraran said:

Yes how awkward is that, they just wrap up an episode with hugs after that deplorable fire episode but then he is friends with the kid who's mom he killed. Life goes on but don't beat on him. He had enough pain.  I liked it when they just left town to start over.

 

 

Of course, it also needs to be mentioned that when Andy was barely cordial to Adam and Mary and Jonathan called him on it, Andy revealed that he resented them for the fact that his own mother Alice's being with their baby during the fire contributed to Alice's death. Yet he was willing to overlook if not completely forgive the fact that his bestie Albert had been the one who accidentally started the fire by dropping a lit pipe in the Blind School's basement.  Now, I would agree that this seems a bit inconsistent but it's hardly the first time I've heard of folks having unfair if not unjust reactions to fellow victims and actual contributors of loved one's demises so I have to give some credit to ML for showing some realism re grieving here. 

 

Yeah, I agree that it was best that they left town but it seems that almost as soon as Jonathan busted up the teen theft ring in that new town, there was ZERO contact to/from the Garveys with anyone in Walnut Grove. Perhaps it was for the best for all of them but hopefully they were able to look back and consider that they DID have good times with each other before the horrific tragedy. 

[jason88cubs]

watched God's Little Acre the other night which had a pre Bonanza Michael Landon on it

 

https://thane62.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/8873-3.jpg

[Zella]

I'm watching the episode where Bearded Charles brings Young Michael Bluth out of his coma (after his vengeance ride). I had read about this, but I was still not adequately prepared for how bonkers it is and how over-the-top the glorification of Charles is, even by his lofty standards.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Zella

[Mr. Sparkle]

Oh, you mean Schlong of Healing? It is so over-the-top, ridiculous and misguided that I find it immensely entertaining. 

[Zella]

37 minutes ago, Superclam said:

Oh, you mean Schlong of Healing? It is so over-the-top, ridiculous and misguided that I find it immensely entertaining. 

It had a certain trainwreck charm to it! 😄 And in that sense was more watchable than most of season 8. Yeesh. The prospect of starting 9 has me feeling like Lloyd Bridges in Airplane. 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Zella

[jird]

Charles when doctors say Albert is going to die:  *grabs Laura by the shoulders and shakes her until she says "My brother is going to die!"

 

Charles when doctors say James is going to die: *yells a lot, grows a manly beard, builds a phallic monument, talks to hallucinations*

[debraran]

1 hour ago, jird said:

Charles when doctors say Albert is going to die:  *grabs Laura by the shoulders and shakes her until she says "My brother is going to die!"

 

Charles when doctors say James is going to die: *yells a lot, grows a manly beard, builds a phallic monument, talks to hallucinations*

No big altar for Charles Jr either, just accepted it was "God's will". No consistency.

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, debraran said:

No big altar for Charles Jr either, just accepted it was "God's will". No consistency.

I haven't had 3 children die or almost die, but I would bet you wouldn't act the exact same way each time.  Different circumstances, different times in your life, and different relationships with the kids.

[debraran]

6 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I haven't had 3 children die or almost die, but I would bet you wouldn't act the exact same way each time.  Different circumstances, different times in your life, and different relationships with the kids.

That may be true but it was always boys with Charles too. He lost Charles, then supposedly Albert and then almost James. I wish with Albert it was more clear if he died or became a doctor and the leukemia just went away. Even Mary's "fake" pregnancies were boys that were lost. The miscarriage had Adam's dad asking and later she had a boy. Laura of course in real life lost a son too. '

I always hated Mary's story line and I agreed with her when she said it got to be like a soap opera. I really wish they adopted a blind child not wanted by his or her parents and even if they went away, they were happy.

[Mr. Sparkle]

3 hours ago, jird said:

Charles when doctors say James is going to die: *yells a lot, grows a manly glues on a G.I. Joe beard, builds a phallic monument, talks to hallucinations*

Fixed that for you. 

[Zella]

In the Schlong of Healing (totally stealing that), I couldn't help but giggle when Reverend Alden and Charles were acting like they'd never experienced a miracle before. I guess they weren't paying attention when Adam's sight came back or Charles himself magically recovered from being gutshot. 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Zella

[CountryGirl]

5 hours ago, jird said:

Charles when doctors say Albert is going to die:  *grabs Laura by the shoulders and shakes her until she says "My brother is going to die!"

 

Charles when doctors say James is going to die: *yells a lot, grows a manly beard, builds a phallic monument, talks to hallucinations*

Don't forget him browbeating Mary, who learns she isn't going to see again after all, to confess that she wanted to see for herself (well, duh!) But that sanctimonious, "just say it, you wanted to see for you!" makes me want to slap him silly.

I know it was the end of Charles/ML in the regular episodes, but that was some shit over James. You just know Carrie or Grace wouldn't have gotten the Schlong of Healing treatment.

[CountryGirl]

2 hours ago, debraran said:

That may be true but it was always boys with Charles too. He lost Charles, then supposedly Albert and then almost James. I wish with Albert it was more clear if he died or became a doctor and the leukemia just went away. Even Mary's "fake" pregnancies were boys that were lost. The miscarriage had Adam's dad asking and later she had a boy. Laura of course in real life lost a son too. '

I always hated Mary's story line and I agreed with her when she said it got to be like a soap opera. I really wish they adopted a blind child not wanted by his or her parents and even if they went away, they were happy.

Wait, Albert DIED???

But but but Laura's voice-over after the morPHINE two-parter indicated how proud everyone was when he came back to Walnut Grove as Dr. Albert Ingalls. 

[jason88cubs]

Its almost like in the later seasons they just threw crazy ideas at the wall and saw what stuck

 

but i still cant help but watch

[ctlady]

Sweet Sixteen just finished on Cozi tv. Starting He loves me, he loves me not part 1. Ready for some Nellie & Percival!

[Mr. Sparkle]

On 3/1/2021 at 6:33 AM, Tamiele said:

Does anyone know where a person could view any of the 3 specials that aired after Little House TV series was cancelled?  I’d love to rewatch those. 

Do you have UPtv? They're all on the morning of Monday, March 21st. 

On another note, a certain mime-related episode is on at 12 today. 😲

Edited March 13, 2021 by Superclam

[Mr. Sparkle]

I watched "Bless All the Dear Children" or whatever it's called for the first time the other day. It was actually better than I thought for what was essentially a long 9th season episode. That part with the star shining though - as ridiculous as the schlong of healing.  

[Pirpana]

^Yeah, and it's funny how at the beginning of the movie they try to give an explanation why there's not a single flake of snow to be seen although Christmas is coming. "Winter of 1896 was a strange one, it was hot." Oh, no kidding! As hot as in a valley in Southern California.

PS. I think I need to emphasize, I do actually like this show even though all my posts are complaining of their nature more or less. It's funnier to be nitpicky, I guess!

[CountryGirl]

I think since this was the last episode (wasn't it, even after they blew up the town?) or at least one of the last, it was IDGAF anymore and they were not going to bother with details like snow. 

Which, the fake snow from previous episodes often looked fake anyway, most memorably the Christmas on Plum Creek episode where you could clearly see the green grass peaking out from under the sad-looking fake snow (and also all the leaves on the trees that weren't the evergreen ones).

[Mr. Sparkle]

Of course the mountains of Minnesota are a favorite of mine. 

[Zella]

Just now, Superclam said:

Of course the mountains of Minnesota are a favorite of mine. 

Mine too! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Mr. Sparkle]

1 hour ago, Pirpana said:

PS. I think I need to emphasize, I do actually like this show even though all my posts are complaining of their nature more or less. It's funnier to be nitpicky, I guess!

Yes, I think that's the point of this page, and the whole site. You can make fun of something and still watch it every time it's on! 

[CountryGirl]

7 minutes ago, Superclam said:

Yes, I think that's the point of this page, and the whole site. You can make fun of something and still watch it every time it's on! 

Yes! Exactly!

As much as I snark on the show, I will always have a fondness for it and if I come across an episode while flipping through the channels (well, the cable guide these days), I, at minimum, have to at least see which one it is and the vast majority of the time, I end up watching it...AGAIN. 😂

[CountryGirl]

13 minutes ago, Zella said:

Mine too! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yes. Especially that time when Laura ran all the way to those Minnesota mountains and met Ernest Borgnine. 

[debraran]

@superclam I have amazon prime and I know Bless the Children is there but haven't watched it since it was on TV. I saw 3 dvd collection for 9.99 a while back.  don't think they were worth it but some might want the complete series.

Edited March 13, 2021 by debraran

[Zella]

23 minutes ago, debraran said:

@superclam I have amazon prime and I know Bless the Children is there but haven't watched it since it was on TV. I saw 3 dvd collection for 9.99 a while back.  don't think they were worth it but some might want the complete series.

I checked earlier today and it looks like all 3 of the movies are there on Amazon Prime but separate from the show. I will not be able to resist when the time comes.