Little House On The Prairie - General Discussion

[Zella]

1 hour ago, Superclam said:

On another note, today is real-life Carrie Ingalls birthday! 

Today's my birthday, too, and I didn't realize I shared it with Carrie! Unlike TV Carrie, Real Carrie actually seemed pretty cool. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

3 minutes ago, Zella said:

Today's my birthday, too, and I didn't realize I shared it with Carrie! Unlike TV Carrie, Real Carrie actually seemed pretty cool. 

Happy Birthday! 

And yes, it appears that real Carrie could form complete sentences at an appropriate age.  

[Zella]

22 minutes ago, Superclam said:

Happy Birthday! 

And yes, it appears that real Carrie could form complete sentences at an appropriate age.  

Thank you! I've debated whether I should celebrate by rewatching the Schlong of Healing. My head says no. My heart and funny bone say yes. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Mr. Sparkle]

32 minutes ago, Zella said:

Thank you! I've debated whether I should celebrate by rewatching the Schlong of Healing. My head says no. My heart and funny bone say yes. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Follow your heart! 

[debraran]

I'm watching the famous dish episode, where Charles is allowed to lie and flirt and get his wife some decent dishes, working his hands to the bone and then they are forever put in storage. (or maybe she broke them) OR sold them when Charles had another crop failure or something.

I love how Caroline "trusts" Charles and runs away from Harriet but then spies on him, and goes back home to sulk. ; )

I guess we are all human even on TV. It was so nice though, I hated how they never used it again. When they pulled away you could see the tea kettle on her hutch, a bowl maybe on counter. If you say EVERYDAY Michael, it's everyday. lol

Edited August 3, 2021 by debraran

[Egg McMuffin]

Why do they need nice dishes when they live in that crapshack? Charles should have bought Caroline a nice ham. Much more practical.

[debraran]

Laura never lived like that, she had glass dishes and nice things. I know the Ingall's didn't always either, but for Caroline's long life on LHOP, having nothing in that cabin but tin cups and plates seems odd. The poor widows and rich widows and friends of theirs had more, Laura had more, no one made a lot of money but I guess it fit with the look he wanted. I just felt a few touches other than a new stove and pump over all those years might have been nice especially with Caroline working at the restaurant and Charles working.

When they moved to the city, they had a nice place at the end, a real house and it almost looked like the Oleson's if I remember correctly. A lot wasn't shown but when someone was coming he didn't like they showed kitchen and living area while Charles talked to Caroline.

[jason88cubs]

14 hours ago, debraran said:

I'm watching the famous dish episode, where Charles is allowed to lie and flirt and get his wife some decent dishes, working his hands to the bone and then they are forever put in storage. (or maybe she broke them) OR sold them when Charles had another crop failure or something.

I love how Caroline "trusts" Charles and runs away from Harriet but then spies on him, and goes back home to sulk. ; )

I guess we are all human even on TV. It was so nice though, I hated how they never used it again. When they pulled away you could see the tea kettle on her hutch, a bowl maybe on counter. If you say EVERYDAY Michael, it's everyday. lol

Think how Caroline would have felt if she had saw Charles with that one lady in "Someone, please love me"

[Pirpana]

21 hours ago, Zella said:

Today's my birthday, too, and I didn't realize I shared it with Carrie! Unlike TV Carrie, Real Carrie actually seemed pretty cool. 

Happy Birthday from me too. That's way nicer than me who was born on same day as real life Laura died. Well, 32 years later but anyway.

[Blergh]

4 hours ago, jason88cubs said:

Think how Caroline would have felt if she had saw Charles with that one lady in "Someone, please love me"

What was a bit odd was the postscript. It had a   Laura narration (a rare thing by Season Five) and in it she said the family wrote Pa that the heavily boozing other man's wife bore a son named 'Charles Michael. . .' -TWO years after Pa's time with them. (edited to add that I just watched the tag and the name was the opposite of what I'd thought with Charles being the first and Michael [after their family's lost firstborn son and uno hoo] being the middle name).

Of course, this led me to wonder how much detail of the time spent with this unhappy couple and their traumatized surviving children did Pa tell Laura? Yes, he seemed to guilt the man to quit the booze at that time (and hopefully the extramarital flings) and guilted the woman to hold off divorcing him ALL because she admitted she still loved the boozer in spite of all he'd put her and their children through, but can a few pep talks in a couple of days truly do a 180 after years of trainwreck behavior ?

Yes, taking a married woman and her kids on a picnic while acting like Dear Abby  to her over her troubles wasn't the most conventional behavior for respectable married men back then but I wonder how much Charles told Caroline of that ( even factoring him evidently having told Laura 'for the books') . 

BTW, the boozer's daughter was played by none other than Kyle Richards who'd play Alicia Edwards before Victor French's abrupt departure and would play her AGAIN three seasons later in the last appearance of Mr. Edwards's family in 'A Promise to Keep' (Season Eight). 

Edited August 4, 2021 by Blergh

[debraran]

3 hours ago, jason88cubs said:

Think how Caroline would have felt if she had saw Charles with that one lady in "Someone, please love me"

Much more gossip there instead of with poor Chris. At least he could have done all the chores that needed to be done while Charles was saving people all over the county ;) 

[Egg McMuffin]

 

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

BTW, the boozer's daughter was played by none other than Kyle Richards who'd play Alicia Edwards before Victor French's abrupt departure and would play her AGAIN three seasons later in the last appearance of Mr. Edwards's family in 'A Promise to Keep' (Season Eight). 

Richards actually returned as Alicia only 10 episodes after “Someone, Please Love Me” in “The Return of Mr Edwards” (season six). It’s jarring to watch in reruns, to see her back as a different character, so quickly.

Edited August 4, 2021 by Kyle

[Snow Apple]

It's Willie and Rachel's wedding today and her dress is so beautiful except for the big bow on her head.

[Mr. Sparkle]

37 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

It's Willie and Rachel's wedding today and her dress is so beautiful except for the big bow on her head.

I caught that one! If I'm not mistaken, it's the last appearance of Mrs. Oleson, and of course she goes out in a ridiculous, over-the-top bang. 

The pilot movie is up next. I started watching these again in April 2020, everyone knows the reason why. I wonder how many times I've cycled through the whole series on both UPtv and Hallmark Drama? There are some that always seem to be on, and others that I never seem to catch. No idea why. 

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, Superclam said:

I caught that one! If I'm not mistaken, it's the last appearance of Mrs. Oleson, and of course she goes out in a ridiculous, over-the-top bang. 

 

That's right! After failing to sabotage Willie's wedding and having Willie (REALLY) tell her off, Harriet 'sneaks' into the Walnut Grove church in widow's weeds - thinking somehow no one would think she'd actually ATTENDED his wedding.

The reason given for Miss MacGregor for not being in the TV movies afterwards was that she took a long pilgrimage to India and couldn't/wouldn't alter her plans. However, I wonder if the TV movies didn't get confirmed until long after Willie's wedding was said and done and Miss MacGregor may have thought that with the last episode, the WHOLE series was done and had made her plans based on that! 

[Mr. Sparkle]

I wonder if the proposed series, with Laura running the boarding house, would've including Harriet. I'm assuming Willie and his bride were to be involved. 

[Brn2bwild]

"Goodbye, Mrs. Wilder" was such a wasted opportunity.  Of course Mrs. Oleson's idea to teach French and art history was ridiculous and destined to fail.  We can't have her actually succeed and the kids learn new concepts that expand their minds.  It would have been so refreshing to have Harriet be a smashing success as a part-time teacher who comes in a few times a week to teach the extra subjects. 

Also, the whole "farmers kids will want to be farmers" thing seems not only limiting, but a contradiction of Laura's attitude in "Sweet Sixteen," when she told Chad he could be anything.

It's amusing they went out of their way to point out how useless it was to know French when they couldn't speak it, when many young men back then would have been studying Latin. 

Edited August 10, 2021 by Brn2bwild

[debraran]

7 hours ago, Brn2bwild said:

"Goodbye, Mrs. Wilder" was such a wasted opportunity.  Of course Mrs. Oleson's idea to teach French and art history was ridiculous and destined to fail.  We can't have her actually succeed and the kids learn new concepts that expand their minds.  It would have been so refreshing to have Harriet be a smashing success as a part-time teacher who comes in a few times a week to teach the extra subjects. 

Also, the whole "farmers kids will want to be farmers" thing seems not only limiting, but a contradiction of Laura's attitude in "Sweet Sixteen," when she told Chad he could be anything.

It's amusing they went out of their way to point out how useless it was to know French when they couldn't speak it, when many young men back then would have been studying Latin. 

I love that idea and thought similar back when I watched it again. It would have given more substance and opportunity for funny moments with some of her classes. Sure many kids were going to be farmers, but learning more about it (as the guy Joe Coulter did) would have been nice. But what about students like Willie and Albert and John Jr who could have used more studies to go to college or just know more about life in general. I always felt Caroline was the educated one in the Ingall's family and would have loved to have more interesting books or activities close to town.

I thought to make Harriet look worse they had the art class part, NO way even Harriet would have had The Bathers  or The Rape of the Sabine Women” Sure it's "art" but she knows they had Willie chastised for looking at bras in a catalog, you don't show kids those things in 1800's. I know Harriet was more educated than most but that was just silly. I wonder if Katherine balked.

Edited August 10, 2021 by debraran

[Blergh]

I agree how Rev. Alden was a total fail until almost too late re 'The Bully Boys'. I mean he blew off them nearly assaulting Caroline . Caroline, the faithful churchgoing   salt of the Earth stoic pioneer woman and pillar of their community (of all people) had just had a silly misunderstanding and that they'd meant no harm?! REALLY, Reverend Alden? I think after that episode ALL of Walnut Grove (and Hero Township) should have seriously considered whether he'd blow off ANY females' claims because if he refused to consider  listening to much less acting upon what had happened to Caroline what chance would he believe any other woman or girl living there?

Edited August 10, 2021 by Blergh

[alexa]

On 8/10/2021 at 5:12 AM, icemiser69 said:

How was Walnut Grove able to ever survive as a community?  It didn't seem like it had a large enough population, including people traveling through town, to keep the Oleson's in business.

The bullying episode proved that the community had to stand together to keep the peace.  They didn't have law enforcers, no jail.  A small group of bad guys could easily take over that community.

Honestly I think the size of the town, number of people is fairly represented.  When reading the books you knew the towns were small, and also that many lived on farms and only came into town occasionally.  Most of the towns had some kind of store, and typically a few of different types.  It isn’t all that much different than the very small towns of today that have a low population but have the basics for daily life.

[Pirpana]

Yesterday I watched Sweet Sixteen. Overall it was a very good episode, except for the infamous inconsistencies in writing from episode to episode. The most obvious one is off course the last exchange between pa and ma, "I'm dying to call you grandpa". They just plainly forgot that a couple episodes ago their first grandchild died in a fire, and the blind parents of said grandchild are in the same room with them. But no matter because this is not the same writer (it's John T. Dugan) so the most important thing is to end the episode on a funny upbeat quip, no matter how stupid and inconsiderate that sounds.

Also, in this episode the peeping Tom gets the treatment he deserves. Willie tries to peep on Laura and when he gets caught, he is sent to his room and maybe given more punishment when Nels finds out what was "all the commotion". Not blaming on Laura this time like Sylvia in next season.

I don't know, maybe I'm too harsh on LH when blaming on its inconsistencies (but it's so funny!), maybe that was the way they did TV shows back then and LH was just a product of its time. But sometimes it feels like different writers didn't have a clue on what someone else had written earlier (grandpa line). Maybe they didn't bother because back then viewers didn't have the means to talk with each other and point out stupidities like we have now. Maybe family members pointed out, "Did you notice that, how stupid!" but by the time next episode came, they had all ready forgotten about it. But I do think that someone in that big filming crew should have opened their mouths and said that that kind of ending line for this episode wasn't possible.

Also, we all know the real life Laura was born in February. Funny how summerlike February it is in this episode! Okay, this is meant to be taken as funny, tongue-in-the-cheek observation, I know why they weren't able to create snowy sceneries.

And one other thing, notice when Almanzo is spooning sugar in his tea and Eliza-Jane points out about that, just when he says, "wasn't even thinking", the table buckles a little. Wonder if  that was a cue for Dean.

PS. When I was looking for that pic, I stumbled upon a very mindboggling piece of information: Our favorite episode to nitpick, May We Make Them Proud, is actually a prize-winning one. And yes, you guessed it, for writing!

Edited August 11, 2021 by Pirpana

[CountryGirl]

One of my favorite scenes in Sweet Sixteen is when Almanzo is whining to Eliza Jane about how he asked Laura to the social and was full of himself about how he was being so nice to have asked her.

Eliza Jane wanted to know what Laura had said and he said, "She said she had to THINK about it!" and Eliza Jane just smiled to herself and said, "Oh" and had to suppress the urge to laugh in her brother's face. So satisfying!

Also, for years, I thought Dean Butler's Almanzo was Melissa Gilbert's first kiss - period - not just on-screen. Turns out Chad Brewster beat him to the punch (pun intended).

This is an excerpt from Melissa's My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours:

"This episode was shot several months before I turned sixteen myself. That is the episode where the romance between Laura and Almanzo really begins. In fact, they have their first kiss. I remember shooting that kiss and it was a really big deal. It was kind of scary, but it ended up being very sweet and tender. Bless Dean Butler's heart. He was a grown man having to kiss a child. I can only imagine the pressure he felt. If only I'd been able to tell him that I had already kissed a boy in real life - Tim Maier. He played Chad Brewster in that episode. Nobody knew. But they do now."
 

 

[Blergh]

28 minutes ago, CountryGirl said:

One of my favorite scenes in Sweet Sixteen is when Almanzo is whining to Eliza Jane about how he asked Laura to the social and was full of himself about how he was being so nice to have asked her.

Eliza Jane wanted to know what Laura had said and he said, "She said she had to THINK about it!" and Eliza Jane just smiled to herself and said, "Oh" and had to suppress the urge to laugh in her brother's face. So satisfying!

Also, for years, I thought Dean Butler's Almanzo was Melissa Gilbert's first kiss - period - not just on-screen. Turns out Chad Brewster beat him to the punch (pun intended).

This is an excerpt from Melissa's My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours:

"This episode was shot several months before I turned sixteen myself. That is the episode where the romance between Laura and Almanzo really begins. In fact, they have their first kiss. I remember shooting that kiss and it was a really big deal. It was kind of scary, but it ended up being very sweet and tender. Bless Dean Butler's heart. He was a grown man having to kiss a child. I can only imagine the pressure he felt. If only I'd been able to tell him that I had already kissed a boy in real life - Tim Maier. He played Chad Brewster in that episode. Nobody knew. But they do now."
 

 

I wonder if it was as special for Mr. Maier as it was for Miss Gilbert (and does he even remember?). Oh, well, for whatever reasons, Mr. Maier seems to have not done anything in films or TV since 1994. 

[alexa]

4 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

One of my favorite scenes in Sweet Sixteen is when Almanzo is whining to Eliza Jane about how he asked Laura to the social and was full of himself about how he was being so nice to have asked her.

Eliza Jane wanted to know what Laura had said and he said, "She said she had to THINK about it!" and Eliza Jane just smiled to herself and said, "Oh" and had to suppress the urge to laugh in her brother's face. So satisfying!

Also, for years, I thought Dean Butler's Almanzo was Melissa Gilbert's first kiss - period - not just on-screen. Turns out Chad Brewster beat him to the punch (pun intended).

This is an excerpt from Melissa's My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours:

"This episode was shot several months before I turned sixteen myself. That is the episode where the romance between Laura and Almanzo really begins. In fact, they have their first kiss. I remember shooting that kiss and it was a really big deal. It was kind of scary, but it ended up being very sweet and tender. Bless Dean Butler's heart. He was a grown man having to kiss a child. I can only imagine the pressure he felt. If only I'd been able to tell him that I had already kissed a boy in real life - Tim Maier. He played Chad Brewster in that episode. Nobody knew. But they do now."
 

 

I love hearing that because I get a little tired of hearing so much criticism of the Dean and Melissa situation.  I love that she was kind and complimentary of him as he is really a nice person and has done a lot for the LIW story over time.

Edited August 11, 2021 by alexa

[Blergh]

On 8/10/2021 at 4:24 AM, debraran said:

I love that idea and thought similar back when I watched it again. It would have given more substance and opportunity for funny moments with some of her classes. Sure many kids were going to be farmers, but learning more about it (as the guy Joe Coulter did) would have been nice. But what about students like Willie and Albert and John Jr who could have used more studies to go to college or just know more about life in general. I always felt Caroline was the educated one in the Ingall's family and would have loved to have more interesting books or activities close to town.

I thought to make Harriet look worse they had the art class part, NO way even Harriet would have had The Bathers  or The Rape of the Sabine Women” Sure it's "art" but she knows they had Willie chastised for looking at bras in a catalog, you don't show kids those things in 1800's. I know Harriet was more educated than most but that was just silly. I wonder if Katherine balked.

I agree that it's somewhat self-defeating for school (or school board) to refuse to believe that any of their students could be anything but farmers, farmers' wives, laborers,etc. and someone on the board should have piped up that schools are supposed to encourage students to broaden their horizons NOT just believe they'd never have reason to think outside of any ruts or boxes.

I know that Miss MacGregor liked to brag about how she persuaded the writers to write the French words 'as was' but let HER butcher them enough to make them funny, so I suppose  that she may have been  willing to let Harriet be even 'foolish' than usual via the painting selections . 

[Katy M]

26 minutes ago, Blergh said:

agree that it's somewhat self-defeating for school (or school board) to refuse to believe that any of their students could be anything but farmers, farmers' wives, laborers,etc. and someone on the board should have piped up that schools are supposed to encourage students to broaden their horizons NOT just believe they'd never have reason to think outside of any ruts or boxes.

I get what you're saying, and that would absolutely be true in today's world.  But, we have to remember that the boys for the most part weren't even going to school the full school year because they had to help with the harvesting.  Some families wouldn't even have enough money for oil for the lamps to do homework after the sun went down.  They had limited time and resources and had to teach what was going to be most relevant.  And I do remember Laura saying that if any of the students were interested in learning the other subjects, she would do what she could to help them

[Mr. Sparkle]

I never really noticed because I don't really like the episode, but did Rev. Alden's marriage stick? I just saw him marry some widow, was that ever resolved? Didn't he have a romance in the 9th season, or am I hallucinating again? 

[Zella]

I think she's mentioned a few times but never seen again, put out to pasture with all those one-off kids who show up at school to have a special moment and are never seen again. 

[debraran]

46 minutes ago, Zella said:

I think she's mentioned a few times but never seen again, put out to pasture with all those one-off kids who show up at school to have a special moment and are never seen again. 

That was 1979 and she died in 1982 so that wasn't it. I thought, maybe.  Name was Iris Korn.

[Snow Apple]

When Mary was trying to win a dictionary, Laura asked how she can look up a word she can't spell. Her delivery was perfect. That was also my frustration as a child. Spelling was my worst subject.

[jird]

On 8/11/2021 at 5:05 PM, Zella said:

I think she's mentioned a few times but never seen again, put out to pasture with all those one-off kids who show up at school to have a special moment and are never seen again. 

The dungeon outside of town, full of all those kids, Dr. LeDoux, Tinker Jones ("You never miss a Sunday at church!" - except for every single other Sunday ever), and Mariette Hartley's china.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Sean Penn, and the kid whose father was blown up in the quarry, who Charles was going to "keep an eye on." Charles adopted every other kid, what about this one? 

[Blergh]

2 hours ago, jird said:

The dungeon outside of town, full of all those kids, Dr. LeDoux, Tinker Jones ("You never miss a Sunday at church!" - except for every single other Sunday ever), and Mariette Hartley's china.

Maybe Half-Pint SAT on Miss Hartley's china as a child the way she would on the Ingallses' intended picture window as a so-called adult but didn't want to admit it 'for the books'. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

My Ellen's parents? Did they get the help they needed? 

The creepy father who lost his wife & kid in "Plague?" Did he just wander off? 

[CountryGirl]

1 hour ago, Superclam said:

My Ellen's parents? Did they get the help they needed? 

The creepy father who lost his wife & kid in "Plague?" Did he just wander off? 

Well, Ellen’s mom would end up with Mr. Edwards. 

The creepy father who lost his wife and son TWICE. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

12 minutes ago, CountryGirl said:

Well, Ellen’s mom would end up with Mr. Edwards. 

Was she Grace 2.0? I totally missed that? 

I've never seen the entire Red Skelton conman episode until today. Pretty mediocre episode IMO

[CountryGirl]

13 minutes ago, Superclam said:

Was she Grace 2.0? I totally missed that? 

I've never seen the entire Red Skelton conman episode until today. Pretty mediocre episode IMO

She was, indeed. 

[debraran]

I just put Karen Grassle's book on pre order at Amazon. It might be a nice surprise whenever it ships. I don't expect a lot of LHOP, mosty her life and struggles with various things but be nice to "visit with her". She waited the longest to write one and and I think she will be respectful but honest. I am hoping for more photos we might have not seen from show along with others from her career.

When ER resurfaced on Hulu, Noah who played Carter put a lot of Polaroids he took on set with his "new camera" on his social media and still does on occasion. It gave a look at them playing and socializing and having fun. I don't expect that per se but I hope for some nice ones. (now watch there will be none!) : )

It's been mentioned but it's called Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House's Ma and seems to be paperback or Kindle.

I don't think they expect anyone but hardcore fans at this point after it's been off almost 40 years but Amazon and Hallmark and Cozi etc, keep it alive. I hope she does well.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I had the choice between Money Corn and Laura Teaches the Deaf Kid. I went with Corn, even though I've seen it 20 times. I hate that other one. 

Add the Corn couple (and their baby) to Walnut Grove people we never see again. 

[debraran]

28 minutes ago, Superclam said:

I had the choice between Money Corn and Laura Teaches the Deaf Kid. I went with Corn, even though I've seen it 20 times. I hate that other one. 

Add the Corn couple (and their baby) to Walnut Grove people we never see again. 

I liked them too and having an articulate, smart guy and a new baby would have been nice. But only Charles could be the "good guy" for more than one show. ; )

[Mr. Sparkle]

On 7/30/2021 at 8:37 AM, Superclam said:

I always skip this one. I also skip "Bully Boys." I guess I don't like prairie bullying. 

"Werewolf" is followed by "The Angry Heart," which I can also skip. 

Contrary to my own advice, I watched "The Angry Heart" yesterday, and it was better than I remembered. The "Charles gets an emotional breakthrough from the kid that would take a team of psychiatrists 10 years" part was a little silly, of course. 

I started Werewolf, and turned it off after 2 minutes. That kid just has a punchable face. 

[Blergh]

25 minutes ago, Superclam said:

 

I started Werewolf, and turned it off after 2 minutes. That kid just has a punchable face. 

Of course one odd thing about 'Werewolf' was that they had a one-shot kid whose ONLY purpose was to explain how to make paper mache items. I mean, it wasn't rocket science for them to have soaked paper in wet paste then put the saturated, pasty paper on the objects so I didn't see why Eliza Jane herself couldn't have explained that to the class when assigning them to do so for an art project  (though I didn't buy that a 19th century Midwesterner one-room school would  have taken so much time with art work besides the occasional drawing).

[jird]

The episode with Albert's pen pal is on. My husband asked what I was watching, and didn't believe me when I told him it was the catfishing episode of Little House. 😅

[Mr. Sparkle]

I'm watching it now only because there's nothing else on. I can usually skip it. The part with Pa & the dude from the train station is kind of funny. 

 

[jird]

Just now, Superclam said:

I'm watching it now only because there's nothing else on. I can usually skip it. The part with Pa & the dude from the train station is kind of funny. 

 

Same, I always skip it but my brain is fried tonight. And I laughed at the train guy inadvertently insulting Pa, too.

[Brn2bwild]

Just watched "Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow" from Season 8.  Almanzo drove me crazy with the way he constantly refused to consider Laura's point of view and shut her out of his decision making.  Even after he came around to her perspective, he didn't give give her any credit.  If you don't take her seriously because she's so young, maybe you shouldn't have married a child, Almanzo.

That said, Laura's acting was terrible, especially her meltdown in front of Grace. And Eliza Jane was plain creepy throughout the episode.  I understand her having disagreements with Laura, but why not have her say so openly?  Instead of the music getting all weird and her slithering into Almanzo's room while Laura's upstairs with the cat (strange cat subplot).  And her weeping at Almanzo's news that he can actually walk and doesn't want to go to Minneapolis?  It's not about you, Eliza Jane. 

[Zella]

14 minutes ago, Brn2bwild said:

Just watched "Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow" from Season 8.  Almanzo drove me crazy with the way he constantly refused to consider Laura's point of view and shut her out of his decision making.  Even after he came around to her perspective, he didn't give give her any credit.  If you don't take her seriously because she's so young, maybe you shouldn't have married a child, Almanzo.

That said, Laura's acting was terrible, especially her meltdown in front of Grace. And Eliza Jane was plain creepy throughout the episode.  I understand her having disagreements with Laura, but why not have her say so openly?  Instead of the music getting all weird and her slithering into Almanzo's room while Laura's upstairs with the cat (strange cat subplot).  And her weeping at Almanzo's news that he can actually walk and doesn't want to go to Minneapolis?  It's not about you, Eliza Jane. 

They were all so annoying in that episode that I was having homicidal thoughts about the 3 of them. By that point, I hated Laura already but Almanzo had kind of grown on me and I generally liked Eliza Jane but oh my God. I think that's some of the worst acting I ever saw from Melissa Gilbert in the entire run of the show. I didn't even feel any sympathy for them that I would for anyone experiencing those things because they were so off-putting. 

[jird]

11 hours ago, Brn2bwild said:

Just watched "Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow" from Season 8.  Almanzo drove me crazy with the way he constantly refused to consider Laura's point of view and shut her out of his decision making.  Even after he came around to her perspective, he didn't give give her any credit.  If you don't take her seriously because she's so young, maybe you shouldn't have married a child, Almanzo.

Laura was awful in the later seasons (and in this one - leaving your BABY alone in a tornado so that you can go get a cat that doesn't even live in the house and is smart enough to take care of itself? You'd think she would have learned something from Mary), but the rest of the family was awful to her, Ma and Pa included. I don't care how good their intentions were, don't lie about how her house is just fine like she's a child. It's her damn house!

[Egg McMuffin]

Eliza Jane, whom I generally like, is awful in both of her return episodes. It’s not Laura’s fault that she can’t attract a man, and then she’s horrible when she tries to butt in in DOSDOS. That episode is just crazy, with all the tragedies going on: hail destroys the crops (again), Almanzo gets diphtheria, Almanzo is paralyzed after a stroke, a tornado destroys the house. I felt bad when Laura discovered her wrecked house and goes apeshit, and Grace is all like WTF? And that collapsed house with the roof on the ground could still be seen a couple of episodes afterward, next to the new rustic house. And Caroline magically fixes the plate - who knew she was so talented?

One of the episodes of DOSDOS is 90 min long, so our local station never showed it in the rerun rotation back in the 1980s. It was only when LHOTP went to cable that I was able to see it again.

[Zella]

5 minutes ago, Kyle said:

Eliza Jane, whom I generally like, is awful in both of her return episodes.

Yeah that Arizona episode, besides being implausible in premise, is not flattering to Eliza Jane either. I don't even know why they bothered bringing her back.