Little House On The Prairie - General Discussion

[debraran]

7 hours ago, Blergh said:

So could he have baked Sylvia's presumed late mother? Oddly enough, they never actually spell out what had happened to the teen's mother. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't recall anyone doing more than implying that the older woman had died.

I get confused, there was another crazy dad with pregnant child. One recap said the father said to Sylvia Inside the Webb home, Mr. Webb accuses Sylvia of flirting with the boys at school and that's why they want to leer at her.  She denies it, but he doesn't believe her.  He tells her there's a devil in her like the one that killed her mother. He warns her that if those boys come back, he'll whip her and that she'd better bind herself tighter so the boys won't look at her.  She obeys with tears streaming down her face.

Devil killed her? There was the other kook who burned himself and tried to take others with him. He was another one who might have had his wife just leave, not sure. (Be My Friend) Of course Mr Ingall's pop tried to do that too.....the infatuation with death and fire was too much at times.

[Egg McMuffin]

There are four constants in the Little House world: death, fire, blind people, and Pa’s bare chest.

[CountryGirl]

2 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

There are four constants in the Little House world: death, fire, blind people, and Pa’s bare chest.

I would add the TARA - turn and run away (there were several epic ones in the first part of "I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away").

[ctlady]

Watched The Nephews yesterday and - dang - Laura's rust and teal dress is still holding up.  I don't know how old she's supposed to be in this episode, but she first got that dress in Sweet Sixteen, so she obviously still had some growing to do.  Considering they most likely had to wash their clothes in the stream and beat them against a rock, I'm surprised that, with the sheer number of times she wore that dress, it hasn't turned into a dish rag.

[Blergh]

The nephews' parents sure were dishrags to have encouraged them to have become such obnoxious and mean brats!

[Egg McMuffin]

Have we discussed Albert’s little morPHINE problem lately? LET IT OUT! And then he spews that white stuff right on camera. I guess morPHINE makes your vomit white.

[jird]

Alert! Albert has the fatal nosebleeds on Hallmark right now!

[Egg McMuffin]

Well, if Albert hadn’t done all that nose candy, maybe he wouldn’t have contracted Fatal Nosebleed Syndrome.

[Mr. Sparkle]

13 minutes ago, Egg McMuffin said:

Well, if Albert hadn’t done all that nose candy, maybe he wouldn’t have contracted Fatal Nosebleed Syndrome.

Fake news. Albert was on smack. 

[Egg McMuffin]

😀

Who knows what other drugs Albert was doing in the Big Bad City.

[Mr. Sparkle]

6 minutes ago, Egg McMuffin said:

😀

Who knows what other drugs Albert was doing in the Big Bad City.

It's true, "the city" was the most morally corrupt place on Earth. 

[debraran]

2 hours ago, Superclam said:

It's true, "the city" was the most morally corrupt place on Earth. 

Yes with the occasional nice person who might die before series was over. It was comical how every city had noise, mayhem, awful, sinful people, prostitutes roaming about, gun shots etc, even drugs. Drinking was rampant, store owners crooked, except for the one Albert robbed. lol

But of course, when Mr Landon decided to move on, where does his family of how many, go to live. The city....Carrie, Cassandra, her brother James,Grace...some other kids he picked up, just fine for them.

Edited July 18, 2022 by debraran

[Blergh]

10 hours ago, debraran said:

Yes with the occasional nice person who might die before series was over. It was comical how every city had noise, mayhem, awful, sinful people, prostitutes roaming about, gun shots etc, even drugs. Drinking was rampant, store owners crooked, except for the one Albert robbed. lol

But of course, when Mr Landon decided to move on, where does his family of how many, go to live. The city....Carrie, Cassandra, her brother James,Grace...some other kids he picked up, just fine for them.

AND Pa's going to work in a men's clothing store while living in an apartment in the city (with all their offspring) is somehow considered a step UP by Mr. Edwards from actually  farming the land one owns ?!

I mean, this seems like something they'd have  dissed other men for doing in past seasons. 

[Egg McMuffin]

14 hours ago, debraran said:

Yes with the occasional nice person who might die before series was over. It was comical how every city had noise, mayhem, awful, sinful people, prostitutes roaming about, gun shots etc, even drugs.

And don’t forget the constant - and loud - melodies from player pianos in the saloons.

[debraran]

19 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

And don’t forget the constant - and loud - melodies from player pianos in the saloons.

I thought they were all deaf in the city, lol. It was funny when you think because you are an "Ingalls" you can room above a saloon and expect everyone to go to bed by 9 and whisper so they can get their beauty sleep.

[Blergh]

59 minutes ago, debraran said:

I thought they were all deaf in the city, lol. It was funny when you think because you are an "Ingalls" you can room above a saloon and expect everyone to go to bed by 9 and whisper so they can get their beauty sleep.

All of this would have truly puzzled RL Mrs. Wilder- especially since player pianos wouldn't get invented until 1896!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Player_piano

Evidently, ML decided to follow the tradition of earlier Western-themed movie and television productions by having any and all saloons include a player piano despite the fact that these were a few decades ahead of their time for the time period.

However, I'm sure RL Mrs. Wilder would have concurred that frontier cities/towns were noisy enough without player pianos.

P.S. Let's also not forget when the Ingalls and Garveys were set to leave Winoka at 6AM (after the patriarchs had quit their jobs with Mr. Standish AND the saloon had gotten [temporarily]destroyed by the fireworks exploding) , Harriet had used a good part of Nel's roulette wheel windfall to buy herself and her offspring 'rich' clothes and having woken up the woman outfitter to do so- at 5 AM! I suppose Harriet must have flashed a major wad of cash to have gotten the proprietress to have done so (and with Mr. Standish's saloon turned into a cinder she likely realized that there wouldn't be that many other wealthy patrons in the near future).

[debraran]

And it’s not like Walnut Grove didn’t have its share of “ bad” people.  They had a bunch of mean bigots, drunks, somehurt children, crazy religious dads, crazy moms who kidnapped children and ugly rapists. Drugs also killed Mrs Whipples son. Not the big city but they had their share of mayhem. 

[Blergh]

10 hours ago, debraran said:

And it’s not like Walnut Grove didn’t have its share of “ bad” people.  They had a bunch of mean bigots, drunks, somehurt children, crazy religious dads, crazy moms who kidnapped children and ugly rapists. Drugs also killed Mrs Whipples son. Not the big city but they had their share of mayhem. 

At least Walnut Grove's well-heeled 'villains' ( Harriet and Nellie) were wacky kooks instead of outrightly mean (Mr. Standish).

[Mr. Sparkle]

I just saw an episode of The Rifleman starring Royal Dano, who you might remember as Thylvia's ultra-creepy father, as well as Alice Garvey's first husband. In this, he basically plays an old geezer, which is interesting since he was only 37 at the time. 

[Blergh]

9 minutes ago, Superclam said:

I just saw an episode of The Rifleman starring Royal Dano, who you might remember as Thylvia's ultra-creepy father, as well as Alice Garvey's first husband. In this, he basically plays an old geezer, which is interesting since he was only 37 at the time. 

I guess he had the Wilford Brimley/ Charles Lane Syndrome! Those two looked like senior citizens for quite a few decades starting in their 30's! 

[jason88cubs]

Still amazes me how ALbert started the fire, which resulted in 2 deaths and Charles was still all "WE LOVE YOU SON!"

[Blergh]

8 hours ago, patriciahelenkit said:

well, Charles knows that Albert is not the woman who used a helpless baby to break a window so they can mutually agree to smear her instead! ;)

But even though it's witnessed by virtually all the sighted folks, apart from Hester Sue's immediate reaction upon seeing Alice in the window with the baby as she's trying to break out ("Oh my GOD. The baby!"), no one ever alludes to Alice's insane final act. Ever. 

It truly becomes the ultimate Little House Cabin Elephant!

[jason88cubs]

Did you prefer Mr Edwards or Garvey?

[CountryGirl]

Old Dan Tucker or Them’s Snails?

I’ll pass. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

It seems like we've done this before, but I'll still go with Edwards. 

On another note, on The Rifleman today, a nervous young lawyer was played by Dabbs Greer. 

[debraran]

2 hours ago, patriciahelenkit said:

I don't blame the Greenbushes for hating Landon for the Carrie Goes Poo Poo At Age Nine episode. The twins keep bringing it up today at appearances at festivals and parades, so i think they are still really angry!

Or writing that terrible script for them to share. LHOP had some really bad episodes but the writing was so off there. Forget "Alyssa" but the way they treated and spoke to Carrie, the fact it was 90 min. (but I realize they know they wont be rerun the same way as a 60 min show) She was treated like she was mentally challenged but they could have gotten some lines in shows, given a chance to answer a question in the classroom, wish her parents a good day, having a friend over. She had no toys (that Chris didn't make her) no friends, and then she has 2 more adopted siblings that forever squelch her chance to grow up.

Edited July 26, 2022 by debraran

[Egg McMuffin]

On 7/24/2022 at 9:24 PM, Blergh said:

But even though it's witnessed by virtually all the sighted folks, apart from Hester Sue's immediate reaction upon seeing Alice in the window with the baby as she's trying to break out ("Oh my GOD. The baby!"), no one ever alludes to Alice's insane final act. Ever. 

It truly becomes the ultimate Little House Cabin Elephant!

Alice is tightly wound and awfully snippy during her entire LHOTP tenure. For example, do you remember how awful she was to her own son during the cheating episode? So her final act should come as no surprise to those who were paying attention the previous three years.

[Egg McMuffin]

8 hours ago, jason88cubs said:

Did you prefer Mr Edwards or Garvey?

Edwards simply because Victor French could act and had charisma. Merlin Olsen played all of his scenes in this dull, low-key way, so Jon Garvey wasn’t a compelling character. Plus he was married to that awful woman, so that didn’t help either.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Egg McMuffin

[Mr. Sparkle]

1 hour ago, Egg McMuffin said:

So her final act should come as no surprise to those who were paying attention the previous three years.

I'm going to politely disagree and say that using a baby as a battering ram on a window should always come as a surprise. 

[Snow Apple]

4 hours ago, debraran said:

Or writing that terrible script for them to share. LHOP had some really bad episodes but the writing was so off there. Forget "Alyssa" but the way they treated and spoke to Carrie, the fact it was 90 min. (but I realize they know they wont be rerun the same way as a 60 min show) She was treated like she was mentally challenged but they could have gotten some lines in shows, given a chance to answer a question in the classroom, wish her parents a good day, having a friend over. She had no toys (that Chris didn't make her) no friends, and then she has 2 more adopted siblings that forever squelch her chance to grow up.

In The Christmas They Never Forgot, Cassandra got a real doll with a china head, and I remembered Laura got a similar doll as a child (the racoon episode). I remember thinking "Huh. Did Carrie ever got a real store brought doll like her sisters?" Perhaps she did but Carrie got the shaft when it comes to storylines (or even background scenes) that we don't know what toys she had except the one from Chris. 

eta: OMG. I said shaft regarding Carrie. Pun wasn't intended. LOL

Edited July 26, 2022 by Snow Apple

[CountryGirl]

1 minute ago, Snow Apple said:

In The Christmas They Never Forgot, Cassandra got a real doll with a china head, and I remembered Laura got a similar doll as a child (the racoon episode). I remember thinking "Huh. Did Carrie ever got a real store brought doll like her sisters?" Perhaps she did but Carrie got the shaft when it comes to storylines (or even background scenes) that we don't know what toys she had except the one from Chris. 

She got a STAHHHH! Oh wait, she gave that to Baby Cheezits!

[Egg McMuffin]

Carrie should have gotten a Wanda Wee-Wee doll.

[Egg McMuffin]

I’m watching Welcome to Olesonville right now. How did dopey Manly and hot-tempered, inexperienced Laura get to be on the town council? Not to mention newbie John Carter.

[LadyIrony]

Random question for the American's here. In a lot of old(er) TV shows we see the family drinking milk with dinner. How common was (is?) that really? Or is it more just a TV show thing? 

[Katy M]

31 minutes ago, LadyIrony said:

Random question for the American's here. In a lot of old(er) TV shows we see the family drinking milk with dinner. How common was (is?) that really? Or is it more just a TV show thing? 

When I was a kid we always drank milk with supper.  Mine had to be chocolate, though, because I hate milk.

[Zella]

I think it's pretty common for kids to drink milk with dinner. It definitely was where I live when I was a kid in the 90s. I think on average adults drink it less frequently and probably not routinely for dinner. I probably drink more milk than people I know but it's always for breakfast or with dessert, not dinner. 

I think people in past generations were more likely to drink buttermilk. My grandparents talk about doing that and relatives doing that a lot when they were younger, so 30s and 40s. My other grandpa religiously drank buttermilk every day for his daily hangover even when he was an elderly man. . . . 

Edited July 27, 2022 by Zella

[Blergh]

16 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

Edwards simply because Victor French could act and had charisma. Merlin Olsen played all of his scenes in this dull, low-key way, so Jon Garvey wasn’t a compelling character. Plus he was married to that awful woman, so that didn’t help either.

The irony is that Miss Parady has always seemed a live wire and FUN whenever she's been interviewed or in a pod cast! I hope she decides to write an autobio including her LHOTP experiences.

[Egg McMuffin]

8 hours ago, Katy M said:

When I was a kid we always drank milk with supper.  Mine had to be chocolate, though, because I hate milk.

We drank milk with dinner when we were very young, but by the time I was eight or so, we had water with dinner. I’ve never liked milk that much - can’t remember the last time I had a glass of it.

[ctlady]

Everytime I watch the rolling-out-the-millstone scene in Back To School Pt 1, I get irked that these men used a WOODEN stick to roll out a 900lb millstone.  It doesn't matter how many times I watched that scene, I always shout, "get an iron bar!"

And I get why Caroline didn't want to work on Sunday to make one meal for a full day's pay, but couldn't she have prepped it the day before so all Nellie had to do was warm it up?  I don't know what kind of cooked food storage they could've housed it in back then as I'm not sure how many meals resulted in leftovers.  But - dang, Caroline - to turn down a whopping $2 to cook one meal when you know you need the money?

[Zella]

13 minutes ago, patriciahelenkit said:

I don't have much time for Gilbert. Specially as she got older. Christy Kennedy, who was a finalist for the role of Laura, might have been less of a pain.

I liked her in the early seasons, but I think she is one of the absolute worst things about the later seasons. Some of it is the writing for Laura is really offputting, but I felt like her acting also got much worse as she aged. 

[jird]

Which episode featured Mr. Edward's sitting sadly all alone and quietly singing Ol' Dan Tucker to himself?

Also, I never noticed before that during this very dramatic scene, Grandpa's mustache is coming off. 😂

Edited July 29, 2022 by jird

[Blergh]

9 hours ago, ctlady said:

Everytime I watch the rolling-out-the-millstone scene in Back To School Pt 1, I get irked that these men used a WOODEN stick to roll out a 900lb millstone.  It doesn't matter how many times I watched that scene, I always shout, "get an iron bar!"

And I get why Caroline didn't want to work on Sunday to make one meal for a full day's pay, but couldn't she have prepped it the day before so all Nellie had to do was warm it up?  I don't know what kind of cooked food storage they could've housed it in back then as I'm not sure how many meals resulted in leftovers.  But - dang, Caroline - to turn down a whopping $2 to cook one meal when you know you need the money?

While pioneers could store smoked meats in those days before electric refrigerators (and I'm not sure Nellie's Restaurant had an ice box which would required fresh blocks of ice brought in  to keep food from going bad within), I'm not sure Caroline could have baked cinnamon chicken a day in advance for it to have been safe to eat via reheating. However, as it worked out, it's likely Nellie and Almanzo's getting their mouths (and likely their entire digestive systems) scorched via Laura's added Cayenne pepper wound up being about as traumatic for them as possible food poisoning via the cooked birds sitting at room temp overnight.

How was it that Nellie's Restaurant managed to attract huge crowds six days a week with Caroline's cooking but somehow was able to be completely empty on Sunday? Did all the hotel guests vacate the premises or did they just fast on Sundays rather than chance having to consume anything by the pre-Percival trained Nellie?

[Egg McMuffin]

Most of what you see in Back to School is patently ridiculous, including Charles thinking that he can hide from a 900 lb millstone behind a flimsy wooden door. But never mind that, just revel in all the melodrama and silliness that is LHOTP at the height of its glory.

[CountryGirl]

12 minutes ago, Egg McMuffin said:

Most of what you see in Back to School is patently ridiculous, including Charles thinking that he can hide from a 900 lb millstone behind a flimsy wooden door. But never mind that, just revel in all the melodrama and silliness that is LHOTP at the height of its glory.

Yes, like the Nellie/Laura mudfight, cinnamon chicken, "I'm a woman, a woman!" and "I hate all of you!" and, of course, Pa's manly chest, bound in bandages ending just below the nipples.

[Blergh]

15 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

Yes, like the  "I'm a woman, a woman!" and "I hate all of you!"

I always felt sorry for Jonathan Garvey after that line who I'm surprised didn't say out loud," What the Hell did I do, Missy? I just gave your Pa a wagon ride!"

[debraran]

Michael didn't care about staying with the books/children but Albert seemed like the "I will have my son" either way. lol. They made him sleep in same room with Laura and Carrie but when they moved James and Cassandra in, it was just ridiculous. I can see him not wanting to alter the "little house" but don't bring in so many kids or add to the barn. ; )  Even though not the big city, everyone was mean and not deserving of a child in Walnut Grove, even Harriet's aunt was really to old to adopt. If he made them be adopted near by they could come by to play a lot and Charles could solve the couples problems every few episodes. He had to be the Savoir of the world.

I don't know how Melissa G felt about him joining but I do understand new blood adding to the show, but it didn't have to be all his children.

Nothing was worse than Nancy being a sociopath and she was, no empathy except for herself, hurt people and animals, lied about her past being bad, not a family, feel good addition to the show and she wasn't a one time actor but all the time. I felt bad for Katherine and Richard having to end up with that debacle after so many good shows with Nellie and Willie.

Edited July 31, 2022 by debraran

[BigBingerBro]

Re Allison Balson, AKA Nancy Oleson, I'm surprised there are no interviews with her. I often wonder what it might have been like to gain a role which basically was picking up after Allison Argrim did such a beautiful job.   It looks like her career in TV dried up in the mid-80s and then she turned to singing.

[Zella]

Nancy was a complete shit. Literally one of the most pointless characters I've ever watched. 

[ctlady]

38 minutes ago, Zella said:

Nancy was a complete shit. Literally one of the most pointless characters I've ever watched. 

She was LHOTPs version of The Brady Bunches' Oliver

[Zella]

1 minute ago, ctlady said:

She was LHOTPs version of The Brady Bunches' Oliver

I never had the displeasure of meeting Oliver, but based on the complaining I've read about him over the years, I believe you!