Little House On The Prairie - General Discussion

[Snow Apple]

26 minutes ago, alegtostandon said:

Was that before her Jenny Wilder days?  I do think that was one I had seen,  was it where they thought she was a boy at first? 

Yes, that was before she was in LHOTP because I recognized "that girl from Father Murphy" when she became Jenny.

[wanton87]

10 hours ago, alegtostandon said:

Was that before her Jenny Wilder days?

You piqued my curiosity ALTSO, so I looked it up. She was in two episodes of Father Murphy in 1981 (The bear that bit me, parts one and two). I didn’t remember seeing her, or those episodes. She didn’t become part of the cast of little house until 1982, so this would have been pre-Jenny Wilder. I didn’t realize that she joined the cast of little house so late?

Don’t forget, she was also in “Our House” following little house, but preceding 90210. That show also featured perpetually cranky old geezer, Wilford Brimley, who must have been born at 75 years old 😛 But apparently was fit enough at one time to be a bodyguard for Howard Hughes (The internet is a wonderful thing folks)

 

On edit: Didn't see Snow Apple's reply until after I posted.

Edited January 18, 2020 by wanton87
Addendum

[BigBingerBro]

I'm sorry if this is slightly off-topic, but i can't seem to find a place to discuss funny closed caption mistakes.

I was watching the classic "Albert the drug addict" episode this morning on UP (coincidence it was just mentioned yesterday??) and the B-story line is young Jason wanting glasses.  When the school marm is asking him about his alleged eyesight problems (not being able to see the board) she says "You may need glasses young man.".  I usually have CC turned on because I watch from a distance.  The caption for this sentence was "You need man asses".  Needless to say, I did a Danny Thomas spit-take and coffee was everywhere!!

 

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

LOL! Who knew they were so progressive on the prairie!

 

[wanton87]

On 1/18/2020 at 7:18 AM, BigBingerBro said:

I'm sorry if this is slightly off-topic, but i can't seem to find a place to discuss funny closed caption mistakes.

It’s all good. Since we lost our dedicated subforum, and are now reduced to this solitary thread, that’s the only option that you have now. I looked, and I didn’t see an option to change the header title, as we were able to do before, but that was when you were able to create new threads, so that’s probably why.

I suppose another option, would be to just add some kind of a title at the top, such as:

Season 1, episode 1: Harvest Of Friends.

Then perhaps bold it, or something like that, to distinguish it from the previous conversation.

[VCRTracking]

It's episodes like "Harvest of Friends" that make me appreciate the Industrial Revolution.

[jird]

On 1/14/2020 at 6:15 PM, alegtostandon said:

If I recall,  Laura had bought a pair of shoes with heels with her first paycheck,  I think that's what she was hiding.

Yeah, one of the students told her she looked kinda small to be a teacher, so she bought the heeled shoes.

Speaking of teaching, I was watching the county fair episode where Mary totally ditches poor cute Patrick for the stupid balloon guy. Turns out maybe Mrs. Peele was right and Mary is a jezebel!😅

[alegtostandon]

Watching the episode where Albert & Andy want to be treated like men,  so Charles & Jonathon had them walk to Sleepy Eye to prove themselves, not expecting them to make it a few miles. They follow them,  not having any resources to eat or sleep.   I have seen this episode a couple of times.  One thing I remember from the other times I saw is after the boys make it to Sleepy Eye,  it begins to storm.  They go to a boarding house & tell a story about being orphans,  the woman takes pity on them & feeds them then gives them a warm bed.  I remember Charles & Johnathon, realizing neither brought their wallets or money,  watching them through a window,  waiting for the woman to discover the boys have no money when a cop catches them.  They tell the cop they've been following those 2 boys & they're waiting to see what they do next.  The cop,  I  thought,  put them in jail.  In this version,  after they watch the boys through the window, they go to sleep in a barn where they're told if they clean the barn,  they can stay.  Either I am losing it or they cut out the part that made the dad's look like pedophiles & spliced in a different scene. 

Also,  it dawned on me how ironic it was that Albert and Andy tell the boarding house woman that they're from Walnut Grove and lost their family when their house burned down.  Then, a couple episodes later,  Andy loses his mom to a house fire started by Albert! 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Is this the "shovels is in the corner" one? 

And "regular little men?" 

[BigBingerBro]

1 hour ago, alegtostandon said:

Either I am losing it or they cut out the part that made the dad's look like pedophiles & spliced in a different scene. 

If you're watching on Cozi during the weekday evenings, then they most likely cut it out.  They really butcher the show.

[VCRTracking]

Its always so clear watching episodes like that how much Michael Landon missed working with Dan Blocker and that Victor French and Merlin Olsen were substitutes.

[wanton87]

I wonder why ML didn’t have the son, Dirk Blocker, star in some more episodes. The only other member of Bonanza that I can think of that guest starred in little house, was Mitch Vogel. And he was only in a few episodes.

He must have been fond of Merlin Olson as well, since he created a show for him. Father Murphy wasn’t bad, and fans of little house would probably enjoy it as well. It wasn’t little house good, but decent enough that it’s still worth checking out, if you can find the episodes. My favorite character was that sinister little dude, that was always trying to screw over the orphanage 😁

[VCRTracking]

This whole pandemic is making me think of Matt Clark right now! God did he have awful luck on the show. First he loses his family to typhus, then anthrax!

[Mrs. Hanson]

I am watching reruns on Cozi tv in the afternoons as I am on spring break - then I work remotely.  I saw for the first time the episode where Caroline goes to help a friend who is pregnant and about to die from some disease and in labor.  At the same time, another woman is laboring and her baby dies!  So......Caroline and Doc Baker play "Switch the babies on the prairie!"  I was like, huh?  Guess they did not want to break the dad's heart whose real baby died when he entered the tent and asked how the baby was.  

I never get tired of Nancy Oleson getting dunked at the carnival/bazaar.

Interesting that in real life LIW never really liked teaching that much, she did it to help her family financially.

Another question I have:  Bonnie Bartlett played Grace but in the episode where Isaiah has a bit of a drinking problem, it was another actress.  Fine, maybe Ms. Bartlett was booked, but the sub was a brunette, looked nothing like the original!  And Grace was gone forever, correct?  Speaking of Isaiah, I do not like the episodes where he and Doc Baker get involved with younger women and the towns people lose their crap.  Let Doc Baker marry Anne Archer for goodness sake!!  

Then Harriet got all up in Rev Alden's business when he dared to date a widow lady.  Gotta love Harriet!  I read that she could be a real pain on the set, trying to direct things and giving notes on acting.  Michael Landon wanted to fire her and make Nels a widower but the character would have been greatly missed, so she stayed.

I was joking with a coworker before school was out:  "Look, I want to know at 5:00 what will happen at 6!  I want to know Pa Ingalls will fix whatever ails the town, Doc Baker will cure a disease, that Manly and Laura will be fine.  I need my comfort tv!!"

Edited March 29, 2020 by Mrs. Hanson

[BigBingerBro]

1 hour ago, Mrs. Hanson said:

I am watching reruns on Cozi tv in the afternoons

I've been watching them consistently as well.  Personally, I don't care much for the Laura/Almazo years...  One episode that I had never seen, is also one of the most unbelievable - not sure of the name, but it's where two bumbling ex-convicts kidnap Nels and ask for ransom which Harriet refuses to pay so she ends up getting kidnapped (after Nells convinces the ex-cons to do it) more and more of the tows-people start getting kidnapped.  The general idea for the episode is a cool idea, it was just poorly written and executed.  That's one of a few episodes I will skip the next time it comes on.

[Mrs. Hanson]

So while waiting patiently for LHOTP to come on I caught the ending of "Highway to Heaven" and I need to chant:  "I will not watch that show.  I will not watch that show."  Syrupy goodness at the core!!!  Darn you Michael Landon!!!

[jird]

Watched the episode where Mr. Edwards takes John Jr. hunting and then gets attacked by a bear and this episode has the worst fake blood I have ever seen anywhere.

[PSG]

Hey all, I checked the local listings for Cozi TV, and they are running the pilot this Thursday. It starts an hour earlier than usual. Lately they've been running the "New Beginnings" season, which sucks. Bring on the pilot! 

I remember the old thread--and I saw "the mime who raped Sylvia" on Cozi a week or two ago!

[Snow Apple]

Since I'm working from home, I'm able to catch episodes.

I saw the Return of Nellie. Loooooove that one. She brought back a spark to the show.

I also caught Mrs. Almanzo Wilder. Harve was clueless at best but I think he's just a jerk for stringing Eliza Jane along. He can't be *that* clueless about women, or even people in general.

[Snow Apple]

It still annoys me with what they did to Royal. He shows up with Jenny (no mention of his two sons) and Almanzo states they haven't seen each other in ten years and acting like Laura is meeting him for the first time.

Why didn't they just write it about one of Almanzo's other siblings?

 

[wanton87]

1 hour ago, Snow Apple said:

Why didn't they just write it about one of Almanzo's other siblings?

Yeah, there was a third brother that they could have used. Perley Day, or something along those lines? But he was young enough during the time-line of the farmer boy book, that he wasn’t even mentioned in the book. Huge plot holes in a story such as that, are annoying, and little house was notorious for this sort of thing.

As a side note, that family must have hated its sons. Royal, Almanzo, Perley Day? Those are the kind of names you a name a kid whose ass you wish to see get kicked on a regular basis 😆

[PSG]

So true about the Wilder boys' names!  😝

Dammit, Snow Apple, I missed the Nellie one again? I really want to see it.

 

[BigBingerBro]

So glad that Cozi is back to the first season.

"Country Girls" was on Friday - one of my favorites.  One thing I noticed which annoyed me for some reason was when Ma took Laura in the speak to Miss Beetle about her essay, when they were done talking and ready to leave, Charles, of course, was at the back of the schoolroom eavesdropping on this touching moment.  Damn, Michael just had to insert his character into every great moment, he couldn't let Melissa and Karen have their own moment.

[wanton87]

On 4/12/2020 at 4:22 PM, BigBingerBro said:

Damn, Michael just had to insert his character into every great moment

He also had to insert his bare chest into every, what could have been a great moment. We got it Chuck; you were proud of your physique. Didn’t they name a flower after him? Oh right 😆

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by wanton87
Name change

[CountryGirl]

I just rewatched the Sweet Sixteen episodes where once Laura dons the Feminine Bun of Maturity (TM TWP), Almanzo was instantly in love.

It's always bugged because in the books, it was clear Almanzo was doing the chasing and Laura, at least initially, was in it for his horses. 

But I did love the part where Laura, after Almanzo asks her to the social, expecting her to faint with gratitude at his feet, tells him "I'll have to think about it." Pa's smirk, which normally grated, was spot-on there. Even better was Eliza Jane's smirk and "Oh!" when Almanzo whined to her and revealed Laura had "to think about it." I wish we would have gotten more storylines with Eliza Jane, even if ML squandered storyline gold by not writing in the animosity between Laura and her future SIL, most notably the rocking the seat incident.

[Winipo75]

On 4/11/2020 at 9:54 AM, wanton87 said:

Yeah, there was a third brother that they could have used. Perley Day, or something along those lines?

I think Perley Day did appear in the series. Wasn't there something about him coming to town to visit Almanzo and Eliza Jane, and Pa was hoping Laura would become interested in the younger brother and forget her lust for Manly? I'm going purely on memory here. I haven't watched the show in awhile. I really need to dig out those DVDs!

 

[CountryGirl]

Yes, there was one episode with Perley Day where Pa and Mrs. Oleson were shoving Laura and Nellie at him. 

Almanzo was breaking in his new horse, Barnum, and Perley Day entered him into a buggy race (well, attempted to) after he'd already injured Barnum in an impromptu race with Doc Baker. Oh and he ripped off some of the take from Nellie's Restaurant.

He got punched out by Almanzo for almost rendering Barnum lame and Pa realized despite their age differences, Almanzo was the better man.

[wanton87]

On 4/17/2020 at 6:16 PM, Winipo75 said:

I think Perley Day did appear in the series.

Ahh, okay. I was thinking of the books, so I must have missed that episode. Actually, I missed most of the later episodes, because I was in high school at that point. And when you’re in high school, you often have other things on the mind. I do have the complete series on DVD now, so I have no excuse for not watching them. Funny though, since I’ve had them, I haven’t even got through the first season.

I can remember my teacher reading Little House In The Big Woods, to us kids (It was common for teachers in those days to read a chapter out a classic book, following lunch hour) and about a year or so later, the little house tv pilot premiered 😀

[debraran]

I started to re watch some episodes during quarantine, the plague was pretty much what we do now, separate people, keep distance, pray and hope most recover. We come a long way with medicine and procedures, but sometimes we have to do basic good sense.

I liked the early years of the show but watching with my daughter, she remarked how now she sees how obsessed Michael was with fire, two tried to commit suicide that way or died in it, Mary started one by accident. I guess it was a good special effect that wasn't hard to use.

I always wondered why Jonathan Gilbert dropped out of sight. I liked him and thought he could have acted more if he wanted too. I felt there was some kind of abuse with his family from little things the star playing Nels said. His mom was much nicer to his sister Melissa and the second he could leave, he did. All the "stockbroker" stories aren't real, there are just a lot of people with the same name. : )

I remember when my kids were small, they loved the Xmas episodes and when they were 4 or 5, I bought them from a website, a tin cup from there that came with a penny and peppermint stick. They loved it and kept the cup for years.  Ah, maybe not the simplest life then but I tried to recreate the feelings the show evoked.

Edited April 29, 2020 by debraran

[CountryGirl]

The earlier seasons were definitely superior. One of my favorites is "Country Girls," which is where I got my username. 

It was so true to those moments from On The Banks of Plum Creek. I truly don't understand why ML didn't stick more closely to the books - there were 8 of them (minus Farmer Boy) and it could have been a season/book, give or take. 

The books have held up very well, with some obvious problematic but representative of "that time in history moments" such as the depiction of Native Americans and Ma's hatred of them or Pa and his buddies in blackface. But they present opportunities for learning and discussion. In reading through some books about the show and watching videos on YT, I learned that one of the EPs wanted to stay as true as possible to the book but ML didn't think it would work.

Apparently, he thought storylines about Carrie imagining that she had a twin sister and they feasted on giant strawberries or a clown raping Sylvia would work. 

I'm sure a remake won't ever happen because it's ML, duh, and I do appreciate him helping to create a new audience and fans of LIW and her books, but so much wasted opportunity, especially with The Long Winter - the scenes with the blizzards would be far more harrowing than the one where Miss Beadle kills the kids - especially the time where Almanzo and Cap raced against time and the weather to bring back the seed wheat for a starving town. 

Similarly, with Little Town on the Prairie, we have Laura working in town, Nellie's return, the animosity between Laura and lazy, lousy Liza Jane (with the "I'll rock that seat, Ms. Wilder!", Mary's going off to college, Laura and Ida's recitation of history and Almanzo asking to see her home. And all kinds of goodness in These Happy Golden Years that don't start out so happy with Laura's first teaching job and her horrible boarding experience but then we have her slowly falling in love with Almanzo (vs her chasing after him). 

Le sigh...

 

[debraran]

7 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

The earlier seasons were definitely superior. One of my favorites is "Country Girls," which is where I got my username. 

It was so true to those moments from On The Banks of Plum Creek. I truly don't understand why ML didn't stick more closely to the books - there were 8 of them (minus Farmer Boy) and it could have been a season/book, give or take. 

The books have held up very well, with some obvious problematic but representative of "that time in history moments" such as the depiction of Native Americans and Ma's hatred of them or Pa and his buddies in blackface. But they present opportunities for learning and discussion. In reading through some books about the show and watching videos on YT, I learned that one of the EPs wanted to stay as true as possible to the book but ML didn't think it would work.

Apparently, he thought storylines about Carrie imagining that she had a twin sister and they feasted on giant strawberries or a clown raping Sylvia would work. 

I'm sure a remake won't ever happen because it's ML, duh, and I do appreciate him helping to create a new audience and fans of LIW and her books, but so much wasted opportunity, especially with The Long Winter - the scenes with the blizzards would be far more harrowing than the one where Miss Beadle kills the kids - especially the time where Almanzo and Cap raced against time and the weather to bring back the seed wheat for a starving town. 

Similarly, with Little Town on the Prairie, we have Laura working in town, Nellie's return, the animosity between Laura and lazy, lousy Liza Jane (with the "I'll rock that seat, Ms. Wilder!", Mary's going off to college, Laura and Ida's recitation of history and Almanzo asking to see her home. And all kinds of goodness in These Happy Golden Years that don't start out so happy with Laura's first teaching job and her horrible boarding experience but then we have her slowly falling in love with Almanzo (vs her chasing after him). 

Le sigh...

 

In retrospect he could have done a lot differently in the end, the constant adding of kids, especially toward the end, was crazy. James and his being shot, the alter, the angels appearing. lol  I liked Ernest Borgnine episodes but my favorite that I thought they did well, was Mary going blind,she was good, the denial, the acceptance, her feelings, etc. Later, getting married, the baby, Adam getting sight back, was a bit much but I thought they handled that earlier plot well.

Because we see them now all at once, and then they were far apart, seeing repeated costars playing different roles is more glaring, even plot disparities. One of the smaller ones I just saw was when Caroline was pregnant with Grace, she first thought she was starting menopause, she seemed shocked to be pregnant, but then years later when Laura was pregnant, she was upset, a bit crazy, lying about having a baby etc., thinking she was old. Why she was resigned then and not later seemed odd.

I thought Karen was not used well in the beginning and liked when she had more meat to her roles. I loved the handyman episodes, Gil Gerard was so handsome. ; )

Edited April 29, 2020 by debraran

[CountryGirl]

The Mary going blind episodes were very well-done, but I absolutely hated the two-parter where Mary's son, Adam Jr., and Mrs. "Them's Snails" Alice Garvey died.

There is no way a mother, blind or not, would have walked away from her child, knowing the house was on fire. 

It didn't help that Alice looked like she was using AJ to break the window to escape (aka as Baby Battering Ram on TWP).

[methodwriter85]

4 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

The earlier seasons were definitely superior. One of my favorites is "Country Girls," which is where I got my username. 

It was so true to those moments from On The Banks of Plum Creek. I truly don't understand why ML didn't stick more closely to the books - there were 8 of them (minus Farmer Boy) and it could have been a season/book, give or take. 

The books have held up very well, with some obvious problematic but representative of "that time in history moments" such as the depiction of Native Americans and Ma's hatred of them or Pa and his buddies in blackface. But they present opportunities for learning and discussion. In reading through some books about the show and watching videos on YT, I learned that one of the EPs wanted to stay as true as possible to the book but ML didn't think it would work.

Apparently, he thought storylines about Carrie imagining that she had a twin sister and they feasted on giant strawberries or a clown raping Sylvia would work. 

I'm sure a remake won't ever happen because it's ML, duh

ABC attempted a remake in 2005 with a t.v. movie that basically acted as the pilot.The ratings weren't good enough to commission a series. I liked it though I thought the Half Pint was trying waaaaayy too hard to be Melissa Gilbert. Cameron Bancroft made a wonderful Pa, though. At this point though I can't see a remake happening because westerns aren't popular and Twitter "woke" culture would probably slam the Ingalls as evil colonizers.

[CountryGirl]

I vaguely remember that one. I really liked the actor who played Pa, but ITA that the girl playing Laura was trying to out-Half Pint MG. 

I also happened to catch on YT some other miniseries where John Boy, I mean, Richard Thomas, was playing Pa. There some similarities to the books, namely they had some animosity with Laura and Eliza Jane, Cap and Almanzo going after the wheat, as well as the woman with whom Laura boarded constantly complaining about her (though no knife scene). 

But Laura being blonde, Mary and Ma being redheads, and Laura finding a letter for Almanzo on his claim and being immediately in wuv made me roll my eyes so hard. The worst was after they were married (which they didn't even show!), Laura and Almanzo consummated their marriage right there on the prairie in the light of day.  

[debraran]

This never came to be?

https://variety.com/2016/film/news/little-house-on-the-prairie-movie-paramount-1201689053/

 

[methodwriter85]

I really think it's the fact that westerns just don't track with current audiences. Hell, the Magnificent 7 remake that came out in 2016 was pretty good and it had some pretty decent starpower behind it and they just barely recouped their production budget. The success of the Hatfields and MCcoys miniseries in 2012 didn't spark a new era of successful westerns like I thought it would. I think the closest we're getting to that is When Calls the Heart on Hallmark.

[Luckylyn]

9 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

The Mary going blind episodes were very well-done, but I absolutely hated the two-parter where Mary's son, Adam Jr., and Mrs. "Them's Snails" Alice Garvey died.

There is no way a mother, blind or not, would have walked away from her child, knowing the house was on fire. 

It didn't help that Alice looked like she was using AJ to break the window to escape (aka as Baby Battering Ram on TWP).

I’m having flashbacks to TWOP referring to that episode as “May We Bake Them Brown” instead of “May We Make Them Proud.” 

What really bugged me was the way the show forgot about the baby so fast.   It bothered me that Caroline was teasing Charles about becoming a Grandpa in the episode when Laura and Almanzo get together when their grandchild just died.

[debraran]

Re the movie that was dropped, I was just surprised because no news I could google, said why the second person who took the project dropped it. Money, interest? Was the first budget that high because of the stars? It's not a special effect type of movie.

I watched a favorite yesterday while decompressing from the news. It's when they decide to leave the city and come home, everything is overgrown and dirty but they are so happy and clean half the show. (made me get in the mood to clean my kitchen) I suspended reality on how they would have anything to eat but fish, chicken and cow etc now gone but they seemed to have milk and the like. Laura started to snore, something we never heard of before, but hey, maybe her sinus's were bothering her. How Doc Baker survived without a store or money coming in, who cares, he was taking care of Mr Hansen and looked clean and spiffy in his suit. 😉 I think the town pulling together makes me happy, when my neighborhood or city does that for someone or a charity, it makes me see the good in people and nowadays it's harder at times to see that.

Wisdom of Solomon show with Todd Bridges still makes me cry, I can't get by the ending without crying. Other shows where he wanted you to cry, I didn't, but that one was so well done for the time.  Best quote when Charles tells him things had changed, are changing.

"

Solomon Henry: You answer me something, Sir. Would you like to live to be a hundred?

Charles Ingalls: I'm sure. It's not very likely, but I guess all of us want to live to be a right-old age.

Solomon Henry: Would you rather be black and live to be a hundred, or white and live to be fifty?

 

[VCRTracking]

On 4/30/2020 at 3:49 AM, debraran said:

Re the movie that was dropped, I was just surprised because no news I could google, said why the second person who took the project dropped it. Money, interest? Was the first budget that high because of the stars? It's not a special effect type of movie.

I watched a favorite yesterday while decompressing from the news. It's when they decide to leave the city and come home, everything is overgrown and dirty but they are so happy and clean half the show. (made me get in the mood to clean my kitchen) I suspended reality on how they would have anything to eat but fish, chicken and cow etc now gone but they seemed to have milk and the like. Laura started to snore, something we never heard of before, but hey, maybe her sinus's were bothering her. How Doc Baker survived without a store or money coming in, who cares, he was taking care of Mr Hansen and looked clean and spiffy in his suit. 😉 I think the town pulling together makes me happy, when my to or city does that for someone or a charity, it makes me see the good in people and nowadays it's harder at times to see that.

Wisdom of Solomon show with Todd Bridges still makes me cry, I can't get by the ending without crying. Other shows where he wanted you to cry, I didn't, but that one was so well done for the time.  Best quote when Charles tells him things had changed, are changing.

"

Solomon Henry: You answer me something, Sir. Would you like to live to be a hundred?

Charles Ingalls: I'm sure. It's not very likely, but I guess all of us want to live to be a right-old age.

Solomon Henry: Would you rather be black and live to be a hundred, or white and live to be fifty?

 

"Todd Bridges" is trending on Twitter and it's apparently because someone watched the episode for the first time!

https://twitter.com/JustInNotOut/status/1256708410147434496?s=19

ETA: Now "Michael Landon" and "Little House" are trending!

 

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by VCRTracking

[PSG]

Quote

The books have held up very well, with some obvious problematic but representative of "that time in history moments" such as the depiction of Native Americans and Ma's hatred of them or Pa and his buddies in blackface. But they present opportunities for learning and discussion. 

I found and acquired a full boxed set of vintage Little House books, and have re-read them all during this stay-at-home time. It's been a delight! Yes, some of the content is really jarring to my 2020 mind, but still, there is a ton of fascinating detail in those books. Also, I can't say enough about Garth Williams' illustrations. They are lovely and evocative. 

[debraran]

16 hours ago, PSG said:

I found and acquired a full boxed set of vintage Little House books, and have re-read them all during this stay-at-home time. It's been a delight! Yes, some of the content is really jarring to my 2020 mind, but still, there is a ton of fascinating detail in those books. Also, I can't say enough about Garth Williams' illustrations. They are lovely and evocative. 

Yes, I read the books and those references seemed odd to me as a child but I figured people weren't very aware back then.  My daughter mentioned something about the "Ingall's" on TV being more liberal than in the books but I told her that was because he wanted to make it easier to watch and that good people always existed and Michael Landon was teaching how to act more than doing a strict biography. There were always the "Larabees" or some bigoted family to even things out.   I remember reading The Long Winter a few times, so fascinated on how hard it was and made me complain less if we just lost electricity, I wasn't twisting hay into twigs!

Edited May 5, 2020 by debraran

[absolutelyido]

On 4/29/2020 at 10:40 AM, CountryGirl said:

The Mary going blind episodes were very well-done, but I absolutely hated the two-parter where Mary's son, Adam Jr., and Mrs. "Them's Snails" Alice Garvey died.

There is no way a mother, blind or not, would have walked away from her child, knowing the house was on fire. 

It didn't help that Alice looked like she was using AJ to break the window to escape (aka as Baby Battering Ram on TWP).

I'm watching this episode this morning, when Alice and Mary's baby die in the fire. The fire breaks out in the basement. Adam, Alice and Hester Sue are in the kitchen. They smell smoke, so Hester Sue investigates, opening the door to the basement which is filled with flames. Hester Sue leaves the door open, so the flames start going up the stairs to the second floor where Mary, the baby, and all the children are. I know it's just fiction, but they would have had time to all get out safely if she had just closed the basement door. Dumb move Hester Sue!

To CountryGirl's point about Mary leaving her baby. When Adam, Alice and Hester Sue come up the stairs to get everyone out, Mary is by the baby's bassinet. She goes to help the other children get out leaving her baby in the bassinet. No way. Any mother would have picked her baby up and taken him out with her in the first place.

Edited May 5, 2020 by absolutelyido

[CountryGirl]

4 minutes ago, absolutelyido said:

I'm watching this episode this morning, when Alice and Mary's baby die in the fire. The fire breaks out in the basement. Adam, Alice and Hester Sue are in the kitchen. They smell smoke, so Hester Sue investigates, opening the door to the basement which is filled with flames. Hester Sue leaves the door open, so the flames start going up the stairs to the second floor where Mary, the baby, and all the children are. I know it's just fiction, but they likely could have all gotten out safely if she had just closed the basement door. Dumb move Hester Sue!

To CountryGirl's point about Mary leaving her baby. When Adam, Alice and Hester Sue come up the stairs to get everyone out, Mary is by the baby's bassinet. She goes to help the other children get out leaving her baby in the bassinet. No way. Any mother would have picked her baby up and taken her out with her in the first place.

That was beyond stupid as well and Hester Sue was always smarter than that.

[debraran]

1 hour ago, CountryGirl said:

That was beyond stupid as well and Hester Sue was always smarter than that.

That show was talked about a lot, it was different back then but also stupid. Why all the fires and catastrophe? Mary already miscarried, it was too much. Having Albert be part of it, that whole catatonic to "we are ok" segments.  A lot of darkness then, Mr Edwards was made to lose his family, Garvey loses his wife, Mary her baby. I wanted Mr Edwards to be happy, that upset me back then. He loved Alicia and the boys, it didn't feel right. 

Did they ever rebuild the school?

[CountryGirl]

Albert was so not necessary to the show. Nevermind that he never existed, because that was par for the course for this show, but except for him being a snarky shyster early on, he quickly wore out his welcome by the blind school fire. 

It always bugged me that Carrie got shafted (not that I'm certain the actresses could have handled much that wasn't fluff) in favor of Albert and later, Cassandra/James. Carrie was a much bigger character in the books and a friend/confidante to Laura. Don't get me started on Grace never leaving that high chair.

@debraran, there were a few episodes where they talked about rebuilding, with one showing them working on it, but then Adam and Mary learned that the funds they were expecting from Adam's father weren't coming (he had passed and had a ton of debts). That's when Laura found a new location in Sleepy Eye (occupied by Houston HOUSTON Lamb) and Almanzo helped her pay the rent (unbeknownst to her) while still managing to rub a belt-wearing saloon girl's back.

Man, I remember way too much about this show.

 

[debraran]

29 minutes ago, CountryGirl said:

Albert was so not necessary to the show. Nevermind that he never existed, because that was par for the course for this show, but except for him being a snarky shyster early on, he quickly wore out his welcome by the blind school fire. 

It always bugged me that Carrie got shafted (not that I'm certain the actresses could have handled much that wasn't fluff) in favor of Albert and later, Cassandra/James. Carrie was a much bigger character in the books and a friend/confidante to Laura. Don't get me started on Grace never leaving that high chair.

@debraran, there were a few episodes where they talked about rebuilding, with one showing them working on it, but then Adam and Mary learned that the funds they were expecting from Adam's father weren't coming (he had passed and had a ton of debts). That's when Laura found a new location in Sleepy Eye (occupied by Houston HOUSTON Lamb) and Almanzo helped her pay the rent (unbeknownst to her) while still managing to rub a belt-wearing saloon girl's back.

Man, I remember way too much about this show.

 

Ah yes, now I remember, Poor Almonzo and the fever and ice (teeth chattering) lol   God forbid they let something go well in Walnut Grove.

Yes, Albert was annoying, but some shows were okay. The "werewolf" dumb ones they did seemed like filler. When he was sick or on drugs, he had more to work with. When the other kids came later, it was too much. I liked when other characters got more work to do, when Caroline had her flirtation, when Charles did handyman duties to get his dishes (which they never showed again) when Nels left Harriot for a while, when we learned of her back story with preacher who left her (Russell was name) so she resented Rev Alden getting married. I loved when Dirk Blocker had a role and wish he stayed on, a carbon of his dad Dan from Bonanza.  The later shows got more painful for me but every so often they had a good one.

Edited May 5, 2020 by debraran

[absolutelyido]

2 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

That was beyond stupid as well and Hester Sue was always smarter than that.

As I think about it, in addition to it being unrealistic that Mary would have left the baby in the bassinet, it was dumb that Adam would have even asked Mary to help with the other children. Realistically, Adam would have told Mary to get out with the baby, then he, Hester Sue and Alice would have gotten the other children out. They really didn't need Mary's help.

[BigBingerBro]

5 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

there were a few episodes where they talked about rebuilding, with one showing them working on it, but then Adam and Mary learned that the funds they were expecting from Adam's father weren't coming (he had passed and had a ton of debts). That's when Laura found a new location in Sleepy Eye (occupied by Houston HOUSTON Lamb) and Almanzo helped her pay the rent (unbeknownst to her) while still managing to rub a belt-wearing saloon girl's back.

Then, when Adam and Mary announce they are moving away, Hester Sue just happens to call to wish them farewell and telling Caroline that the state was taking over the blind school in Sleepy Eye and they fired her for not having any formal teaching credentials, whereupon Caroline suggests she come and help her run the restaurant.  She agrees and ends up moving to Walnut Grove.

Just wanted to add that as I recently saw that episode!

[jird]

I've been watching a ton of this lately too, and I'd never noticed before that Mrs. Oleson was a good cook in the first season or 2 (she was even a finalist in the pie contest on Founder's Day!), and then in later seasons became incapable of even opening an oven door without setting things on fire.

Edited to add that no many how many times I see it, Harv Miller ENRAGES me. He's so dumb and clueless. You can see the exact moment when Eliza Jane's heart shreds into pieces.

Edited May 5, 2020 by jird

[brighteyes]

I've been a huge fan of the series for a long time, but every time I rewatch it now I realize how much it's a suspension of disbelief for a lot of episodes, like the random filler ones - not even including all the added kids in the Ingalls family like Albert and James/Cassandra. It always bothered me that they didn't seem to want to expand on Carrie or Grace and instead found other characters to fill those roles. By the end of the series, Grace should have been at least around 7-10 and Carrie in her preteens/early teens. They already had kids to fill in the child aspect of the show when Laura got older but instead shifted unnecessary focus to these new Ingalls kids. Albert could have been one of Laura's friends instead of her adopted brother - he could have been Cap Garland or another one of the real book characters. 

On 4/29/2020 at 9:03 AM, CountryGirl said:

Similarly, with Little Town on the Prairie, we have Laura working in town, Nellie's return, the animosity between Laura and lazy, lousy Liza Jane (with the "I'll rock that seat, Ms. Wilder!", Mary's going off to college, Laura and Ida's recitation of history and Almanzo asking to see her home. And all kinds of goodness in These Happy Golden Years that don't start out so happy with Laura's first teaching job and her horrible boarding experience but then we have her slowly falling in love with Almanzo (vs her chasing after him). 

One thing that bothered me the most was that they had so much material from the books that could have been used for older Laura's life on the show! The Long Winter, Little Town on The Prairie, and These Happy Golden Years were my favorites from the series - I LOVED Laura and Almanzo's romance and courtship in the books and wasn't a fan of how the show flipped it around and made her pine after him when in reality he pursued her first. I think I remember reading an interview somewhere that they had to flip it because in 70s (and even now) watching an adult man pursue a young teenage girl would definitely be perceived as creepy and predatory, so it makes sense why in our more modern world they had to change things. But I think they still could have kept the essence of their courtship and at least had Almanzo truly court Laura after the Sweet Sixteen episode instead of suddenly jumping into and engagement and marriage. It would have been fun to watch their relationship grow and mature like in the books, even after Laura spent all that time chasing after him on the show.