Little House On The Prairie - General Discussion

[libgirl2]

15 hours ago, Blergh said:

IIRC, Miss Arngrim stated that she had had a seven-year contract and at the end of that, she and her manager-father had tried and failed to negotiate a new one for her with an increased salary so that's why she was no longer a regular. While Miss Arngrim wasn't happy that they decided to totally defang Nellie, she DID adore working with Steve Tracy (Percival) and had stayed besties with Miss Gilbert to the last of her being a regular. Of course after her regular stint was over, when NBC and Mr. Landon decided a 'guest appearance' by Nellie with her semi-clashing with Nancy, they coughed up more for that episode- and while she recognized that they oddly wrote the character more like it was Miss Arngrim herself visiting her beloved fellow performers playing her family and onetime enemy (Laura) with her trying to give them advice on how to deal with Nancy, she DID like it that they included a brief scene of her CHOKING Nancy when the latter snored too loud in their shared bed for Nellie to sleep so that there was an indication that Nellie hadn't been totally tamed! Oh, and she said that the tears all the characters shed re Nellie's return to New York went far and above the script! The only real hashmark she  felt about that mini-reunion was that they did NOT include Percival in it (as she'd stay close platonic friends with Mr. Tracy until his tragic death from AIDS at age 34 in 1986- which would spur her pioneering activism in its fight). 

I loved that part, our Nellie was still in there when provoked. 

[debraran]

For a popular show, money did seem to be tight. Raises were looked down on, Alison said she gets residuals but I don't think all do and it can't be large. I felt bad for some like Doc Baker who said they never got a raise. Maybe they knew they were typecast and it was steady work, but still.

I did find it funny to read Karen had a mini crush on "Doc Baker"  Seemed to be quite a charmer. ; )

Although Grassle found Hagen attractive,  the relationship between them was strictly professional. When Grassle shot Little House on the Prairie, she was single and recently divorced. In 1970, Grassle left her first husband, Leon Russom, after four years of marriage.

In her interview with Zunshine, Grassle continued to say that Hagen didn’t pursue her or the cast members on set. Grassle said Hagen prioritized raising his son, Christopher. Although he married multiple times, Hagen primarily took care of Christopher by himself. 

“As a single dad, he had his hands full,” Grassle recalled. “He was always as sweet as pie.”

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/little-house-on-the-prairie-karen-grassle-found-1-cast-member-very-attractive-and-it-wasnt-michael-landon.html/

 

[Blergh]

41 minutes ago, debraran said:

For a popular show, money did seem to be tight. Raises were looked down on, Alison said she gets residuals but I don't think all do and it can't be large. I felt bad for some like Doc Baker who said they never got a raise. Maybe they knew they were typecast and it was steady work, but still.

I did find it funny to read Karen had a mini crush on "Doc Baker"  Seemed to be quite a charmer. ; )

Although Grassle found Hagen attractive,  the relationship between them was strictly professional. When Grassle shot Little House on the Prairie, she was single and recently divorced. In 1970, Grassle left her first husband, Leon Russom, after four years of marriage.

In her interview with Zunshine, Grassle continued to say that Hagen didn’t pursue her or the cast members on set. Grassle said Hagen prioritized raising his son, Christopher. Although he married multiple times, Hagen primarily took care of Christopher by himself. 

“As a single dad, he had his hands full,” Grassle recalled. “He was always as sweet as pie.”

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/little-house-on-the-prairie-karen-grassle-found-1-cast-member-very-attractive-and-it-wasnt-michael-landon.html/

 

In retrospect, one can see that Caroline was far more relaxed and informal around Doc than one would have expected a typical Victorian U.S. Midwestern pioneer woman to have been. In one scene, (evidently completely redressing herself after Doc had given her a full physical examination), Caroline was seen rebuttoning one of her blouse sleeves and  not the least bit discomfitted or shocked when Doc abruptly pulled the curtain to give her his consultation- instead of his having waited until she had completely redressed herself and letting her pull that curtain on her own. Now, I know that Doc seeing her rebutton a sleeve was no big deal but how could he have known she was almost completely redressed unless he had hung around to have seen and heard her doing so? 

Well, it seems less of a shock that Miss Grassle would have been smitten by the late Mr. Hagen since he seemed to have been one of the most level-headed of the regular adult male cast members and, on a shallow note, more visually appealing than Richard Bull (and I can't help but think that his raising his son on his own helped boost his standing to her and if not other female cast members). 

 Miss Beadle would have never had a crush on Mr. Edwards but her performer was far less conventional so, with that in mind, no surprise that Miss Stewart would have had one on his counterpart of Mr. French. 

[Egg McMuffin]

19 hours ago, jird said:

Harriet was so unbelievably awful in that episode. I know there are probably times she was worse, but that one always got to me. First buying Nellie a stupidly expensive horse that none of them were going to take care of, and then after Laura tired out Bunny the morning of the race in order to go get Doc Baker because HARRIET'S SON was sick, Harriet refused to reschedule the race and tried to claim Laura forfeited.

I just saw that one recently, which is why it's so fresh in my head. She just seemed so mean, for no reason other than the sake of being mean.

She’s basically awful in the whole Bunny arc. And I generally like her, but blaming a little girl like Laura for Nellie’s accident on a horse she didn’t even own is crazy. And had I been Charles or Caroline, I would have visited Harriet and ripped her a new one instead of just standing by and letting Laura get mindfucked. And then I would have forbidden Laura from being anywhere near her or for doing Nellie’s homework for an accident Laura wasn’t responsible for. The part where Laura happily says, “Mrs. Oleson talked to me today!” is wrong on many levels. The Ingalls’ parenting in that episode was subpar, to say the least.

[Egg McMuffin]

5 hours ago, debraran said:

For a popular show, money did seem to be tight.

That was television in the 50s through the 80s. Unless you were a big star (Alan Alda) or you owned a piece of your show (Donna Reed, James Arness, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball), you didn’t get rich as an actor back then. Salaries were relatively modest compared to today. If you were lucky, you had residuals for the first few cycles of reruns, and that was it.

That really started changing in the 80s and 90s, as actors began negotiating for a piece of the back end (syndication dollars) as opposed to just limited residuals. And even if they didn’t have a piece of the profits, they got higher salaries. That’s also when we really saw the episodes per season decrease - it became too expensive to do 30-40 episodes per season with the higher cost structure.

People vilified Suzanne Somers for her salary holdout on Three’s Company. And she negotiated poorly and managed to piss off most of her colleagues. But she was right in principle. That show made over a half billion dollars in syndication, and the actors deserved a piece of it.

It’s sad when I see cast members of shows that have been very successful in syndication - like LHOTP or The Brady Bunch - and the actors didn’t share in that success.

[Blergh]

On 4/8/2021 at 9:49 AM, Kyle said:

That was television in the 50s through the 80s. Unless you were a big star (Alan Alda) or you owned a piece of your show (Donna Reed, James Arness, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball), you didn’t get rich as an actor back then. Salaries were relatively modest compared to today. If you were lucky, you had residuals for the first few cycles of reruns, and that was it.

 

In addition to the non-producing performers only having a pittance of the royalties, working on the show   may have wound also up being downright tragic for at least Merlin Olsen (Jonathan Garvey) and his own family. The 6 foot 5 inch, hulking Hoss-like onetime professional football player wound up dying of mesothelioma  at age 69 in 2010- which he believed he had contracted from the show's sets' asbestos and brought forth suit against his onetime employer among others the year before (which his heirs would settle without comment a year after his death)  . ML himself had died of cancer nearly two decades earlier but one may wonder if ,he had been fated to been still living, whether Mr. Olsen would have included him in that suit. 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Blergh

[Snow Apple]

Does anyone know if the sandstorm during Mary's wedding was real or was it 70's CGI that was put in later? If they used a fan to blow real sand, it must have been tough to breathe and act.

[Blergh]

On 4/11/2021 at 9:55 AM, Snow Apple said:

Does anyone know if the sandstorm during Mary's wedding was real or was it 70's CGI that was put in later? If they used a fan to blow real sand, it must have been tough to breathe and act.

Good question. I recall my own Depression-raised father being impressed of the detail of the 'dust smoke' snaking into an inside room via a keyhole while watching this episode (and said that this was an authentic touch)! He grew up in NYC but he could recall one Dust Bowl storm raining Oklahoma dust on the Brooklyn streets when he was a child! Even if they  hadn't done a backdrop screen deal, they DID think to show how fiercely the dust storms could get via the keyhole's dust smoke! 

[jason88cubs]

even in some episodes the wind was insane. they must have used high power fans, like the tornado episode

[Egg McMuffin]

I wonder if they blew sand or something similar in front of the camera lens, and the actors were further away so they didn’t have trouble. I know that special effects on a TV show in the 70s were rare or pretty unsophisticated.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Kyle

[Mr. Sparkle]

I just watched "Sweet Sixteen." I'm also halfway through These Happy Golden Years, and there's actually some overlap. A lot of the names are the same (Williams and Brewster) and the basic story of Laura going far away to teach and Almanzo picking her up is there. Manly only punches a child on the show, though. 

[jmiracle283]

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).

Oh I Cannot Watch May We Bake Them Brown Because Of Poor Baby Battering Ram It Just Makes Me So Uncomfortable

[jmiracle283]

On 1/7/2021 at 3:02 PM, jason88cubs said:

makes me wonder how someone like miss Beadle got her meat. Did she exchange for desserts or possible sewing or something?

I Think She Got Her Meat After School Literally You Know What I'm Saying

Edited April 20, 2021 by jmiracle283

[Egg McMuffin]

Alice should have tossed that baby out the window. Hester Sue could have caught it.

The whole episode is ridiculous on a multitude of levels.

[Zella]

22 minutes ago, Kyle said:

Alice should have tossed that baby out the window. Hester Sue could have caught it.

The whole episode is ridiculous on a multitude of levels.

The staging for that episode was so bad that it made it hard for me to take the episode seriously or even empathize for the characters because I just kept screaming "why?!" at them.  Like, they were all right there and just fucked off without the baby! How hard would it have been to stage the scene where nobody was in the baby's room when the fire broke out? Or that only Alice was there, and they got trapped in it because of the fire. No baby battering ram needed either. 

[debraran]

6 hours ago, Zella said:

The staging for that episode was so bad that it made it hard for me to take the episode seriously or even empathize for the characters because I just kept screaming "why?!" at them.  Like, they were all right there and just fucked off without the baby! How hard would it have been to stage the scene where nobody was in the baby's room when the fire broke out? Or that only Alice was there, and they got trapped in it because of the fire. No baby battering ram needed either. 

It's been said he went crazy toward he end with what he thought would be ratings boosters. What happens though is you get a lot of people for that episode but as time goes on they fall off watching. What got to them to watch is a train wreck but who wants to see that on LHOP? A writer with no children had to write that or drunk and the angst with Albert and the pipe and music box. Way too much.

I'm sure Michael would make fun of it now also to some degree if alive and with instant feedback, instead of letters, might have not did some of what he did. Who knows, ego go before sense many times.

[Blergh]

It should be noted that Miss Anderson herself recounted objecting to the idea of Mary and Adam just walking away from their baby when the fire was starting to but, oddly enough, she could not recall what (if any) counter arguments were presented to her to keep going full steam ahead with this. It's truly too bad they didn't consider her objections. 

[alexa]

2 hours ago, Blergh said:

It should be noted that Miss Anderson herself recounted objecting to the idea of Mary and Adam just walking away from their baby when the fire was starting to but, oddly enough, she could not recall what (if any) counter arguments were presented to her to keep going full steam ahead with this. It's truly too bad they didn't consider her objections. 

That is good to know, as that always baffled me...at least the actress had sense to know it didn’t make sense.  Lol

[Egg McMuffin]

Poor Mary. Did she ever really do anything of significance after that episode? Even when they were trying to find a place for the new blind school, it was Laura who did all the legwork. All I remember for Mary after the fire is that in her last season, some animal crawled on top of her head and died.

[Egg McMuffin]

On 4/7/2021 at 6:33 PM, jason88cubs said:

In the Bunny episode, why didnt Doc Baker recommend they take  Nellie  to a doctor? One in a bigger town. I figured he would've

Well, one of the worst-kept secrets of Walnut Grove is that Doc Baker is kind of a quack. There’s a great outtake of some episode where a random guest star dies, and Rev Alden says to Doc, “Well, you killed another one.” Truer words were never spoken.

[debraran]

6 hours ago, alexa said:

That is good to know, as that always baffled me...at least the actress had sense to know it didn’t make sense.  Lol

And to add to the idiocy, Michael liked her work, said she earned her Emmy nod and then gave her staring into space. So much more could have been done. No wonder she left and went on with her life and family. I also think many fans don't realize she lived in Canada and it wasn't as easy to join others for events (although after some nasty comments from costars, I'd rather not too) Nellie/Alison and Mary could have had a lot more in scripts. I'm sorry for Laura fans but I found most of her stories boring and overwrought.

I had a fantasy of Mary and Adam living in the city and adopting a blind child who's parents left him and Nellie and Percival moving nearby to work and having funny episodes with them and visiting parents. : )

[Blergh]

Oddly enough, I can't recall a single conversation between Percival and Adam or Percival and Almanzo- the Ingalls wives were supposed to be friends (if not at least civil) to the tamed Nellie!

[Zella]

1 minute ago, Blergh said:

Oddly enough, I can't recall a single conversation between Percival and Adam or Percival and Almanzo- the Ingalls wives were supposed to be friends (if not at least civil) to the tamed Nellie!

I think he was too busy battling Harriet to have time to talk to anyone else in Walnut Grove. :D 

[Egg McMuffin]

Did Laura have any interactions with Nellie during her last season on the show, after she married Perciville? I remember when Nellie returned during the final season and she and Laura had this lovey-dovey reunion. Which was nice, except for the fact that they previously had no relationship at all once Nellie became good.

[debraran]

16 minutes ago, Kyle said:

Did Laura have any interactions with Nellie during her last season on the show, after she married Perciville? I remember when Nellie returned during the final season and she and Laura had this lovey-dovey reunion. Which was nice, except for the fact that they previously had no relationship at all once Nellie became good.

I don't remember any really. No letters or info like I heard from Nellie. I think she was written off and that was that. I don't know if it was a secret desire to end the show quickly to go onto other things or that Mr Landon was so embroiled in his new relationship and tabloids etc that he was distracted. A show I loved ended so many things so abruptly, it made me sad later when re watching it again. Nancy was beyond awful as many have discussed and with such talent on the show, why they try to replace people with poor doubles is questionable. James and Cassandra stuffed in the little house because Carrie and Grace couldn't have story lines? Jenny was another person they hoped would bring "youth" back and then the Carter family. We didn't grow up with them though. I'd rather they had Mary and Laura and Nellie have kids we watched grow up or dealt with than others that were poor substitutes. I'll always love the first few years and still smile at Laura at 6 or so and her toothy smile and Mary so sweet. It makes me forget the bumbling crooks, fires and sociopaths that entered Walnut Grove later.

Edited April 20, 2021 by debraran

[Snow Apple]

I can actually see the reunion happening that way. They had many moments together, good and bad, during their childhood and teen years. Friends come and go but Nellie is always there. Nellie matures and they make peace with each other. Then they get busy as married women running their homes and having jobs so they didn't have much interaction.

Then Nellie comes back. Memories are funny things. I can see them relive and laugh at their crazy fights and adventures though rose-colored glasses as years have passed.

"Remember the cinnamon chicken?" "Remember the music box?" "Remember when I pushed you out of the wheelchair?" "By the way, I knew you were touching poison ivy and let you keep going." We were awful. Good times. LOL LOL LOL.

Edited April 20, 2021 by Snow Apple

[Snow Apple]

5 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

Oops. Accidentally quoted myself.

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Snow Apple

[Egg McMuffin]

I just wish we had seen some friendship develop between Laura and Nellie before Nellie went off to NY. The actresses had great chemistry. I don’t even think they even spoke to each other during season 7. In fact, I think after the mud fight following cinnamon chicken in season 6, they were done with each other. Or maybe after the one where Laura sent the swarm of bees after Nellie and Harriet.

There was a scene in the episode where Perciville arrives and Nellie, on her best behavior, serves the Ingalls pie at the restaurant. That’s the last time I remember Laura and Nellie together, and even then, they didn’t actually have a conversation.

[Snow Apple]

Laura caught Nellie's wedding bouquet, but yeah, I think that was it.

I don't remember which episode, but I remember Harriet gleefully telling Nellie that Laura and Almanzo were breaking up. Nellie looked horrified for them, but I don't think there were any interaction even then.

Such a waste of the two character's chemistry and history. They were hilarious together.

[CountryGirl]

Grown-up Laura and Nellie was definitely a wasted opportunity.

Could you imagine how much Nellie would have livened up the boring and annoying Brenda Sue episode with Nellie coming up with revenge schemes and temporarily forgetting about her being tamed by the power of the Percival peen?

[alexa]

I guess I always felt a growing relationship was inferred as Nellie became nice, and Caroline had many interactions with her.  I feel like Laura was in some of those interactions, but maybe not.  But in some ways it all makes sense as the focus was on the couple relationships they were starting, and it wasn’t long after Nellie still being mean to Laura.  And then when Nellie left, I can see how time apart and growing up would lead to that later happy reunion.  

[Blergh]

54 minutes ago, alexa said:

I guess I always felt a growing relationship was inferred as Nellie became nice, and Caroline had many interactions with her.  I feel like Laura was in some of those interactions, but maybe not.  But in some ways it all makes sense as the focus was on the couple relationships they were starting, and it wasn’t long after Nellie still being mean to Laura.  And then when Nellie left, I can see how time apart and growing up would lead to that later happy reunion.  

But then again, did either of them have any actual friends after the Daltons/Cohens left Walnut Grove? I mean, Laura was civil to her teaching replacement Miss Plum and Mrs. Carter but she surely didn't go out of her way to spend what little free time she had with either of them. And it's unclear whether Nellie had anyone in NYC besides her in-laws to talk to.  

[BigBingerBro]

I also found it odd that Nellie and Mary never had much or any interaction after they grew up.  Even in Winoka, I don't think there was ever a scene with the two of them in the same place.  Did the Olesons attend Mary and Adam's wedding??

I know that the two were never "friends" when children, but you'd think they would have at least had some civil exchanges as adults.  Please enlighten me if I missed any episodes where they are in scenes together as adults.

[Blergh]

45 minutes ago, BigBingerBro said:

I also found it odd that Nellie and Mary never had much or any interaction after they grew up.  Even in Winoka, I don't think there was ever a scene with the two of them in the same place.  Did the Olesons attend Mary and Adam's wedding??

I know that the two were never "friends" when children, but you'd think they would have at least had some civil exchanges as adults.  Please enlighten me if I missed any episodes where they are in scenes together as adults.

The only scene I recall in Winoka with them in the same place was when the whole Walnut Grove gang celebrated Mary's birthday (along with Adam but none of their students) at the Winoka Hotel. There was no direct dialogue between Nellie and Mary at that time- just a few platitudes from Mary addressing the whole group. 

As for any scenes after Mary (and Nellie) got married? After the Blind School Fire, Mary and Adam stayed in Nellie's Hotel for X number of weeks with Mary in her catatonic and 'irrational' state- and ONE time she was depicted as throwing something at Adam  while having a 'fit' and Nellie peeking into to see what the commotion was- but Adam told the understandably startled Nellie to get out (and there was no dialogue whatsoever between Nellie or Mary). Of course, the issue of whether Nellie and/or Percival were charitable enough to be willing to 'eat' the Kendalls staying there for weeks on end went completely unaddressed (and I don't recall even any of the Ingallses thanking them). 

[jason88cubs]

1 hour ago, BigBingerBro said:

I also found it odd that Nellie and Mary never had much or any interaction after they grew up.  Even in Winoka, I don't think there was ever a scene with the two of them in the same place.  Did the Olesons attend Mary and Adam's wedding??

I know that the two were never "friends" when children, but you'd think they would have at least had some civil exchanges as adults.  Please enlighten me if I missed any episodes where they are in scenes together as adults.

no Nels and Harriet did not go to wedding. Nels gave Charles a gift and said he hoped Mary would remember him

[Snow Apple]

2 hours ago, jason88cubs said:

no Nels and Harriet did not go to wedding. Nels gave Charles a gift and said he hoped Mary would remember him

I think almost everyone moved back to Walnut Grove by the time Mary and Adam got married. Laura and the other children stayed home because they couldn't afford train tickets for all of them.

I imagine the Olesons would be invited if they were still in Winoka.

[Pirpana]

On 4/19/2021 at 1:37 PM, debraran said:

It's been said he went crazy toward he end with what he thought would be ratings boosters. What happens though is you get a lot of people for that episode but as time goes on they fall off watching. What got to them to watch is a train wreck but who wants to see that on LHOP? A writer with no children had to write that or drunk and the angst with Albert and the pipe and music box. Way too much.

And ML wrote that episode himself (as you probably already knew). I recall on Blu-ray documentary Charlotte Stewart told that Landon sometimes wrote next episode in-between the takes of episode being shot at the time. She presented it as a good thing, like "oh, what superman!" but I think this one has to be one of those and it would have benefitted of writing in it's own time.

[debraran]

59 minutes ago, Pirpana said:

And ML wrote that episode himself (as you probably already knew). I recall on Blu-ray documentary Charlotte Stewart told that Landon sometimes wrote next episode in-between the takes of episode being shot at the time. She presented it as a good thing, like "oh, what superman!" but I think this one has to be one of those and it would have benefitted of writing in it's own time.

I really didn't know, thought he directed it. He really wrote it too quickly and probably without much insight from others. He had children and must have known how that would look to most fans but the drama of it, maybe outweighed it. I think he was involved with Cindy then and a year or so later, married her. People knew and saw it, some were upset and didn't speak to them, no need dragging that out now. I do believe being human we can't always compartmentalize things and I wonder if that script would have been better another time.

[Pirpana]

^Nice to be able to enlighten you. 🙂 Yeah, he wrote and directed it. And was executive producer, behind-the-scenes material of Outlander series has taught me about the power of that position. Sometimes it really feels like ML had too much power.

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, debraran said:

I really didn't know, thought he directed it. He really wrote it too quickly and probably without much insight from others. He had children and must have known how that would look to most fans but the drama of it, maybe outweighed it. I think he was involved with Cindy then and a year or so later, married her. People knew and saw it, some were upset and didn't speak to them, no need dragging that out now. I do believe being human we can't always compartmentalize things and I wonder if that script would have been better another time.

Not a bad theory but there were other scripts he wrote and/or approved of earlier in the series that were quite disturbing/traumatizing when he supposedly was still happily (and presumably monogamously) wed to his 2nd wife Lynn (e.g. Mrs. Whipple's son's morphine death, 'Gold Country' in which an old miner burns himself to death in his cabin after Laura blabs about him burying his stash beneath his beloved wife's resting place to a classmate with a greedy,thieving father,etc.).

[Blergh]

BTW, I guess this is as good a time and place as to mention the Fading Bandit.

Yes, after Laura's beloved, faithful dog Jack went into the great kennel in the sky in 'The Castoffs'(1977), the remarkably well-groomed stray dog Bandit showed up and was initially rejected by Laura until she finally changed her mind and took him . He was a steady character and even went with the family to Winoka but then got used less and less until maybe once a year by the time of his final appearance in 'He was Only Twelve (Part 2)' (1982). Presumably, he accompanied the Ingallses  Senior to Burr Oak during the Final Season but this was never stated. Yet, one wonders why Laura and Manly couldn't have taken in what been HER dog. Surely, he'd have been happier living with her, Manly, Baby Rose and even Jenny  on their spacious  farm than having to somehow endure staying cooped up in some tiny  city apartment with   Carrie, Grace, Albert, James and Cassandra while the Senior Ingallses worked zillions of hours and Albert became a morphine 'fiend' (the contemporary term).  

 

BTW, I'm sure 1980's residents of Burr Oak, Iowa got a good laugh at their tiny community being depicted as having   been a big,bad dangerous city in the late 19th century when it never has been more than a small village whose main claim to fame has been Carrie Ingalls's birthplace ( contrary to LIW's LHOTP chronology). 

[CountryGirl]

Ah, Burr Oak, the town where Charles skipped out of town in the middle of the night so he could avoid paying his debts.

[Zella]

4 hours ago, Pirpana said:

^Nice to be able to enlighten you. 🙂 Yeah, he wrote and directed it. And was executive producer, behind-the-scenes material of Outlander series has taught me about the power of that position. Sometimes it really feels like ML had too much power.

I'd agree with this. I think Michael Landon had good general TV instincts. Even when he was on Bonanza and started writing and directing episodes, other people on the show complimented his skill with writing and directing. I think he also usually had a pretty good track record of figuring out what people liked and wanted to watch. 

But I think he, like many writers, has some very bad habits that he falls back on, and I am sure actively working on a TV show versus, say, working on a novel at one's leisure, made him even more likely to collapse into that. And in ML's case, the things he falls back on are things like really trite, shrill melodrama and that if nothing bad is happening, then nothing is happening. It would have been to the show's advantage to have someone with equal power to balance him out. And it even seems like some of the performers on the show could have provided this if he had been more collaborative. But I don't think he would have been interested in sharing power. 

[Egg McMuffin]

10 hours ago, Zella said:

It would have been to the show's advantage to have someone with equal power to balance him out. And it even seems like some of the performers on the show could have provided this if he had been more collaborative. But I don't think he would have been interested in sharing power. 

No, he wasn’t. Ed Friendly was the other executive producer for the show’s pilot. Landon forced him out when the show went to series. Friendly had a credit at the end of every episode and financial interest in the show. But he had nothing to do with the production after the pilot/first few episodes. Friendly also held the TV rights to the books, so he was producer of the 2005 miniseries.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Kyle

[Egg McMuffin]

I watched “The Collection” this morning. I like to snark on the show as much as the next person, but this was a really solid entry. It’s the one with Johnny Cash as the grifter who impersonates a minister and attempts to fleece the townspeople. A simple story - as opposed to all the crazy theatrics we like to make fun of - and good performances from Cash and especially real-life wife June Carter, who could really act. Nice to see Melissa Anderson’s Mary get to be in the spotlight for a change.

Yeah, there are some gooey moments at the end, but it’s surprisingly restrained for a Landon production. Too bad they couldn’t turn out more episodes like this. Of course, in the very next episode, Nellie fakes paralysis and Laura pushes her down a hill in a wheelchair.😄

[Blergh]

4 minutes ago, Kyle said:

I watched “The Collection” this morning. I like to snark on the show as much as the next person, but this was a really solid entry. It’s the one with Johnny Cash as the grifter who impersonates a minister and attempts to fleece the townspeople. A simple story - as opposed to all the crazy theatrics we like to make fun of - and good performances from Cash and especially real-life wife June Carter, who could really act. Nice to see Melissa Anderson’s Mary get to be in the spotlight for a change.

Yeah, there are some gooey moments at the end, but it’s surprisingly restrained for a Landon production. Too bad they couldn’t turn out more episodes like this. Of course, in the very next episode, Nellie fakes paralysis and Laura pushes her down a hill in a wheelchair.😄

I agree with you on this!

My fave part of the episode? When Caleb (Johnny Cash) first puts on the preacher garb and his wife Maddie (June Carter Cash) has a hearty laugh! While I know it was scripted, I couldn't help but imagine that Mrs. Cash herself (knowing fully well Mr. Cash's offstage shadowside) likely had her own fun getting to do this in contrast to the usual lovey-dovey stuff! No doubt Mr. Cash truly could RELATE to that role but it was so powerfully done, there was no way it could have been anything but a one-shot character without all the regulars getting permanently overwhelemed. 

And, yes, I agree that it's actually good to see Mary get to do something besides being the bossy, goody-goody sister, have romances and go blind! 

[debraran]

28 minutes ago, Blergh said:

I agree with you on this!

My fave part of the episode? When Caleb (Johnny Cash) first puts on the preacher garb and his wife Maddie (June Carter Cash) has a hearty laugh! While I know it was scripted, I couldn't help but imagine that Mrs. Cash herself (knowing fully well Mr. Cash's offstage shadowside) likely had her own fun getting to do this in contrast to the usual lovey-dovey stuff! No doubt Mr. Cash truly could RELATE to that role but it was so powerfully done, there was no way it could have been anything but a one-shot character without all the regulars getting permanently overwhelemed. 

And, yes, I agree that it's actually good to see Mary get to do something besides being the bossy, goody-goody sister, have romances and go blind! 

That was one of my favs and MSA liked it too. Johnny Cash said that and Columbo were fun but he was a fish out of water but they were nice to him. I thought he did a fine job. If you catch his Columbo episode it was very good and he sings of course too. ; )

[Zella]

2 hours ago, debraran said:

That was one of my favs and MSA liked it too. Johnny Cash said that and Columbo were fun but he was a fish out of water but they were nice to him. I thought he did a fine job. If you catch his Columbo episode it was very good and he sings of course too. ; )

After seeing posts about the Cash episode of LHOTP, I was just getting ready to come on here and say that the Johnny Cash episodes of both LHOTP and Columbo are personal favorites of mine. I thought he did a great job on each one. 

[debraran]

2 hours ago, Zella said:

After seeing posts about the Cash episode of LHOTP, I was just getting ready to come on here and say that the Johnny Cash episodes of both LHOTP and Columbo are personal favorites of mine. I thought he did a great job on each one. 

I downloaded his I Saw the Light version since he never formally recorded it. Superb job on both.

https://columbophile.com/2020/04/04/5-best-moments-from-columbo-swan-song/

Edited April 24, 2021 by debraran

[alexa]

13 hours ago, Kyle said:

I watched “The Collection” this morning. I like to snark on the show as much as the next person, but this was a really solid entry. It’s the one with Johnny Cash as the grifter who impersonates a minister and attempts to fleece the townspeople. A simple story - as opposed to all the crazy theatrics we like to make fun of - and good performances from Cash and especially real-life wife June Carter, who could really act. Nice to see Melissa Anderson’s Mary get to be in the spotlight for a change.

Yeah, there are some gooey moments at the end, but it’s surprisingly restrained for a Landon production. Too bad they couldn’t turn out more episodes like this. Of course, in the very next episode, Nellie fakes paralysis and Laura pushes her down a hill in a wheelchair.😄

I loved that episode.  But I also love Laura pushing Nellie down the hill, lol.