Little House On The Prairie - General Discussion

[Blergh]

I know Miss MacGregor had her fun butchering French pronunciation that episode! Could any other character besides Mrs. Oleson have gotten away with garbling another language for laughs?

[BigBingerBro]

36 minutes ago, Blergh said:

I know Miss MacGregor had her fun butchering French pronunciation that episode! Could any other character besides Mrs. Oleson have gotten away with garbling another language for laughs?

I'll have to rewatch that one because I could have sworn she did fairly well aside from a bit of exaggeration.  She certainly must have had fun shooting that episode!

[CountryGirl]

10 hours ago, Blergh said:

I know Miss MacGregor had her fun butchering French pronunciation that episode! Could any other character besides Mrs. Oleson have gotten away with garbling another language for laughs?

I will always remember "par-lay plooey blue!"

[Mr. Sparkle]

I think I'll re-watch this one over the weekend. It's not one of the ones I know by heart. 

[Egg McMuffin]

I’m watching the episode where Nancy tries to kill Belinda by locking her in the ice house. Nels promises to get the latch on the ice house door modified so that it can be opened from the inside. But Willie talks of a previous incident where he was also locked in the ice house and had to stay in bed for a week. Why didn’t Nels fix the latch then?

And why does everyone in Walnut Grove take Nancy’s attempted murder so lightly? The story she tells to explain her actions has a big enough hole to drive a truck through.

[Egg McMuffin]

Ok - so now Nancy is giving a fake story about her mother abandoned her on a street corner. Which she wouldn’t have gotten away with if Nels and Harriet had actually bothered to ask the orphanage about the reason Nancy was orphaned.

I never realized how many of the Little House plots depended on the adults acting like idiots.

[debraran]

2 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

Ok - so now Nancy is giving a fake story about her mother abandoned her on a street corner. Which she wouldn’t have gotten away with if Nels and Harriet had actually bothered to ask the orphanage about the reason Nancy was orphaned.

I never realized how many of the Little House plots depended on the adults acting like idiots.

So true, big holes that got bigger as show went on. Nancy was unwatchable to me even now. Some people make fun of Carrie and "Alyssa" but I find "You hate me" much worse.

Now I'm watching Eliza Jane make a fool of herself with that guy on trip with Laura. And treating Mortimer the funny, short, often fired friend so badly. (even Harv didn't act like this) I hoped she ended up with him though in TV story land. The other guy was so oppressive, I couldn't picture anyone liking him.

I saw this trivia on IMD site. Not sure if it's true. How is it getting back at her, she doesn't like the guy who makes pass at her.

Trivia

By the time this was filmed, Michael Landon had started philandering on his wife with the show's make-up artist and Melissa Gilbert had stopped talking to him. So, he concocted this script to get back at her, where a man indecently propositions her (married) Laura Ingalls character.

Edited November 20, 2022 by debraran

[Zella]

2 minutes ago, debraran said:

Some people make fun of Carrie and "Alyssa" but I find "You hate me" much worse.

I agree. The acting for Carrie was not the greatest and the storylines for her were lame, but I don't find it particularly egregious. I don't usually expect kid actors to be great, and by that point in the show, a lot of the writing was uneven. It just seemed par for the course.

Nancy, meanwhile, is unbearable and unwatchable. Period. 

[Snow Apple]

At least Allysa was a one time thing. "You hate me" seems to be screeched out in every episode Nancy appeared in.

[CountryGirl]

I remember in the Christmas movie aka Rosenapping where Nancy is in charge of securing the Christmas tree and chops a giant one down (nevermind her puny ax wouldn’t have accomplished the job) and it breaks the living room window. 

Queue the waterworks and “you hate me” from Nancy to Nels and he says, “YES!” 🤣

[andidante]

I loved Nels! He was one of my favorite characters. Nancy sucked. 

[debraran]

On 11/20/2022 at 3:15 PM, Snow Apple said:

At least Allysa was a one time thing. "You hate me" seems to be screeched out in every episode Nancy appeared in.

I can't believe the same writers were around from the beginning. It wasn't funny or entertaining.

[jason88cubs]

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

[jason88cubs]

Getting to that time of year where I will be having my annual watching of the pilot movie

As much as we make fun of the show, that movie is fantastic

[Zella]

3 hours ago, jason88cubs said:

Getting to that time of year where I will be having my annual watching of the pilot movie

As much as we make fun of the show, that movie is fantastic

It really is. I think the first 3 seasons of the show are also really good. 

[jird]

Yes! I loved the tone of the first movie, and wish they'd kept more of that for the series. 

[Blergh]

On 11/25/2022 at 6:09 AM, debraran said:

I can't believe the same writers were around from the beginning. It wasn't funny or entertaining.

I agree- and yet they expected the viewers to keep thinking the latter seasons were every bit as edifying,funny and entertaining as the beginning had been.

I guess they wound up serving as role models for self-importance and buying one's own hype for  the Boy Meets World ( 1993-2000) writers when they later wrote Girl Meets World (2014-2017) .

[Mr. Sparkle]

I will point out that "The Reincarnation of Nellie: Episode 1 & 2" were both written and directed by:

Michael Landon.

I blame the success, and later demise, of the show entirely on him. 

2 hours ago, Zella said:

I think the first 3 seasons of the show are also really good. 

I will go as far as to say the first 6 seasons were fairly solid. Season 7 started to show some cracks, and Season 8 started the inevitable fall. 

Season 9's worst episode was NOT the one with the orangutan, that's all I'll say. 

[Zella]

46 minutes ago, Superclam said:

I will go as far as to say the first 6 seasons were fairly solid.

I'd agree with that. I did detect a slight decline in quality after season 3, but I still find it a pretty solid and watchable show through season 6. 

[jason88cubs]

I would have liked to see them stay in Winoka some more, would have been a chance for something different

[debraran]

Possibly, that was an original thought, but they can't demonize the city the way they did. Sure they had a saloon, but the craziness they showed in any town other than WG was beyond the pale. Most people didn't live above the saloon and I'm sure there were very nice stores (sans the hat shop) and just "mean" people didn't go to cities to live. If they made it less stereotyped I think it would have worked. It just seemed an avenue to get Albert which just led to more stories of jealousy and maybe losing him and making him a drug addict and then possibly killing him off. Not probably what you meant by "more interesting" stories but they could have been. Actually I read with sheriff's the towns were safer and travel was sketchy. In Walnut Grove you had to rely on Charles to clean up the messes, chastise the racists, get the rapists, beat up the bullies (or try) find the bad meat given to everyone...very tiring and he wasn't paid. lol

Ac

[jason88cubs]

I still laugh at them living across the saloon and Charles going down to ask if they could keep it down so they could sleep

Like what the heck did you expect? Them to say "WOAH WOAH WOAH THE CHARLES INGALLS???@?!??!?!?!. ok sir we will be closed by 9pm every night"

[Snow Apple]

I missed the characters of Mary and then Nellie since they were the only ones around Laura's age to play off each other, but the finial nail was when the Ingalls, except Laura, left. I especially missed Ma.

After Mary left, I don't know why they didn't write more about Laura and Nellie growing closer. They had amazing chemistry and were best friends in real life. Can you imagine Nellie telling Laura all about marriage and child birth, LOL? I imagine Mary was to ladylike to educate Laura.

Edited November 27, 2022 by Snow Apple

[Blergh]

10 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

I missed the characters of Mary and then Nellie since they were the only ones around Laura's age to play off each other, but the finial nail was when the Ingalls, except Laura, left. I especially missed Ma.

After Mary left, I don't know why they didn't write more about Laura and Nellie growing closer. They had amazing chemistry and were best friends in real life. Can you imagine Nellie telling Laura all about marriage and child birth, LOL? I imagine Mary was to ladylike to educate Laura.

Not to mention that if Caroline was somehow supposed to become the semi-confident for Nellie (and, presumably, tattled the bickering between Papa Cohen and Harriet back to Laura), then why not have Laura and Nellie be depicted as having (somewhat) buried the hatchet.

IMO, it would have been more interesting than just seeing Laura treat Almanzo like a flunky once she married him.

[CountryGirl]

On 11/27/2022 at 10:55 AM, Snow Apple said:

I missed the characters of Mary and then Nellie since they were the only ones around Laura's age to play off each other, but the finial nail was when the Ingalls, except Laura, left. I especially missed Ma.

After Mary left, I don't know why they didn't write more about Laura and Nellie growing closer. They had amazing chemistry and were best friends in real life. Can you imagine Nellie telling Laura all about marriage and child birth, LOL? I imagine Mary was to ladylike to educate Laura.

I imagine Laura wouldn't have wanted an education from Mary about child-rearing given Mary leaving her baby in a room when she knew the blind school was on fire.

[jason88cubs]

I think THE AFTERMATH is probably one of my favorite episodes.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I really don't like that one, but we're all free to like what we like! 

[Zella]

I just can't get past how very bad the history is in that episode. Even by 70s TV standards, it's particularly ridiculous. 😂😂😂😂

[Blergh]

2 hours ago, Zella said:

I just can't get past how very bad the history is in that episode. Even by 70s TV standards, it's particularly ridiculous. 😂😂😂😂

Not to mention that the Ingalls themselves seemed to react to these POVs of the US Civil War as though they'd grown up in the 1970's instead of the 1870's!  Hello, it had barely been a decade since Appomattox! And why did Charles and Jonathan sabotage the attempts of others to capture these notorious bank robbers- who had been willing to take Mary as a hostage for leverage to boot?!

[Zella]

16 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Not to mention that the Ingalls themselves seemed to react to these POVs of the US Civil War as though they'd grown up in the 1970's instead of the 1870's!

😂😂😂😂

I am admittedly a bit biased because The Assassination of Jesse James is one of my all-time favorite books and movies, but I find the real story of Bob starting out as basically a Jesse James groupie and trusted family friend (and then managing to do the shooting in such a way that everyone seemingly decided to forget what a vicious bastard Jesse James could be because it seemed so unfair on the surface) a lot more interesting than the ho-hum LHOTP vengeance spin.

Also they've got the richly ironic Northfield Raid story right there in Minnesota, and they decide to make them hole up in Walnut Grove and kidnap Mary instead. LMAO 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Zella

[CountryGirl]

18 hours ago, jason88cubs said:

I think THE AFTERMATH is probably one of my favorite episodes.

I like it, too. If for no other reason than we get to meet Chandler's dad aka John Bennett Perry. Whom we would see again (and not the Jesse seeing Bobby Ford again variety) when he worked with Laura on publishing Little House in the Big Woods.

I also found this hilarious recap in the process of finding this picture of Jesse (Mr. Dankworth) and Frank (Mr. Hobbs).

https://www.girlsgonewilder.org/?p=3491 

So I have some reading to do.

[Mr. Sparkle]

It's worth it for "Girls Gone Wilder" alone! 

[Mr. Sparkle]

I think this sums it up:

Quote

And so we started to bring up our favorite and most hated episodes. “God I hated Albert, didn’t you?” was one comment. “Why didn’t Albert just shut up and die?” was another. “Do you remember the raping clown?” “What about the episode where the blind school burns down and Mary’s baby gets smashed against the window?” “Oh wait, didn’t Albert cause that fire?” And so on.

[CountryGirl]

2 hours ago, Superclam said:

I think this sums it up:

They sound just like us. 

[jason88cubs]

The House the James boys was staying at,  did that end up being the blind school?

[CountryGirl]

1 hour ago, jason88cubs said:

The House the James boys was staying at,  did that end up being the blind school?

Yes. 

[jason88cubs]

13 minutes ago, CountryGirl said:

Yes. 

Thanks, thought so.

[Blergh]

Of course what's odd is that despite the Civil War becoming a hot topic with the James Brothers episode and in the Granville Whipple episode, the Ingallses NEVER say what Charles was doing during that time despite being a young, adult able-bodied US male citizen.

BTW, IRL, it's a bit of a mystery what Charles Ingalls (1836-1902) was doing and where he was supposed to be between 1860 when he was recorded having married Caroline Quiner and 1865 when their daughter Mary was born. I mean, researchers have found NO official  documentation, correspondences or written anecdotes hinting at Charles's activities during that time (and Mrs. Wilder seemed to avoid that period of his life altogether when writing about her family).  It's likely he was working on Minnesota  farms and around 1864, got together enough with Caroline to conceive Mary but there's no documentation spelling this out.

[SJC]

On 11/20/2022 at 1:15 PM, debraran said:

Michael Landon had started philandering on his wife with the show's make-up artist and Melissa Gilbert had stopped talking to him. So, he concocted this script to get back at her, where a man indecently propositions her (married) Laura Ingalls character.

What a charmer he must have been !  😝

10 hours ago, Blergh said:

it's a bit of a mystery what Charles Ingalls (1836-1902) was doing and where he was supposed to be between 1860 when he was recorded having married Caroline Quiner and 1865 when their daughter Mary was born.

I have wondered a lot about that. 

[CountryGirl]

Here is a Link to some more information about Charles and some other relatives of his and those of Caroline. Among other details, Charles was never drafted. 
 

[Blergh]

2 minutes ago, CountryGirl said:

Here is a Link to some more information about Charles and some other relatives of his and those of Caroline. Among other details, Charles was never drafted. 
 

Nor did he volunteer despite the fact that he and Caroline had no children until after the War!  While the show seemed to sidestep any onetime Union or Confederate soldiers (or their survivors) asking Charles what he might have been doing during that time, it's hard to believe that no one asked that question IRL!

[Zella]

Yeah I searched for a CSR (compiled service record) for Charles and found no Charles Ingalls who served in any Wisconsin regiment during the Civil War. (There are quite a few other Charles Ingalls serving in some other states, but I am pretty sure none of them are him.) 

Without letters or diaries from the time, it is hard to know the story behind Charles's decision. In my family tree, I have a family with 5 brothers, and 4 of them served (not always on the same side). But I have never found any service record for one of them. I'm assuming he sat it out entirely and would love to know more about it since I'm assuming there was likely considerable family and community pressure on him to serve if he was able-bodied. 

Edited December 4, 2022 by Zella

[Blergh]

10 hours ago, Zella said:

Yeah I searched for a CSR (compiled service record) for Charles and found no Charles Ingalls who served in any Wisconsin regiment during the Civil War. (There are quite a few other Charles Ingalls serving in some other states, but I am pretty sure none of them are him.) 

Without letters or diaries from the time, it is hard to know the story behind Charles's decision. In my family tree, I have a family with 5 brothers, and 4 of them served (not always on the same side). But I have never found any service record for one of them. I'm assuming he sat it out entirely and would love to know more about it since I'm assuming there was likely considerable family and community pressure on him to serve if he was able-bodied. 

Not to mention, it's hard to believe that no one would have nagged (and possibly blamed) Caroline about his lack of service. However, Mrs. Wilder somehow didn't hint about of that either but just treated that five year gap as a room elephant when recounting her family's saga.

[Egg McMuffin]

I’m a little late in responding but I just want to say this: Jesse James was a mean, dirty killer. A mean, dirty killer. A mean, dirty killer…

[jason88cubs]

On 12/5/2022 at 12:02 PM, Egg McMuffin said:

I’m a little late in responding but I just want to say this: Jesse James was a mean, dirty killer. A mean, dirty killer. A mean, dirty killer…

Harriet-- Let's get a picture of him and charge people to see how he was in Walnut Grove!!

[debraran]

10 hours ago, jason88cubs said:

Harriet-- Let's get a picture of him and charge people to see how he was in Walnut Grove!!

That would be in the newspaper for sure!

I always wondered how in the show, they ended up in Walnut Grove. They both were educated and it seemd stifling to be there although needed among the farmers and all the widows living pretty well in their non log homes. ; )  The city is noisy etc but Harriet always seemed to like culture, they had plays, music, libraries, etc. Never addressed how they started there but it must have been a little different for her.

[Blergh]

13 hours ago, debraran said:

That would be in the newspaper for sure!

I always wondered how in the show, they ended up in Walnut Grove. They both were educated and it seemd stifling to be there although needed among the farmers and all the widows living pretty well in their non log homes. ; )  The city is noisy etc but Harriet always seemed to like culture, they had plays, music, libraries, etc. Never addressed how they started there but it must have been a little different for her.

It's interesting that they appeared to have been long established yet neither Reverand Alden nor Doc Baker ever claimed that Nellie or even Willie had been born there so I guess the Olesons must have moved there almost as soon as they were able to have him weaned.

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

It's interesting that they appeared to have been long established yet neither Reverand Alden nor Doc Baker ever claimed that Nellie or even Willie had been born there so I guess the Olesons must have moved there almost as soon as they were able to have him weaned.

Did they claim that they hadn't been born there?  I mean, did this ever come up in conversation?

[Blergh]

18 hours ago, Katy M said:

Did they claim that they hadn't been born there?  I mean, did this ever come up in conversation?

True, Nels and Harriet never claimed they were born in Walnut Grove but it seemed they'd lived there from the time their offspring were toddlers (particularly Willie).

Oddly enough, Harriet had been stated to have been from St. Louis (though she spoke with no trace of a US Southern or Missouri accent) in early seasons- yet her unseen mother had somehow settled in Minneapolis by the lamentable closing TV movies.

As for Nels? They never stated where he came from. However, both he and his sister Annabelle clearly had Midwestern US American accents and it sounded as though the siblings had been raised in a rural US town. Considering that the bulk of the emigration from Sweden didn't happen until the 1840's (and Nels seemed to have been born c. 1830), it would have been unusual to have had someone born and bred of his background  in the US without a trace of a Scandinavian accent (and it wasn't clear he could speak any Swedish) running around rural Minnesota in the 1870's-1880's.

[Zella]

People from St. Louis don't have Southern accents. My coworkers from St. Louis sounded a lot like Chicagoans, though I didn't dare tell them that. 😂😂😂😂😂

Edited December 14, 2022 by Zella