Little House on the Prairie C/D

I just found the show to be entirely insipid ,

I'm not quite sure which was worse, though: Little House or Highway to Heaven.

otherwise, it was one of the most consistently mawkish and corny TV shows ever ... which is some sort of accomplishment i suppose.

I don't give a shit about butter churning, living on a farm, saying your prayers and listening to mama and papa's wisdom, much less a whole fucking series of books about them!

I don't mind girly stuff. I just hate living in the 1800's, covered wagon crap.

i don't remember THIS episode (mainly because it never happened! but it's still funny to think that it DID) -- from jumptheshark.com:

I think the realism of the show suffered with Albert became addicted to drugs and first sold the Ingalls TV, then Pimped out Nancy Olsen to the railroad workers down at the station and after catching her trying to run away he beat her until she lost her sight. Then again, it had a heart warming ending when Mary's blind school let her live there in exchange for teaching the younger students to whore.
Jul 3, 2007 12:22 PM cambel

this jumptheshark comment pretty sums up how tragicomic/ridiculous this show could really be, esp. later on:

I loved this show when I was young- and the earlier seasons are still quite good....but as the show goes on....sheesh!!

It's great that it's wholesome entertainment, but yet, it's almost tragic that there are so many historical inaccuracies. I'm afraid this show would really screw up a kids' perception of history!

Women voting in 1887? A restaurant franchise?? Phones, in a tiny, isolated rural community in the 1800's??? Men clean-shaven?(except Mr. Edwards)- Half the women in the town working at in-town jobs in the later seasons? Half the families in town having adopted kids? (The Ingalls, The Olesons, The Edwards; The Wilders...). A black woman working as a WAITRESS???(That wouldn't have even flown in the 1950's!). All the kids having 1970's hairstyles? Men hugging each other? People talking about "their feelings"?? Gimme a break!

And in the later seasons, why is someone deathly ill or dying in every episode? James get shot in a bank robbery; Albert takes drugs!; The Blind school burns down; Kids are raped; Royal drops dead; People die of cancer; are the victims of crimes...etc. I mean, these things were alot less common back then (the occurance of canc er is 25 TIMES greater today)....and even in todays world...for all those things to happen amongst such a small group of people would be ridiculous!

And Michael Landon (real name: Eugene Horowitz) just wasn't convincing...I mean...were there any real Jewish Western Pioneers?(Only in Hollywood!)

And in the episode where the Wilders home gets hit by the tornado: The house is mortgaged for $500 which they can't repay- yet they say when they sell the house, they'll use the proceeds to move to Minneapolis...then when the house is blown away, they'll sell just the land, and still have enough money to move AND repay the bank? Then they end up staying, and building another house. They couldn't pay the mortgage when all was well...but now they can afford to build another house and pay off the mortgage on the property??? And we're just left to wonder...no mention was made of this!

I so wanted to enjoy this show again, now in my adulthood...but it just doesn't work...
Jun 30, 2007 6:04 PM Richiemagoo

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2014/02/04/Richard-Bull-television-actor-dead-at-89/UPI-26461391538669/

Nels Oleson, R.I.P.

R.I.P.

my mum still watches this show

Good points made about the later years of the show. Especially the stories built around Albert got morbid and uncharacteristically "current events". Watching him go through morphine withdrawls in a cabin with Pa Ingalls helping him through detox was some pretty rough shit for a kid of 8 years old. And the Sylvia episodes where the girl had been raped by someone and she and Albert were going to run away from her gnarly father before she fell off a ladder and died. What was that all about?

http://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1/1011262_10151879755141962_675733569_n.jpg

Nels and Nellie

This show did feel pretty sordid at times. That Sylvia episode stood out in its unsavoriness when I was a child. I always preferred a good early Nellie episode.