Little House on the Prairie (TV series)

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Little House on the Prairie

Little House title card used until becoming Little House: A New Beginning
Format Family Drama
Created by Ed Friendly, from the original books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Developed by Blanche Hanalis for NBC in Association with Ed Friendly
Starring Michael Landon
Melissa Gilbert
Karen Grassle
Melissa Sue Anderson
Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush
Matthew Laborteaux
Richard Bull
Katherine MacGregor
Alison Arngrim
Jonathan Gilbert
Kevin Hagen
Dabbs Greer
Victor French
Merlin Olsen
Dean Butler
Linwood Boomer
Opening theme Instrumental theme by David Rose
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 9
No. of episodes 200 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Michael Landon and Ed Friendly
Camera setup Single-view
Running time 45 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
Audio format Mono
Original run September 11, 1974 – March 21, 1983
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary
Common rating
United States TV-G / E/I
(E/I usage may vary by station)

Little House on the Prairie was an American one-hour dramatic television program that aired on the NBC network from September 11, 1974, to March 21, 1983, bumping the long-running Adam-12 series to Tuesday nights. During the 1982-83 television season, with the departure of Michael Landon, the series was broadcast with the new title Little House: A New Beginning. A three-hour compilation special called The Little House Years was aired in 1979.

The show was a loose adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s best-selling series of Little House on the Prairie books. Readers of the books will notice huge discrepancies between the book series and the shows.

The series was produced in-house by NBC. As of 2007, current corporate sibling Universal Media Studios owns the underlying rights; however, it is distributed in syndication in the United States by CBS Television Distribution, the syndication arm of CBS Paramount Television (holders of the library of Worldvision Enterprises, the original syndicated distributors).

Contents

[edit] Cast

Main article: List of Little House on the Prairie (TV series) characters

[edit] Main

[edit] Recurring

[edit] Detail

Main article: List of Little House on the Prairie episodes
Carrie, Mary, and Laura Ingalls frolic down a hill, as shown in the opening credits of the series.
Carrie, Mary, and Laura Ingalls frolic down a hill, as shown in the opening credits of the series.

Although it differed from the original books, and many new characters and situations were added, this television series was one of the few long-running successful dramatic family shows (and it is still in syndication). Although predominantly a drama, the program did have some comedic moments, thanks to supporting cast members such as Mr. Edwards (played by Victor French) and the Oleson family: Nels Oleson (Richard Bull), Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor), Willie Oleson (Jonathan Gilbert), and Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim).

The show's central characters are Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon), farmer and patriarch, with his wife, Caroline (Karen Grassle), and four daughters, Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson), Laura (Melissa Gilbert), Carrie (Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush and Grace (Wendi and Brenda Turnbaugh). The Ingalls family also adopts 10-year-old Albert Quinn (Matthew Laborteaux), whom the family meets when they move (briefly) to Winoka, Dakota Territory in a series of 1978 episodes. Later the Ingalls family adopts more children, James (Jason Bateman) and Cassandra Cooper (Missy Francis), a brother and sister who are orphaned after their parents are killed in a wagon accident.


Other essential characters included the friendly Nels Oleson, proprietor of the town's general store, Oleson's Mercantile; his malicious, gossipping wife, Harriet; and their two spoiled children, Nellie and Willie; and later, their adopted child, Nancy (Allison Balson). Also appearing in the series are Merlin Olsen (as Jonathan Garvey), Dabbs Greer (as Reverend Robert Alden), Karl Swenson (as Lars Hanson, the town's founder and proprietor of the town's mill), and Kevin Hagen (as Dr. Hiram Baker, the town's doctor). Malcolm in the Middle creator Linwood Boomer appears as Mary Ingalls's teacher-turned-husband, Adam Kendall, whom she meets at the school for the blind in the 1978-1979 season. In 1979, Dean Butler joined the cast as Almanzo Wilder, and he and Laura are married in the 1980-1981 season premiere.

Michael Landon directed the largest number of episodes (87); producer William F. Claxton handled the majority of the remaining shows (68). Co-star Victor French helmed 19 episodes.

The series theme song was titled The Little House and was written and conducted by David Rose.

As with most TV series set in a distant time or place, the series includes occasional historical inaccuracies. Little House on the Prairie was largely filmed on Big Sky Ranch at Simi Valley, California. Camera vistas sometimes pick up the rugged terrain, far too mountainous for Minnesota, and the Californian chaparral vegetation. In one particular episode Laura runs away and climbs up a mountain. However, there are no mountains on the prairie. Nevertheless, in most scenes the oak savanna is considered to be representative of the real Walnut Grove. Dr. Baker's telephone seems far ahead of its time, since the telephone was newly invented and existed only in large cities in the 1880s. Also during the series run, several married women are seen regularly teaching. During the 1800s, married women were not allowed to teach. Several episodes also mentioned peanut butter sandwiches, which were not introduced until the early 1900s. Another episode shows an elderly presumably Colonel Harland Sanders attempting to sell his franchise to Mrs. Oleson. Sanders was born in 1890 and would have been an infant or child at the time the series takes place. There was also an episode where Mr. Oleson claimed to have played college football, but he was far too old to have played in even the earliest college football games (which took place in 1869).

The most successful western-dramatic series ended in 1983, due to low ratings (after Landon's decision of leaving the show), but this show set the tone for one other series that is similar to Little House: Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman. In addition, the show is immensely-popular in reruns in syndication, Hallmark Channel and on TV Land, and because of its historical context, is deemed acceptable for use by the FCC to meet federal E/I programming guidelines. Two stations which use the program to meet E/I include Orange County, California's KDOC, and Green Bay, Wisconsin's WLUK.

[edit] Guest Stars

During its nine season run, many actors made guest appearances, including both well-known actors and/or unfamiliar actors who went on to become well-known stars. Among those appearing in Little House episodes were: Willie Aames, E.J. Andre, Anne Archer, Lew Ayres, Hermione Baddeley, Olivia Barash, Don 'Red' Barry, Billy Barty, Richard Basehart, Tony Becker, Ralph Bellamy, Ken Berry, Peter Billingsley, Dirk Blocker, Ray Bolger, Ernest Borgnine, Todd Bridges, Walter Brooke, Red Buttons, Leon Charles, Don Collier, Nicolas Coster, James Cromwell, Shannen Doherty, Ike Eisenmann, Lou Fant, Gil Gerard, Ted Gehring, Louis Gossett Jr., Nancy Lee Grahn, Mariette Hartley, Arthur Hill, John Hillerman, Robert Hoffman, Beth Howland, John Ireland, Richard Jaeckel, Lance Kerwin, Tom Lester, Chuck McCann, Richard Mulligan, Jimmy McNichol, Patricia Neal, Sean Penn, John Bennett Perry, Carl Pitti, Eddie Quillan, Kim Richards, Tracie Savage, William Schallert, Eric Shea, James B. Sikking, Madeleine Stowe, Dub Taylor, Forrest Tucker, Mitch Vogel, Burl Ives, among many others. Colonel Sanders made a cameo appearance. Country music legend Johnny Cash also made a cameo appearance as an ex-convict alongside his real-life wife June Carter Cash.

[edit] Spin-offs and sequels

[edit] Little House: A New Beginning

A spin-off series of sorts, Little House: A New Beginning, built around Laura and Almanzo, lasted only one season and aired from September 1982 until March 1983 (and is included in the Little House syndication package). A new family, the Carters (Stan Ivar as John, Pamela Roylance as Sarah, Lindsay Kennedy as older son Jeb and David Friedman as younger son Jason), move into the Ingalls' old home. Meanwhile, Almanzo and Laura, take in their niece, Jenny (played by Shannen Doherty), when Almanzo's brother dies and raise her alongside their daughter, Rose. The Wilders appear prominently in some episodes, while in others, they appear only in early scenes used to introduce the story or its characters (see, for example, "The Last Summer").

[edit] Movie Sequels

Three made-for-television movie sequels followed: Little House: Look Back to Yesterday (1983), Little House: Bless All the Dear Children (1983), and Little House: The Last Farewell (1984). Two other Little House movies were made in conjunction with the Landon series: the 1974 pilot for the program and Little House Years (1979), a Thanksgiving special/clip show that aired in the middle of Season 6.

[edit] Parodies

CBC Television's Canadian sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie takes its title, logo and pioneering spirit, if not much else, from this series.

[edit] Broadcast History and Ratings

Little House on the Prairie was one of only several hit shows on NBC primetime throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. For the first two seasons, the show was aired on Wednesday nights at 8pm ET/7pm CT, to moderate ratings. In 1976, the series became a Monday night staple on NBC; after the move, it remained in the Top 30 for the rest of its run.

Season Ratings Rank
1974-1975 #13
1975-1976 Not in Top 30
1976-1977 #16
1977-1978 #07
1978-1979 #14
1979-1980 #16
1980-1981 #10
1981-1982 #25
1982-1983 #29

[edit] Awards

  • 1976 TP de Oro, Mejor Actriz Extranjera (Best Foreign Actress), Karen Grassle
  • 1976 TP de Oro, Mejor Serie Extranjera (Best Foreign Series)
  • 1978 Emmy Award, Outstanding Cinematography in Entertainment Programming for a Series, Ted Voightlander, episode "The Fighter"
  • 1979 Emmy Award, Outstanding Cinematography for a Series, Ted Voightlander, episode "The Craftsman"
  • 1979 Emmy Award, Outstanding Music Composition for a Series, David Rose, episode "The Craftsman"
  • 1980 TP de Oro, Mejor Actriz Extranjera (Best Foreign Actress), Melissa Sue Anderson
  • 1981 Western Writers of America Spur Award, Best TV Script, Michael Landon, episode "May We Make Them Proud"
  • 1982 Emmy Award, Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore), David Rose, episode "He Was Only Twelve," part 2
  • 1983 Young Artist Award, Best Young Actress in a Drama Series, Melissa Gilbert
  • 1984 Young Artist Award, Best Young Actress in a Drama Series, Melissa Gilbert

[edit] DVD Releases

The entire series has been released on DVD. The US DVD sets include exclusive interviews by Québécois Little House historian Patrick Loubatière and actors Alison Arngrim, Dabbs Greer, and Dean Butler.

A majority of the episodes in the North American DVD versions have scenes cut from the episodes--these are derived from the syndicated television versions by Worldvision Enterprises, the series former distributor; in fact, their various logos still appear at the end of most episodes (but before the current NBC Universal Television Distribution logo). Other episodes, especially in the DVD versions of some episodes in Seasons 1 and 8 of the original series, and season 9 of "...A New Beginning", are time-compressed; these are NTSC-converted video prints from UK PAL masters. Only a handful of episodes in the DVD sets are in their original, uncut versions (for example, many Season 1 episodes on DVD contain scenes not in current syndication prints). Unfortunately, many episodes on the DVD versions contain tracking lines and audio problems.

The DVD sets sold in the US and Canada were released under license from NBC Universal by Imavision Distribution, a company based in Quebec. Imavision has also released a French-language version of the DVD set, sold separately. Both versions are in NTSC color, and coded for all regions.

The DVD sets sold in the United Kingdom were released by Universal Playback (a Universal Studios Home Entertainment label); this version is in PAL color, and coded for Region 2.

Some time earlier, some single Little House episodes were released on both DVD and VHS by GoodTimes Entertainment.

Before retail DVDs were available, the Little House episodes were available through a Columbia House club subscription. These VHS tapes contained two episodes per tape and were only available at a club price. The episodes on these VHS tapes, unlike the current DVDs, were not edited and remain the only commercially available uncut episodes.

On February 21, 2007, it was announced that Lionsgate would assume the U.S. video rights from Imavision/Goldhil Home Video as of April, 2007. Most Little House DVDs can be currently ordered online through Lionsgate's site.

Season Episodes Originally aired DVD release date
Region 1 Region 2
1 23 1974 – 1975 July 8, 2003 July 25, 2005
2 22 1975 – 1976 July 8, 2003 March 27, 2006
3 21 1976 – 1977 November 4, 2003 March 10, 2008
4 22 1977 – 1978 February 17, 2004 May 26, 2008
5 24 1978 – 1979 June 29, 2004 TBA
6 24 1979 – 1980 October 26, 2004 TBA
7 24 1980 – 1981 February 15, 2005 TBA
8 22 1981 – 1982 June 14, 2005 TBA
9 19 1982 – 1983 November 1, 2005 TBA
10 3 1984 – 1984 November 28, 2006 TBA

[edit] Continuity Issues

Longtime viewers of the series (which currently repeats about every 3 months on The Hallmark Channel in the US) and owners of the DVDs may notice the following continuity issues throughout LHOTP's run:

  • Several actors who portrayed prominent roles played more than one character during the run of the show. Kyle Richards played Alicia Sanderson-Edwards in seasons 2&3, but also played the daughter of Brett Harper in "Someone Please Love Me" in Season 5. She also reprised the role of Alicia in "The Return of Mr. Edwards" in Season 6, and "A Promise to Keep" in Season 8. Hersha Parady played Charles's sister-in-law in "Journey in the Spring" in Season 3 before assuming the role of Alice Garvey in seasons 4-6. Matthew Laborteaux also appeared in "Journey in the Spring" during a flashback sequence as a young Charles Ingalls. He would play young Charles again in "I Remember, I Remember" before assuming the role of Albert Ingalls in seasons 5-8. Perhaps the most reused actor in the whole series was E.J. Andre, who played at least 4 roles during the show's run. His most promient role came as Uncle Jed for two episodes of Season 8.
  • There were a few characters who appeared for one episode as if they had been involved in the Ingalls' lives for quite sometime, or as if they had always been prominent citizens of Walnut Grove, but disappeared after their episode with no explanation. Most of these characters showed up with no backstory or evidence of their existence prior to their appearance on the show. Some of these characters include Widow Andrews (from "For My Lady" in season 2), Ruthy (from "The Last Summer" in Season 9), Marvin of Marvin's Garden (season 9), and numerous children at the school.
  • The eventual demise of Albert Ingalls is called in to question by two episodes. In the epilogue of "Home Again" (season 9), as Albert's stage coach pulls away in the final scene the viewer hears Laura in a voice over stating Albert returns in his adult years as Dr. Albert Ingalls. However, in the Season 10 film "A Look Back to Yesterday", the viewer is lead to believe Albert dies from a blood disorder around the age of 18. However, some viewers feel that since Albert's death is never actually shown, his return to Walnut Grove is entirely possible. However, this also could be called into question as the town of Walnut Grove was blown up in the final TV movie "Little House: The Last Farewell".
  • Two versions of Caroline Ingalls' maiden name are used in the series. In "Journey in the Spring" (season 3) and "I Remember, I Remember" (season 4), her maiden name is referred to as being "Holbrook", the name of her stepfather. It isn't until season 6 in "Whatever Happened to the Class of '56?" that we hear Caroline's actual maiden name, Quiner.
  • The marital status of Rev. Alden remains somewhat ambiguous. In the episode "A Preacher Takes a Wife" (season 6), Rev. Alden marries a member of his congregation. However, she's never mentioned again. Alden does bring up his marital status in "A Promise to Keep" in season 8, when he reveals to Mr. Edwards that his alcoholism cost him his first wife.
  • Lars Hanson's estate is called into question in two different episodes. In the season five episode Blind Journey, the late Lars Hanson's house is left to Reverend Alden and the church, who decide to let the house be used as the new blind school. The house is later destroyed in the season six episode May We Make Them Proud. In the season nine episode Welcome To Olesonville, the house is still standing and bought by Harriet Oleson, who tries to control the town by using a bond issued to Lars Hanson that she found while cleaning the house.
  • Almonzo's brother Royal makes two conflicting appearances in the series. In the season seven episode The Nephews, Royal appears with his wife (Millie) and two young sons, Myron and Rupert. His wife announces she is pregnant in this episode. Two years later in the season nine episode Times Are Changing, Royal reappears with a 10-year old daughter Jenny (who was not mentioned in the season seven episode, leading many viewers to believe that Millie was pregnant with Jenny during Royal's first appearance). Almonzo states that he has not seen Royal in a decade (although he appeared two years earlier). Royal mentions his wife had died and there is no mention of his two sons.

[edit] Notes

Cast members from the show, as well as Michael Landon Jr., have appeared on the Christian-themed website VideosForFamily.

[edit] External links