Monday, February 18, 2013

Little House on the Prairie

I grew up watching Little House on the Prairie. For awhile after school reruns would play as well.

I read awhile back that Lisa from Two Bears Farm was watching episodes with her boys. Then my sister Terra was watching episodes with my nephews. When I saw seasons 1 and 2 in Target, I bought it.

Mica loved Little House on the Prairie! Isaak was pretty neutral. 

Daddy walked in on us watching it, he sort of rolled his eyes at me when I hummed the theme song and snapped. I said, "Well you bought Dukes of Hazard a while back."

Daddy asked to borrow one of the Little House on the Prairie DVDs the next day to watch while he was working. Then he wanted to watch it with me last night. This morning Daddy said, "Man that episode when Pa broke his ribs, the girls went to stack the grain and all the towns men helped was heart breaking!" He noted that he got teary eyed. That was the very first episode. I teared up to. 

Just for fun here are some facts about the show:


1. Laura, and Willie were actually brother and sister in real life. Melissa Gilbert and Jonathan Gilbert are siblings. Also Sara Gilbert who played Darlene was on the TV series Roseanne is their sister in real life as well.

I was bummed to see that Melissa Gilbert got some plastic surgery. I know many actors do it. She was so pretty without it though. Willie AKA Jonathan Gilbert stopped acting after he was in Little House on the Prairie and is an accountant now.

2. Melissa Gilbert (Laura) and Alison Arngrim (Nellie) were against one another on-screen. They were actually really good friends in real life. To this day, they are close. Alison Arngrim actually wrote a book called Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated.

Nellie's curls were not real; she wore a wig. She had to have the wig fitted to her head; it was painful to wear. She loved playing the character in spite of such challenges, including a wig that made her head bleed!

3. There was a feud between Melissa Anderson, who played Mary, and Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura since early in the show's taping. The children were able to remain professional, and no viewers ever suspected a thing.


4. Karen Grassle who played "Ma" Carolina has worked on broadway after Little House on the Prairie ended.


5. Here's a few more actors from the show. Richard Bull and Katherine MacGregor who played Nels and Harriet Oleson. They are both well into their 80s.


6. Both that characters Carrie and Grace were each played by identical twins. All 4 childhood actors have abandoned their acting today.

7. Michael Landon wore many hats. He was the creator, director, and known as Pa. During the show he was known as being a trickster. He would make Melissa Gilbert "Laura" run farther than she had to. He would also make fun of the cast members when they would mess up.


10 comments:

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

Thanks for the shout out.

I read in the paper that "nellie" was doing a book signing at the local B and N here a while back. I was all set to take Pierce - he was so excited to meet her. But then I read the title of her book and was like, "Um, no. Can't take my 6 yr old to that...". Bummer. Although I wouldn't mind reading it! ;-)

Aleksandra Nearing said...

I never watched the show but enjoyed the stories!

Theresa Mahoney said...

My mom used to watch it all the time. I would catch it on occasion too. The only thing I remember about it was how mean that Nelly girl was. I always wanted to slap her lol.

~ Noelle said...

I watched a few over the years, although I don't remember them now, I guess I thought they were decent, or I would not have watched... wonder what I would think to see them now...

Liz Mays said...

You've got a convert over there! It really is one of those shows that stands up over time. It's darn good.

Eat To Live said...

What fun facts. I didn't know Laura and Willie were brother and sister in real life.

Masshole Mommy said...

I remember this being on all the time when I was a kid, but for whatever reason, I just couldn't get into it. I do recall being freaked out my Michael Landon's hair, so that probably had something to do with it.

mail4rosey said...

I loved this show, lol. I thought Melissa Gilbert was pretty w/o plastic surgery too.

Anonymous said...

I don't own a tv(but I did when I was younger), so I never see the reruns, but I very well remember the show. I was sort of shocked once listening to a radio program while Gilbert was talking about how drunk Michael Landon was on the show. She sounded almost personally offended, but in retrospect, not then. I don't think it is something I would feel the need to bring up now that he is dead.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I loved watching this show show when I was younger. We own seasons1-6 so I still watch it. But the guy in the picture you have claiming to be Willie/Jonathan is lying because Jonathan/Willie has blue eyes and is in no way Latino. Neither does Willie have dimples.

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