Little House On The Prairie (TV Series) - Detail

Detail

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 Mr. Edwards (played by Victor French) and the Oleson family: Nels Oleson (Richard Bull), Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor), Willie Oleson (Jonathan Gilbert), Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim), and their adopted child, Nancy Oleson (Allison Balson).

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), later adding adopted children Albert (Matthew Laborteaux), Cassandra (Missy Francis) and James (Jason Bateman).

Other essential characters included the friendly Nels Oleson, proprietor of the town's general store, Oleson's Mercantile; his malicious, gossiping wife, Harriet; and their two spoiled children, Nellie and Willie; and later, their adopted child, Nancy (Allison Balson). Also appearing in the series are former professional football player 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 physician). 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 the sixth season, Dean Butler joined the cast as Almanzo Wilder, and he and Laura are married in the seventh 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, and Maury Dexter directed a handful.

The series theme song was titled The Little House and was written and conducted by David Rose. The ending theme music, also written by Rose, originally appeared as a piece of incidental music in a later-season episode of Michael Landon's previous long-running series, Bonanza.

As with most TV series set in a distant time or place, historical inaccuracies and errors do appear. At the end of the episode "Country Girls" an airplane can be heard flying overhead. Little House on the Prairie was largely filmed on Big Sky Ranch at Simi Valley, California and Sonora, California; as a result camera vistas sometimes picked up rugged chaparral terrain, far too mountainous and scrubby for Minnesota, and one episode even depicted Laura running away and climbing up a mountain. California's oak savannas appears in many of the scenes and are considered to be representative of the real Walnut Grove. Dr. Baker's telephone was an anachronism since the telephone only existed in large cities in the 1880s. Also during the series run, several married women take teaching jobs during an era when only single women could teach. Several episodes mentioned peanut butter sandwiches, which were not introduced until the early 1900s. Another episode ("Wave Of The Future", from season eight) shows an elderly man, ostensibly Colonel Harland Sanders, attempting to sell his restaurant franchise to Mrs. Oleson. Sanders was actually born in 1890. In the episode "A Wiser Heart", Laura attends an 1885 lecture by Ralph Waldo Emerson; Emerson actually died in 1882. The show also used the Minnesota flag, which was not adopted until 1957.