Shark Bytes

Hey Heather, turn off the Hallmark Channel and get a life. It's 2008, so better get your facts up to date. Melissa Gilbert is no longer president of the Screen Actors Guild and hasn't been since 2005. Alan Rosenberg is that organization's current president. By the way, Ronald Reagan isn't the president of the United States anymore in case you've missed that, too.

FORTY PAGES and COUNTING! Wow, what a love/hate relationship we have with this show. In an interview, Alison Arngrim explained it perfectly...there are several different types of Little House fans....and each of the following types are present here at JTS......
As she tells it, there are the fans who were raised on it, the fans who loved the books, the fans who loved family drama, the fans who love to laugh at it, and the Michael Landon "always our Little Joe" fans....and finally....what I and so many were: the fans of the Olesons...who giggled with glee over Nellie and Harriet and their hilarity.
Those two sure beat the Michael Landon patented squint/giggle/guffaw thing he did in every...and I mean every episode.
NELLIE, WE LOVE YOUUUU!!!!

I have to say I agree with the following comment.

Bouncing off several of the comments below, especially the "crying" comments... well, Landon had a very difficult childhood, with a mother who was nuts, and I always got the impression he was working out a lot of very personal psychological issues in his scripts or script ideas. Anything he ever wrote made broad attempts to make the audience cry. I personally wearied of tv tear jerker plot lines long ago.

The comments on this program are some of the best I've read at JTS. Very interesting.

Bouncing off several of the comments below, especially the "crying" comments... well, Landon had a very difficult childhood, with a mother who was nuts, and I always got the impression he was working out a lot of very personal psychological issues in his scripts or script ideas. Anything he ever wrote made broad attempts to make the audience cry. I personally wearied of tv tear jerker plot lines long ago.

But Little House does seem to have some authenticity. My grandmother grew up in a Northern Michigan Norwegian community of the early 1900's, and said the program - particularly the opening scene with the three daughters running down the hill - reminded her of her childhood. She was a die-hard fan of the show. Her community was mostly Norwegian to her death in the late '70's - all Olsons, Larsens, Johnsons, Andersons, etc., with the general store being still owned by the original family of Scots who founded it. She thought Little House was pretty authentic, and didn't watch a lot of other tv, except the Waltons.

Landon did a pretty good job, but it was disappointing to watch him dump his wife (& family) for a younger blonde who worked on the set. How cliche, how sad, how NOT old fashioned values.

One thing that I always hated about this show is the lack of continuity between seasons. I've seen every episode, and the writers didn't always check the older scripts before putting the show together.

Also, Michael Landon must have paid actors squat because they used the same guest actors over and over again. E.J. Andre appeared as 3 characters (Zachariah in "Gold Country", Uncle Jed in season 8, and the gun peddler in "His Father's Son). Even Kyle Richards did a guest spot as a fairly random character when at one time, she had a prominent role on the show. Then again, this was all before internet geeks were on the scene to dissect these things mercilessly.

to heather- relax, woman! i think most of us agree this was a good show, it's just not perfect. the purpose of this site, my dear, is to say when the show JUMPED THE SHARK. If Landon was still alive he'd even tell you you cry too much!

I love how so many of you are so quick to criticize this show, when I'm sure none of you have ever acted a day in your life, and if you are some struggling actor, you haven't done anything as half as famouse as Little House on the Prairie. Whether you enjoyed the series or not, truth is it's one of the most beloved shows of all times. Much better than any of the "talent" in these pathetic reality shows we have now with such "skilled" actors (I'm sorry, Paris Hilton is only on TV because her daddy is filthy rich).
I always thought that entertainment television was supposed to be a place to escape life, not live reality. So, in conclusion, if you don't like it, don't watch it. But know that most of those actors are have more money and more fame than any of you. By the way, who is the Screen Actors Guild President??? Oh, THAT WOULD BE MELISSA GILBERT! Go Michael!

I understand that when a series runs as long as this one did, and encompasses so many years of the Ingalls' lives, it would be necessary to create events and characters that were never part of the Little House books. The show omitted some events that would have been great entertainment, like when Laura took her first teaching job twelve miles out of town in the freezing middle of winter and was boarding at the superintendent's house and was scared for her life because she saw the jealous psychotic wife threaten the husband with a knife so he would give up their claim and take them back East. But most other events would have been too mundane for good TV ratings, like Laura's burgeoning social life that pretty much went off without any problems. She never 'enhanced' the front of her dress with apples in order to look like Nellie; she just ordered personalized picture-cards and went to a fun birthday party and a boring church social and never got in a physical or verbal fight. I didn't mind at all when, on the show, Nancy became best lunatic child ever in Walnut Grove and Albert had to kick morphine and poor introverted Sylvia got violated and pregnant and Caroline experienced very real insecurity as she went through the 'change of life'. These types of situations have happened throughout time! (But a poster was absolutely right about the unlikelihood of Percival's Orthodox parents supporting him when he married Nellie. About all the death and sickness on the show: this was decades before penecillin and safety awareness on the job! Frontier life was hard. But for all of the tragedy, there were also lessons about spiritual faith. This was one of the best family shows ever.

Baby Battering Ram was on a repeat today.

I watched very closely; without question, at one point, Alice (in total panic) uses poor baby Kendall as a battering ram. Why she couldn't just roll the baby off the roof to a waiting Hester Sue ("..it's too late Adam!! It's too late!!") down below has always been the question on my mind. Sure, baby Kendall might have suffered some scrapes or even a broken limb (or worse if good ol Hester didn't catch him), but could it be any less risky that waiting in a burning room to die of carbon monoxide or worse yet, death by burning?? The whole scene just makes you scream at the TV. Albert the wimpy bastard Ingalls should have been hung from the nearest tree for that one.

love landon, but come on with the dramatics. here is the rundown of a classic pa cry;

1. quivering lip and chin
2. bite the lip and stare
3. make some comment like "i know son"
4. immediately follow with the whispered version of "i know son"

oh, yeah, and i loved when pa "expanded" the little house to fit his sixty kids so that it was only slightly better.

love this show. made me cry like pa.

Funny thing is that the Ingalls became less likable and the Olesons more so as the show went on. Tho they should have left Nancy at that orphanage and let Harriet and Nels have at it with each other. Their scenes were much funnier and seemed more real than Ma and Pa's! And a shout-out to Allison Arngrim who,in addition to turning Cayenne chicken into lemonade for herself by becoming a comedienne, has also been a big advocate for AIDS education and incarcerating child rapists long before either cause was trendy ! Yo go, girl!

hey guys dont go over board with the bad comments. i mean Poor Michael !!!
i had noooo idea that he's hated soo bad. i thought i was the only one who disliked the crying thing with him.
other than famousness on his part, i really lyke him. u got to admit he's cute and gosh, really hot! save the chest at times hehe

LHOTP has sooo many stupid and "famous" (meaning stuff put in to get attention--hard 2 explain--someone might get wat i mean)) stuff put in its not funny!!! no. 1 Laura gets on my nerves until i have to walk out in the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th seasons. She thrives on disgusting things, her unbrushed teeth, 2 braids that outgrow her head (dont suit her anymore, squashing her nose, and saying idiotic things to make ppl (including Pa) think she's cute. However she's nice when she gets older. In seasons 1 and 2 Mary, Laura and Carrie r adoreable!
No. 2
Carrie behaved brain damaged as she gets older (yes running 2 the outhouse every scene she's in)

No. 3 Landon over did Mary and her boys (as if she was sooo beautiful to get sooo many b-friends) utterly famous! o dear lets not start...

No. 4 Michael Landon over did his crying in every episode...i realize the real guy (michael) was really emotional but its over done! any one agree ? and also he Pa's the whole world. I mean "Father's" the whole world lol
its absurd...other than that, he's real good looking and a great actor with some great morals and messages in his shows. Many ***** stars* for Him!
He also went way off from the original Laura books, but we already know and except that.
I mean stuff that never happened in that time period.

No. 5 Lots of other characters were dumb dumb.....u know who i really really lyke out of the whole show?? the only one who didnt irritate me?....hold ur breath....
Doc Baker!
yes he's the only non-famous 'normal' person around the show.
Even Grace Edwards can be annoying.
yep even her. and Yes even Michael *sorry pA* he also shouldnt show his chest too often, its kinda flabby lolz
hey i still <3 u Mike
i hope someone agrees with me...i still Love Little House...lots of memories

The show was at its best before Albert came onboard. I never much cared for the 'moving to the big city' episodes, but I sincerely wish the Ingalls had never decided to drag Albert's sorry butt back with them to Walnut Grove. The show deteriorated so much, on so many fronts, once Albert took centre stage. The other adoptees also sucked big time, even more than the Greenbush twins' lousy thespian 'talents', but it was Albert who started this show on a downward path of no return.

The first nightmare I can remember having as a child was Michael Landon chasing me through a field of knee high flowers with an axe & crazyface look. For that alone, I will forever curse this show & all involved in it for teaching me how scary a feather haired crybaby middleaged farmer could be.