Shark Bytes

Charles the hero. That's what my brother used to call him. It was annoying how he always found the solution to every problem no matter who it involved. This was a very good and entertaining show but some episodes could have been better if Michael Landon could have forgot his ego once in a while. For example in the The return of Mr. Edwards after not seeing Victor French for all those episodes why bring him back to do that stupid one of him wanting to end his life because he was crippled? C'mon I dont buy that Mr Edwards was that weak. Why not bring him to Walnut grove where he could have visited everyone and saw a blind Mary and maybe even meet the Garvey family. And why didnt it occur to Charles or Laura to point out Mary's blindness to Isaiah so that way he could have seen that he wasnt that bad off as he thought. No Charles had to be the one to find the way to save him. Dont get me wrong I love Michael Landon but some of these episodes were annoying. And why was Mary always forced to stay at a hotel whenever she visited her family? When Adam got his sight back and she went alone to walnut grove she had to stay at the hotel. Meanwhile they adopt brats james and cassandra when they had no room as it was. My favorite episodes where the Mary episodes I enjoyed Four eyes and the Award. Just one thing though. When Mary set fire to the barn Ma Ingalls punished her by not allowing her to take the test. And yet one season later Carl and Laura both lie in order to go on that trip to watch the trains and then Carl nearly blows up thier barn and has his punishment lifted. Both were stupid accidents but at least Mary was studying while Carl was lighting firecrackers but she was the one to get the punishment that stuck. I wish they would have left Mary in town with her family like they did in the books because I wasnt too crazy about Adam. That would have been better rather than bring the phony whiny annoying Albert. Albert and Adam double A's meaning ANNOYING. I couldnt stand either one.

'Amelia' is NOT the same girl that drowned in the 'My Ellen' episode. Get your facts straight...

I agree -- I remember the episode where Caroline walked in on Charles and Laura in the hay loft one afternoon. I think that was the first time some of those words were ever used on national television before. Put George Carlin to shame!

That's one of the things I liked about Little House; even though it was a family-oriented show, they didn't spare us the serious and often sickening consequences of substance abuse. People who think Little House was a sugary-type show haven't seen all the heavy episodes that balanced it out. Edwards was funny at times and kind of dark at others. Definitely one character who helped delay a shark jump for a long time.

Does anyone remember the drunk driving episode when Mr Edwards ran over Albert's leg? Lord.

In flashbacks albert played charles as a little boy. And the epsiode when the women strike, how did they get grace to cry she was actually crying. They must of took her mother out off the set so she would actually do that.

Thanks for the info on Billy Barty. I wish he hadn't rescued Nancy from that well.

Loreli asked: "Oh, and you can include Lou Bates in that too. Wasn't the actor who played him in The Wizard of Oz in the thirties?"

Lou Bates was played by the famous actor Billy Barty, who was NOT in the Wizard of Oz...but he was in almost everything else that has ever been made . He was born in 1924, which would have put him in his mid-fifties when he did the LHOTP eps. Kind of old for the part, I think -- but then, he seemed to have always looked old, even when he was a kid.

Oh, and you can include Lou Bates in that too. Wasn't the actor who played him in The Wizard of Oz in the thirties? And the wife looked old too and they were just having their first baby?

Anybody ever notice that a lot of the parents looked WAY too old to have kids in the grammer school? Like the time Miss Beadle let them go home early because of the snow and Christmas and they got caught in the blizzard. Some of the mothers looked like they were 75 years old, with white hair and they were supposed to have kids ten or twelve years old. And Patricia Neal in the "Remember Me" epidsode being the mother of Alicia who was like eight and P.N. must have been at least sixty five.

Watching Little House was a family Tradition when I was growing up. I was so much in love with the show, I use to imageine that I was a Black Laura and my family were the African American version of the Ingalls!

HOwever, I can can too remember when the show started to go downhill. Here are some of my memoorable episodes...

I guess all those breast bindings with country gauze was not enough to stop a oversexed blacksmith from turning "IT" on Alberts Girl. When her Pa gets enraged and goes to Charles house he busts into the door interrupting the coveted family dinner (always served with milk mind you) which eventually leads to a brawl outside with Charles in the rain. After Charles bashes his face in a few times he holds him close to chest in the rain and says...."Hit up the team son, we'll take him home....." Got to love it....


Then there was Hester Sue. As the only returning character that was a person of color, you would have thought that she could have had a whole spin off show with the challanges she would have faced being the only African American in the 1800's Post Slavery period litttle town of Walnut Grove. Her role was completly useless and served the very meaning of the word "Token". Shhh...the big secret is the only reason why she was able to work at the blind school is because everybody there was blind and didn't know the Truth. The town agreed to it for her own saftey..check out the lost episode entitled..."A Haven for Hester"

Charles Never worked. I dare you to find one episode where you actually see him clearing a field. Sure he was always sweaty and buffed, and always talked about paying off the account at the mercantile with the money fron "next harvest" but that always came from him carving stuff in the barn ( like baby cradles for babies that would die 2 weeks after they were born, and platform shoes for little girls to run and play)...I loved Charles like a secound dad..but man things just don't add up!

Mr. Edwards. He wore that same damn red and black shirt for the ENTIRE length of the show! That was the real reason he tried to kill himself..

Poor Albert! He gets hooked on morphine, spits up white stuff like the exorcists, then his legs get posessed by the spirit of James Brown and start dancing all over the bed by themselves. To top if off he gets cancer just when he overcomes all that and gets admited to medical school. Even Charles could not save him from that one.

But what took the shark cake was when they blew up the whole town in The very last episode. They even brought back Old Rev. Alden who we had not seen in years just so he could blow up the Church! And somehow...just somehow...the Ingalls house was the only one NOT get get detenated! I bet the whole town was pissed with that one after they were all left homeless!

Still I hated seein them go...Love you Always LHOTP!

People scare me. 4 hours of any show per day is just wrong. Please find some kind of alternative -- get your face out of the TV screen and do something. Take a walk. Do some art or handicrafts. Find a support group. Something. Anything. Just stop watching so much television!

The key word here is moderation -- there's nothing wrong with most activities as long as they are done in moderation. But 4 hours per day of a TV show is not moderate. It's not good for you. I really urge you to break the cycle and find some healthy activities to replace your addiction.

Good luck!

Yes, I watch LHOTP 4 times a day...that i when I off work. I only wish I could get paid to watch it 20 hours a week. I finally saw the school burning episode and it was so horribly tragic. How much can they make poor Mary Ingalls Kendall go through? Luckily that is not a true story since I understand Mary never married nor bore any children.

I agree that the twins who played Carrie were the worst child actresses in history. I think they got the LHOP gig because of their connections: their dad Billy Green Bush was a semi-famous actor of the '70s (Five Easy Pieces, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore).

I guess the producers figured the toddlers (they couldn't have been any older than 4 when the show started) would eventually inherit Dad's talent.

Not a chance.

Laura, they are all brothers and sisters, though I think Melissa is only Jonathan and Sara's half-sister.

Do you really watch four hours worth of LHOP per day? That is 20 hours per week...a part-time job.