Post 62: “The Monster of Walnut Grove”
January 12, 1983 – GOOD “It’s Halloween and Laura is soaping windows, she thinks she sees Mr. Oleson cut Mrs. Oleson’s head off, but really it’s a maniquinn (sic). Several factors enhance Laura’s belief of this story, but she later finds out the truth.” From Anne – This is the episode in which Laura joins QAnon. That is, she embraces a false conviction with more gusto than a rabid raccoon. And paranoia is flowing faster than Plum Creek. To her credit, she has more visual evidence than any QAnon-er that Mr. Oleson is a murderer. The truth is, he’s a mannequin murderer. As Laura points out, even if he did kill his whiny wife, there’s no sheriff in Walnut Grove. The police are de facto defunded. The arm of the law is stubby on the prairie. More reason...
Read MorePost 61: “Quarantine!”
January 19 – FAIR “Alicia catches Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Everyone else is quarantined. Laura brings Alicia some berries and later comes down with poison ivy but thinks it’s the fever. Alicia gets well & all’s well that ends well like Ma always says!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBg3rYxEtPw From Tracy – This is the perfect LHOP episode for the pandemic weirdness we’re going through right now. And dammit, it’s just a great episode. There’s action AND tear-jerking scenes in this badger. Just go get the box of Kleenex right now — that is if you haven’t used up your supply on wiping your bottom. So much of what’s going on right now worldwide is going on in Walnut Grove in this episode. School closures! Crankiness! And people putting...
Read MorePost 60: It’s Official: This Blog Is Nellie and Almonzo Approved!
From Anne – Perhaps an odd question for this blogger to ask, but: why just watch Little House, when you can live it? That’s right, while my eighth-grade peers were getting their first hickeys, I was running around in a self-styled sunbonnet with my cousins Tera and Amber down in the forested ravine across the street from our house Hendricks County, Indiana. My cousins loved LHOP as much as I did, and I couldn’t wait till they visited so we could escape to “the creek,” as we called it, to get our Little House on. If memory serves, I was Ma, Tera was Laura, Amber was Nellie and my ‘lil brother Kurt was Willie. So what if we were missing half the cast? In 2007, I persuaded my husband to purchase “the creek” acreage so I can have a nature fix and keep acting...
Read MorePost 59: “Darkness Is My Friend”
April 14 – EXCELLENT “Laura stays the night at Mary’s. Some escaped convicts come. They order Laura to get a Doctor. She gets Pa. Finally, Pa knocks out this one guy and Laura hits this other guy over the head. Mary screams bloody murder. They get a reward and donate it to the blind school.” From Anne – I’ve always admired escaped prisoners. So much moxie, creativity and strategy required for a jailbreak. Especially from a train. With one of three wounded and bleeding. And while the convicts don’t have the matinee-star looks of the Jesse James brothers (featured in our last LHOP hostage episode), they’re a fine trigger for Mary’s expert caterwauling. I’m willing to bet that “Darkness is My Friend” (who came up with these episode titles, anyway?)...
Read MorePost 58: “The Aftermath”
February 8 – GOOD “Jesse James and his brother Frank come to W.G., but the town doesn’t know that they are outlaws. Mary runs errands for them. Also the class talks about the Civil War. This kid named Bob Ford is at school. The town discovers their true identity and doesn’t say anything to the bounty hunters because they are holding Mary hostage. Garvey lets the James brothers go. It says that Bob Ford killed Jesse James six years later (1882).” From Tracy – Once again, this is an episode I *thought* I remembered but then nope! How many freakin’ times did Mary get held hostage I wondered? It turns out THREE TIMES! The episode I thought I was watching was the one where the blind school is taken over by thugs. (EPISODE 128 • Darkness Is...
Read MorePost 57: LHOP Behind The Scenes!
Check out the link below to see some amazing on the set photos of Little House on the Prairie....
Read MorePost 56:
And now for some random Little House on the Prairie dirt!
Pilfered from one of those irresistible click-bait articles! I found these delicious “Behind-the-scenes secrets all Little House on the Prairie fans will want to know” — or perhaps wish they’d never found out. (Ed. Note – from Tracy – “My corneas are burning!” was one such reaction from me after reading some of these.) Still. Had to share: Actress Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson) Passed Out From Heat Exhaustion On Set The women wore the traditional 1800’s styles, including stockings, petticoats, pinafores, and bonnets. The temperatures would range from the 90s to the 100s at the California ranch where the show was filmed, which made for a very warm workday. Both Alison Arngrim and an assistant director passed out on the first day of filming. The Crew Went Through...
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