In 1972, with the encouragement of his wife and daughter, television producer and former NBC executive Ed Friendly acquired the film and television rights to Wilder's novels from Roger Lea MacBride and engaged Blanche Hanalis to write the teleplay for a two-hour motion picture pilot. Friendly then asked Michael Landon to direct the pilot; Landon agreed on the condition that he may also play Charles Ingalls. Conflict between Friendly's and Landon's vision for the show ultimately led to the disinvolvement of Friendly in the production, leaving complete creative control to Michael Landon.
The pilot, which first aired on March 30, 1974, was based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's third Little House book, Little House on the Prairie. The rest of the regular series premiered on the NBC network on September 11, 1974, and last aired on May 10, 1982. In the show's ninth and final season, with the departure of Michael Landon, the title was changed to Little House: A New Beginning. Three post-series movies were made. Since the original series run, the show has aired continuously in syndication and is available on a number of streaming platforms.
Although initial reviews from critics was less than positive, the series ultimately became an audience favorite, with strong ratings through most of the series run. Initial reviews drew comparisons to The Waltons, which was getting solid ratings at the time. Ultimately, positive reviews followed the first season until cancellation, and continued through syndication as the show has remained popular with audiences.
Synopsis
Loosely based on the autobiographical "Little House" series, episodes of Little House on the Prairie usually concern members of the Ingalls family, who live on a small farm near the village of Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Many episodes concern the maturation of the family's second daughter, Laura. Other episodes focus on family and community members, providing a depiction of life in a small agrarian community in late nineteenth-century America. The show's central characters are Charles Ingalls (farmer and mill worker), his wife Caroline, and their three daughters, Mary, Laura, and Carrie, though the family expands with the birth of daughter Grace and adoption of son Albert in season five, as well as the adoption of birth siblings Cassandra and James at the end of season seven (a son, Charles "Freddy" Jr., was also born, but died as an infant).
Other essential characters include the Oleson family: Nels, proprietor of the town's general store, Oleson's Mercantile as well as Nellie's Restaurant and Hotel; his malicious, gossiping wife, Harriet, who runs the mercantile and restaurant with him and serves as the show's principal antagonist; and their three children, biologically Nellie and Willie, and adopted Nancy; Isaiah Edwards, Grace Snider Edwards and their three adopted children; the Garvey family, Jonathan, Alice, and Andy; Rev. Robert Alden; Lars Hanson, the town's founder and proprietor of the town's mill; and Dr. Hiram Baker, the town's physician and veterinarian. Teacher-turned-lawyer Adam Kendall is introduced at the end of season four and later weds Mary Ingalls, and Almanzo Wilder is introduced in season six and later weds Laura Ingalls.
When Michael Landon decided to leave the show, the series was retitled Little House: A New Beginning with the focus now placed on the characters of Laura and Almanzo, and more characters were added to the cast. Charles is forced to sell the house and move to Burr Oak, Iowa, to pursue new work. Laura and Almanzo remain and become the central characters. A new family, the Carters (Stan Ivar as John, Pamela Roylance as Sarah, Lindsay Kennedy as older son Jeb, and David Friedman as younger son Jason), move into the Ingalls house. Meanwhile, Almanzo and Laura take in their niece, Jenny Wilder (played by Shannen Doherty), when Almanzo's brother dies and raise her alongside their daughter, Rose.[1][2] The show continued to lose viewers, and the retitled version lasted one season.[2]
Michael Landon on the set of Little House on the PrairieMichael Landon Pa Ingalls Little House on the Prairie 1974Laura Ingalls (played by Melissa Gilbert) with her dog Jack (played by Barney), 19751974 Melissa Sue Anderson Little House on the Prairie
Former television executive and producer of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in, Ed Friendly, had noticed that his daughter had a habit of reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's series of books every year and was convinced they had enormous licensing potential.[4] The copyrights of the works were at the time owned by Roger Lea MacBride.[5] Friendly purchased the television rights to Little House on the Prairie to develop a family-oriented series, while he and Blanche Hanalis wrote the initial screenplay; but the result was not received well by the networks.[6][7]
Upon seeing the Bonanza episode "The Wish" directed by Michael Landon, Friendly thought Landon could possibly direct the series. Friendly's daughter delivered a copy of the screenplay to Landon, after which Landon not only wanted to direct the pilot, he wanted to star in it.[7] Following the cancellation of Bonanza, Landon had been given an exclusive contract with NBC to develop new projects.[8] When Landon discovered his daughter had been reading the book series and that his wife had also read them, he also saw the opportunity for a family-oriented series that would encourage children to read.[9] NBC was hesitant; they would be committing to a project from an era the networks were leaving behind.[7] But NBC ultimately trusted Landon's intuition and committed to a two-hour pilot movie and a series to follow if ratings warranted.[10]
Although they agreed that the series should look authentic, Friendly and Landon had different visions of what that meant. Among other differences, Friendly wanted the Charles Ingalls character to have a full beard, while Landon thought it would be bad for his image.[11] Friendly wanted to stick strictly to the stories in the books. Landon, on the other hand, noted that a series run of several years would require much more drama and character development.[12] Eventually, Friendly wanted Landon removed. NBC however, backed Landon, and Friendly ended up as a silent partner.[13][14] Ultimately, Landon "closely-supervised dimensions of story and character that were not present in the original material... nurtured the cast and crew, directed and wrote most of the stories, and entirely supervised every detail of the series."[15] As executive producer, his "personal vision is embossed on every one of the 204 color episodes".[16] The result is a series that is "so different from the books as to constitute a separate body of work".[17]
Casting
Following NBC's commitment to the series, Landon put his effort into casting. Forty-seven actresses were auditioned for the role of Caroline Ingalls before Landon settled on Karen Grassle. Grassle had university training and a number of repertory theater credits, but minimal television experience.[11] Landon thought she was perfect because she "looked like a pioneer woman".[18]
Landon's most difficult task was casting the children. He did not want "professional daughters with stage mothers".[11] He wanted "real little girls".[18] He selected Melissa Sue Anderson as Mary, and Melissa Gilbert as Laura, and gave them the nicknames "Missy" and "Half Pint" so they could be told apart on set.[19] Anderson had only been working in television for less than a year, while the 9-year old Gilbert had been working in television since she was three.[11] Hollywood's work rules for small children required the use of twins for the character of Carrie, who was played by Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush.[20]
Writing
Writing was one of the many creative differences between Ed Friendly and Michael Landon. Friendly wanted to remain faithful to the original storylines of the books, while Landon saw that producing at least 22 hours of episodic television per year would make it necessary to build fictional stories around the incidents from the books.[21] Thus, only some of the material for the series was taken directly from the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, as well as from the actual lives of the Ingalls family. While many of the stories were pure fabrications, each was meant to be true to the character of the book series.[22]
The original screenplay adaptation was written by Ed Friendly and Blanche Hanalis.[7] Other writers, including Michael Landon, were used for the series and the post-series movies.[23]
Some episodes written by Michael Landon were recycled storylines he had written for Bonanza. To feature Karen Grassle, he wrote "A Matter of Faith" in season two based on the Bonanza episode "A Matter of Circumstance".[24] In season five, the episode "Someone Please Love Me" had the same theme as the Bonanza episode "A Dream To Dream".[25] Likewise, "Little Lou" in season nine conveyed the same theme as the Bonanza episode "It's A Small World".[26]
Production design
Both Ed Friendly and Michael Landon wanted the series to look authentic. Landon studied books on frontier life, using them to develop the set design, including tools and household utensils.[20] Along with series art director Trevor Williams, Landon reviewed more than 50 books about frontier life in 1870s Minnesota. Each building used was a replica of an actual building.[27]
Filming
From the beginning of the pilot, cinematotography was handled by Ted Voigtlander, giving a picture of what faced prairie homesteaders more than a century ago.[21] He remained as principal cinematographer throughout the series, and for the three post-series movies.[23]
Initially, two sound stages at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles were used for the interior shots.[27] In 1978, filming moved to stage 15 at MGM Studios. This was the biggest soundstage at MGM, having been the set for The Wizard of Oz.[28]
Location filming for the pilot was done in Sonora, California.[29] During the series, exterior shots for the Ingalls home at Plum Creek and the village of Walnut Grove were filmed at the nearby Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley.[30][31] The arid desert land of Ventura county was watered by a series of underground pipes to convert the California desert into a more green Minnesota.[27]Old Tucson Studios was also used for location filming as the village of Mankato, Minnesota.[32][33]
Music
The series theme song was titled "The Little House" and was written and conducted by David Rose. Rose composed and scored the music for the pilot movie, 204 episodes of the series, and the movies.[23][34] The ending theme music, also written by Rose, originally appeared as a piece of incidental music in "Top Hand", a January 17, 1971, episode of Michael Landon's previous series, Bonanza.[35]
Cancellation
In a 1980 interview, Michael Landon stated the series would end after series eight due to "many contractual agreements".[36] The show continued beyond that, going into a ninth season. As ratings declined in the final season, Landon felt that the series had run its course, noting, "[W]hen we started this show, we never imagined it would last this long".[37]Three made-for-television post-series movies followed during the 1983–84 television season: Little House: Look Back to Yesterday (1983), Little House: The Last Farewell (1984), and Little House: Bless All the Dear Children (1984).
The Last Farewell was the final movie to be filmed and incorporated a unique ending in which each townsperson takes a turn blowing up his own building in an emotional farewell to the town. The reason for the ending was due to an agreement NBC made with the property owners when it leased the land from the Getty Oil Company and Newhall Land and Development Corporation. They had agreed that at the end of the series, the acreage would be put back to its original state. Michael Landon decided to write the demolition into the show, thus dismantling the sets on camera.[37]
Bless All the Dear Children was filmed prior to The Last Farewell, but ended up being the last of the three movies to air.[38] Given its Christmas-related content, NBC made a last-minute decision to change the broadcast order, airing it during the Christmas season. A voice-over was added explaining the events occurred prior to the destruction of the town to resolve the continuity problem.[37]
Themes
Opinions vary on whether the series is considered a Western, with critics generally split on this point. Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh in The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present suggest that the series is "not a Western in the usual sense. There were no cowboys, Indians, or cowtown saloons in this version of frontier life—it was more like The Waltons in a different setting."[2] In The BFI Companion to the Western, Edward Buscombe calls it a "middle Western" and a domestic Western.[39] Most television critics have classified it as a "pioneer drama" or a "family Western".[40] The series hit several themes that place it within the Western genre, including "cowboys and Indians" (pilot and "Freedom Flight"), its west of the Mississippi setting, as well as gunplay and violence.[40] It has also been characterized as a "prairie soap opera"[22] or a "soap opera with horses".[41]
With total creative control, Michael Landon presented a vision of "the strong, honest pioneer family whose spirit of love and devotion overcomes all physical harshness and obstacles of the heart, and always taught a moral".[15] He put more emphasis on the family's courage rather than their weaknesses.[21] This is especially prominent in the character of Charles Ingalls. Landon preferred a portrayal of Charles that was different from that presented in the books, almost a total opposite.[16] Landon presented him as strong and wise, yet able to maintain his vulnerability.[27] In The Myth of the American Superhero, John Shelton Lawrence and Robert Jewett describe this portrayal using the model of the "Heidi man" as a monomythic hero who, like Heidi, uses nonviolence to "heal the sick and bring happiness to the lonely".[42] They describe the themes of Little House as "domestic redeemer tales" and Landon as a "male Heidi [figure] who redeem[s] by nonviolent manipulations".[43] Using the September 24, 1975, season two episode "Ebenezer Sprague" as an example, Lawrence and Jewett delve into the Pa Ingalls character as embodying the hero's journey of the monomyth.[44]
Church, faith, and prayer were all strong themes, which reflected Landon's personal experience.[45] Religious themes are more prominent in the television series than they are in the original book series. As historian John Fry notes in A Prairie Faith: The Religious Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, faith, and Christianity in particular, plays a part in the books, but it is not a central theme, whereas it is much more central to the television series.[46] In Favorite Families of TV, Christopher and Michael Denis suggest that "[t]his show in many ways was about a strong Christian family struggling to practice Christian principles".[16] Episodes contained a type of sermonizing that was not a "fire-and-brimstone kind of preachiness, but always the moral lesson learned through tolerance of those different from us, compassion for those less fortunate, patience with those less able".[16]
Little House explored themes involving many social issues including adoption, alcoholism, faith, poverty, blindness, prejudice, bigotry, and racism. Some plots also include subjects of contemporary social issues such as drug addiction, leukemia, child abuse, premarital sex, menopause, and rape.[47]
Release
Broadcast
The pilot movie aired on NBC, March 30, 1974.[48] Beginning September 11, 1974, the series began airing on Wednesday nights in the 8:00-9:00 EST timeslot.[49] It was moved to Monday nights in the 8:00-9:00 EST timeslot on September 27, 1976 and remained in that timeslot until cancellation.[49]
Initially, some individual episodes were released on DVD and VHS.[53] In 2003, as DVD players reached more than half of the homes with VCRs for the first time, and trends began towards watching entire seasons on DVD,[54] full seasons of Little House were released on DVD by Goldhil in partnership with NBC Enterprises.[55] In the U.S. and Canada, NBC Enterprises partnered with Imavision Distribution to release full-season collector's editions, due to Imavision's expertise in family-oriented products.[53] These initial releases used time compressed episodes that had been prepared for syndication.[56] These sets included interviews with former cast members Alison Arngrim, Dabbs Greer and Dean Butler.[57][58] For the original movies and complete series sets, Imavision included special features such as interviews with cast members such as Melissa Gilbert and Melissa Sue Anderson, as well as specials highlighting Michael Landon and the casting of the show.
Lionsgate signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Imavision in 2007 to release the entire series on DVD.[59] In 2014, Lionsgate Home Entertainment began re-releasing the series in North America formatted as blu-ray full-frame, DVD full-frame, and ultraviolet HD digital download. The episodes were restored to their original broadcast length[56] and were remastered for high-definition picture and sound.[60][61] Seasons 1 through 6 each contain a roughly 15-minute segment of a special called "The Little House Phenomenon".[62] Following the release of the series, an all-movie collection was released in 2016.[63]
To address declining DVD sales in Canada, Imavision began offering the series via real-time streaming in 2012.[64] A free streaming digital channel airing the series, using the mostly uncut video masters provided by Lionsgate, has been available on Amazon Prime Video's Freevee, Pluto TV and The Roku Channel.[65][66][67]
Reception
Critical reviews
The New York Times television critic John J. O'Connor gave the pilot film mixed reviews but also noted that it "contained enough family warmth and struggle to make The Waltons look like a pack of pampered snobs", noting that the possibility of a weekly series did have promise.[21] The series itself, however, did not start off with positive reviews. Landon biographer Marsha Daly said, "It was as if they resented its simple, sweet characters, and preferred the trash-with-flash type shows then making in-roads on television."[68] Daly specifically notes a review by Richard Schidel of Time in which he said that Landon looked "as if he just stepped out of a unisex beauty salon on the Strip rather than 430 episodes of Bonanza" and that the show seemed "to be striving for a simple, straightforward style, minimizing both molodramatic and sentimental excesses".[69] Writing for TV Guide, Cleveland Amory wrote, "the show wants to have it both ways... an adult show and a children's show. It isn't bad as either... [b]ut if it had decided to be just one or the other, it would have been a whole lot better".[27] By the end of the first season, Amory noted that TV Guide's most disagreeing mail was his critique of Little House, and that most viewers considered it to be a good family show. Having admitted to going back to watch it again, he agreed that he had been too hard on it.[27]
Perhaps one of the most glowing reviews came from The Christian Science Monitor when it wrote that "to watch Little House on the Prairie is to fall in love with a time, a place, a way of life, a particular family", further noting that it was "an astounding, skillful production".[70] Early reviews made constant comparisons to The Waltons, a comparison that flattered Landon.[71] During the airing of the series, in 1975 a poll of Scholastic Newstime named the show its national favorite.[72]
Even after the series was cancelled and entered syndication, it continues to receive positive reactions from viewers. In 1993, the series was named "All-Time Best Family Show" by a TV Guide reader's poll.[72] In 1997, TV Guide included the two-part episode "I'll Be Waving as You Drive Away" as #97 on its 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time list. The episode was about Mary going blind.[73]The BFI Companion to the Western calls the episodes written and directed by Landon, "among the finest episodic stories ever aired for this type of drama".[74] Christopher and Michael Denis wrote in Favorite Families of TV, "The fact that the series was a resounding success, and continues resonating in syndication, affirms Landon's belief in his own visions and his remarkable ability to translate them successfully for a mass audience both in the U.S. and abroad."[15] Even as recently as 2020, outlets such as The New York Times have described it as "perfectly balanced between sweet and sour", while highlighting its simplicity, self-sufficiency, and sentimentality.[75]
Viewership
The pilot movie beat the competition with a 26.2 rating, representing roughly 45% of all television sets in operation at the time.[21] With the success of the pilot, the series was scheduled into the fall line-up for Wednesday nights at 8pm.[21]
Although the pilot was a ratings success, the series began with low initial ratings. While NBC had concerns, it believed that Landon's production was one of its better bets. Realizing that it takes time to build an audience for a quality show, NBC was not about to cancel a program that was receiving high praise from parents and teacher groups.[76] Season 1 had moderate ratings, while season 2 was the lowest ranked season of the series. In 1976, the series was moved to a Monday night time slot. From season three through season seven it was one of NBC's highest rated scripted series. In season four, it reached a peak of seventh in the Nielsen ratings, the highest rated show for NBC that season.[3]
Viewership and ratings per season of Little House on the Prairie
Following the production of the pilot movie and his objections to how Little House was adapted for the screen, Ed Friendly remained involved in name only, although he retained billing in the show's credits and received royalty payments.[14] Friendly teamed up again with Blanche Hanalis to produce a similar series based on books from Rose Wilder Lane. The television film The Young Pioneers was faithful to the book and received positive reviews from The New York Times. After a second movie, ABC bought the series and turned it over to Lorimar Productions, with Earl Hamner as executive producer. Although the series received positive reviews from critics, it was a flop for the network and was subsequently canceled.[68]
In October 2012, Sony Pictures announced that a film adaptation of the Little House on the Prairie novel was under development.[93] In early 2016, it was reported that Paramount Pictures had picked up the project in turnaround, but an agreement was never reached.[94]
In December 2020, Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content announced they were developing a reboot as a one-hour dramatic series adaptation.[95] Meeting together at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in 2020, cast members of the original series expressed their doubts on the likelihood of success with such a project, suggesting that it would not work without the genius of Michael Landon.[96]
Legacy
The television series boosted the popularity of historic sites where the Ingalls and Wilder families lived as well as leading to the creation of several museums.[46] The original homesite in Walnut Grove, Minnesota averages 10,000 visitors per year.[57]
A musical adaption of Little House was staged and performed at the Guthrie Theater in Minnesota in 2008. The production starred Melissa Gilbert, this time in the role of Ma Ingalls. The production toured other cities in 2009.[97]
Surviving cast members Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Anderson, Lindsay Greenbush, Matthew Laborteaux, Alison Arngrim, Dean Butler, Charlotte Stewart, and Karen Grassle reunited for the show's 40th anniversary in 2014 for an Entertainment Weekly interview. It was the first time many of them had been together following the 1991 death of Michael Landon.[98]
The 50th anniversary of the series in 2024 spawned multiple reunion interviews and appearances. In March, 2024, Melissa Gilbert, Karen Grassle, and Alison Angrim met for an interview ahead of a planned "Prairie Palooza" event at Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley, California.[99][100] The three-day event included panel interviews with cast members, exhibits of Little House artifacts such as scripts, merchandise, and other items, as well as recreated miniatures of some of the sets. Michael Landon's golf cart that had been made to look like a surrey was also on display.[101]
Related Research Articles
Melissa Sue Anderson is an American-Canadian actress. She began her career as a child actress after appearing in several commercials in Los Angeles. Anderson is known for her role as Mary Ingalls in the NBC drama series Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983), for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
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↑ Press, Thomas K. Arnold,The Associated (February 21, 2007). "'Little House' on Lionsgate DVD". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 10, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Friendly, Natalie (1998). The Friendly Family: The Descendants of the Freundlichs of Bavaria. Boston, Massachusetts: Newbury Street Press. pp.197–210. ISBN0-88082-079-9.
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