It certainly was a great show, but did some shows become a bit too dramatic? I mean babies burning in a fire? The Ingalls son dying as an infant, etc...:(

YES. "May We Make Them Proud" (aka the fire at the blind school) and "Sylvia" are, IMHO, NOT fit for young kids to watch. Heck, I'm almost 32 and those episodes STILL give me the creeps. :eek: :eek: :eek:

Hardship and tragedy were a part of life for people in the late 19th century and they wouldn't have been depicting that time period accurately if they didn't include hardship and tragedy in their stories. That being said those episodes were pretty intense.

The show actually had a nice balance between melodrama and slapstick comedy. While Mary's life seemed to be one tragedy after another (going blind, losing her baby in a fire), the Oleson's were always good for a laugh.

The show actually had a nice balance between melodrama and slapstick comedy. While Mary's life seemed to be one tragedy after another (going blind, losing her baby in a fire), the Oleson's were always good for a laugh.

Two years ago I visited the REAL Walnut Grove, Minnesota. (Which doesn't look at all like the town in the TV Series!):lol: For that matter the REAL "Pa Ingalls" didn't look at all like Micheal Landon.:crazy: There is a Museum in Walnut Grove devoted to the Ingall's Family. It has some items that really belonged to the Ingalls, as well as other items that people used in their everyday lives.

They have a 'Laura Ingalls Wilder" Festival each July and I was there when they did this. They had a Guided Tour of the Town, stopping at the site where the Church used to be (It's now a Private Residence, the Church Disbanded in the 1950s and was torn down).:( However, the Church's Bell, the manufacture of which was partially funded by the Real Pa Ingalls, was moved to another church, and was rung during the tour. Also poinred out whas where the Schoolhouse used to be (It's also occupied by a Private Residence), finally you are taken to the site on Plum Creek where the Ingalls's Farm used to be. (The site where their first home used to be is marked).

During the evening, they do a Play based on the lives of the Ingalls and other Residents, Nellie Oleson is just as spoiled in the play as she was in the series. I cannot help but wonder, was the REAL Nellie just as pathetic?

BTW the Olesons were really Owens. Somehow it got "corrupted" to Oleson. Mary Ingalls really did go Blind, but so did Willie Owens. He lost his sight at the age of 10 in a Fireworks Accident. (This was never mentioned in the Series) They moved to California after the Ingalls moved to South Dakota, what happened to them afterwards is unknown. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend visiting this town, especially during the Festival.

Hardship and tragedy were a part of life for people in the late 19th century and they wouldn't have been depicting that time period accurately if they didn't include hardship and tragedy in their stories. That being said those episodes were pretty intense.

That's true, but did we really need to see the rapist blacksmith with the clown mask who terrorized Sylvia? I think that was WAY over the top. :eek:

I once heard someone say that the Olesons were the Bundys of Walnut Grove. I think that's an accurate description. :cool: :D

It certainly was a great show, but did some shows become a bit too dramatic? I mean babies burning in a fire? The Ingalls son dying as an infant, etc...:(

Considering that Ma Ingalls, Mary & Laura all lost sons during the course of the series, I'd say infant boys had as high a mortality rate as wives & fiancees did on Bonanza. I don't know how much Michael Landon's association with both series has to do with that.

I have no desire to see "Sylvia" or the "New Beginning" episode where Albert becomes a morphine addict. The first-aired post-series tv movie had him terminally ill, so I guess the sons' death rate could be said to expand to adopted sons too.

Two years ago I visited the REAL Walnut Grove, Minnesota. (Which doesn't look at all like the town in the TV Series!):lol: For that matter the REAL "Pa Ingalls" didn't look at all like Micheal Landon.:crazy: There is a Museum in Walnut Grove devoted to the Ingall's Family. It has some items that really belonged to the Ingalls, as well as other items that people used in their everyday lives.

They have a 'Laura Ingalls Wilder" Festival each July and I was there when they did this. They had a Guided Tour of the Town, stopping at the site where the Church used to be (It's now a Private Residence, the Church Disbanded in the 1950s and was torn down).:( However, the Church's Bell, the manufacture of which was partially funded by the Real Pa Ingalls, was moved to another church, and was rung during the tour. Also poinred out whas where the Schoolhouse used to be (It's also occupied by a Private Residence), finally you are taken to the site on Plum Creek where the Ingalls's Farm used to be. (The site where their first home used to be is marked).

During the evening, they do a Play based on the lives of the Ingalls and other Residents, Nellie Oleson is just as spoiled in the play as she was in the series. I cannot help but wonder, was the REAL Nellie just as pathetic?

BTW the Olesons were really Owens. Somehow it got "corrupted" to Oleson. Mary Ingalls really did go Blind, but so did Willie Owens. He lost his sight at the age of 10 in a Fireworks Accident. (This was never mentioned in the Series) They moved to California after the Ingalls moved to South Dakota, what happened to them afterwards is unknown. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend visiting this town, especially during the Festival.

Wow, that's awesome... Would be really interesting to see!

That's true, but did we really need to see the rapist blacksmith with the clown mask who terrorized Sylvia? I think that was WAY over the top. :eek:

This is a shameless bit of gloating, but this is one of my favorite episodes, only because of the romance between Albert and Sylvia. In case anyone is interested, I had a bit of inspiration and I wrote a LHOTP fan fic based on this episode in which Albert and Sylvia get married and have a happy ending instead of the way this episode REALLY ended....

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7226945/1/The_Church_Wedding

Oh and if my shameless gloating enticed you to read.... reviews are appreciated! ;)

I'm afraid I stick pretty much to the first three seasons of the series... when the family was united and tragedy hadn't struck yet and the girls were still young and super cutie-pies.

There is at least one episode from these first three seasons that I can't watch. The bully boys. That one still bugs me, even though I know it ends well. Had to edit in another comment, I also hate the episode with that teacher that mistreats Laura. Like to knock his block off. Charles is too restrained :P

Laura Ingalls Wilder changed the name of the Owens to Oleson in her books because there were still some descendents at the time when she wrote her books. The same holds true in one of her later books "These Happy Golden Years" in which she boarded with the Brewster's(real name Bouchie) while she taught school . She was miserable in that home as the wife was mean and very emotionally disturbed.
Mary never married. The Ingalls did lose an infant son but of course it was really dramatized in the series. But really, to make an interesting and successful show a lot of "poetic license" was taken with the facts.
It did go way over top many times. I don't think that the real Pa was quite so weepy! :crazy:
All in all I have enjoyed this show even with all of it's "warts".:lol:

I don't know what episode it was, because I was only 3-4 at the time, but I remember once where Laura thinks some guy murdered his wife and it trying to cover it up.

That gave me nightmares for YEARS!

I don't know what episode it was, because I was only 3-4 at the time, but I remember once where Laura thinks some guy murdered his wife and it trying to cover it up.

That gave me nightmares for YEARS!

I don't recall the name of the episode, but it was a Halloween episode. She thinks Mr. Olsen beheaded Mrs. Olsen, but he had accidentally chopped off the head of a female mannequin. Laura for the rest of the episode thinks the worst and it doesn't help that Nellie and Willie continue to lead her to believe that.

As kids, we take everything as being real. Too bad we have to grow up.

It certainly was a great show, but did some shows become a bit too dramatic? I mean babies burning in a fire? The Ingalls son dying as an infant, etc...:(

I think it was great...creepy episodes and all. Life was rough back then and people dealt with those issues often. I'm glad they didn't sugar coat everything.

Here is the real Nellie Owens(Oleson)

According to Laura's biographer Nellie Oleson was really a combination of two people whom Laura disliked. One was Nellie Owens and the other was Genevieve Masters. Both resided in Walnut Grove. The Nellie who appears in "Little Town On The Prairie"and "These Happy Golden Years" was actually Genevieve Masters and not Nellie Owens at all!Nellie's family eventually moved to Oregon.

Nellie Owens

The girl named Nellie Owens was about the same age as Laura and had a younger brother named Willie, just as the character of Nellie Oleson did in the books. Her parents, William and Margaret Owens (renamed Nels and Harriet Oleson in the television series; called only "Mr. and Mrs. Oleson" in the books), did, as Laura describes, run the local mercantile in Walnut Grove. Nellie Owens is the basis for Nellie Oleson in On the Banks of Plum Creek. Later in her life, Owens moved to California and then on to Oregon, where she married Henry Kirry and had three children, Zola, Lloyd, and Leslie. Her brother Willie went blind from a firecracker explosion, attended a school for the blind, married, and also had three children. There seems to be no indication that Laura ever saw Nellie Owens again after Laura's family left Walnut Grove in 1879. Nellie died in 1949


Genevieve Masters

The second girl, Genevieve Masters, was the spoiled daughter of a former teacher of Laura's. Genevieve wore beautiful tailored clothes and had striking blonde hair (in curls), just as "Nellie Oleson" had. Genevieve was originally from the state of New York and boasted continually about how much more proper and "civilized" things were in the "East". With her superior attitude, Genevieve was far nastier than Nellie Owens had been, and Laura and Genevieve became keen rivals, both academically and socially. Gennie's family moved to De Smet not long after the Ingalls family, but the Owens family did not move. Therefore, the "Nellie" of Little Town on the Prairie is Genevieve Masters. In her "Letter to Children" written late in her life (a sort of form letter sent to the hundreds of children who wrote her monthly), Laura states that "Nellie Oleson . . . moved back East, and did not live many years". She was evidently referring to Genevieve Masters in this letter. Genevieve died of pneumonia in 1909. She had one daughter


Photo of The Owens Family

YES. "May We Make Them Proud" (aka the fire at the blind school) and "Sylvia" are, IMHO, NOT fit for young kids to watch. Heck, I'm almost 32 and those episodes STILL give me the creeps. :eek: :eek: :eek:
Yep, "May We Make Them Proud" (aka the fire at the blind school) is the scariest episode i've watched of a TV show. only "Tet 68" on China Beach was even scarier. I'm embarrassed to have seen both of these episodes because they made me cry:(

Photo of The Owens Family
Guy on the left is kinda cute. Was he the one who was blinded? But he's no...

19th Century was a tough time to live. Medical science was not developed, and lots and lots of children died. Two of President Lincoln's sons died while he was in office with a third son dying in 1871 at the age of 18. No vaccinations so people and especially children fell prey to diseases and circumstances much more than now.

The sister on the show going blind was tragic, but I believe that this event really happened and one of Laura Wildre's sister became blind. I also remember the father character played by Michael Landon was sent to the workhouse for debts.

I have not see the show since I was a child in the 1970's. Always thought Melissa Gilbert was cute. There was another blonde girl who was a bully, plus a shop keeper and that's about it.