Cinnamon chicken & babies as battering rams: Or the LHOTP thread

[lulu]

Carrying on from the JTS thread.

BTW, besides Christopher Bowman & Shannen Doherty, Todd Bridges also made a cameo appearance on LHOTP as Solomon.

By far my favorite LHOTP character was Nellie Olesen (AA is pretty kick ass in real life, so I'm sure that had something to do with it).

Who's your favorite LHOTP character?

[centerstage01]

Oh, so many awful moments from LHOTP. It was so bad it was fantastic. I admire Michael Landon for wanting to put on family-friendly programming, but someone should have given him a memo that rapist clowns and morphine-addicted orphans aren't exactly subjects that the whole family would enjoy. Not to mention the fact that while the real Ingalls family went through some tough times, the melodrama of the TV family would have sent the real family into seizures. They probably would have been able to generate energy from all the grave spinning.

I still think my proudest moment is introducing someone to the finale episode. We sat on the phone and laughed all the way through to the final explosion. Fabulous.

[lulu]

Then there's poor Mary's baby dying in a fire (thankfully, the real Mary never suffered the same fate, she didn't have any children, AFAIK).

Just the freak out even more people: Albert in morphine withdrawal

[Buzz]

Mrs Olsen

[Badams]

Mrs. Olson and Nellie are my favorites. And Nells, he gets to tell them off a lot.

[lulu]

Mrs. Olson and Nellie are my favorites. And Nells, he gets to tell them off a lot.

I love the Olsens!

[Alex Forrest]

Harriet and Nellie were my favorite characters. And Alison Arngrim's book is hilarious. I'm FB friends with her and she's really snarky. In a fun and kind way of course.

Let's see, the worst episodes would have to involve the Greenbush twins. "The Godsister" was so awful in its awfulness, and L/SG could not act to save their lives. The Anthrax episode was unnecessary even though Doc Baker had a catchy line "I'm not a doctor, I'm a funeral director..." LOL

Michael Landon really had a dark side. This was a family friendly show about prairie life, yet in a town of maybe 20 people you've never seen more alcoholics, drug addicts, people with disabilities, rapists, thieves, etc elsewhere.

It was also soooo annoying how Pa would always get his nose up in everyone's business. And Laura turned into a shrew and became totally unlikeable. At least Nellie's character arc was nice to see. Laura's was the exact opposite.

And of course when John Carter and Almanzo go to San Francisco and end up naked together in a bath house. Landon really did have a sense of humor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ibd8-1vWfo

[Grannyfan]

Nellie and Mrs. Olesen were definitely my favorites. I think my favorite episode is one in which a very young Nellie runs away to get married, and her mother goes into a frenzy trying to find her before the marriage is consummated.

One thing I always wondered about was that everyone in Walnut Grove, no matter what their financial status, seemed to have a better house with nicer furnishings than the Ingalls family had--front porch, lace curtains, real furniture not made by Pa, an actual bedroom, etc.

[danceronice]

Then there's poor Mary's baby dying in a fire (thankfully, the real Mary never suffered the same fate, she didn't have any children, AFAIK).

Nope. She never married or left home once she finished at the school for the blind. It also was a tad uglier--she didn't just have a fever as in the books, it caused a stroke which triggered the blindness. IIRC after Charles and Caroline had died she went to live with Carrie and her husband until she herself died, IIRC from another stroke. Laura actually outlived her entire family including Almanzo (except her only surviving child, Rose), including her younger sisters. Even the books gloss reality a little (they're also out of order; chronologically "Prairie" should come before "Woods".) Rose insisted they were true, but probably edited quite a bit herself and the original manuscripts that exist are different from the published versions.

No morphine addicts, rapist clowns, not many dead babies (even Laura's dead little brother is left out, though she leaves in her own dead son), and no bath houses.

[Spazactaz]

Another one here for Harriet and Nellie! And Nancy as well, I LOVE her!
Such a great show. <333

[4rkidz]

OMG I just realized what this thread was I LOVED little house.. I watched all the episodes and read all the books.. LOL.. I had such a crush on Michael Landon I was so sad when poor Mary went blind

[lulu]

I never really got the purpose of Nancy, except as an inspiration to Drag Queens everywhere. Was she some relative that the Olesens took in?

Speaking of LHOTP horror moments, don't forget the episode where Ma almost chopped off her leg because it was infected. The greatest irony about LHOTP is that in syndication, the show was on TBS, PAX and Hallmark. The latter two stations especially, made a big deal about LHOTP as a "wholesome show" for the "entire family", blah, blah, blah; but suddenly you're in front of the T.V., and there is beloved Ma Ingalls almost going all O.J. on her leg.

I just love Michael Landon, the San Francisco bath plotline is hilarious.

[LuckyCharm]

I never really got the purpose of Nancy, except as an inspiration to Drag Queens everywhere. Was she some relative that the Olesens took in?

She was an orphan that the Olesens adopted to cure Harriet's empty nest syndrome. She was Nellie 2.0.

[my little pony]

if they had just replaced carrie with someone who could speak in full sentences, they wouldnt have needed all of these random children milling about.

[Alex Forrest]

if they had just replaced carrie with someone who could speak in full sentences, they wouldnt have needed all of these random children milling about.

Carrie should have been replaced after the second season when it became clear to everyone that L/SG were 'special' kids and had no ounce of acting ability. It was awful listening to Carrie just say ONE line, and the entire scene deflated immediately. And Landon would have her say the DUMBEST things, or have her pee all over herself. It was odd.

Nancy? YOU HATE ME!!!!! She and Rhoda Penmark were my favorite bad girls growing up. Unlike Nellie, who was just a mean, spoiled brat, Nancy was made to be a deranged sociopath, as if Walnut Grove needed ANOTHER one of those. Nancy meant business.

It's fun thinking back on the show. It was not your lightweight family fare. It was opera.

[lulu]

Carrie should have been replaced after the second season when it became clear to everyone that L/SG were 'special' kids and had no ounce of acting ability. It was awful listening to Carrie just say ONE line, and the entire scene deflated immediately. And Landon would have her say the DUMBEST things, or have her pee all over herself. It was odd.

The Carrie pees on herself subplot was probably developed because as a child, Michael Landon had a bedwetting problem and his mother would take the wet sheets and put them on display so that everyone would see.

But yes, Lindsay & Sindey Greenbush should have been replaced.

[LuckyCharm]

Nancy? YOU HATE ME!!!!! She and Rhoda Penmark were my favorite bad girls growing up. Unlike Nellie, who was just a mean, spoiled brat, Nancy was made to be a deranged sociopath, as if Walnut Grove needed ANOTHER one of those. Nancy meant business.

Seriously, in her first episode she literally tried to kill someone, and she almost succeeded. But everybody treated her locking somebody in an ice house as a really mean prank rather than the attempted murder that it was. I don't believe she ever had any intention of letting that girl out or telling anyone where she was. She would have let them look for her for a few days until someone found her in there dead.

But didn't she punch Harriet in the face the first time they met? That was kind of awesome.

Carrie should have died down in that well.

[lulu]

But didn't she punch Harriet in the face the first time they met? That was kind of awesome.

Oh my gawd, that is all kinds of awesome. Given the dark plot lines of LHOTP, I'm surprised Michael Landon didn't end the show with Nancy blowing up the Church-with the entire population of Walnut Grove trapped inside. "bringing in the sheaves..."

[Karina1974]

Speaking of LHOTP horror moments, don't forget the episode where Ma almost chopped off her leg because it was infected. The greatest irony about LHOTP is that in syndication, the show was on TBS, PAX and Hallmark. The latter two stations especially, made a big deal about LHOTP as a "wholesome show" for the "entire family", blah, blah, blah; but suddenly you're in front of the T.V., and there is beloved Ma Ingalls almost going all O.J. on her leg.

I take it you aren't familiar with the practice of cauterization.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauterizing

The medical practice or technique of*cauterizationis the*burning*of part of a body to remove or close off a part of it in a process called*cautery, which destroys some tissue,[1]*in an attempt to mitigate damage, remove an undesired growth, or minimize other potential medical harmful possibilities such as infections, when antibiotics are not available. The practice was once widespread for treatment of wounds.

[Alex Forrest]

The Carrie pees on herself subplot was probably developed because as a child, Michael Landon had a bedwetting problem and his mother would take the wet sheets and put them on display so that everyone would see.

But yes, Lindsay & Sindey Greenbush should have been replaced.

I remember that film from the 70s. The Final Lap or something, and I think MSA played Lance Kerwin's girlfriend (Lance was my first age-appropriate crush, what a cutie pie)

I don't think Landon really was going there with Carrie. Bedwettting is entirely different from standing on a city street sidewalk and peeing on yourself.

I just never understood WHY they had to adopt all those kids??? If you want to bring in new youth, fine, let them be schoolhouse friends and develop stories around that. But demon Albert? James and Cassandra? Why couldn't they have simply played classmates?

And poor Carrie should have stayed down that mineshaft, ITA. It was for her own good.