Little House on the Prairie: Information from Answers.com Mobile

Little House on the Prairie

Plot

One of the most successful and beloved of all TV family drama series, the weekly, 60-minute Little House on the Prairie was based on the autobiographical books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Michael Landon, the series' executive producer and occasional writer/director, headed the cast as Charles Ingalls, a Wisconsin farmer who moved himself and his family to the small town of Walnut Grove, MN, in the early 1870s. Karen Grassle co-starred as Charles' wife, Caroline; Melissa Sue Anderson was seen as eldest daughter Mary; Melissa Gilbert played middle daughter Laura (aka "Half-Pint"); and twins Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush shared the role of youngest daughter Carrie. As the series progressed, there were several more additions to the Ingalls household: Caroline bore a fourth daughter named Grace (played by twins Wendi and Brenda Turnbaugh); Charles and Caroline adopted an orphan named Albert (Matthew Laborteaux), and later took in another brace of orphans named Cassandra and James Cooper (Jason Bateman, Missy Francis); and during the series' final season, grown-up daughter Laura took charge of her niece Jenny (Shannon Doherty). Inasmuch as the series remained on NBC for nine seasons, it hardly needs saying that the two oldest Ingalls daughters literally grew up in full view of millions of fans. Mary eventually went blind due to a progressive disease, whereupon she relocated to a school for the blind in the Dakota Territory. There she met and fell in love with her teacher, likewise blind, named Adam Kendall (Linwood Boomer). They would later marry and have a child, who was killed in a fire. Ultimately, Adam regained his sight and relocated himself and his wife to New York, there to practice law. As for Laura, she became a schoolteacher in Walnut Grove, and in this capacity met another teacher, Almanzo Wilder (Dean Butler); they too would marry and have a child, named Rose.

Others in the large supporting cast included Victor French as the Ingalls' neighbor and friend Isaiah Edwards and Bonnie Bartlett as Mrs. Grace Edwards; Katherine MacGregor as the ridiculously haughty town gossip Harriet Oleson; Richard Bull as Harriet's good-natured storekeeper husband, Nels; Alison Arngrim as the Olesons' bratty daughter, Nellie (who, upon growing up and "reforming," wed a Jewish boy named Percival [Steve Tracy]); and Allison Balson as Harriet and Nels' equally obnoxious adopted daughter Nancy. Other cast included Merlin Olsen as headstrong farmer Jonathan Garvey, and Hersha Parady and Patrick Laborteaux as Garvey's wife, Alice, and son, Andy; Karl Swenson as Lars Hanson, owner of Walnut Grove's mill; Charlotte Stewart as schoolteacher Miss Beadle; Dabbs Greer as Reverend Alden; Jonathan Gilbert as Dr. Baker; Ketty Lester as Hester Sue Terhune, head instructor at the blind school established in Walnut Grove by Mary and Adam; and, in the final season, Michael Landon's daughter Leslie Landon as new schoolmarm Etta Plum.

In the course of the series, the Ingalls and several of their neighbors briefly moved to Dakota Territory when Walnut Grove was devastated by a series of financial reverses, but they all returned to rebuild the town and restore its economy. And in the ninth and final season, Michael Landon and Karen Grassle relinquished their starring roles (though Landon remained on the project as executive producer) and Melissa Gilbert (Laura Ingalls Wilder) was promoted to the leading role. At that time, the series' title was changed to Little House: A New Beginning, and Stan Ivar and Pamela Roylance became regular cast members as John and Sarah Carter, the couple who moved into the Ingalls' now-vacant family farm. After Little House on the Prairie completed its run in the spring of 1983, three two-hour specials were produced for the 1983-1984 television season to tie up loose plot ends. The series has managed to sustain its popularity in syndicated rerun form, and as a fixture of the PAX TV network and a number of top cable-TV services. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Credit

Michael Landon - Executive Producer, David Rose - Composer (Music Score), William F. Claxton - Producer, John Hawkins - Producer, Ed Friendly - Producer, B.W. Sandefur - Producer, Kent McCray - Producer, Ed Friendly - Show Creator, Laura Ingalls Wilder - Book Author

Episodes

Little House on the Prairie: The Premiere (1974)
This pilot for the long-running (1972-1982) family series stars all the regulars-to-be and spends half its length setting up character, setting, and mood. As with the series, the story is told from the viewpoint of Laura Ingalls Wilder (played by Melissa Gilbert), upon whose novels the film was based. In addition to delineating the usual travails facing 19th century Minnesota farmer Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon), his wife, Caroline (Karen Grassle), and the rest of the Ingalls brood, the Little House on the Prairie pilot throws in surly Indians and a prairie fire as extra added attractions. Virtually thrown away by NBC, which scheduled the film opposite CBS' powerhouse Saturday night lineup (Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, et al.), Little House on the Prairie created a respectable enough dent in the ratings to encourage pursuing the project as a fall series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Little House on the Prairie: Season 01 (1974)
Its premise established by a two-hour TV movie in March of 1974, Little House on the Prairie begins its first season with Wisconsin farmer Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon), his wife, Caroline (Karen Grassle), and daughters Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson), Laura (Melissa Gilbert), and Carrie (Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush) living in the town of Walnut Grove, MN, in the mid-1870s. Money is tight, so Charles must seek out other sources of income, including a job at the town mill owned by Lars Hanson (Karl Swenson). Caroline is pregnant again, but ultimately loses the baby. Mary and Laura attend school for the first time in their lives, under the tutelage of the firm but fair Miss Beadle (Charlotte Stewart). Town gossip and self-styled social arbiter Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor), wife of good-natured storekeeper Nels Oleson (Richard Bull), is determined to disgrace the Ingalls so that they'll leave town, while her bratty daughter, Nellie (Alison Arngrim), endeavors to make life miserable for the Ingalls girls -- though her schemes invariably backfire (both Harriett and Nellie are more villainous and less buffoonish than they'd be in later seasons). As the Ingalls meet and make friends with the other townsfolk, Charles welcomes an old acquaintance to Walnut Grove: hard-drinking Isaiah Edwards (Victor French, not yet a series regular but merely a recurring character), whose curmudgeonly ways soften when he meets and falls in love with townswoman Grace Snider (Bonnie Bartlett). Guest stars during season one include Red Buttons as a sideshow huckster; Anne Archer as Harriet Oleson's niece Kate, who briefly falls for town medico Dr. Baker (Jonathan Gilbert), and, in the poignant two-part episode "The Lord Is My Shepherd," Ernest Borgnine as a rough-hewn mountaineer who rescues the runaway Laura. Their triumphs outweighing their tragedies at the end of the season, the Ingalls and the townsfolk close out the year with a riotous Frontier's Day celebration. ~ Rovi

Little House on the Prairie: Season 02 (1975)
Season two of Little House on the Prairie opens with Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon) losing his "outside" job when Lars Hanson (Karl Swenson) is forced to close Walnut Grove's mill. Back at home, Charles' daughter Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson) begins to notice signs that her eyesight is fading (she would not become totally blind for several seasons). Elsewhere, mean old Ebenezer Sprague (Ted Gehring) is appointed town banker; the widow Thurman (Mariette Hartley) is suspected of having an affair with the very married Charles Ingalls; and Charles' daughters Mary and Laura (Melissa Gilbert) experience a hair-raising adventure in the episode titled "The Runaway Caboose." Another episode, the two-part "Remember Me," finds Charles seeking out proper homes for three orphaned children -- prompting taciturn Isaiah Edwards (Victor French, still a recurring rather than regular supporting player) to marry Grace Snider (Bonnie Bartlett) and adopt the children. In the season's final episode, Charles Ingalls considers moving back to Wisconsin after his crops are wiped out by a tornado...and little Mary receives her first kiss. ~ Rovi

Little House on the Prairie: Season 03 (1976)
Victor French and Bonnie Bartlett, heretofore guest stars in the roles of Isaiah and Grace Edwards, graduate to regular status as Little House on the Prairie enters its third season. The opening episode, "The Collection," features country legend Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, in the story of a reprobate who is reformed by the kindness and generosity of the Walnut Grove townsfolk -- including farmer Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon), his wife, Caroline (Karen Grassle), and daughters Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson) and Laura (Melissa Gilbert). In other season-three developments, Mary falls in love with the Edwards' adopted son; bratty Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim) continues pulling off nasty and spiteful pranks, including pretending to be paralyzed after a fall from Laura's pony; and in the 90-minute episode "The Hunters," Charles nearly loses his life in a hunting accident. Also, the season features a brace of compelling two-part stories: "Journey in the Spring," highlighted by a flashback to Charles' childhood, and "To Live With Fear," in which Charles takes an extremely risky job to finance the operation that will save daughter Mary. The season ends with yet another two-parter, "Gold Country," in which Charles and his family try to compensate for the loss of their crops by prospecting for gold. ~ Rovi

Little House on the Prairie: Aftermath (1977)
In this episode from the long-running television series Little House on the Prairie, Mary Ingalls (Melissa Sue Anderson) gets a job assisting two businessmen who have recently settled in Walnut Grove. What Mary doesn't know is that her new employers aren't who they claim to be -- they're actually the notorious outlaws Frank and Jesse James, and when a posse arrives in town looking for the James brothers, Mary is taken hostage as the desperate criminals try to find a way out. Little House on the Prairie: Aftermath first aired on November 7, 1977. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Little House on the Prairie: Season 04 (1977)
Season four of Little House on the Prairie finds the Ingalls' household increased from five to six after Caroline Ingalls (Karen Grassle), wife of series protagonist Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon), gives birth to another daughter, named Grace. At the same time, the Ingalls' farmer friend Isaiah Edwards and his family leave Walnut Grove (Victor French, the actor playing Edwards, had gone off to star in his own sitcom, Carter Country), whereupon the town greets a new crop of citizens: kindly but bull-headed farmer Jonathan Garvey (Merlin Olsen), his wife, Alice (Hersha Parady), and their troublesome son, Andy (Patrick Laborteaux). That said, it must be emphasized that most of the season's meatier plotlines are focussed on the Ingalls' household. Inspired by her teacher, Miss Beadle (Charlotte Stewart) -- who gets married in the course of the season -- Mary Ingalls (Melissa Sue Anderson) opts for a teaching career herself. Alas, it looks as if her ambitions may be dashed when Mary is told that she is going blind. Once she has reconciled herself to her fate -- but is still determined to make education her life's work -- Mary agrees to attend a blind school in Winoka, Dakota Territory, where she meets and falls in love with her new teacher, Adam Kendall (Linwood Boomer). Season five marks the final full season in which Karl Swenson appears in the role of mill owner Lars Hanson; the actor passed away in the fall of 1978. ~ Rovi

Little House on the Prairie: Season 05 (1978)
Devastating financial reverses, prompted by the closing of the town mill, force several Walnut Grove citizens to pack up and move out as Little House on the Prairie enters it fifth season. Among those leaving are Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon), his wife, Caroline (Karen Grassle), and their younger daughters Laura (Melissa Gilbert), Carrie (Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush), and Grace (Wendi and Brenda Turnbaugh). Charles has decided to move his family closer to eldest daughter Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson), now attending a school for the blind in Winoka, Dakota Territory. As luck (and the scriptwriters) would have it, the Ingalls' neighbors the Garveys and the Olesons likewise relocate to Winoka. Upon their arrival, the Ingalls take in an orphan named Albert (Patrick Laborteaux), who returns with the family to Walnut Grove after an unexpected financial windfall enables the Ingalls, the Garveys, and the Olesons to go back where they feel they belong. This necessitates a few rousing episodes wherein the neighbors pitch together to rebuild Walnut Grove, which in their absence has fallen into a sad state of disrepair. At the same time, the Winoka blind school closes, whereupon Mary and her teacher-fiancé Adam Kendall (Linwood Boomer) set up a new school at Walnut Grove. To this end, they hire a teacher named Hester-Sue Terhune (Ketty Lester) who, much to the dismay of status- and race-conscious social arbiter Mrs. Oleson (Katherine MacGregor), turns out to be a black woman -- and who, to the surprise of absolutely no one except Mrs. Oleson, possesses more class, sophistication, and intelligence than all the Olesons combined! The two-part "Blind Journey," in which Hester-Sue is introduced, is followed by another superb episode touching upon racial prejudice, "The Craftsman," which finds young Albert befriending an elderly Jewish merchant. Season five ends with "The Odyssey," a poignant story in which Albert and Laura run away from home to keep company with their young friend, a boy dying of leukemia. ~ Rovi

Little House on the Prairie: Season 06 (1979)
Season six of Little House on the Prairie bids goodbye to Mary Ingalls (Melissa Sue Anderson) and her new husband, Adam Kendall (Linwood Boomer) -- at least on a regular weekly basis. With Mary and Adam having moved to the Dakotas, Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert) is now the oldest daughter in her family, and she intends to prove her worth by following in Mary's footsteps as Walnut Grove's resident schoolteacher. She is also courted by a local farmer named Almanzo Wilder (Dean Butler), to whom she will become engaged. The principal characters must endure some heavy emotional baggage during the series' sixth season, when the town's schoolhouse burns down, killing Mary and Adam's baby as well as the wife of farmer Jonathan Garvey (Merlin Olsen). On a happier note, in the season's closing episode, "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not," Laura and Almanzo have drawn up plans to marry and to teach in a new school in the town of Sleepy Eye; and Walnut Grove gossip Mrs. Oleson (Katherine MacGregor), having established her own business, hires a young man named Percival Dalton (Steve Tracy), who will ultimately wed her daughter, Nellie (Alison Arngrim). ~ Rovi

Little House on the Prairie: Season 07 (1980)
After many setbacks, Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert) finally marries Almanzo Wilder (Dean Butler) in the two-part opener of Little House on the Prairie's seventh season. Wedding bells also ring for Laura's childhood nemesis (but now good friend), Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim), who weds Percival Dalton (Steve Tracy) -- much to the horror of Nellie's status-climbing mother, Mrs. Oleson (Katherine MacGregor) when it is revealed that "Percival" is actually a Jewish boy named Isaac Cohen. Nellie herself resolves this problem by giving birth to twins, then announcing that one baby will be raised Christian, the other Jewish! Meanwhile, recently widowed Jonathan Garvey (Merlin Olsen) teams with Laura's dad, Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon), to set up a warehouse business headquartered in Sleepy Eye, the same town where Laura and Almanzo now live and work as teachers. Also, we are re-introduced to Laura's blind older sister, Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson), and her equally blind husband, Adam Kendall (Linwood Boomer), likewise employed as teachers. A freak accident restores Adam's sight, whereupon he decides to go to law school -- after first reassuring Mary that his ability to see will not in any way dim their love. As the season draws to a close, Laura finds that she is pregnant. And in the two-part season seven finale, "The Lost Ones," Charles Ingalls decides to adopt a brace of orphans, James and Cassandra Cooper (played respectively by Jason Bateman and Missy Francis). ~ Rovi

Little House on the Prairie: Season 08 (1981)
Season eight of Little House on the Prairie finds Mary Ingalls Kendall (Melissa Sue Anderson, formerly a series regular and now a "special guest star") moving to New York, where her husband, Adam (Linwood Boomer), has joined his father's law firm. Back in Walnut Grove, Mary's father, Charles (Michael Landon), has added orphans James and Cassandra Cooper (Jason Bateman, Missy Francis) to the Ingalls household. Meanwhile, the Ingalls' neighbors the Olesons, suffering from "empty nest syndrome" after the marriage of daughter Nellie (Alison Arngrim), decide to adopt a little girl named Nancy (Allison Balson) -- who turns out to be a terrifying clone of the nasty brat that the now-reformed Nellie had been in her youth. In more serious developments, Charles' daughter Laura (Melissa Gilbert) must cope with the anger and self-pity exhibited by her husband, Almanzo (Dean Butler), when he suffers a stroke -- and his bitterness also threatens to dampen the happiness experienced by Laura when she gives birth to her daughter, Rose. Elsewhere, Charles' old friend Isaiah Edwards (former series regular Victor French) suffers the death of his son, resumes his heavy drinking, and causes the breakup of his marriage; thus, by the time he returns to Walnut Grove, he is seriously contemplating suicide. And in the two-part season-eight finale, "He Was Only Twelve," Charles' adoptive son, James, is left comatose from gun wounds suffered in a bank holdup. Arguably the most fascinating of the season's episodes is "The Legacy," in which an auction taking place in the year 1982 unearths several valuable antiques: chairs designed and constructed by none other than Charles Ingalls. ~ Rovi

Little House on the Prairie: Season 09 (1982)
Little House on the Prairie commences its ninth season with a new title -- Little House: A New Beginning -- and minus the series' longtime stars Michael Landon and Karen Grassle. When Charles Ingalls (Landon), his wife, Caroline (Karen Grassle), and their younger children (both "natural" and adopted) leave the family farm and move to Burr Oak, IA, the only Ingalls left in Walnut Grove is daughter Laura (Melissa Gilbert), now the wife of Almanzo Wilder (Dean Butler). The Ingalls' old farm is sold to blacksmith John Carter (Stan Ivar) and his wife, Sarah (Pamela Roylance). Having recently given birth to daughter Rose, Laura becomes surrogate mother to her orphaned niece, Jenny (Shannen Doherty), and of necessity must give up her teaching job to new schoolmarm Etta Plum (played by Leslie Landon, daughter of Michael Landon). Meanwhile, the bitter loneliness of the Ingalls' longtime friend Isaiah Edwards (Victor French) is relieved when Edwards adopts an abused young sideshow performer named Matthew (Jonathan Hall Kovacs). In other developments, Laura begins her literary career; her adoptive brother Albert (Patrick Laborteaux) shakes a serious morphine addiction and makes plans to become a doctor; and the formerly bratty Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim) returns to town for a confrontation with her youthful "clone," Nancy (Allison Balson). Although the nine-year Little House saga ends on a bittersweet note, the property would return for a trio of uplifting and forward-looking TV movies, produced during the 1983-1984 season. ~ Rovi

Times Are Changing, Part 1
Love
Alden's Dilemma
Times Are Changing, Part 2
Welcome to Olesonville
Rage
Little Lou
The Wild Boy, Part 1
The Wild Boy, Part 2
The Return of Nellie
The Empire Builders
Marvin's Garden
Sins of the Fathers
The Older Brothers
Once Upon a Time
Home Again
A Child With No Name
The Last Summer
For The Love of Blanche
May I Have This Dance?
Hello and Goodbye