Why so many posts spoof this show?
Some are funny and I may even have partook in a few. Why this show and not The Waltons or Family or any of the other saccharine dramas from the ‘70s?
shareI think that a lot of it has to do with the show being all over the place with its continuity, often contradicting itself, and sometimes ridiculous plot-lines or stories. So that’s probably what led to the show being spoofed in such a way. Most of us are fans to be clear, but the show is way too easy of a target to go easy on :D
I have seen other shows such as the Walton’s spoofed at this site, as well as a few others. But never having been a fan of that show, I’ve generally avoided picking on it. But yeah, the Waltons would seemingly be an easy target as well (Right off, there’s gotta be a 1001 inbred hillbilly jokes, hidden in there somewhere :D )
That makes sense. It’s too bad they exploited the books which give a nice portrayal of frontier life. I will check the Walton’s board for some laughs 😂
shareYeah, the writers of this show took a lot of liberties with the books, and there were a lot of made up characters and events in the tv series that never existed or took place in real life (As an example, Mrs Oleson wasn’t portrayed as being mean in the books, and there was no Albert Ingalls).
It wasn’t until much later that I learned that much of the books were fictional as well. If you ever find yourself having a deeper interest, and wanting to learn more about the real Ingalls family, you could check out the Pioneer Girl Manuscript, written by the real Laura Ingalls. That’s the true story of the Ingalls family, that the children’s books were based on.
This show is so "spoof-able". lol Is that a word?
I also read a book about the real Laura Ingalls Wilder. According to the book, Nellie Oleson wasn't mean or a bully. In fact she was supposedly a nice girl who sought Laura's friendship. And Laura was a bit mean to her. Also, that wasn't her real name either. I forget her real one.
And for purposes of continuity, Nellie and her family are in most of the series although they lived in Walnut Grove which the Ingalls family left. So they wouldn't have been in the lives of the family that many years.
Then there's Mary. She lost her sight very young and never left home to live and teach at a school for the blind. She never married. So there was no Adam Kendall. She never lost a baby in a fire.
I can understand that Michael Landon added a lot to the show. It was primarily entertainment based on a real person's life. But very few real people have THAT much drama!
Good analysis pj. I’ve read up a bit on the story of “Nellie Oleson”, and it gets a little tricky. There was no actual Nellie Oleson, but rather, there were 3 different girls that were the nemesis of Laura when she was growing up, and for the sake of the children’s books, she just lumped them all together, and called them all “Nellie Oleson”. Now of the 3 girls, one of them was actually named Nellie, but her last name was really Owens. Of the 3, she comes the closest to the description in the children’s books and in the tv series. Her parents owned a mercantile in Walnut Grove (Though the parents had different names then Nels and Harriet) and she did have a younger brother named William Jr (Willie). The other two were a girl named Stella Gilbert, and Genevieve Masters (I believe; going from memory here?)
Someone actually wrote a book about the 3 different Nellie’s. I might just pick it up sometime out of curiosity. I think that generally these books might appeal more to girls, but it’s always interesting to read stories about pioneer families, and the little house stories are one of the better documented accounts out there. I also suspect that it’s for this reason that “Albert Ingalls” was brought onboard in order to appeal to more male viewers. Though “Damien on the prairie” never appealed to this dude :D
Here’s the book that I’m talking about, in case anyone is interested:
The Three Faces of Nellie: The Real Story Behind Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Nellie Oleson"
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Faces-Nellie-Ingalls-Wilders/dp/069281258X
That's it, Owens! I knew the family name started with the letter O. I forget the title of the book that I read. It was interesting though. The one girl in Walnut Grove who came closest to Nellie Oleson was the Owens girl. I mean her family owned a Mercantile like Nels and Harriet.
According to the book, she was a nice girl and Laura was the one who could be mean. But for purposes of the TV show, Nellie had to play the role of the brat. Little "half pint" was the heroine and of course, the good girl has to have some evil foe or nemesis.
I am reminded of the first episode with Nellie where she teases Mary and Laura for being "country girls". Hard to believe that. What was Walnut Grove? A thriving metropolis?
I could never stand the character of Albert. Pa Ingalls seemed to bend over backwards to make excuses for his bad behavior. What really took the cake was when he burned down the blind school. It was an accident. But for crying out loud, Mary's baby and Jonathan's wife died. And Charles Ingalls was more concerned with that obnoxious Albert's feelings when he ran away.
I would have gone looking for him like Charles did, but when I found him I would have delivered a blistering lecture and not cried and carried on like Albert was the innocent victim in the whole tragedy.
Sometimes I wondered just what Michael Landon was thinking.
I think that scene in little house, where Willie makes fun of Laura and Mary also appears in the book, On The Banks Of Plum Creek, which is the only one of the children’s books that details their time in Walnut Grove. Interestingly enough, Laura never mentions the town by name even once in the book, and only refers to it as “Plum Creek Minnesota”. But as I found out later, there are a lot of fictional add on stories, or changed details, in the children’s books, so who knows if this really happened.
Never cared much for the character of Albert myself. But I recall that there was some girl over at IMDB that loved him so much, that she took offense when anyone ever said anything bad about him. She even avoided the little house board, because of all of the negative posts about him. One time she attacked me on a different board, over him. I had to explain to her that he was a fictional character, and not worth getting upset over. We parted friends :D
I looked up Walnut Grove Minnesota not too long ago. It’s still a small town to this day. It also looks nothing like television Walnut Grove. Try looking it up on google earth some time. It’s flatter than Kevin James lawn chair, and for far as the eye can see around it :D
Sounds like the book that you read, might be the same book that I linked above?
For some reason the character of Albert really rubbed me the wrong way. Not the actor's fault, but I just couldn't stand that kid.
Maybe it was partly because of the way Pa Ingalls just fawned over him. He never paid that much attention to Carrie or Grace. Of course the Green Bush twins could barely act so there was no reason to give the character a big story line.
"...flatter than Kevin James lawn chair.." lol Are you implying that the actor is a tad overweight? Just a coincidence, but I can't stand the character of Arthur, his father-in-law on "The King of Queens". I don't get the character's appeal. Now I've read that Jerry Stiller is a lovely man. On Seinfeld, Jason Alexander said that in one scene where Frank Costanza is supposed to slap George on the head, the actor didn't want to do it. Jason Alexander said it was okay and just "go for it".
But the character of Arthur is annoying (at least to me).
But I have read how the TV Walnut Grove looks nothing like the real one. There are no mountains for one thing. It's just a problem with shows which are filmed in Hollywood. Every place in the country ends up looking like southern California!
I didn't read the book you linked. That title doesn't ring a bell at all. The book I read was simply a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I took it out of the library at least five years ago. I was pretty sure it was written by a man. I did find a book at Amazon that may be the one I read. It was written by William Anderson.
The book I read had a lot of photos. Interesting that Melissa Gilbert did have a resemblance to the real Laura. But Michael Landon had NO resemblance to the real Pa Ingalls!
The book talks about how Charles Ingalls disliked being too close to civilization. They would move every time too many people settled nearby. Pa was always uprooting the family.
For some reason the character of Albert really rubbed me the wrong way.
Well, between arsonist, drugstore cowboy, stealing old folks pain medication (recall that he tapped into Doc Baker’s morphine stash) and a master conman, bilking folks out of their hard earned money, I can’t imagine why 😀
Yeah, I was ripping on Kevin James. I try to be nicer to folks in general, but he strikes me as someone that’s a real nasty piece of work in real life. Yes, the character of Arthur was very annoying! I do believe that rascal is still alive? He’s gotta be getting up there for certain!
Here you go PJ. A picture of the Owens family:
Left to right: William Jr (Willie) father William (Not Nels, as in the tv series) Nellie (She really does resemble the wicked witch of the west, as the one poster back at IMDB stated :D As I recall, the other two “Nellie’s” were a tad prettier) mother Margaret (Not Harriet, as in the tv series) and that last fellow, well, I don’t know who he is, but presumably another family member.
https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=188076&stc=1&d=1383493592 share
Gee, and I only thought I disliked Albert because he was a whiny little brat! I forgot about his drug problem.
Yes, Arthur, Jerry Stiller is still alive and kicking. He's in his nineties. His late wife, Anne Meara, played the woman who was in love with Arthur. Remember that they got married in the show's next to last episode?
Thanks for the link to the Owens family. I bet Margaret was not nearly as nasty or funny as her TV counterpart. Most of my favorite LHOTP episodes featured Harriet and/or the whole Oleson family.
I didn’t remember Arthur’s love interest, because I probably wasn’t watching it much at that point. I’m pretty sure that he’s the father, or at least some relation to Ben Stiller though. I Remember the attractive sister of Carrie in the very beginning of the show. She disappeared at about 5 episodes in to the series. I suspect that Kevin James had her booted, as he has a reputation for that sort of thing.
In the books, “Mrs Olsen” wasn’t described as being unpleasant at all, and “Mr Olsen” wasn’t described as being the saint that he was in the series. In fact, they were barely even mentioned in the books.
It’s funny how ML included in the tv series, things that were totally left out of the books, such as the birth and death of baby Freddie (true) but left out some of the Ingalls families/Laura’s, closest and dearest friends (The Boasts, Cap Garland, Mary Power, Ida Brown, etc).
Yes, Jerry Stiller's son is Ben Stiller.
I don't remember if Jonathan Garvey and his wife and son were actual people or just characters created by ML.
I liked Jonathan a lot. Merlin Olsen was a really good actor for a former pro football player.
Alice Garvey was one of my favorite characters. That's probably one of the reasons I detested Albert. He was responsible for her death. I remember seeing that episode. It was disturbing. I had a very sad reaction to it. Even though I was already grown up, I was very upset by the story.
Yeah, The Garvey’s were also fictional characters PJ. I too liked Merlin Oleson, and thought that Alice Garvey was kinda pretty. When I saw a video tour of the Big Sky Ranch a few years back, the Garvey house was one of the few that was still standing. The Ingalls house was still there following the series, but a fire took it out at a later date.
If you’re ever interested in learning more about the real Ingalls family, the Pioneer Girl manuscript was the original, and true story, written by Laura Ingalls. It didn’t sell for whatever reason, and it was suggested that she re-write them in children’s book format, and so that is the story behind how the children’s books came about.
Gee, and I only thought I disliked Albert because he was a whiny little brat! I forgot about his drug problem.
And that he was a murderer.
So many posts spoofing the show because of all the deviation from the real facts. Like for example the show portrayed Charles as a carpenter. The real Charles was not, he was the town butcher, as well as Justice of the Peace and worked for the railroad. Too many twists and turns from the truth.
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