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Post by goodnight on Mar 14, 2014 23:10:08 GMT -5
In my opinion, there was too much melodrama instead of ordinary drama in Little House.
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Post by Alexis From Texas on Mar 15, 2014 7:04:46 GMT -5
In my opinion, there was too much melodrama instead of ordinary drama in Little House. I think once they really jumped the shark is when they didn't leave Walnut Grove and adopted Albert. when they decided they'd try any silly thing as a plot. Don't get me wrong. I love the show even though towards it's end it got absolutely bizarre(and the timeline is extremely wonky) . I can seperate the books from the television series, and the movies that have been made since then. Sometimes I think the writers on Little House knew they were making the book purists mad and decided to go even further to tick them off, because why not. The real life of Mary Ingalls is just as interesting as what they wrote for her on Little House. Kinda sad that they didn't attempt to write it at all. The episode that deals with another young woman's pregnancy is called "be my friend". It's a really interesting episode but I don't know if that would have ever happened to the real Laura. Here's a link. Be My Friend
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2014 7:54:41 GMT -5
In my opinion, there was too much melodrama instead of ordinary drama in Little House. Maybe that's why I could never get into LHOTP.
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Post by goodnight on Mar 15, 2014 8:16:18 GMT -5
Thank you Alexis for that link. I see it was Donald Moffat instead of Royal Dano that played the father in "Be My Friend". This episode was one of a handful that was 90 min. long instead of 60 min.
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Post by AR15 on Mar 15, 2014 8:21:21 GMT -5
I certainly agree about Little House on the Prairie, every week there seemed to be a huge tragedy, whereas The Waltons was much more realistic due to it having plots about things which, even now, are very relatable. I think another thing was that LHOTP was always trying to raise awareness to something towards the end and Sylvia seemed to be about attitudes towards the vitims or rape and whatnot, much as the one on Albert's drug addiction was on how anybody could become an addict and how painful it really could be. I appreciate that they tried, but to me it didn't feel like an enjoyable story that also had a message (like The Waltons often does) rather it felt like a heavy handed messaged tacked on at the expense of believeable stories.
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Post by goodnight on Mar 15, 2014 10:17:11 GMT -5
I agree. And it seemed like they were missing the mark sometimes by trying to set stories making a social commentary about 20th century problems/issues and setting them in the 1800's. There was this one episode where Nellie's restaurant got turned into something like a chain restaurant (Mrs. Sullivans). I'm sure this was meant as a spoof or a criticism of fast food joints and was maybe meant to be a funny episode. But I thought why would a town with so few people that it didn't even have a train station or a separate church and school have that many people eating out every night.* They were mostly supposed to be poor farmers. I thought it was rather silly.
*One reason some people eat out more on occasion in modern times is it can be convenient when you have both parents working.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2014 14:19:33 GMT -5
Royal Dano did play another part on LHOTP. He was Alice Garveys first husband Harold.
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Post by Brenda on Mar 15, 2014 14:53:14 GMT -5
I enjoyed the episode "Be My Friend" about the young girl whose baby Laura found. I'm not sure when Little House jumped the shark, but for me it would be along about the time they adopted Albert. There were so many inconsistencies throughout the series that I wouldn't know where to begin.
One of the most obvious inconsistencies were two episodes about Almanzo Wilder's brother Royal. In Season 7 Episode 14 The Nephews, we meet Royal and his wife and their two unruly boys. Two years later brother Royal returns with his 10-year old daughter Jenny. He is now a widower with a terminal illness. Did the writers really think the viewers had forgotten the first Royal?
And I also found that fire at the blind school episode to be very disturbing.
There were many good episodes, however, and I watched them faithfully throughout the 1970s and early '80s, and I have continued to watch them over the years.
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Post by twinkle on Mar 15, 2014 16:44:45 GMT -5
Personally I did not like Little House after Laura married Almanzo. I did not like the post-marriage Almanzo, I think he became over-bearing and argumentative with Laura once he got the ring on her finger, in fact, he showed how childish he could be in that episode when Pa told him he'd have to wait 2 years to marry Laura. He was nicer when Laura admired him from afar, when she was still wearing her braids.
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Post by mtdawg on Mar 15, 2014 19:52:12 GMT -5
Perhaps the episode about Sylvia is omitted so parents won't have to be explaining what happened to Sylvia. But if, as you say, it's on during the day when children would mostly be in school... The episode with the blind school fire is one I wish was never made. It's the "jumping the shark" moment for me for Little House. It was brutal and disturbing. And the way they set it up that Alice and the baby got trapped in the house was so contrived. I totally agree with the school catching on fire. It was just awful and really not necessary. There were a couple of things going on though with the cast. Biggest one was Michael Landon offered Merlin Olsen his own show, so they wanted an exit story for his family. Also, Melissa sue Anderson really had not plot or story, so every few months she had some disaster take place. She left a few seasons after that because she said there was no reason for her character. Little house got a little too 80s social in some episodes, but so did the Walton's. and both shows Had just god awful tv movies. Both guilty of not sticking to reality. I enjoy both though.
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Post by carol on Mar 15, 2014 20:03:31 GMT -5
I wondered why The age difference between Laura and Almanzo bothered Pa but Mary and Adam's age difference which was probably the same did not.
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Post by mtdawg on Mar 15, 2014 20:16:10 GMT -5
Lol..in real life, Laura's father had no issues. That was just tv storyline. Also you know the real Mary never married and died shortly after their mother. I had just re read Melissa Gilbert's book and apparently she really did NOT like Dean Butler at first because of the age difference..but grew to be friends. I know this is Walton site so wnt post little house again..lol.
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Post by patriciaanne on Mar 15, 2014 21:47:26 GMT -5
Personally I did not like Little House after Laura married Almanzo. I did not like the post-marriage Almanzo, I think he became over-bearing and argumentative with Laura once he got the ring on her finger, in fact, he showed how childish he could be in that episode when Pa told him he'd have to wait 2 years to marry Laura. He was nicer when Laura admired him from afar, when she was still wearing her braids. I also prefer the earlier episodes when they were all kids.
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Post by carol on Mar 15, 2014 23:01:44 GMT -5
Lol..in real life, Laura's father had no issues. That was just tv storyline. Also you know the real Mary never married and died shortly after their mother. I had just re read Melissa Gilbert's book and apparently she really did NOT like Dean Butler at first because of the age difference..but grew to be friends. I know this is Walton site so wnt post little house again..lol. I know it was only on TV. In real life it was Ma who had issues with Almanzo.
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Post by carol on Mar 15, 2014 23:16:33 GMT -5
To get back to The Waltons and taboo subjects.Not all of these subjects were necessarily taboo but they were strong subjects for a family show in the 70's and early 80's The show dealt with race on certain occasions (The Stray and The Festival) and even slavery in The Family Tree when Verdie researched her family tree. They also dealt with drug addiction when Mary Ellen became addicted to pills in The Obsession. The Fire dealing with the theory of evolution is an episode that some stations won't show. The even talked about the Holocaust (The Unthinkable)and there was another episode where a jewish family came to Waltons Mountain from Germany to escape the Holocaust.
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