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Post by dayton3 on Mar 27, 2022 19:36:59 GMT -5
Or Vice Versa? f
My wife and I were talking about how similar the characters overall of Corabeth Godsey and Harriet Oleson from Little House on the Prairie were in many respect. Both "Karen like" characters married to the good natured owner of the communities general store.
And IIRC neither Corabeth Godsey nor Harriet Oleson were originally characters in the books that both series were based on.
Of course after looking at the histories of both series I can't say which came first.
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Post by Brenda on Mar 27, 2022 20:14:32 GMT -5
The Oleson family, Mr. and Mrs. Oleson and their children Nellie and Willie, are characters in the book On The Banks of Plum Creek. There is no indication that the Mrs. Oleson in the book was the unpleasant woman that she was portrayed as in the tv series, but Nellie was certainly described as an unpleasant child, so you have to wonder about the mother who was raising such a child.
Cora Beth was introduced in the season 3 episode “The Matchmakers” which aired in January 1975. Little House’s first season was 1974-75, so it’s unlikely that Cora Beth was brought into the Waltons cast because they wanted a Mrs. Oleson character on the show. The episode must have been written and filmed very early in that television season. It’s possible that as time went on, Cora Beth’s personality was loosely copied from Mrs. Oleson’s, but I never did think Cora Beth was an awful person like Harriett Oleson. Cora Beth was sort of a sad pathetic character. She could be judgmental, and she sometimes seemed to think she was too good to be living in that “Virginia backwater” but she had some good qualities and to me she seemed to be a likable person.
I can’t think of anything that makes Harriett Oleson a likable character. I think she was hilarious, though, and that show would have never been a success without the Oleson family.
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Post by Easton on Mar 27, 2022 20:17:23 GMT -5
I don't think either were copies of the other. They were two completely different characters to me. And Corabeth changed drastically from her first appearance to her second and even more in her third.
I was never a fan of LHOTP (I rarely watched it), but Harriet Oleson was just nasty. Corabeth could be mean at times and domineering at times, but it was all a façade. She certainly was never as consistently and naturally as nasty as Harriet.
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Post by JessicaGirlSpy on Mar 27, 2022 20:54:23 GMT -5
The Oleson family, Mr. and Mrs. Oleson and their children Nellie and Willie, are characters in the book On The Banks of Plum Creek. There is no indication that the Mrs. Oleson in the book was the unpleasant woman that she was portrayed as in the tv series, but Nellie was certainly described as an unpleasant child, so you have to wonder about the mother who was raising such a child. Cora Beth was introduced in the season 3 episode “The Matchmakers” which aired in January 1975. Little House’s first season was 1974-75, so it’s unlikely that Cora Beth was brought into the Waltons cast because they wanted a Mrs. Oleson character on the show. The episode must have been written and filmed very early in that television season. It’s possible that as time went on, Cora Beth’s personality was loosely copied from Mrs. Oleson’s, but I never did think Cora Beth was an awful person like Harriett Oleson. Cora Beth was sort of a sad pathetic character. She could be judgmental, and she sometimes seemed to think she was too good to be living in that “Virginia backwater” but she had some good qualities and to me she seemed to be a likable person. I can’t think of anything that makes Harriett Oleson a likable character. I think she was hilarious, though, and that show would have never been a success without the Oleson family. The only thing likable about Harriett Oleson is knowing that she was being portrayed by a talented actress who would give an excellent performance whether Harriett was the humorous antagonist or the mean antagonist. When the Oleson family appeared you knew you were probably going to watch an entertaining scene.
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Post by ellaroo on Mar 27, 2022 21:06:47 GMT -5
I've watched both series (Little House being the first one) and I didn't exactly see the similarities until now. I think for Corabeth, she had redeeming qualities depending on the episode. She just was a character that went through a culture shock whereas Harriet was just flat out cruel but entertaining to watch.
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Post by dayton3 on Mar 28, 2022 9:35:30 GMT -5
Actually if you watch Little House on the Prairie in detail you would see that Harriet Oleson had a lot of redeeming qualities. Like in the Season One episode "Blizzard" where the men of the town are having to go out into the blizzard and round up the schoolchildren who are out in it.
Mrs. Oleson makes a point of telling Mr. Edwards that he isn't dressed warmly enough and tells him to go by the store and get whatever he needs.
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Post by Kyle on Mar 28, 2022 11:28:10 GMT -5
Katherine MacGregor, who played Harriet Oleson, gave what I would consider brilliant performances. And I don’t use that word lightly. She had amazing range. She could play sinister (as Harriet was early on), she could play snooty, she could play sensitive (like when her former flame, a minister, visits), she could play comic relief. She also gave really complete performances. There’s an early episode where Caroline is bringing her eggs into the store to sell, and they’re in a basket covered with a cloth. Harriet removes the cloth by her fingertips, as if she can’t stand to touch anything that farm woman brought into the store. Those are the types of things you saw in a Katherine MacGregor performance.
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Post by ellaroo on Mar 28, 2022 12:17:59 GMT -5
Actually if you watch Little House on the Prairie in detail you would see that Harriet Oleson had a lot of redeeming qualities. Like in the Season One episode "Blizzard" where the men of the town are having to go out into the blizzard and round up the schoolchildren who are out in it. Mrs. Oleson makes a point of telling Mr. Edwards that he isn't dressed warmly enough and tells him to go by the store and get whatever he needs. Wow, I'll need to watch that episode again. It's been years since I've watched Little House so I've forgotten some of those details
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Post by carol on Mar 28, 2022 13:36:33 GMT -5
Actually if you watch Little House on the Prairie in detail you would see that Harriet Oleson had a lot of redeeming qualities. Like in the Season One episode "Blizzard" where the men of the town are having to go out into the blizzard and round up the schoolchildren who are out in it. Mrs. Oleson makes a point of telling Mr. Edwards that he isn't dressed warmly enough and tells him to go by the store and get whatever he needs. Wow, I'll need to watch that episode again. It's been years since I've watched Little House so I've forgotten some of those details And in Little Girl Lost when Carrie fell in the mine shaft. Mrs. Oleson was at the site serving coffee and helping however she could. I expect the coffee she was serving came from their storeroom I liked the scene in Mortal Mission when Harriet is tending to Nels who has anthrax and asks him how he has managed to put up with her and Nels replies " I don't put up with you, I love you" And also the scene in Blind Journey when she confronts Mr Larabee for being a racist after seeing the error of her ways and then hold the hand of the little African American boy.
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Post by csh2088 on Mar 29, 2022 2:32:07 GMT -5
Interesting that people think that Harriet Oleson was the worst person in Walnut Grove when Mr. Larrabee was way worse.
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Post by Heather on Mar 29, 2022 9:59:57 GMT -5
I grew up watching LHOP reruns on TBS and I gotta say, I LOVE Harriet. She made things memorable. I can do a spot-on "NELLLLLLS" She was vain and high-tempered, but she also had moments of kindness. I sure do wish I had been able to meet the actress. Corabeth was more "snooty", for lack of a better word, but I don't think necessarily "mean".
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2022 11:09:18 GMT -5
I grew up watching LHOP reruns on TBS and I gotta say, I LOVE Harriet. She made things memorable. I can do a spot-on "NELLLLLLS" She was vain and high-tempered, but she also had moments of kindness. I sure do wish I had been able to meet the actress. Corabeth was more "snooty", for lack of a better word, but I don't think necessarily "mean". I do the "Country Girls" if I want to look down my nose at people. If anybody gives me crap I tell them "You want to fight, I'll fight, but if you want to play, we are playing Uncle John". Some people actually get it.
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Post by ellaroo on Mar 29, 2022 13:16:44 GMT -5
Interesting that people think that Harriet Oleson was the worst person in Walnut Grove when Mr. Larrabee was way worse. Okay, okay Harriet does have a heart That's nothing though. On the Little House subreddit page, people really hate Carrie for being annoying and consider her the worst character if we're talking children. IMO, she wasn't even THAT bad because she was hardly in many episodes focusing on her. Hating on a literal child though lmao She might've had a weak storyline (The Godsister) and has had dim-witted moments but she's a sweetheart. They could've made her into a terrorizing bratty younger sister that gets aways with murder.
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Post by dayton3 on Mar 29, 2022 14:58:17 GMT -5
Much of Harriet Olson's "meanness" involved her actions in promoting her children mainly Nellie. Given that Nellie was the main antagonist of the main characters Laura and Mary it made Harriet seem much worse than she was.
I'll agree that Cora Beth was more annoying than mean. There are things I never understood about Cora Beth though. She seemed to talk about her hometown community "Doe Hill" as though it were some kind of modern Camelot when everything I've been able to gather about Doe Hill both in the series and in real life is that it is (and was) a real hole in the wall place.
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Post by Kyle on Mar 29, 2022 16:41:17 GMT -5
Interesting that people think that Harriet Oleson was the worst person in Walnut Grove when Mr. Larrabee was way worse. Oh I can name a ton of people who were worse: Nancy, Mr. Applewood, the Bully Boys, Irv Hartwig, Sylvia’s father, Sterling Murdoch, the father and brother in the family who temporarily adopted James and Cassandra, Kezia, Alice Garvey. The list goes on and on.
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