Tragedy House on the Prairie

Our TV blew-up back in September. We decided to take that as a sign and have kept the house TV free since then. Let me say that until the TV was gone, I didn't realize how much TV I was watching. I thought I "never" watched TV but I was very, very wrong.

Now, mind you, being without a TV isn't the same as eschewing all digital media. Clearly we are still mainlining the "information superhighway." We also have a portable DVD player that we fire-up from time to time.

The DVD player is really for Mila. Yes, I confess loud and proud, we fall back on an electronic babysitter from time-to-time. Sometimes we just get tired (please don't judge me, I'm not in the mood)...Anyhoo we are usually spinning DVDs from the library - fairy tales mostly - but recently a dear friend loaned us the complete first season of "Little House on the Prairie."

I am pretty sure that back in the seventies every child was required by law to watch Little House. In fact I think Little House was a state-mandated "family viewing show". Every Monday night the entire family had to settle in and share in the triumphs and tragedies of the Ingalls Family and their Walnut Grove friends as they tried to survive on what was once the western frontier. In this case the wild western state of...Minnesota?...Well at least there were still some Native Americans to misunderstand and push out.

But speaking of "triumphs and tragedies," in my house the show was always referred to as "Tragedy House on the Prairie." I had forgotten about this until I started watching season 1 with Mila and now I remember why...My gosh! People die like flies on Little House and never of old age!

Even the "happy" episodes are bittersweet at best - Laura gets Ma the stove she wants for Christmas but trades her prize pony to get it...And the mayhem didn't end after season 1, here are just a sample of season 2 episodes:

• "A company owing money to Charles goes bankrupt, leaving him deeply in debt."
• "A deadly infection fells Caroline before she can join her family on a camping trip."
• "A music teacher wounded in war comes home addicted to drugs."
• "A crop-destroying tornado convinces Charles to sell the farm and return to his old home."

And so on...BUT the trails they face in season 1 seem pretty realistic for the period and are appropriately heart wrenching - babies died, disease was hard to stop, farms failed. So although there are cheesy elements and it is often obvious they are on a soundstage I WAS STILL DRAWN IN!

Why? Because somehow I didn't find the show to be "melodramatic" and its underlying themes are 1) you should value family and 2) you should always have hope. Even in my most pessimistic mood, I hang on to these ideals with every ounce of my strength.

I can't speak for other seasons of the show - my memory just isn't that good - but I can honestly recommend Season 1 of Little House. I do advise parental guidance when viewing the show so you can provide some personal perspective and depth to the situations being faced.

I don't know how long Little House aired but I do know that in my house the show "jumped the shark" long before it's final episode. I think we stopped watching sometime after Mary went blind and before they started adding more kids to the mix - presumably so there were more folks who could suffer...

Peace.

Comments

[Shetha]

I don't think I ever watched little house... but I most certainly read all of the books. I have the whole set waiting a little while until my guy(s) can engage in such a complex story (we've tried pipi longstockings and it's a bit complex still...)

I totally understand about the DVD player. Sometimes beating them at their own game is exhausting... especially when it's not so easy to go out and play.

[rae ann]

haha! when i was younger, we called it the "sad soap." my dad hated passing through the living room when my mom, sister and i were all huddled together on the couch (mom was often crying), completely absorbed in the latest episode. this post brought back many, many memories. i might have to venture out to the library this week....

[Meliah]

thanks for the post! we too are (were) a non-TV fam (had a television for movies) and I'd like to stay that way but I'm finding it increasingly difficult since my other half convinced us to buy into cable "just for football season". now, i have my own share of excitement stock for football season but, as i feared, we've all been sucked into the commercial glow a bit more frequently than i would like.
i am glad to say that it is almost strictly us older folk who have fallen prey to the phrase "must see" on tv. we've kept the little ones on a regulated movie diet but...my boyfriend and i definitely disagree on what is and is not age-appropriate for our 6 year old.
little house sound like a good addition to the dvd library...something that is not a cartoon but is void of the merchandising and sexualization that is rampant in much of todays media- even the stuff aimed at kids!
*i really don't mean to sound hyper anti-commericialist or self righteously "anti-tv" but i get so defeated when i sample the things that are out in todays media "for kids".*

[hau]

I *loved* watching Little House on the Prairie growing up. I think it's a requirement growing up in Minnesota. Laura's buck teeth were so endearing. And Tony, I beg to differ, despite not being truly a Western state, there are some "wild" parts. My husband recalled seeing buffalo growing up in the southeastern tip of the state...and that was in the '80s ;-)

[Amanda]

For those interested in just an occasional Little House viewing, it's on the Hallmark Channel in late morning, early afternoon. We turn it on on rainy, curled up in the house days.

[Debby]

I remember when Charles, Caroline and the crew all moved to the "big city" for work, and suddenly all of Walnut Grove moved there too. That was where they met Albert. Then, when things didn't work out, and the company they all worked for was immoral, they all decided to blow up the town with fireworks. Weird. Then, when the show was finally going off the air, about 5 years later than it should have, a company had bought out Walnut Grove and all of the residents were upset. So what did they do? They blew everything up so the new company would be buying an empty town. Weird as well. But it was kind of cathartic. I know there have been a lot of times in my life when I'd rather blow things up than deal with them....old car, old boyfriend....old job...but then the old common sense and love of freedom kick in. But not for our hero Charles Ingalls. He was certainly the "little guy" personified, and he sure did his part to stand up for himself and his family! Wild, wild West at it's best!

[Monica]

I LOVED and LOVE the show and books. Yes, totally melodramatic, but great. I wasn't fond of Nelly, but loved her clothes!

[Betty]

I absolutely loved the Little House show when I was growing up! My DH even bought me the first season DVD a couple of years ago for a Christmas present! This year, I asked him to buy me the second season, but he couldn't find it in any of the local stores which means we'll have to find an online store that sells them.

[theboss]

Ah, Little House. Good times. I loved to hate Nelly & thought of Charles as the "ideal dad..." Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Not all tv is utterly awful, and while my bambina has no interest in the boob tube at the moment, I'm resigned to the very real possibility that one day she'll be exposed to and smitten by it despite our own best efforts. So it's nice to know there are options like LHotP available, if it looks like we'll have no choice but to have a wee bit o' tv in the home. Thanks for the headsup about this.

[theboss]

PS: Hee to "jumping the shark."

[Betsy]

I read all of those books obsessively when I was a kid - I vividly recall arguing with the librarian at my elementary school about why they were shelved as 'fiction' - I mean, she lived, right? So they had to be REAL!
My mom said she could never stand to read them aloud to me, because Caroline was so subservient to Charles. I never picked up on that myself, but I'll probably be on the lookout for it when I read them to my kids. I never liked the show, though, because Laura just didn't match what I expected in my head when I read the books.

The other side effect of reading them (and of what we learned in history studies in the midwest) was that I assumed that their story was universal. I asked my grandmother once to tell me stories of how our family crossed the prairie in a covered wagon, because I assumed EVERYONE did!

[Liz]

I remember enjoying the TV show as a child, but I want to put in a huge plug for the books! We started with the first book around our daughter's 5th birthday last spring. We are now on the 4th book, and read a chapter just about every night at bedtime. My husband and I are both equally excited about following the story, and you can often find one of us catching up in the story after the kids are in bed.

[Lars Ingalls Wilder]

It was "Little Hassles On The Prairie"