# Little Irritating Things About Little House on the Prairie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289 "2005-09-06T03:21:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/61 "2005-09-07T12:43:07Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > I think the girl was Shannen Doherty. Shannen was in the show, at any rate, and I believe she was one of the adopted kids. Gah! I forgot she was on there! I think I was trying to block it out. Ok so I’m still confused about the Albert thing. He died and then became a doctor according to a V.O. by Laura? WTF? I hate those kind of inconsistencies. But I watched the show religiously. [CONFESSION(Had a crush on Caroline and the adult Laura)[/CONFESSION] 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/62 "2005-09-07T15:09:58Z")
Anyone remember the “wild boy” (I think his name was Matthew) who was in the custody of a traveling performer-he wouldn’t teach Matthew anything, and kept him doped up on morphine or something else, so he’d have fits? Then Mr. Edwards adopts him, and it’s found out he can’t talk because someone poured lye down his throat! (BTW, did ASL exist then?) I remember Nancy made Nellie look like Miss Muffet-she locked that one girl in the ice house because she had a crush on Albert, and Albert liked the ice house girl. Damn, I gotta read those books again-as a kid, my favorite was _Little House in the Big Woods_ and I used to read it over and over. I loved reading about how they “made things”-how they made the every day necessities that we just pluck off of the grocery shelves. (Such as churning butter, or Pa smoking venison, or Ma making soap-all of that fascinated me as a child.) Oh, and Jenny Wilder might have been the girl who wandered into the lake-she almost drowned, and suffered brain damage and then had to learn how to speak all over again. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/63 "2005-09-07T16:14:45Z")
I admit it, I used to watch this show all the time when it was in first run. When I was in grad school, I picked it up again on the cable re-runs. My roomate at the time also admitted that he liked the show and we found ourselves watching it between classes. One time we were watching one of the more tragic episodes (the tornado one I think) and he said “You know, they should have named this show ‘Life Sucks on the Prairie’.” ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/64 "2005-09-07T16:24:13Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > **JThunder** , Hugh Wilson, who produced WKRP, as well as Frank’s Place, once grumbled re: LHOTP, “Every time we started gaining on those suckers, they’d blind another child!” What a crying shame. Melissa Sue Anderson may have been hauntingly lovely, but Jan Smithers was even more so. Okay, okay. That’s not the only reason why I liked WKRP, 'kay? ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/65 "2005-09-07T16:29:25Z")
One of the irritating things for me about Little House on the Prairie is that, when I meet somebody new here in Japan, and I mention that I’m from Minnesota, the odds are good that their immediate response will be, “Ah! Small…house…on…” and I know right away that I’m doomed. :smack: My choices at this point: A) Kindly and patiently try (and fail) to explain that, much like Japan is no longer in the midst of the _sengoku-jidai,_ Minnesota ISN’T LIKE THAT ANYMORE, and furthermore in most cases WAS NEVER LIKE THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE; or B) Nod, smile, and KEEP DRINKING. What choice I make I leave as an exercise for the reader. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/66 "2005-09-07T16:44:29Z")
What bugged me: Not enough time travel stories. I would have liked to have seen someone ride a horse very fast and “slingshot” around a tree, going back in time to restore a deviant time line. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/67 "2005-09-07T16:57:41Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I meant to make the Orthodox Jewish Guy smiley: ;j I guarantee you, no actual Orthodox Jew smiles at a sad situation like that. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/68 "2005-09-07T16:59:47Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > What bugged me: > > Not enough time travel stories. I would have liked to have seen someone ride a horse very fast and “slingshot” around a tree, going back in time to restore a deviant time line. Anachronism! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/69 "2005-09-07T17:05:56Z")
The thing that bugged me was how the children got away with (almost) murder with hardly any consequences. IIRC, the fire at Mary’s school where her baby died was started by Andy and Albert in the basement, where they were smoking a pipe. Nellie was spoiled, but didn’t Laura and Albert get away with misprinting something in the town paper, so it seemed that everything in the mercantile was 100% off? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/70 "2005-09-07T17:06:37Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Then Mr. Edwards adopts him, and it’s found out he can’t talk because someone poured lye down his throat! (BTW, did ASL exist then?) ASL existed since the beginning of the 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/71 "2005-09-07T17:10:53Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > . . .unless someone can find the episode where Charles had to talk to Albert about dragracing his 1958 Thunderbird down the main street of Walnut Grove. My favorite was the episode where Laura was stalked by an internet predator. ---
**Author:** ![EnderWay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d26b3c/32.png) [@EnderWay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnderWay)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/72 "2005-09-07T17:13:37Z")
What about the episode with Colonel Sanders? Man, that one irked me! The writers saying we don’t give a F@#K, because your going to watch this sappy crap anyhow cause your hooked! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/73 "2005-09-07T17:14:19Z")
I was channel surfing the other day and I came across LHotP and there was Todd Bridges. He was sitting in class with all the other kids and the teacher welcomed him to class and then said their new assignment would be to write an essay on something they didn’t like. While discussing the idea she asked Todd what he didnt like. His reponse. “Being a Na” Now his lips kept moving but there wasn’t any sound. Did they actually bleep Little House on the Praire? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/74 "2005-09-07T17:15:48Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > My favorite was the episode where Laura was stalked by an internet predator. No! No! My favorite was when Laura was possessed by the Shadows and used as a pawn to trick Captain Sheridan to go to Za’ha’dum! ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/75 "2005-09-07T17:17:53Z")
I liked the one where Mary and Nellie _almost_ got off the island. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/76 "2005-09-07T17:18:09Z")
> [@EnderWay](#): > > What about the episode with Colonel Sanders? > > Man, that one irked me! The writers saying we don’t give a F@#K, because > your going to watch this sappy crap anyhow cause your hooked! What am I, chopped liver? Check out post #50… ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/77 "2005-09-07T17:24:38Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Two words: clown rape. You just hit the archetypal reason I never watched the show after that episode. :eek: :BIG SHUDDER: ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/78 "2005-09-07T17:32:29Z")
I don’t believe any of you. All of these things really happened in Walnut Grove, MN. Next thing, you’ll start telling me that Frank and Jesse James never came to Walnut Grove, let alone TOUCH Caroline. Or that the guy that eventually killed Jesse James wasn’t a childhood resident of Walnut Grove. Hah! ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/79 "2005-09-07T17:48:34Z")
I think my favorite LHotP storyline was when Mary’s husband, who was also blind (they met at the school), **regained his eyesight in an explosion** and then became a lawyer. The pure WTF-ness of it didn’t escape me as a child watching reruns in the '80s, and it still cracks me up. I remember my father complaining about how it seemed like people died every week in their town, but never any series regulars. Like Jessica Fletcher, surely the Ingalls were at best a terrible jinx and at worst, very clever mass murderers. That said, I’ve seen every damn episode and can’t forget them, as much as I’d like to. Sometimes I torture my husband by recounting some of the plots. And nothing can ever take away the excitement I felt the first time I saw Buffy Summers’ father and shouted, “Oh my god! Her dad is Manly Wilder!” I also enjoyed the one \*\*jayjay \*\* mentioned. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289/80 "2005-09-07T18:11:43Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > ASL existed since the beginning of the 19th century. Ah, thank you. The one with Colonel Sanders didn’t bug me THAT much, since he was only on for a mere three minutes at the end, and it was just supposed to be a joke. It wasn’t anything one would take seriously, unlike say, oh, Laura not only teaching school after she married, but while she was _pregnant_, IIRC. And why did Nellie continue to wear those sausage roll curls with the big ass bow, even after she was all grown up and married? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-irritating-things-about-little-house-on-the-prairie/320289.md?page=5)