MovieChat Forums > Little House on the Prairie (1974) Discussion > i dont get all the unnecessary changes t...

i dont get all the unnecessary changes they made

posted 4 years ago by jason88cubs (2346)
5 replies | jump to latest

1) Adding the kitchen. It just made no sense. Always complaining about being poor but then they add a kitchen?

2)Adding Grace. Seriously why? You already have Carrie who basically had 1 line per episode so you add another kid?

3)Mary going blind. Yes I know in real life she did but couldnt they have extended her for another season? I really liked the character

4)Albert. This was basically to fill the Mary void. His character wa spointless and awful

5)The Winoka episodes. So they leave Walnut Grove to go to this town fo rlike what 7 episodes then go back to Walnut Grove like nothing happened? Come on now

[–] FilmStar (405) 4 years ago

Grace Ingalls was a real-life person. They had to add her in there and plus, it added more drama to the show in how much Caroline wanted a son for Charles. And yeah, it was a shame that when they had Mary go blind that they couldn't do more with her character. Like more challenges that came with her blindness or in being a teacher. Albert was one of my favorite characters. He was inventive and brought a lot of spunk to the show. And Charles finally got the son he always wanted. Yeah the only thing useful about the Winoka episodes was meeting Albert. Plus, it didn't matter about them moving back to Walnut Grove in that Charles eventually moves back to the city again.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Talk about Cousin Olivers.

[–] FilmStar (405) 4 years ago

No, the Cousin Oliver of this show to me was Jenny. Played no significance in anything. I can tell they were trying to make her the next Laura Ingalls but there is no way that she pulled it off.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

They kept adding kids to display the fact that Chuck was a man of carnal needs. His appetites for worldly pleasure knew no end.

But I will agree on Albert. He came off as weak and unworkable in show.

The Winoka episodes were likely just a way to give the writers a new direction to work in. IMHO, the show took a steady dive after the first half of season 4. The Winoka episodes were the lead-in of season 5. After that just about every really worthwhile episode would have counted for about a season. Not to say there wasn't some good story arcs that deserved to be wrapped up, just that all of them could have been completed by the end of season 6. Half the episodes after season 4 are a total waste.

[–] jonathan_k80 (6436) 4 years ago

I agree. I liked the show until the move to Winoka. This was the onset of the rapid decline of the series. Even after they had everyone move back to Walnut Grove the program was never the same.

Unfortunately this was unavoidable. The stories centered around children and actors grow up, so the writers had to adapt. Eventually you end up with a totally different concept. They tried to remedy this by introducing the character clones in the final season. Replacing Laura and Nellie with Jenny and Nancy failed miserably.