Introducing Little House to Others...

I have a 7 year old little girl that I'll be taking care of this summer...today was her first full day at my house. She's never watched Little House and she only knows of Laura Ingalls Wilder from what they've taught in school (which, let's face it, isn't much, and certainly isn't enough). Well, we just sat and watched the Pilot together, and she loved it! I'm so excited to introduce her to the series this summer, and reacquaint myself with the series on a daily basis again. After watching the Pilot, I realized just how much I miss watching this show...just the beautiful simplicity of it. I know we've said it before, they just don't make tv like this anymore. One thing I noticed is how there was so much 'empty' time throughout the Pilot, just 'artsy' shots and slow dialogue, sometimes even no dialogue. Now every second of tv seems to be 'filled' with SOMETHING. Just like the shot where they showed Laura, after they think Jack has drowned. They cut to her, after Pa walks off, standing there with her dress just billowing in the wind, with this sad look on her face. It's mesmorizing. Why don't directors think we need visuals like this anymore? It's odd.

Sorry to go off on a tangine! My point is that I can't believe that I'm excited all over again to introduce this series to yet another newcomer, and have her equally excited! Have any of you introduced Little House to anyone, after all these years post-syndication?

When I first started gathering up the series on DVD my 2 kids started watching the show and they loved it. They were 13 and 9 at the time and they've seen every episode. Ryan would play some episodes over and over again and it was good to know they were watching quality television instead of all the trash that passes for entertainment today. They still watch from time to time and always enjoy it.

Bring out the books too Amy. You can read a chapter a day or let her read to you. She can be reading all summer. Hmm, a 7 yr old would be able to read the My First Little HOuse books.

HOW WONDERFUL AMY!!! And yes, bring out the books too.....you can explain how the show did different things, but the books will tell her that Laura is real and not just a character on TV.....

That is wonderful, Amy! I really do wish they would make shows like this today. Sadly, there isn't really anything new worth watching, and certainly not as a family.

I've only introduced the show to both of my kids. Kelsey still watches it with me pretty often. Sometimes I'll pull out a dvd for us to watch together.

Thanks ladies! Marilyn & Rhonda, I love your idea about the books! I didn't realize they have 'first readers' of Little House, Marilyn...I will definitely pick those up for her!!! And I like your idea Rhonda, of pointing out the similarities and differences. This will be fun!

Pam, is Kelsey into Dr. Quinn too? I'm sure she'd like that series too!

It's funny...I had my son hooked on Little House when he was around 5 or 6, and then he got to the point where he was too 'cool'. Well, yesterday, there were several times I caught him tuning into what was going on during the Pilot.....sure he's 13, but look how many things about the Pilot would attract a 13 year old boy? There's such suspense (the river, the wolves, the indian drumming, the fire)...how could anyone not be intrigued?! I just thought it was cute that the 'cool kid' felt compelled to watch.

And Maureen, as a sidenote, that picture of Karen in your avatar has to be one of the prettiest I've ever seen of her. That smile!! I was reminded of her beauty watching the Pilot yesterday....the scene when it starts raining on them during the fire, and she looks to the heavens with this joyous smile. It was quite captivating! I must say, I LOVED all the little romantic moments between Ma & Pa during this one too...they sure did prove their chemistry right off the bat!

Have fun watching Little House all over again, Amy!
I can't get my son interested in watching.
He's too devoted to the books!

Amy wrote:

And Maureen, as a sidenote, that picture of Karen in your avatar has to be one of the prettiest I've ever seen of her. That smile!! I was reminded of her beauty watching the Pilot yesterday....the scene when it starts raining on them during the fire, and she looks to the heavens with this joyous smile. It was quite captivating! I must say, I LOVED all the little romantic moments between Ma & Pa during this one too...they sure did prove their chemistry right off the bat!

Thanks, Amy. It's one of my favourite pics of Karen as Caroline. I too love all the little romantic moments between Ma and Pa.

Thanks Ladies!

About the romantic moments between Ma & Pa, it's amazing to me how romantic they were right off the bat. It started with the Pilot, but they continued right into Harvest of Friends. Lots of beautiful moments, eye contact, touching. So neat.

We watched Harvest of Friends and Country Girls yesterday and Kiara (the little girl I watch) enjoyed them both, but especially Country Girls. I have not seen that one in so long, and I forgot how affected I am by the scene where Ma brings the material home and they all encourage her to keep it, telling her how beautiful she is. Karen was just amAzing there....to think how many times I've seen that scene, and I still got teary!

Oh, I see Johnny Johnson is coming up soon....maybe we'll skip that one.

Amy wrote:

Pam, is Kelsey into Dr. Quinn too? I'm sure she'd like that series too!

She was starting to watch it with me some when it was on the Hallmark Channel, but I don't have any of the DVD's or anything, so we haven't watched it since Hallmark stopped showing it. I miss that show! And Sully!!!

How fun!

Last year when I was watching my nephews and niece I watched an episode with them. My nephews, then ten and eleven, pretended as though they didn't like it, but they kept watching it!
Well, about a week later I learned that they checked out season one discs from the library! They watched all nine seasons!


I agree, reading the books is a great idea! I think I first read LHitBW when I was seven.

I was talking with my next door neighbur this morning. I was telling her all about the LIW adventures that I will be having next month. She commented that she loved the show. I asked her if she had ever read the books and she said no. So I took Little HOuse in the Big Woods over to her after work and she is going to read it with her 7 year old daughter at bedtime. I hope they like it.

LIWnut wrote:

I was talking with my next door neighbur this morning. I was telling her all about the LIW adventures that I will be having next month. She commented that she loved the show. I asked her if she had ever read the books and she said no. So I took Little HOuse in the Big Woods over to her after work and she is going to read it with her 7 year old daughter at bedtime. I hope they like it.

Oh! Can you tell me about your LIW adventures?

Or have you mentioned it elsewhere?

I just posted them in the summer thread. If you can't find them, let me know.

Thanks, Marilyn! :kitty:

It's my first post on the messageboards! I new here!!

I grew up watching reruns of LHOTP. We had close to half of the episodes recorded on VHS, and my older sister and I would watch and rewatch them. So I’ve introduced someone to LHOTP in recent years – this person is an adult though, not a kid…

About three years ago, when I had been home sick for several days with the flu, my boyfriend Eric came home from work with the Season 1 DVD box set to cheer me up…which it of course totally did! I'd been watching them on Hallmark while I was sick, and was waxing all nostalgic too him about how much I loved LHOTP and how long it’d been since I’d watch it. Eric is very sweet in that he’s willing to try anything that interests me, so he started watching with me. Over the last three years, we've been watching them together in order (buying the box sets as we go along). The first couple seasons were a little slow-going at times. I really enjoyed it, but because I also wanted to get Eric hooked up on it, I was acutely aware if an episode was slow or cheesy. There were some really great episodes in the first couple of seasons, but overall, I felt like the writing wasn't as sharp or the editing as quick in some of the early episodes compared to later seasons. I also felt like the comedy of earlier seasons often caters to kids in some of the episodes, and around Season 3 and 4, they started to get much wittier and clever in their comedy. So I’ll admit Eric did get bored with some of the episodes in the first few seasons (but he was a good sport), while I enjoyed them all…with the exception of a few depressing episodes with one-time characters. About ¼ of the episodes were pretty much new to (I either had seen them only once and had very little recollection, or I had never seen them). And there were also some really stellar episodes that I’d never seen (like The Inheritance!). It’s also been really interesting to watch them IN ORDER, because as a kid the logic of things never crossed my mind. I just went with it. And now I’m like, ah, that makes sense….(or in the case of the Edwards disappearing with no explanation and the Garveys appearing, we make up our own theory. Eric & I just joke that the Edwards are trapped in the Garveys’ basement).

So we are on Disc 5 of Season 6. We have been flying through Season 6. So far, this season has been both my & Eric’s favorite overall!! I’m so happy that it isn’t just me saying to him, “Do you want to watch Little House?” He’s actually asking me if I feel like watching it! After the Werewolf episode, we went around saying: “Don’t call me Bartholemu, Shorty.” Response: “Don’t call me Shorty, BartholeMU!” I feel like each season gets better than the last, and this season has had a lot of great comedy with Albert's schemes and of course, the build-up of Laura & Almanzo. There's also been some nice ones to make me tear up, like "Author, Author."

So we’re about to watch May We Make Them Proud. I am kind of dreading watching this episode. When I was young, I think I only saw the part up to the fire and then had to stop watching because it was soooo upsetting. I know what happens though. Also, as a sidenote, Eric knows nothing about upcoming episodes because he only saw the occasional episode as a kid, and he doesn't like to know spoilers ahead of time, so I never give anything away. So I'm dreading this episode and I know Eric will hate it too. I just want to get past it and onto Wilder & Wilder, which was a favorite we had on VHS. And then of course onto all the good Laura & Almanzo episodes.

Albert is one of our favorite characters, so I'm also dreading the fact that I know they're going to put Albert through misery with this next episode, with Sylvia, with the morphine, and the illness. Ugh. I really wish that wasn’t the case. :(

It’s been really awesome watching the series in order. We talk about how we’ll definitely have our kids watch it, and that we need to start them at a young age. With a kid though, I wouldn’t go in order. I’d pick out the fun ones for kids and the ones with good messages. And I definitely plan to read the Little House books to my kids, as my mom did my sister and I each night when we were really young.

If you made it through my first post, congratulations, and thanks for reading it! This was really long-winded, but I guess I just felt like writing an introduction. :)

Hi. we just started our 7 yr old g/daughter on her little house journey.....i noticed she was very intersted in the parts where the children were in scenes together but she became a bit lost with the adult scenes and tended to drift from the screen....we are going to read the books first and leave dvd's for another year.

Hi, Bethers!

I'm Holly- Welcome to the prairie! (I love saying that! Hee-Hee!)

Sounds like you and Eric are making some memories!

You cracked me up with your "Edwards in the basement" theory! Ha!

Welcome to the prairie Bethers. I am happy to hear that you and Eric are enjoying the series. I think you might enjoy reading the books together. The first ones are sweet, about the very young days of Laura and Almanzo. As Laura ages she becomes quite a young lady who is not afraid to work hard to help the family. Then she meets a dashing Almanzo and the story continues.
Give the books a read together. You'll like them as well as the series.
Have fun on the prairie!!

Hi everyone! Thanks for the welcomes.

LIWnut, I agree the books are great! They were read to me as a kid, and my sister got to keep our original set. I guess she called "dibs" first. But she got me my own set a few years ago. I esp. liked #5-8. The Long Winter is a pretty fascinating survival story.

So we did watch May We Make Them Proud... man, that was so sad. My palms were so sweaty throughout the fire scenes. Pretty disturbing images. Eric was shocked after the scene changed from the fire to the morning ashes. He was still sure that Alice and the baby would be saved at the last minute, so we was like, "Wait a minute? They actually died? WHAT?"

As hard as it was to watch, the acting of Mary & Albert in the aftermath was powerful. It was well-done, but I'm not sure I'll want to revisit that episode. It's just too sad. But you're right, ChristinaAL - that the reason it is so hard to watch because we care for the characters so much.