"Times Are Changing"

This episode, from season 9, is currently on my local TV station. I was explaining the episode to my 4 1/2 year old daughter, and telling her that Royal has a heart attack. I couldn't remember how it happens, but then all of a sudden she says, "Oh, they go on a picnic, and then it rains." I told her that I couldn't remember exactly, but then wouldn't you know it, there's Jenny and Royal having a picnic, and then it starts to rain.
I couldn't believe that she remembered that!! It's been awhile since we've seen it. It's amazing how their little minds work. LOL!!

That's too cute Teresa. Some kids amaze us with their memories!
Specially when you make a promise to them... boy do they remember!

It was just so funny because she's only seen bits and pieces of that episode. And it's also a 2 parter, so for her to remember that one little scene....................LOL!
And yes, you're right, they ALWAYS remember a promise.

How a sweet little girl!

I can understand why she must have remembered exactly this part: I think is a very dramatic part and a little child would remember it specially. It's the part who strikes me the most of all the two-parts epie. I can almost feel Jenny's desperation...How terrible and sad...

Vanesa.

Vanesa wrote:

How a sweet little girl!

I can understand why she must have remembered exactly this part: I think is a very dramatic part and a little child would remember it specially. It's the part who strikes me the most of all the two-parts epie. I can almost feel Jenny's desperation...How terrible and sad...

Vanesa.

Oh, so true! That really was a dramatic scene...and actually very scary. Is there anything scarier for a child than one of their parents dying, and being all alone, having to deal with it by themselves? Frightening. And the rain only added to the drama as well.

in this episode what confused me was that a different actor performed as Royal. In Season 7, Royal and his wife and their twin boys came to Walnut Grove and the boys stayed with Laura and Almanzo. In Season 9, a different actor performed as Royal when he and Jenny came to Walnut Grove to live with Laura and Almanzo. did anyone else notice this?

Yeah,I liked jennys character. She was add on from mean nancy. Poor kids losing her dad so young.Least she had a nice aunt & uncle to live with and love her.

Did that really happen in the books?

In the beginning of this "New Beginning" episode, it's so sad to see Charles leaving and crying and the Carter's in their home, etc. Why exactly does he leave, what "hard times" did he have that others didn't or is that not explained because the show had ended?
Thinking of an older farmer selling men's clothing seemed so odd and I teared up at the thought of it when they gave him the suit.

I just didn't know if I missed something.

I did like some of the touch's Mrs. Carter put in the home, but a little too much furniture. Maybe that was to make it more "theirs" than the Ingall's to the viewers. I did think the curtain for the kitchen to separate the rooms would have worked for the Ingall's bedroom as a door and it did give a warm feel.

I watched this last night or tried too, but it was as sad for me as the last one almost. Seeing Charles pack up his things, the Little House emptying of the Ingall's and being full of the Carter's things (and I agree way too much furniture) I realize other options were given but they wanted it this way, but I just can't see the "CI CI" on the mantle, no matter how hard they try to hide it, and not want them back.
Buying Charlres a suit, not seeing the family, Caroline, nothing flowed well to me. Harriet bringing up "Harriet's Happenings" like hte lesson learned from that was lost.
I also thought they made Almonzo clueless with his brother, he didn't just look tired, he looked very ill cutting the wood. Making fun of what he accomplished and seeing him look like he would keel over, it just didn't seem right. Even Laura didn't think anything was wrong.
I'm sure even if signs of heart attack weren't known, you know when someone is ill. I can't believe the actors felt that way too, but it is what it is.

I guess I thought it was dis-jointed and I'm glad I missed some of the later shows years ago. I do like Willie older though but it makes me miss Albert.

littlehouselover wrote:

Why exactly does he leave, what "hard times" did he have that others didn't or is that not explained because the show had ended?

It’s never explained, and it really irritated me that they couldn’t come up with something better. I’m guessing we are supposed to assume that his large family made it tougher on him than others. Perhaps all that time he took off to deal with James’s illness had an impact.

littlehouselover wrote:

Thinking of an older farmer selling men's clothing seemed so odd and I teared up at the thought of it when they gave him the suit.

I didn’t like this either. Charles was never happy in the city. We saw that when they were in Winoka. If he had to move, fine, but he wouldn’t move to a big city and be employed by someone else.

Praire Girl wrote:

I watched this last night or tried too, but it was as sad for me as the last one almost. Seeing Charles pack up his things, the Little House emptying of the Ingall's and being full of the Carter's things (and I agree way too much furniture).

Considering Sarah came from money, it didn’t surprise me she had a lot of things. It just never made sense they tried to jam all of them into the little house instead of living in town or building themselves a home that would fit what they owned. Where in town they would have lived is beyond me. Do we even know where Christie Norton lived? She was supposedly a town girl too, but the only people we know lived in town were the Olesons and Doc Baker.

Praire Girl wrote:

I also thought they made Almonzo clueless with his brother, he didn't just look tired, he looked very ill cutting the wood. Making fun of what he accomplished and seeing him look like he would keel over, it just didn't seem right. Even Laura didn't think anything was wrong.
I'm sure even if signs of heart attack weren't known, you know when someone is ill. I can't believe the actors felt that way too, but it is what it is.

No kidding. Were they blind? Did they just not want to see it? It aggravated me more that Almanzo claims not to have seen Royal in ten years when Millie, Myron, Rupert, and he paid the Wilders a visit not long after they were married, but still, how did they not notice something was wrong with him?

Season 9 was plagued by less than stellar storylines. The inconsistencies this episode created will always bug me. A mysterious daughter no one has ever heard of before. Two boys never mentioned again. Add that on top of not seeing the entire Ingalls family again, makes for a bad start to a season that didn’t do the show justice.

Yes, Mr. Landon should have been ashamed of some of the shows after he abruptly had it end the regular series. The way he didn't give any thought to the fans, Was he angry at someone, he seemed to have them write anything to make a show and then wonder why fans took the high road, doesn't take rocket science. Only when he brought back Albert, had Willie get married, Almonzo get sick, stuck to what worked before, did he probably have a better rating, but it wasn't enough to make people tune in week after week. The drop in ratings was considerable when The New Beginning started and ended. The consistency was worse the last year than the whole series, people coming that were never mentioned, others as stated, disappearing and never mentioned again, homes that burned returned to life. Really not done well at all.

They could always "make do" as Caroline said, she worked in the restaurant, made money, Charles could have kept at the mill, it wasn't explained well at all. Maybe Karen Grassle didn't want to come back, but her absence was also very noticeable that first show. I agree, if they had to go, they wanted to do other things, make it believable.

I know Dean Butler must have groaned at being so clueless in that show and saying some of the things him and Melissa had to say to each other, but it was a job and a decent show for a long run. I just wish it could have ended like MASH did and other long running shows, with as much dignity as it started with.

Quote :

No kidding. Were they blind? Did they just not want to see it? It aggravated me more that Almanzo claims not to have seen Royal in ten years when Millie, Myron, Rupert, and he paid the Wilders a visit not long after they were married, but still, how did they not notice something was wrong with him?

Season 9 was plagued by less than stellar storylines. The inconsistencies this episode created will always bug me. A mysterious daughter no one has ever heard of before. Two boys never mentioned again. Add that on top of not seeing the entire Ingalls family again, makes for a bad start to a season that didn’t do the show justice.

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I think I always missed the beginning of this show because I was like "Why are they acting like Royal is completely normal??" They looked silly and why didn't they ask about the twins that disappeared? Why was a home that burned down and killed 2 people having to be "fixed up again". Lars only left the house to them once, it wasn't resurrected. The list goes on, but no matter how much control the director and writer had, I hope the actors tried to tell them of all the mistakes anyway, then you can say you tried.

As bad as season 9 was, I am still glad they made

The Wild Boy -
Marvins Garden
Home Again
Hello and Goodbye
May I Have This Dance
The Last Summer

31.6% of nineteen episodes (in my opinion) were worth watching.......

I like your choices too, although The Wild Boy, because of how that ended, isn't as much of a favorite. If Matthew stayed and wasn't "gone" for a few episodes, especially when Mr. Edwards met the blind girl who was Laura's friend, and then reappeared again when his Dad came, it would have been better. I thought that was a bit much and it taints the original show (for me) knowing how it ends up.

Davetucson wrote:

As bad as season 9 was, I am still glad they made

The Wild Boy -
Marvins Garden
Home Again
Hello and Goodbye
May I Have This Dance
The Last Summer

31.6% of nineteen episodes (in my opinion) were worth watching.......

My list is:

"Home again"
"Hello and Goodbye"
"May I have this dance?"
"The Last summer"

Oh...And I wish we could have had more of Mr. Montagu character. He was really, but really, hilarious...

Vanesa.

Mr. Montagu was a funny guy. I think it it was "refreshed" and other characters would have done guest spots at the time, 30 years ago, it would have gone on longer. Most of the shows, the movies, Nancy,were awful. My family were big fans and they were complaining. If you don't want to do the show anymore, cancel it, but don't do it with half a heart.

My list
The Return of Nellie
Once Upon A Time
A Child With No Name
Home Again
For The Love of Blanche
May I Have This Dance?
Hello and Goodbye

I didn't like Marvin's Garden. I really liked Matthew's character and wish he had been in more episodes.

I thought it was funny too when Laura was talking to "Pa" about when she was little and her buck teeth, I laughed because unless some get better on their own, they didn't have braces back then, many didn't even use toothbrushes...never saw that in their home. I would have just reminisced about pigtails and fishing. :)

While I think Season 9 may have been their weakest (I think Season 3 might be second on my list), they did actually have some really good episodes. My choices have always been:

Home Again
Rage
The Return of Nellie
A Child With No Name
May I Have This Dance?
Love
Once Upon a Time

I saw this in an interview with Karen Grassle...so why would those movies be a bad thing? : /

BM: Can you recall what it was like for the cast and crew during the filming of "The Last Farewell"?

KG: It was not a happy atmosphere. We were all glad to see each
other, but there was something frantic and frenetic about the plot, and
the whole idea of blowing Walnut Grove all sky-high. I had the feeling
that Mike had to do it, so that it would be over, for the network must
have been offering him lots of money for yearly or bi-annual movies of Little House .

Hmmm...that's interesting. I think it would have been challenging to continue to get everyone together once a year or twice a year for productions. Melissa Gilbert's career was going in new directions, as were those of other cast members, and maybe not enough of the regular cast could commit. Michael might have been ready for it all to end too, considering Highway to Heaven was on the horizon.

I know Michael was ready to move on, but I think the other cast members would have done a movie or two over the years. (money does talk)No one would have forced him to do it, but I think he didn't want the option there. Without the heart, Walnut Grove, it would have been lacking something.
I know he was quoted saying reunion shows were for fans to see how old you got..maybe for some but I think many would have been forgiving and some cast members took a long time to change very much.

I actually think this was one of the better episodes in Season 9.

Very sad at the beginning when Charles has to go and says his goodbyes to everyone, but the story line introducing Jenny was strong, I thought. They had to have a nice girl to counter Nancy, although it could be said that all the new characters were a bit superfluous as the writing was on the wall for the series by then.

Still, young Jenny has a lovely smile.