One episode characters--your favorites and least favorites

I began thinking about all the one episode characters we saw in the show. There is Chris Nelson (The Handyman), Lem McCary (Welcome to Olesonville), Christie Norton (Annabelle), Perley Day Wilder (Wilder and Wilder), and Lou Bates (Little Lou), to name a few.

Who are your favorites? Are there any one episode characters you didn't like? Who do you wish would have taken up regular residence in WG?

That's a great question. All of those are standout characters in my mind too, esp. Handyman, Perley Day, and Annabelle!

I also LOVE to HATE Bartholemu, the bully in the "Werewolf of Walnut Grove." That episode is hilarious, partly because he's a mixture of viscious and doofy.

When I was a kid, I thought the boy in "The Rivals" was very cute.

I was really touched by the dying mother in "Remember Me."

One of the weirdest is the creepy guy who sweeps Mary off her feet in "Meet Me At The Fair." It's sort of entertaining to watch because it's funny (not really sure it was supposed to be). The guy talks like Count Dracula and Mary is smitten with him while she ignores the cute, normal guy she was supposed to be meeting at the fair.

Well, I love amy Hearn from "If I Should Wake Befoe I Die"...she is one of my favorites...

I absolutely don't like the father in "Be My Friend". I'm sure there are others (favorite and not liked), but I can't think of them at the moment.

When Reverend Olsen married Anna...I would have loved to see her more on the show.

Chris the Handyman........

mm...certainly never liked Sylvia.....just saw the end of that episode today and it made me cringe...

I liked Olga in Town Party, Country Party and Anna in The Music Box.

Olga and Anna were some of my favorites as well.

I also like Luke, the boy that Nellie was married to for 5 minutes in "Here come the Brides"
where Miss Beedle married Adam (Lukes father) and Nellie and Luke fell in love.

Oh yea, and I also liked the little girl Ginny, the one that cut and sold her hair in order to buy a dress for her mother.

Like----any episode with an old hermit.

dislike-------Tinker

My favorite one episode character was Julia Sanderson, played by Patricia Neal, in Remember Me. (But I bet you already knew that by my keepership!). I cry everytime I watch that episode.

And I loved the angel Jonathan in The Lord is My Shepherd, played by Ernest Borgnine.

I loved Chris, the Handyman; would liked to have seen more of him.

I liked when the Ingalls grandfathers were in the show, both Caroline's and Charles' fathers. I would have liked to see more of them.

I definitely would have liked to see a lot less of Kezia.

AllieCat wrote:

My favorite one episode character was Julia Sanderson, played by Patricia Neal, in Remember Me. (But I bet you already knew that by my keepership!). I cry everytime I watch that episode.

And I loved the angel Jonathan in The Lord is My Shepherd, played by Ernest Borgnine.

I loved Chris, the Handyman; would liked to have seen more of him.

I liked when the Ingalls grandfathers were in the show, both Caroline's and Charles' fathers. I would have liked to see more of them.

I definitely would have liked to see a lot less of Kezia.

Those are all really good ones. And I could have dealt with a lot less of Kezia too.

I might have had a hard time with Chris hanging around Walnut Grove, pining away for Ma. :think: BUT, he would certainly add some atmosphere to our Little Town.

A couple people who come to mind: The old man and lady from the one where Charles 'gives up' after the tornado (I can't remember the name) and 'sells' them his home. The old man later comes back as "Jed" but I wouldn't want to see that character. But I LOVED him (and his wife) in this other ep and would have loved it if they'd settled in Walnut Grove. I love how he calls her "Mama".

The other guest appearance was "Amy Hearn"...loved her too! You know, there really were a LOT of elderly people on Little House---how many shows can we say that about now?

You know what really bothered me is that the town elected a mayor in Season 9 and we never saw him again. At least when DQ elected a mayor he became part of the town council and his role as mayor was referred to from time to time.

I really like Todd Bridges in The Wisdom of Soloman. I thought this show was really well written. We needed more african american families in the show. Soloman wanted simple things....to read, go to school. It was a good show for kids to see how blessed they are.
Soloman should of stayed. Chris Nelson...well it would have been nice to keep him, but he was just too cute! LOL Nellie would have tried to get her hands on him...poor guy.

I thought if Perly Day Wilder stayed in Walnut Grove he could have hooked up with Nellie and they could have plotted and schemed together. What fun that would have been!

AllieCat wrote:

I thought if Perly Day Wilder stayed in Walnut Grove he could have hooked up with Nellie and they could have plotted and schemed together. What fun that would have been!

I don't know if I would have wanted him to stay, but I think it would have been every interesting if he returned to WG after Almanzo and Laura were married.

Docfan wrote:

Well, I love amy Hearn from "If I Should Wake Befoe I Die"...she is one of my favorites...

I absolutely don't like the father in "Be My Friend". I'm sure there are others (favorite and not liked), but I can't think of them at the moment.

I don't recall ever seeing that episode, "Be My Friend". Wow.

If you don't mind, could you tell me where to find any discussion of it on the forum? I just looked it up on TV.com and read the summary. A teen mom hid her pregnancy...Laura and Charles find the baby in the water... Hmm. :think: Nope, I don't recall that, other than Sylvia who was pregnant for only a short time, of course.

The ep sounds interesting.


Thanks for any extra info you can provide.

Gin wrote:

I really like Todd Bridges in The Wisdom of Soloman. I thought this show was really well written. We needed more african american families in the show. Soloman wanted simple things....to read, go to school. It was a good show for kids to see how blessed they are.
Soloman should of stayed. Chris Nelson...well it would have been nice to keep him, but he was just too cute! LOL Nellie would have tried to get her hands on him...poor guy.

Oh, yes...Todd was really good in that ep.

I agree...more African-American characters would have been nice.

I can't think of his name, but I wasn't too crazy about that guy Hester-Sue was going to marry. He was far too uptight and too controling.

Quote :

I don't recall ever seeing that episode, "Be My Friend". Wow.

It's a 90-minute episode, so it's rarely shown on TV. There's a really funny scene in this episode. At the mercantile, Mrs. Oleson catches Willie looking at corset ads in the catalog. Thinking this isn't appropriate, she complains to Mr. Oleson, who shrugs it off as "boys will be boys" behavior. Later, Charles and Laura come into the mercantile with the baby, whom Laura is caring for. Laura leaves the store with the baby as Charles stays to pay for the items he bought. Mrs. Oleson whispers to Charles, "Whose baby is that?" Seeking an opportunity to put one over on Mrs. Oleson, Charles nonchalantly replies, "It's Laura's," as he leaves the store. A schocked and confused Mrs. Oleson mutters to herself, "Laura has a baby, and he doesn't even care? Why, what kind of a father..." Then she looks out the window and sees Willie playing with the baby as Laura holds her. She then cries, "Oh no, my Willie!" and then runs screaming, "NEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLS!"

BTW, Laura named the baby Grace. Charles tracked down the father, who was living in a town near where Charles and Laura found the baby. He had wanted to do the right thing and marry the girl but he was afraid of her father. In the end, they do marry and Laura reluctantly gives Grace back to her parents.

A good episode -- too bad it's not shown very often.

Hi, jes9.

Thank you so much for filling me in. It seems I might recall a tiny bit of the scene where Harriette has seen Willie playing with the baby.

I do wish that TVLand would air it, but as you've said, it's a 90 min ep, so they probably won't air it.

Maybe I can find some clips of it on Youtube. I hope so.

When you said Charles told Harriette the baby was Laura's, it reminded me of when he told her that Solomon was his son from a previous marriage. LOL!
He'd have had to have been married to Caroline and have Mary and Laura, marry Solomon's mom, and then back to Caroline. LOL!


Thanks again!

Don't you sometimes wonder why Harriet was so easy to bait? The things she believes as the truth are just so out there at times.

Yes, I do wonder about her at times. LOL!

I loved Solomon in the Wisdom of Solomon. I hated Johnny Johnson he was very aggervating and hard to look at.

I loved Perley Day he was awesome! But I hated Little Lou. I don't know why!