I so prefer Mary to Laura on Little House On The Prarie

true, but in real life I think the opposite may be true.

How did they fix Melissa Gilbert's teeth? I don't remember her ever wearing braces and she wasn't going to "outgrow" those buckers naturally.

Fuck the both of them.

The whole program was a crock of steaming shit.

Melissa Sue Anderson would agree with the op. According to both Melissa Gilbert's and the dishier Allison Arngrim's books, Missy Anderson was the real Nellie Oleson. Sadly her own book just gives plot synopses of her fav eps.

Why did R3 make me laugh??

I agree with you, OP! Mary > Laura! As a child watching the show I always appreciated Mary's restraint and common-sense and found Laura's lack of self-control and neediness to be exhausting.

Me too, OP!

Was Carrie retarded?

For R2: Gilbert explained in her book that her braces were removed during filming and reattached when filming had stopped (whether for the week or season).

Your opinion is the correct one OP.

R3 = Grace

R6 Me too!

Also, Melissa Sue Anderson was VERY jealous of Melissa Gilbert. Even going so far as to criticize her when she got a toothpaste commercial because she had such horrid teeth.

By the way, I've just finished reading PRARIE FIRES, the true story of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane and it's CRAZY. First of all, the book and the tv show are fiction but Laura always had a soft spot for Pa, and admits that he made her feel "funny down there" on more than one occasion.

Laura's daughter was PSYCHO - a big dame who ran around saying she was Muslim and wearing a turban in the 20's and 30's. She also built her parents an unbelievable home at one point, costing over $12,000 for a home in the Ozarcs in 1910. It's such a good read. I strongly recommend it!

R3 = Jeffrey Epstein, making suggestions from the menu

I liked Mary much better too. Laura was such a jealous bitch. She hated anyone that got close to Pa. I'm surprised she didn't 'accidentally' stab Ma in the neck.

That woman touching the shoulder of the man in the pic at R14 looks like Lizzie Borden!

Melissa became a nun when she left LHOTP

Merlin Olsen was my favorite.

What happened to Harriet Olsen?

Does anyone remember an episode where Ma got molested when she was collecting eggs? I remember being scared by it as a kid.

Even as a child I hated it.

Mary was a blonde, blue eyed gentile.

Whereas Half Pint was as jew as the day is long.

I don't notice these things, but some do.

I would have fucked both their husbands, their bed-wetting pa, and their druggy brother. So much grade-A prairie cock on that show. When men were men and cunts wore calico.

R17 that was Laura.

You have to remember that these books were written by Laura to make Laura the heroine. In her original draft of Pioneer Girl, Ma played a much nicer part (methinks Rose, who helped write the books and may have actually written them, may have resented her grandmother for some reason) and had to do all kinds of scruffy jobs. After her daughters married and Pa died and she was living with Mary, they had to rent out half their house until Ma died and Mary started getting shifted between Carrie and Grace.

Melissa Gilbert was the kind of precocious line-yeller that was popular in the day. Subtlety was not favored. Melissa Sue Anderson still has Michael Landon directing, so that good old earnest voice was employed, but she was a better actress. Her mother thought the other kids had trashy stage mothers and didn’t want her daughter mixing.

[quote]Her mother thought the other kids had trashy stage mothers and didn’t want her daughter mixing.

First name Joan?

Why do so many gay men suffer from dimentia?

Did Mary really go blind in real life? I always suspected that it might have just been a plot device. OMG how I loved this show when I was a kid.

Mary was a little snitch. Snitches get stitches, Mary.

R27, she did. However, in real life as written in the books, she never married. She lived with the parents until they died, then with her sisters. I always felt that they shouldn't have made her blind on the series. They already took poetic license with her marrying and so many other things, why not eliminate that? The show went downhill after she went blind.

r27 Mary went blind from playing with herself. It happens.

Melissa Sue had a horrid stage mom. She was so SO bitter over having her character become blind. I felt bad for her.

As someone said in one of the other 10,000 Little House threads, Laura was basically just as bad as Nellie Olsen. She as just as conniving, just as mean, just as sneaky... only she got away with it.

Also, I know that Allison has made herself a DL fave... however, I'm highly suspicious about hers and Melissa Gilbert's stories about Melissa Sue Anderson. I think they were actually the ones who were jealous of Melisa Sue (she was pretty and could act) and to them, she probably had a seemingly normal family life with a mom who cared (in their eyes).

We know that Missy Sue's mama was an awful stage mother, but to two kids who have mothers who don't give a shit, Gilbert's mother seemed crazy, and Angram's mother apparently turned a blind's eye to her daughter's abuse... so to them, Melissa Sue's mother may have seemed like a dream!

Anyway, from what I can tell, Gilbert's a cunt, so I take what she says about anyone else with a grain of salt. There's a reason her brother has had contact with her for 30 years, despite what Gilbert will tell you!

Mary was a real cunt.

Is there a porn parody companion? The Walton Mountain Men vs. The Little House Men???

[quote] Melisa Sue (she was pretty and could act)

How is it that Melissa Sue was a better actress than Alison and Melissa Gilbert? All 3 of them are primarily known for being on the show, and Gilbert's the only one who kept working consistently of the 3.

I've been on DL a longtime and there has never been a LHotP thread that didn't make me laugh.

I wonder if Sara Gilbert is behind a lot of these threads?

We just had a long, fun Little House thread in case anyone here missed it:

[quote]Merlin Olsen was my favorite.

Was that the moment you knew you were into bears?

I didn't even know what a bear was at that time. I just knew I was in heat.

Same here about Merlin. He made me want to be by him. Very handsome and manly, yet also kind and sensitive. I think the actor died in real life. He was a football player I believe.

[quote]How is it that Melissa Sue was a better actress than Alison and Melissa Gilbert? All 3 of them are primarily known for being on the show, and Gilbert's the only one who kept working consistently of the 3.

Then you know nothing!

And your comment doesn't even make sense. Just because one person works more consistently than others does not mean they're a better actress than others who don't work as much.

Mary was prissy and smug.

Melissa Gilbert was one of the ugliest child actors ever; freckles, bad teeth, crossed eyes. Yech!

r42, Anderson's career had dried up by the mid-80s, and it wasn't because she had more talent than Gilbert and Alison Arngrim or she didn't want the money Gilbert was making, it was because no one would hire her.

Melissa Gilbert was the star of the show and was on many more years than MSA. Of course she was going to be more well known and given more opportunities..

Again, R45... just because someone's career dries up does not mean they don't have more talent than someone whose career continues on.

DUH.

r47, my condolences about your profound retardation. But at least you have those episodes of Melissa Sue on Fantasy Island to keep your spirits up, right?

Again r49... just because I happen to be the only person on earth who thinks Melissa Sue Anderson is a great acting talent (better than Streep, to tell the truth) doesn't mean that I'm retarded. It only strongly suggest that I am, that's all.

I prefer Laura to Mary for exactly the same reasons: Laura was such a spoilt, selfish little brat with horrible teeth. Mary was selfless, pretty and clever.

Why can't people like R26 learn how to use spellcheck?

I don’t think their careers are the only things that dried up.

Melissa was a natural child actress the first couple years of the show, but lost that naturalness by the time she reached adolescence. It probably did not help that they kept her locked in emotionally as a 10 year old tomboy even when she was 15 years old. By the third or fourth year of the show MSA was a better actress as was Alison A. By the time Laura married Almanzo she was not only a bad actress, but for some reason they made good-natured Laura a shrew.

Not that that her career was not already largely dead, but I think MSA disappeared so completely is that she married someone in Canada and stepped completely away from acting to be with the family.

I loved this fucking show (I am 41, so I watched it in reruns but I vaguely recall the replacement Nellie in the early 80's!)

This show makes me bawl like a fucking baby and laugh my ass off.

Campy as fuck and a pure prairie soap opera.

Katherine Mcgregor gave one of the BEST television performances of all time (and probably the most underrated)

Allison Arngrim could do more with a facial expression than Meryl can do in entire film!!

Half Pint DOES appear to be a complete humorless cunt in real life, but I adored Laura on this show!!!

MSA DOES appear to be a complete humorless cunt in real life, but this girl was beautiful and a great actress (probably gave the best performance on the show)

Once Mary became blind, MSA truly gave a wonderful and natural performance. How can anyone not see that??

But for me the show is 90% to be watched for The Olsens. (Im misspelling) Even Willie was hilarious.

And Karen Grassle was also an underrated actress.

Read Confessions Of A Prairie Bitch- It is clear that both Laura AND Mary were little cunts in real life. Just because Alison is friends with Melissa Gilbert doesn't mean you cannot read between the lines in the book.

And Arngrim has been very good to us, and I think she is a gem. And Nellie is a yet to be discovered gay icon.

REmember the one when the bad guy was in the house of Mary when she was blind? LOVE THAT EPISODE. Now that someone has mentioned, and I never thought of it in this term, but it really was a soap opera on the prairie.

Mary too much of a fucking saint, Laura....well those fucking teeth.

Nelly is the best.

I realized how they repeated a lot of storylines. Like how many times was Mary held hostage? Once by Jesse James (I think) another at the blind school. Kids left orphaned where Charles had to find a home or take in-- John, Alicia, Carl, James, Cassandra and those boys that the old man wanted to adopt. Plus Albert. Laura was held hostage by the deranged mother after he daughter drowned, then when she was older by some crazy guy. Caroline lost a son, Laura lost a son and Mary too. I'm sure there are a lot more repeats that I can't remember.

R49 proving its profoudly stupid.

None of this matters because Melissa Gilbert wins when it comes to getting prime dick.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Yeah, Missy sure knows how to pick them.....

and lose them.

Did Shannen Doherty really have an afffair with Gilbert's husband?

R62, better to have fucked and lost...

Which was funny because little sister Sara obviously gave two shits since she was so chummy with Doherty on her show.

Mary might have given Bobby Brady the mumps.

R60 She should've stopped at that nose job. The one she has now is awful.

Melissa was furious that Rob hardly mentioned her in his autobiography. Lol

^ how do you think the 14 yr. old felt?

R32 does Melissa get along with her sister, Sara Gilbert? And which was one was adopted?

Melissa Sue could have been the biggest star in Hollywood ... but she refused to "play the game". Unlike Melissa[italic] Gilbert [/italic]who surely fucked anyone who'd help her up the ladder from an early age.

I bet she molested Michael Landon on the set when he was drunk.

R70, no idea if they get along but from the way they talk about one another... seems more like they publicly pretend to tolerate one another at best, or have some agreement not to bad mouth one another and feign support. I've definitely never felt any actual warm and fuzzies between the two.

And Im not sure what the second part of your question means. Sara Gilbert was not adopted. Melissa and Jonathan were both adopted.

Young Nellie is the *kisses doll girl DataLounge mascot.

Half-pint's pathetic neediness and rabble-rousing antics remind me of Lena Dunham. They have the same yellow teeth, too.

Now that you mention it, R73... Laura is totally the type to have given Carrie a few pebbles.

r61 Uh ... Exhibit C?

Missy Sue was almost the recast for Fallon

EWWW nasty.

Yeah, her hands should be on her breasts, right Joe?

My mother used to always point out in the '80s when Melissa was dating Rob Lowe, how she would shout from the rooftops that she was dating him. Every other sentence in an interview was, 'my boyfriend, Rob Lowe'. To this day if Melissa is on tv or something, the first thing my mom says is, 'My boyfriend, Rob Lowe'. So we both thought it was hilarious when Melissa came out and said that she furious that Rob barely mentioned her in his memoir, meanwhile Rob is about a good 80% of the content of her memoir. It's almost as if Melissa was as gobsmacked as everyone else that he was dating her.

Your mother sounds great.

Love ya R22, using "Jew" as a pejorative. And I bet you think you're a good guy.

Anyway I remember hearing Melissa Gilbert was hired because she could act, Melissa Sue because she was pretty. Being told that as young actors could create tension. I thought it was weird how the stories centered around Laura all the time.

[quote]I thought it was weird how the stories centered around Laura all the time.

Maybe because she wrote the books the series was based on?

Why is it that MSA gets so much grief here when all she's done is do some acting as a child and then into her twenties.

She married once and has had two children, lives a quiet life in Canada with her family?

She published an autobiography, giving us her version of life with Melissa Gilbert and others in the biz.

She doesn't seek the spotlight, let's leave her alone and try a bit of kindness. Yea, yea, yea it's DL, but not everyone deserves derision.

r14, I really enjoyed “Prairie Fires,” too, and was happy to read that won a 2018 Pulitzer Prize for best biography.

On the books Mary was a bit of a bitch, always getting Laura in trouble.

Laura was ugly and Mary was a Saint.

Question about Praire Fires, can you read it if you didn't read the original books? Also, the original books are fiction? I never heard that before.

[quote]I so prefer Mary to Laura on Little House On The Prarie

Really?

Because Mary really hates your guts...

How do you feel with regard to Mary Ellen vs. Erin?

R87 I thought they were autobiography for the most part.

I thought so too, R90, and still do. However R14, said that the books were fiction.

R89 much prefer Mary Ellen to the drab, plain, needy Erin. And Mary Ellen had a lovely set of tits!

Remember the episode "Journey In the Spring" where Charles' father was grief-stricken over the recent death of his wife and tried to commit suicide and was saved by Charles, who took him home and put him in that tiny sod house? The only thing he had to decorate his tiny sod house were some plants. Well, after he wasn't able to keep his promise to Laura that her horse Bunny would be alright after an injury, Laura went over to the soddy and trashed his pathetic little house.

Jesus, what a damn BRAT! I don't normally condone spanking, but damned if Laura wasn't always begging for one.

Laura was a bastard

Laura was a half pint of pure sulphuric ACID!

You're goddamn right r94!

[quote] Melissa Sue could have been the biggest star in Hollywood

LMFAO!!! Someone actually believed that enough to type it out!

Well, she had a pretty face and is white and blond, what else is necessary to be the biggest star on earth?

R97 = Missy Gilbert

I think fans of LHOTP believed the awful half-pint was not a little hellion. They thought she was just full of "spunk." I hate spunk!

r87, you can read Prairie Fires without having read the Little House on the Prairie books. It’s a fascinating stand-alone historical read. You might be inspired to read the books afterward.

Melissa Gilbert is intolerable . . . like the girl in THE EXORCIST.

but worse

I has no idea MSA married an old geezer.

Interesting...headdress choice.

I just watched the episode where Mary got married. What struck me is the shitty costumes...Mary had a blouse and skirt and 1980s hair that her mother didn’t bother to put up for her wedding, every man and boy had the same high-waisted pants with suspenders with a homemade shirt made of some poly cotton blend, and no boy or man had a coat or tie. No one would have gone to town or a hotel or a wedding without a jacket; it’s the modern equivalent of going shirtless. The reverend met Charles and Caroline for the first time and called them by their first names, which never would have happened. Pa unpacked his valise at the hotel and had Aussie Moist hairspray and mousse which he put right next to his blow dryer, diffuser, and round brush. The outlines of underwire bras were clearly visible on Ma and Mary. Pa wore a Timex. Half the blind kids had braces on their teeth.

"Interesting...headdress choice."

She was obviously married in the 80s. Ugly headpieces were IN back then.

R105, Mary and Adam were blind... the town new they didn't have to bother!

R102 is obviously Jonathan Gilbert!!!!

Mary is much nicer and prettier

R06 in the show, she wore her regular dowdy hair with random sprigs of baby’s breath—which would have been impossible to buy in Mankato

She married a rich geezer. She made a beautiful bride.

R91 it had autobiographical roots but they made a bunch up to make them look more Libertarian

That show was a fuckload darker than I remember.