Little House On The Prairie 50th Anniversary

[DramatistDreamer]

Here’s an article with pictures of a recent reunion, organized as part of a series of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the series premiere.

Melissa Gilbert and stars from 'Little House on the Prairie' reunite. See them now.

[Soapsuds]

I got the whole series on blu ray when it was released a few years ago.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

It’s so great that they were able to get as many former cast members as they could. I was surprised to see Jonathan Gilbert as I thought he was estranged from his sister and the entire Little House brand. And it was touching to see photos of the sons of Victor French and Michael Landon there.

I have the series of books…somewhere.

[janea4old]

oh cool, Ketty Lester was there.  I remember her from Little House, but she was also on Days as Valerie Grant's mother Helen.

[dragonflies]

Yeah I saw pics on a FB group I'm in, Allison Arngrim posts in it, tells lots of great stories BTW

[janea4old]

Karen Grassle interview from March 2024:
https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/12346/karen-grassle-little-house-on-the-prairie-interview/

A few quotes from Alison Arngrim's book:
https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/8661/alison-arngrim-says-playing-bully-nellie-little-house-on-the-prairie-saved-her/


Melissa Gilbert and Alison Angrim interviewed at the Hollywood Show in March 2024:
https://www.tvinsider.com/1128234/little-house-on-the-prairie-alison-arngrim-melissa-gilbert/

and
https://people.com/little-house-on-the-prairie-alison-arngrim-melissa-gilbert-close-despite-playing-mortal-enemies-exclusive-8619654

Dean Butler and Alison Arngrim, March 2024:

 

Edited April 19 by janea4old

[DramatistDreamer]

Before I read and posted this article, I scrolled the length of it and was happy to see her photo. 
Of the major living cast members, there were very few (2, 3 at most) who were absent and hopefully before the end of the year, we might see Melissa Sue Anderson and Matthew Labyorteaux join them.

Also, for such a large cast, it’s very cool not to have to ponder any problematic personalities (I’m looking at you, Kirk Cameron and Rick Schroeder!) from series I watched as a little kid.

[vetsoapfan]

Many years ago, when LHOTP was released on DVD for the very first time (there was no blu-ray option available then), it came from a company called Imavision out of Quebec, Canada. Their advertisements decreed that the series had been remastered, color-corrected, and contained "all available scenes."

HA!

After snatching up the collection, I was horrified to discover that: 

--The opening and closing  credits of most episodes were cut off, leaving every four eps to play as one long, continuous piece.

--The sound was screwy, recorded at a higher-than-normal speed or something. Even adult male characters sounded akin to Minnie Mouse.

--The picture was muddy and dark.

--Imavision culled eps from cut, syndicated TV versions. Instead of the original running time of 47-ish minutes, a number of eps clocked in at 37-40 minutes. Scenes were cut off right in the middle of dialogue.

--Episodes were out of order.

--Characters who did not even appear in certain seasons were featured in the packaging for those years, anyway.

--There were spelling mistakes on the boxes.

This LHOTP collection proved to be the single worst, badly-produced and butchered DVD  set I have ever encountered.

(Amazingly, reviews on amazon sung the praises of the show, but I daresay they were written and uploaded before buyers actually watched Imavision's version.)

From what I gather the newer boxset, from Lion's Gate, really is remastered and features uncut episodes with good picture quality and decent sound.

Still, I'm hesitant about shelling out another chunk of money on LH without definitive assurance from real people that the Lion's Gate set is professionally produced. (I don't necessarily trust amazon reviews anymore.)

(BTW, the only other DVD set I've found to be ALMOST as bad as the Imavision LH one was the original Beverly Hills 90210. They were terribly butchered and rendered trying to watch the show worthless.)

 

[Soapsuds]

@vetsoapfan

The picture quality is pristine! All episodes are unedited. I was very pleased with the purchase of the blu ray release.

Edited April 19 by Soapsuds

[vetsoapfan]

Thank you.

Since you've actually watched and listened to at least some of the eps on the Lion's Gate blu-ray boxset, I'll take you word for the quality.  Most of the amazon reviewers of the dreadful Imavision set simply waxed on about how much they lov ed the show itself, when they were kids. It's the QUALITY of the set I care about.

Does your set include the original pilot film and the three, 2-hour movies that were made after the weekly series ended?

[Soapsuds]

@vetsoapfan

Season 1 release of the blu ray contains the pilot movie.

The movies were released on blu ray too but can't recall which season. I need to go back and check my collection.

[vetsoapfan]

Thanks. I am now tempted to keep an eye out for reasonably-priced blu-rays of the show, after hemming and hawing about purchasing the Lion's Gate releases or not.

It remains in my Top 10 Favorite Series list, even after all this time.

[All My Shadows]

I've been on an LHOTP high ever since a few weeks before the Simi Valley reunion. I've joined several FB fan groups to discuss the show (and man, those older ladies can be quite cntty with one another, but it's hilarious), and I've been watching it constantly via Freevee either through their live channel or random episodes on demand. I literally cannot get enough of my Walnut Grove peeps at the moment, and I love it.

Jonathan Gilbert coming back into the fold has probably been the most special thing of this 50th anniversary year. You could tell that he was a little hesitant in the beginning to embrace being part of such a devoted fandom, but he's certainly found some comfort in it, and it's just really sweet. I hope we hear more from him as time goes on.

[DramatistDreamer]

I am curious to know whether he and Melissa are on speaking terms now. I had read something from Melissa that suggested that he had cut her and other family members out of his life.

[All My Shadows]

Oh absolutely, he'd been estranged from them for close to 40 years. I assume he and Melissa have gotten closer again as she was part of building up the hype around him finally making an appearance at the reunion.

I wish Matthew Laborteaux could have made the Simi reunion, but I think he'll be at some of the other events scheduled for the year. In rewatching so much of the series recently, I've come to see how ridiculously talented he was in his first two or so seasons as Albert (plus his earlier appearances as young Charles).