Nellie Oleson Burns Down "Little House On The Prairie"

[Mandy21]

I remember reading in one of the "Little House" memorabilia-type books that the dear actress Katherine (Scottie) MacGregor, who played Harriet Oleson, was one of the kindest, gentlest, most charitable, giving and forgiving people on this planet, according to all of her costars.  To me, that's what acting is -- someone who can convincingly play the exact antithesis of themselves, and pull it off without a single viewer picturing her in any other way than the mean, selfish, evil, conniving, greedy witch that she portrayed.  I'm guessing Alison felt the same way about the character she was portraying.  Too funny...

I loved every single episode, and will cherish them all in their own special way for the messages they gave and lessons they taught us as impressionable young'uns, but without a doubt, my favorite one was called "The Wisdom of Solomon" in Season 3.  Todd Bridges, an unknown pre-Diff'rent Strokes actor at the time, one whom we've recently learned was at the same time being sexually abused by those in charge of him, played a young boy who'd run away from his sharecropper home in Mississippi in order to find a better life, and snuck aboard Mr. Ingalls' wagon and made his way to Walnut Grove, claiming he was an orphan with nowhere to go and no family, so of course, the Ingalls took him in, gave him a home, and tried to find a way for him to adjust into the all-white, middle-class way of life they knew.  He was belittled and treated like an unwelcome outsider by the other kids and folks of the town, and he was struck by a racism he'd never had to know before.  His words, his speeches, his tears in that episode, were heart-rending to listen to, even back then when I was just 11 years old, and even more so last year when I watched it all again at age 43.  What a brilliant and underestimated actor he was, and he's still in the business to this day.

There wasn't a single episode I didn't love, but for some reason, that one in particular struck me to my core and made me see what racism was, and set my resolve for life, that I would play no part in it, ever.   

Thanks for the tip about Wal-Mart, David.  Not sure I need to own them all, when my library a block away has them all the time at my beck-and-call.  I already own the entire collection of the original "Beverly Hills 90210", "Melrose Place", and "Thirtysomething" sitting right there on top of my TV cabinet.  I'm wondering if adding one more entire collection of a TV show might be the equivalent of a single woman owning three cats    Might scare a few potential dates away when they come through my front door, dunno...

My fave character was Mr. Edwards -- Victor French.  Sometimes, at night when I can't sleep, I start humming the words to "Ole Dan Tucker"...

Perhaps I need medication, whatcha think?