‘Little House on the Prairie’: Here’s What Happened To the Actual House From the Show
Little House on the Prairie is still one of the most beloved TV series of all time. Based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books and set in the 1870s, the show followed Charles (Michael Landon) and Caroline (Karen Grassle) and their three daughters Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson), middle daughter/narrator Laura (Melissa Gilbert), and youngest daughter Carrie (Sidney Greenbush).
After almost 40 years, the show is finally getting a reboot, but what happened to the original Little House on the Prairie house?
‘Little House on the Prairie’ is getting a reboot
Little House on the Prairie fans are thrilled with the latest news about the beloved series; it’s finally getting a reboot. There have been various past attempts at reboots to revamp the show, but this latest one is enticing.
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Paramount TV Studios and Anonymous Content are developing an hourlong drama based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s novel. It will be executive produced by Trip Friendly, the son of late Little House on the Prairie producer, Ed Friendly.
“It seems like a very simple story. This woman grew up traveling all over the Midwest and sat down one day and wrote a bunch of books about it,” American Masters’ executive producer Michael Kantor told Entertainment Weekly. “But the reality is a complicated story about the division between truth and fiction and her daughter’s involvement.”
This is why ‘Little House on the Prairie’ was canceled
After nearly a decade on the air, Little House on the Prairie was finally canceled in 1983. Though the ratings had dropped off considerably with the NBC drama series by Season 9, that’s not the only reason it came from an end.
It turns out that the perfect end for the series since Laura, the narrator, was all grown up and married. “I didn’t think a married woman should still be coming to her father for advice,” Landon told The New York Times back in 1984. ”But when we started this show, we never imagined it would last this long.”
The house from ”Little House on the Prairie’ still exists
Once the series ended, actor Stan Ivar, who joined the show in Season 9 as the handsome blacksmith John Carter asked if he could keep the set. He was granted his wish. Ivar had the house disassembled and relocated to his home in rural LA County.
“People felt better, knowing the little house was safe,” Alison Arngrim, who starred as Nellie Olsen, told Entertainment Weekly. “We’ve all said it would be great to see it in the Smithsonian.” Today, the house is still sitting in Ivar’s backyard. He attempted to donate it to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. However, Ed Friendly nixed the idea. Trip Friendly, told EW,
I’m not familiar with [Ivar having the house]. It would have been the property of NBC, and so it would have been up to them to decide what to do [with it]. But I think it’s a wonderful thing if it can be done.
