Little House on the Prairie (film)
A family's journey west begins a beloved television saga.
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The 1974 American television film Little House on the Prairie was a backdoor pilot for the NBC series of the same name. It aired on March 30, 1974, and is closely adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s second novel in her Little House series. Ed Friendly produced the film, Blanche Hanalis wrote the script, and Michael Landon directed.
Background and production
NBC signed Michael Landon to a development deal after Bonanza ended. Landon wanted to create family-friendly shows with traditional values, a shift from the more adult films of the time. Ed Friendly, a former network executive, held the TV rights to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books but couldn’t find a buyer. When Landon and Friendly met, Friendly saw Landon as a fit for Charles Ingalls, while Landon saw a chance to promote family values.
NBC was lukewarm, fearing the project might be boring, but trusted Landon enough to fund a two-hour pilot movie, with a series possible if it did well. Landon was meticulous about casting. He auditioned forty-seven actresses for Caroline before choosing Karen Grassle, who he felt had the look of a pioneer woman. For the children, he avoided hiring “professional daughters with stage mothers.” Filming took place near Stockton, California, in early 1974.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Little House on the Prairie (film) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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