Books vs TV Series

[clueliss]

Okay, so what, to you, stands out in differences between the Book Series and the TV Series?

As a kid who saw the made for TV movie before she knew it was a book series, then found the books in 5th grade (after parental divorce and a move to a new town/school district and I was isolated and a bit of a weird outcast) and became obsessed with them.  So by the time the tv series came along, I was excited and yet had some gripes at the tv series progressed.  And more gripes as an adult.

I was annoyed as a kid that they didn't follow the books.  Meaning dang it Mary and scarlet fever and the hair cut.  And Oh sure she went blind.  But what about south dakota and the railroad and excuse me The Long Winter was my favorite and totally skipped.  

Everything about Albert Ingalls

The episode where Laura puts apples down her dress for boobs.

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by Destiny

[catlady]

I saw very little of the series, so I can’t compare much, but one thing that stood out for me even back on the 1980s was that pretty much the entire TVs series took place in Walnut Grove, which was On The Banks Of Plum Creek, not LHOTP.  

I have only vague recollections of the TV movie, at least I assume that’s what it was. I saw it once in the 70s or early 80s, and it had all different actors, but it seemed to more closely resemble LHOTP the book.  

Edited December 19, 2019 by catlady

[GreyhoundFan]

I despise the character of Albert. In fact, I despise the concept of the character, who was the embodiment of jumping the shark. The Ingalls family was so poor that they didn’t have food far too often, yet they take in orphaned St. Michael junior. I think not.

 I also hated Mary getting married and starting the blind school. In real life, Mary went to the school for the blind, came home, and sat in Ma’s parlor, doing beadwork and needlework for the rest of her life. I’ve seen some of her work, which is displayed at Ma and Pa’s final house in DeSmet.  She did travel to see Carrie in the Black Hills via train once. 
 

I realize that the series needed a regular supporting cast that would be familiar to the audience, but in the books, and in real life, people moved all the time. 

[Playagirl]

On 12/20/2019 at 10:30 PM, GreyhoundFan said:

I despise the character of Albert. In fact, I despise the concept of the character, who was the embodiment of jumping the shark. The Ingalls family was so poor that they didn’t have food far too often, yet they take in orphaned St. Michael junior. I think not.

 I also hated Mary getting married and starting the blind school. In real life, Mary went to the school for the blind, came home, and sat in Ma’s parlor, doing beadwork and needlework for the rest of her life. I’ve seen some of her work, which is displayed at Ma and Pa’s final house in DeSmet.  She did travel to see Carrie in the Black Hills via train once. 
 

I realize that the series needed a regular supporting cast that would be familiar to the audience, but in the books, and in real life, people moved all the time. 

Yes to all of this. Though it's been years and years since I've seen the show so I might be misremembering things, some stuff really annoyed me:

The lack of consistency in the Albert storyline bugged me too. At the end of one episode, Laura did a voice over and mentioned that years later when Albert came home it was as Dr Albert Ingalls. But then later in one of the specials, he came home to die from some random illness. So he never became a doctor.

And not only did Mary get married but she had a baby who died in a fire. And her husband regained his sight in a freak accident. Once he became a lawyer they moved back to walnut grove for a bit while he tried to practice law and they rented a single room to live in. What the heck did she do all day sitting in a room while her husband was working? It seems like once all the horrible things happened, they just sort of ran out of ideas for her character.

I loved the books and read them multiple times. The series was OK but I never really viewed it as a comparison to the books. They were two completely separate entities in my opinion.

 

Edited December 23, 2019 by Playagirl
Auto-correct is my nemesis.

[Fun-Dee]

In the first season, it seemed like they at least tried to include stories from the books.  After that, they didn't even try.  I didn't like that they had Laura chasing Almanzo.  Their courtship from the book was much more interesting and believable.  

[smittykins]

I believe I read that the producers of the TV series only had rights to the original story up to a certain point, so everything after that was fictional by necessity.

Edited December 31, 2019 by smittykins
Remove extra “only”