Little House on the Prairie
1974 · 9 seasons · 200 episodes · Western, Drama, Family
Created by Ed Friendly, Laura Ingalls Wilder
“Together, a pioneering family faces a crucial test of its courage and its love!”
When the big woods of Wisconsin becomes a difficult spot for hunting, Charles Ingalls reluctantly decides to move his family, pioneering west. Their life on the farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s is full of adventure, tragedy, and triumph. Based on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Why it's worth watching
Little House on the Prairie is a heartwarming and wholesome portrayal of family life in the American frontier, filled with virtue, sacrifice, and the strength of faith.
What it praises
The series holds up virtues such as perseverance, family bonds, and the importance of community and faith during challenging times.
For discernment
Little House is one of the few classic series where Christian faith is genuinely woven into the fabric — the Ingalls pray, the church and its pastor are treated with reverence, and episodes wrestle honestly with providence, grief, and forgiveness rather than mocking belief. It also refuses to sentimentalize frontier life: this is a show where children die in a schoolhouse fire, a mother and baby burn to death, characters battle whiskey addiction and even morphine, and cruelty and child abuse (whippings, a leather strap) surface as real evils to be confronted. There's a brief early instance of a young Laura bathing with her chest visible, rare use of a racial slur reflecting the period, and pipe-smoking and saloon settings in some seasons. For a Christian household this is edifying and rare — a drama that takes faith seriously — but it's not soft: the tragedies are wrenching and the hard subjects are handled soberly, so know that the 'wholesome' label undersells how heavy some episodes get.
- Faith & familyStrongly positive: Christian faith, prayer, church, and a respected pastor are woven reverently throughout, with episodes grappling seriously with grief, providence, and forgiveness.
- ViolenceIntense tragedy and cruelty — children die in a schoolhouse fire, a mother and baby burn to death, and children are whipped and abused as evils to be confronted.
- SubstancesStorylines involve whiskey addiction, a saloon setting through much of season 5, and morphine addiction; Charles smokes a pipe in early seasons.
- LanguageVery rare period-accurate racial slurs including the n-word, plus infrequent 'hell' and 'd***.'
- SexualityOne early scene shows young Laura bathing outdoors with her bare chest briefly visible.
Cast
Melissa Gilbert
Laura Ingalls
Michael Landon
Charles Ingalls
Karen Grassle
Caroline Ingalls
Lindsay Greenbush
Carrie Ingalls
Sidney Greenbush
Carrie Ingalls
Katherine MacGregor
Harriet Oleson
Richard Bull
Nels Oleson
Melissa Sue Anderson
Mary Ingalls
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