SPECIAL | Melissa Gilbert remembers 'Little House on the Prairie,' as it turns 50
The Excerpt
USA TODAY
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2024
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
If you’re a woman who is part of Generation X or the baby boomers, then you probably, like me, spent your Monday nights growing up watching one of America’s most enduring and endearing TV series. The show followed the wholesome Ingalls family and their life in Walnut Grove, Minnesota in the 1800s, loosely based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The show’s star was Melissa Gilbert who played little Laura Ingalls, an optimistic, curious and mischievous young girl who quickly became America’s sweetheart. The pilot for the show aired 50 years ago on March 30th on NBC and the series ran for a remarkable nine seasons. Melissa joins The Excerpt to talk about the show's outsized impact on American culture and share her experience being part of it.
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| 0:00.0 | Wunderry Plus subscribers can listen to USA Today's the excerpt, ad free right now. |
| 0:05.0 | Join Wunderry Plus in the Wundery app. |
| 0:08.0 | Hello and welcome to the excerpt. I'm Laura Trujillo, managing editor for Life and |
| 0:16.1 | Entertainment at USA Today. Today is Wednesday, April 17, 2024. |
| 0:21.9 | If you're 17th, 2024. |
| 0:24.7 | If you're a woman who is part of the Gen X or Boomer Generation, |
| 0:28.3 | then you, probably like me, spent your Monday nights |
| 0:31.4 | watching one of America's most enduring and endearing TV series, Little House on the Prairie. |
| 0:37.0 | The show followed the wholesome Ingalls family and their life in Walnut Grove, Minnesota in the 1800s. It was loosely based on the books so many of us read as children. |
| 0:47.0 | The show's star was Melissa Gilbert, who played Little Laura Ingalls, an optimistic, curious, and mischievous young girl who quickly became |
| 0:56.0 | America's Sweetheart. The pilot for the show aired 50 years ago on March 30th on NBC, and the series ran for a remarkable nine seasons. Here to talk about the |
| 1:06.7 | show's outsized impact on American culture and share her experience being part of it |
| 1:11.9 | is the woman who played its star Laura, |
| 1:14.3 | Melissa Gilbert. Thank you for joining me, Melissa. |
| 1:17.6 | Well, sure, happy to be here. |
| 1:19.7 | Well, for those too young to have seen the show, how would you describe it? |
| 1:23.9 | I think I would say that it is a show about a family of pioneers in the 1800s, |
| 1:31.1 | making their way through all of the difficulties that families face today and doing it with love and community and faith and integrity and no money. |
| 1:47.8 | So you just celebrated the 50th reunion of the show in Seamy Valley in California, not far from where the show was filmed. |
| 1:55.8 | What was it like to meet so many fans and reconnect with your cast? |
| 1:59.9 | It was such an emotional weekend. |
| 2:02.3 | I mean, I think I cried at least four or five times a day, |
... |
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