Medium-Sized Townhome on the Corner

Last night, looking for something good on TV to fall asleep to, I stumbled across a Lifetime Movie Network's version of Little House on the Prairie. The True Laura Ingalls Wilder Story, you know? Of course you all know about the TV show way back when, but as an avid reader of the actual books, I scorned that show. I read those books over and over again; I probably still could quote out of them. I turned the movie last night on about 35 minutes into it, and was delighted to find that it was in the middle of a very accurate scene. As it proceeded, though, I found that accurate storylines was about the only thing it had going for it.

Besides the fact that it assembled quite possibly the homliest cast of characters ever to grace a movie production, here are some of the thing I found particularly irksome:

• Laura ran around all over the place with her hair down. I don't know why, but this really bugged me. Girls did not wear their hair down back then.
• 'Monzo's constant use of the nickname "Bessie" to Laura. Now, I don't remember him calling her this name. She did call him Manly, in the books and in the movie, so I'm willing to accept as fact that he called her Bessie. The problem, though, was that every other word out of his mouth was "Bessie". "Bessie, what would you think, Bessie, if we were to build a house right here, Bessie, right on this land, Bessie, would you like that Bessie?"
• When 'Manzo proposed, it was one of my favorite parts of the books. I remember it exactly:

"Laura, would you like an engagement ring?"

"I suppose that depends on who it's from."

"If it was from me?"

"Then it would depend on the ring."

How great is that? What a ballsy bitch she was! So he gave her the ring (a garnet, if you wondered), and she accepted. They totally cut that out from the movie though.

Allright, enough bitching about the movie. I actually still really dug it, and it was fun to remember how much I loved those stories. It led me to wonder how much influence they had on who I am today. You know, how much I love to be in charge of a farm, and how I call Eli "Manly", and how I know how to find my way home in a blizzard.

Two last notes of interest: there was an obligatory Law and Order sighting. The woman who played Caroline, Laura's mom, was the judge on Law and Order whose husband tried to have her killed. She wouldn't serve him up, and ended up dying. And when searching for info on the books, I found this. I remember wishing so badly that I was somehow a descendant of hers, or one of her friends.

ahhhhh memory lane, what will you bring me next?