History Trivia / LittleHouseOnThePrairie

* PlayingAgainstType: The man who played the antagonist in the final TV movie, James Karen, ''had'' played a similar role in ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}''. But to generations of people in the New York metro region, he was known as "Mr. Pathmark", as for many years he worked for the now-defunct Pathmark supermarket chain in their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkRR6PljqF8 TV commercials]]. So Pathmark got flooded with letters from people, asking how they could employ the heartless man who tore down Walnut Grove to sell them groceries, apparently not grasping that he was just an actor. Fortunately, the backlash was short-lived, and Karen kept his Pathmark gig through the mid-1990s.

** Averted in the episode "Be My Friend". Melissa Gilbert had broken her arm, but shawls and camera angles were used to hide the cast.

** Merlin Olsen, who played recurring character Jonathan Garvey from Seasons 4-7, had recently retired from a 15-year career as a defensive tackle for [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL's]] Los Angeles Rams that ultimately saw him make the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In addition to that role, Olsen was also working as the lead analyst for NFL coverage on Creator/{{NBC}} (This is briefly lampooned in season 7's "Fight, Team, Fight"; when Jonathan is suggested as a possible coach for the local youth football team, his son Andrew exclaims "My Pa doesn't know anything about football!").

** Merlin Olsen, who played recurring character Jonathan Garvey from Seasons 4-7, had recently retired from a 15-year career as a defensive tackle for [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL's]] Los Angeles Rams that ultimately saw him make the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In addition to that role, Olsen was also working as the lead analyst for NFL coverage on Creator/{{NBC}} (This is briefly lampooned in season 5's "The Winoka Warriors"; when Jonathan is chosen to coach the local youth football team, his son Andrew exclaims "My Pa doesn't know anything about football!").

** Both the Ingalls' only son Freddie and Laura's unnamed son died in infancy from convulsions, leading to speculation that this might have been due to a genetic disorder that only manifested in male children. (Sadly, it might also be why the Ingalls' only surviving children were daughters, since any potential brothers might have been miscarried well before birth. Likely Laura, if she ever knew about any unborn siblings, would not have recorded it.)

* RetroactiveRecognition:
** Andy Garvey became a [[Series/{{JAG}} Navy lawyer]], although you might know him better as [[Film/{{Heathers}} Ram]].
** Creator/JasonBateman and Creator/ShannenDoherty also appeared in the later seasons.

** Merlin Olsen, who played recurring character Jonathan Garvey from Seasons 4-7, had recently retired from a 15-year career as a defensive tackle for [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL's]] Los Angeles Rams that ultimately saw him make the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In addition to that role, Olsen was also working as the lead analyst for NFL coverage on Creator/{{NBC}} (This is briefly lampooned in season 5's "The Winoka Warriors"; when Jonathan is chosen to coach the local youth football, his son Andrew exclaims "My Pa doesn't know anything about football!").

** Merlin Olsen, who played recurring character Jonathan Garvey from Seasons 4-7, had recently retired from a 15-year career as a defensive tackle for [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL's]] Los Angeles Rams that ultimately saw him make the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In addition to that role, Olsen was also working as the lead analyst for NFL coverage on Creator/{{NBC}}.

* PlayingAgainstType: The man who played the antagonist in the final TV movie, James Karen, ''had'' played a similar role in ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}''. But to generations of people in the New York metro region, he was known as "Mr. Pathmark", as for many years he worked for the now-defunct Pathmark supermarket chain in their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkRR6PljqF8 TV commercials]]. So Pathmark got flooded with letters from people, asking how they could employ the heartless man who tore down Walnut Grove to sell them groceries- apparently not grasping that he was just an actor.

* CaliforniaDoubling: The harsh winters of Minnesota (disproportionately represented in the show) were actually filmed in Simi Valley, California. The geography is clearly more California-like, as well. Southern Minnesota is generally greener and has no mountains, as shown in the episode "The Lord is My Shepherd."

* CompositeCharacter: The real Nellie Oleson was a composite of three unpleasant girls, which is why Nellie Oleson seems to suffer a personality shift in every book in which she appears. The first, Nellie Owens, was the SpoiledBrat similar to young Nellie in ''Plum Creek.'' The second, Genevieve Masters, was the snooty teen rival who complained about how much better things were Back East, similar to the Nellie in ''Little Town,'' and the third, Stella Gilbert, was a flighty ditz who briefly captured Almanzo's attention (he was also friends with her brother) until he learned she was frightened of horses, similar to Nellie in ''These Happy Golden Years''.

* AdaptedOut: Most notably Laura's brother Freddie, who died in infancy. Laura felt it was too sad to include his death in a work for children. Less notably, Almanzo had a third sister, also named Laura, who was likely Adapted Out because it might have been [[OneSteveLimit confusing to have two characters with the same name]]. (Almanzo also had a younger brother named Perley, who doesn't appear in ''Farmer Boy'' simply because he was born a few years after the events of that book.)

* HeAlsoDid: Rose's friend and the writer of the "Rose Years" book series, Roger Lea Mac Bride, ran for President under the Libertarian Party ticket.

* TheOtherDarrin: Bonnie Bartlett played Grace Snider Edwards in seasons 2 and 3. When the character appeared for one episode in season eight, she was played by Corinne Camacho.

* ScienceMarchesOn: Mary's blindness is blamed on scarlet fever in the books. Modern studies suggest that she had contracted meningoencephalitis, a type of brain inflammation, which caused her blindness. The 'scarlet fever' diagnosis was probably a misdiagnosis, common back then.
** And the "fever 'n' ague" everyone comes down with in Indian Territory is blamed on bad watermelons by Ma and Mrs. Scott and on "breathing the night air" by Pa, but by the end of the chapter both theories have been proved wrong and the book explains, "No one knew, in those days, that fever 'n' ague is malaria, and that some [[ChekhovsGun mosquitoes]] give it to people when they bite them."

* WrittenInInfirmity: Alison Arngrim broke her arm right before filming of the episode "Bunny" was to begin. Since her character, Nellie, was injured in the episode anyway, the broken arm was incorporated into the script as an additional injury. Arngrim wore nineteenth-century style wrappings to cover her very real 1970s cast.

** Geoffrey Lewis played Sam Galender in the season 3 episode "The Bully Boys", and would later portray Cole Younger in season 9's "The Older Brothers". Mr. Lewis the distinction of portraying one of the eponymous characters of two different episodes.

* CompositeCharacters: The real Nellie Oleson was a composite of three unpleasant girls, which is why Nellie Oleson seems to suffer a personality shift in every book in which she appears. The first, Nellie Owens, was the SpoiledBrat similar to young Nellie in ''Plum Creek.'' The second, Genevieve Masters, was the snooty teen rival who complained about how much better things were Back East, similar to the Nellie in ''Little Town,'' and the third, Stella Gilbert, was a flighty ditz who briefly captured Almanzo's attention (he was also friends with her brother) until he learned she was frightened of horses, similar to Nellie in ''These Happy Golden Years''.

* RelationshipVoiceActor: In the 2019 Japanese dub, Creator/ToshiyukiMorikawa (Charles Ingalls) and Creator/WataruTakagi (Isaiah Edwards) previously worked together as Shagia Frost and the hero Garrod Ran in ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX''.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The show was huge in Spain and Japan. For the latter, ''Little House'' was credited with a quilting craze among the Japanese, not to mention it was the inspiration for an anime series - ''Sōgen no Shōjo Rōra'' - in 1975.

* RealLife/MeanCharacterNiceActor: Katherine "Scottie" [=MacGregor=], who was easily the sweetest woman of all of the female leads, highly respected and beloved by all. Nothing at all like her haughty, mean, snobbish Mrs. Oleson character.

** Geoffrey Lewis played Sam Galender in the season 3 episode "The Bully Boys", and would later portray Cole Younger in season 9's "The Older Brothers". Mr. Lewis the distinction of portraying one of the eponymous characters in two different episodes.