Little House on ohe Prairie was originally written by Laura Ingalls, who grew up during the mid 1800s in the Midwest. Her tales became very popular children's literature and netted her several Newberry Awards. The original Little House books were published by Harper & Brothers, and they seeded the eponymous television program, which aired from 1974 through 1982 on NBC.

Little House on the Prairie, the TV series, starred Michael Landon as the head of the Ingalls clan. Other notable actors included Melissa Gilbert, Linwood Boomer (who later went on to create the smash hit comedy Malcolm in the Middle), and Melissa Sue Anderson. The show was by and large a drama, but it featured some escapist elements, particularly in the later seasons.

The show took place in a real Minnesota town called Walnut Grove. Curiously, star Michael Landon also played a major role in directing some of the TV hour-longs. Little House on the Prairie was shot in California on the same lot that smash hit TV shows The Dukes of Hazard and Gunsmoke were shot.

Later guest stars to the series included Steve Tracy, who made a bow in 1980, Jason Bateman (who joined the cast in 1981 and later went on to star in the Emmy-winning Fox series Arrested Development), and Allison Balson. Both the books and the TV series episodes have become collectors' items, and a recently released DVD compilation of the episodes has proven successful commercially.