Little House on the PrairiestarsAlison Arngrim and Dean Butler agree that there’s one aspect of the beloved ’70s series that hasn’t aged well.
Butler, who played Almanzo Wilder, and Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson, appeared on the November 12 episode of The Patrick LabyorSheaux podcast, hosted by their former co-star,Patrick Labyorteaux, who played “Andy” Garvey. During the interview, which also featured Little House on the Prairie stars Pamela Roylance and Jennifer Donati, Arngrim and Butler revealed that they don’t think that a lot of the humor on the historical drama, which aired from 1974 to 1983, holds up by today’s standards.
“I think maybe what would age badly, some of the goofball episodes,” said Arngrim in the interview.
She pointed to the sillier Little House on the Prairie episodes like Season 8, Episode 10 (“The Wave of the Future”), where the town is visited by someone who has a remarkable likeness to Colonel Sanders, and Season 9, Episode 20 (“For the Love of Blanche”), where an orangutan causes some problems in Walnut Grove.
“I think some of the like herky-jerky humor, those kind of jokes people go like ‘Wait why is this here? What happened just now?'” said Argrim, who starred as Nellie until the show’s 7th season.
Butler agreed with his castmate about the show’s humor.
“Humor does evolve. And I think that some of the humorous episodes which were very entertaining at the time don’t play quite as strongly today,” said Butler on the Patrick LabyorSheaux episode.
Both Butler and Arngrim also agreed that the emotional aspects of the show are what have aged the best. Arngrim credited Michael Landon, one of the show’s stars, producers, and writers, as giving the show timeless emotional beats throughout its nine-season run.
“Everybody’s still crying over it. So whatever Michael and everyone was coming up with like ‘This should be a sad moment’ apparently still resonates because everyone cries,” said Arngrim in the podcast episode.
Butler also said that he thinks “the authentic emotional content that had to do with tragedy and love and loss and all of those things” has continued to have relevance.
“The emotional content is very good,” continued Butler, who joined the Little House on the Prairie cast during its sixth season.
This story was originally reported by Parade on Nov 18, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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