Karen Grassle Movies

Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor) thinks she has it made when she sells her restaurant to a national franchise. Before long, however, Harriet is being run to a frazzle in her efforts to live up to the franchise's lofty and exacting standards. Meanwhile, Harriet's husband, Nels (Richard Bull), teams with Charles (Michael Landon) to establish a rival eatery across the street, for the express purpose of "rescuing" Harriet by putting her out of business. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, Charles (Michael Landon) and Albert (Matthew Laborteaux) accompany the Cooper family while making a delivery. En route, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper are killed in an accident, leaving their children, James (Jason Bateman) and Cassandra (Missy Francis), orphans. Charles tries to find a suitable new home for the kids -- but when they refuse to be separated, he decides to keep them in his own home on a temporary basis (or so he thinks). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season eight of Little House on the Prairie is marked with the conspicuous absence of several familiar characters, among them Mary and Adam Kendall and Nellie and Percival Dalton, all of whom have moved from Walnut Grove to New York. Mooning over the departure of daughter Nellie, the insufferable Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor) yearns for a replacement. Before long, the Olesons have adopted a little girl named Nancy (Allison Balson), who looks just like the younger Nellie -- and unfortunately acts like her as well. This is the first episode of a two-part story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Ingalls' newly adopted son, James (Jason Bateman), is desperate to "belong," and even more desperate to emulate his older adoptive brother, Albert (Matthew Laborteaux). After breaking Albert's razor, James tries to make amends by getting Albert another one. Unfortunately, he doesn't bother to pay for the new razor, and when he is accused of being a thief, James runs away -- obliging Albert, himself an adoptee, to persuade him to return. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While attending a literature seminar in Arizona, Laura (Melissa Gilbert) is reunited with her sister-in-law Eliza Jane (Lucy Lee Flippin). This happy reunion is compromised when, failing to land a local tutoring job, Laura is forced to take menial work at a local restaurant. Before long, Laura and Eliza Jane find themselves in a quasi-romantic triangle involving the erudite Professor Woestehoff (Joseph Lambie). Though a married woman and certainly disinclined to stray, Laura allows the professor to flatter her in hopes that he will give a positive assessment of her writing efforts -- while the unattached Eliza Jane seethes with jealousy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Albert's classmate Sylvia (Olivia Barash) has been impregnated by a masked rapist, whereupon her "disgraced" father forcibly removes her from town. Already suspected of being the father of Sylvia's unborn baby, Albert (Matthew Laborteaux) courts further scandal by helping the girl run away from her intolerable home situation. Unfortunately, Albert unwittingly tips off the rapist to the girl's hiding place, leading to a terrifying denouement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fed up with Harriet Oleson's (Katherine MacGregor) constant criticisms about her work, Laura (Melissa Gilbert) quits her schoolteaching job -- and invites Harriet to take over. Basking in the opportunity to bring culture to Walnut Grove, Harriet immediately sets up classes in French and art -- totally ignoring such necessary courses as agriculture. Before Harriet's misguided curriculum inevitably results in disaster, Laura has ample time to settle the hash of Ralph (Dennis Dimster), a bully whose pranks are constantly being attributed to the (uncharacteristically) innocent Willie Oleson (Jonathan Gilbert). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Wilders are in for quite a time when Almanzo's brother Royal (Woody Eney) decides to take a vacation -- and deposits his troublesome sons, Myron (Ham Larsen) and Rupert (Rossie Harris), in the home of Almanzo (Dean Butler) and Laura (Melissa Gilbert). Before long, the nasty nephews have turned the household topsy-turvy with their practical jokes and pranks. It falls to Laura to put the kiddies in their place with some trickery of her own. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A clash between Mr. and Mrs. Oleson (Richard Bull, Katherine MacGregor) leads to a town referendum to decide if the women of Walnut Grove should have property rights equal to the men. Not surprisingly, the referendum splits the town right down the middle, male vs. female. Ultimately, a Lysistrata situation develops, with the ladies all leaving their husbands until they get what they want. Even the Ingalls' baby daughter Grace has something to say during the fracas -- her first words, in fact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After many setbacks, Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert) finally marries Almanzo Wilder (Dean Butler) in the two-part opener of Little House on the Prairie's seventh season. Wedding bells also ring for Laura's childhood nemesis (but now good friend), Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim), who weds Percival Dalton (Steve Tracy) -- much to the horror of Nellie's status-climbing mother, Mrs. Oleson (Katherine MacGregor) when it is revealed that "Percival" is actually a Jewish boy named Isaac Cohen. Nellie herself resolves this problem by giving birth to twins, then announcing that one baby will be raised Christian, the other Jewish! Meanwhile, recently widowed Jonathan Garvey (Merlin Olsen) teams with Laura's dad, Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon), to set up a warehouse business headquartered in Sleepy Eye, the same town where Laura and Almanzo now live and work as teachers. Also, we are re-introduced to Laura's blind older sister, Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson), and her equally blind husband, Adam Kendall (Linwood Boomer), likewise employed as teachers. A freak accident restores Adam's sight, whereupon he decides to go to law school -- after first reassuring Mary that his ability to see will not in any way dim their love. As the season draws to a close, Laura finds that she is pregnant. And in the two-part season seven finale, "The Lost Ones," Charles Ingalls decides to adopt a brace of orphans, James and Cassandra Cooper (played respectively by Jason Bateman and Missy Francis). ~ All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, an accident unexpectedly restores Adam Kendall's (Linwood Boomer) eyesight. Although Adam is exultant, his still-blind wife, Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson), is worried that he will fall out of love with her. Meanwhile, Percival Dalton (Steve Tracy) proves to be more than a match for his ever-contentious mother-in-law, Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Albert (Matthew Laborteaux) inaugurates a pen-pal relationship with a girl named Leslie Barton. Hoping to impress one another, the two correspondents tell fibs about themselves. This apparently harmless deception leads to a dramatic denouement in which Leslie refuses to meet Albert face to face -- because she hasn't told him that she is confined to a wheelchair. Leslie is played by Suzy Gilstrap, a real-life paraplegic best known for her starring role in the TV movie Skyward (originally telecast three days after this episode was aired). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Future film star Madeleine Stowe (here billed as "Madeline") is cast as Annie Crane, a blind woman who miraculously achieves fame as a painter. An emotional crisis develops when Annie's long-lost biological mother shows up in hopes of a reconciliation. The embittered Annie refuses to have anything to do with the woman who abandoned her -- until she learns the real reason that she was abandoned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide