Could You Be More Specific?

Checking my blog traffic statistics this morning, I stumbled upon a very odd and specific keyword. A keyword is what people type into their search engine when they are looking for information on the net.

This particular keyword was “Little House on the Prairie TV explanation Mary goes blind”

Dear visitor who was looking for the above information, I hope that this site was useful to you. However I feel it is my obligation and duty as a Little House Addict to provide you with the answer you seek.

Mary went blind as side-effect from scarlet fever.

After the blindness, there was an episode where Mary claimed that she could see light, but a trip to the doctor proved that she could NOT see the light, but was instead feeling the heat from the light source.

Come to think of it, Mary really had a tough life on that show. She was set to be the brilliant teacher, but then went blind, got trapped in a dust storm, her baby died in a house fire and sub sequentially she had a nervous breakdown.

She was also a racist. I hated Mary Ingalls.

"Little House" Withdrawals

I have finished all of the Little House on the Prarie episodes which you can buy on DVD in Australia, which is only the first two seasons. I am grumpy, depressed and walking around feeling a little bit lost in life. I believe I am serious withdrawal symptoms.

I have searched all of the DVDs in case I accidentally skipped an episode, but no, I have not skipped any of them. This realisation made me bedridden for about three days. I went on a hunger strike.... well, I would have if those potato chips didn't keep screaming "EAT ME!!! You know you want to."

I have tried to replace this addiction with musicals, a genre which normally cheers me up and gets me dancing around the house. I watched Fame, A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls & Chicago. All great movies, but it just wasn't the same.

Seriously, is there any one else out there going through the same issue? Can we form a support group?

I Think I Also Need to Join a 'Little House on the Prairie" Addiction Group

Yes, I admit it. I cannot go one day without watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie on DVD.

I hate this show. I hate the goodie-goodie stories and the predictable lines from the characters. I hate the fact that anytime one of the Olesons say something of a mocking nature to one of the Ingalls girls, the response is always, “My pa says… “.

Last night I sat through an hour of Mary Ingalls’ dilemma of her new bloody glasses. I mean, what a waste! She goes blind in the end of the series anyway. I really hate this show!! So why can I not stop watching it? Or better still, why can I not stop buying the show on DVD?

No matter how hard I search myself, I cannot find an explanation for this addiction. It could be memories of a childhood crush on a sweaty Michael Landon, or maybe because I always wanted to be Nellie Oleson (she had the best candy). Maybe it is because it reminds of when I was growing up it was the only show on TV which my dad let us watch.

My dad turned christianity into something similar to a S&M fetish. He controlled everything we did or saw. We were not allowed to go to movie theatres because the same theatres that showed movies such as “Freaky Friday” or “The Sound of Music” were the same theatres that showed porn (I don’t know what theatres he was going to). We were not allowed to dance because dancing promoted sexual activity. TV shows were strictly monitored: The Facts of Life was deemed too racy.

So why, if this was seemingly such a horrible time in my life, do I have a strong affinity for this Little House on the Prairie? They used to air re-runs of it at 9:00 am on weekdays. Of course, being on at the time it was, I could never watch the re-runs as I was in school. Except for those few days a year when snow fell from the sky like manna and school was cancelled. Yes, I speak of the desperately wanted and often illusive snow day.

That special day when you wake up to a blanket of thick virgin snow and as you gobble down a giant bowl of Golden Grahams, you listen to the radio eagerly awaiting the announcer to list your school. Unfortunately, I lived a in a very strict school district and more often than not, the surrounding school districts cancelled their school day due to the weather but not mine.

So when it happened, it was special. My parents would schlep off to work and I would be left to my own devices. I would crawl back underneath the covers and turn on my little black and white television set and watch Little House on the Prairie. Heaven!

So that may just be the reason. I am not addicted to the show itself, but the feeling of happiness it brings to me when I watch it. My own private snow day everyday.