If you thought Little House on the Prairie was flawless, think again. Despite its warm, nostalgic glow and strong moral messages that still resonate today, the beloved series had its fair share of humorous and unexpected blunders. Fans who grew up watching the show—and still tune into reruns—have uncovered plenty of slip-ups that slipped past the editing room.
Take Laura’s pregnancy, for instance. She announces she’s expecting late in season seven during a sunny prairie spring, but by the following summer, she’s still pregnant, raising questions about just how long this pregnancy was meant to last. It’s a classic case of continuity gone awry. Then there’s the unforgettable Nellie Oleson, played by Alison Arngrim. Her signature curls were actually a wig, introduced after the original curling process—using a metal iron heated in an oven—proved too painful and time-consuming. Keeping the wig on securely required a metal comb and dozens of pins.
Fans might also remember the strange appearance of Colonel Sanders in season eight’s “Wave of the Future,” where he pitches a chicken franchise to Harriet. It’s a hilarious anachronism since the real Sanders was born in 1890 and KFC wasn’t founded until 1952—decades after the show’s setting in the 1800s. On the topic of things that don’t quite fit, winter episodes like “Bless All the Dear Children,” set in freezing Minneapolis, featured characters wandering coatless in the snow, likely because the scenes were filmed in warm Arizona during summer. Costuming also made some curious missteps—Caroline’s bra is visible in a few shots despite bras not being invented until 1912, and several women wore perms that felt more 1970s than 1880s.
Meanwhile, most of the men sported clean-shaven faces, a far cry from the bearded fashion of the period. Action scenes weren’t immune to gaffes either. In “The Odyssey,” a dramatic rescue scene on a moving train clearly uses a dummy instead of a real actor, followed by a real stuntman rolling down a hill—making for an unintentionally funny sequence. Behind the scenes, tensions simmered. Melissa Sue Anderson, who played Mary, was said to be aloof, something co-stars Melissa Gilbert and Alison Arngrim noted in their memoirs. Some blamed her reserved nature on her overprotective mother.
In contrast, Arngrim and Gilbert, who played on-screen rivals Nellie and Laura, were best friends in real life. They bonded off-set, had sleepovers, and played pranks together, turning their TV rivalry into a genuine sisterhood. One emotionally charged episode, “My Ellen,” depicted a girl drowning while skinny-dipping with Laura and Mary. Ellen’s grieving mother lashes out at Laura, blaming her for the death, but shockingly, none of the surrounding adults step in to support Laura, creating an awkward and unresolved moment in an otherwise powerful storyline. Michael Landon, the show’s star and creative force, had a playful side too. According to Rachel Greenbush, who played Carrie, Landon once put frogs in his mouth as a prank, letting them jump out to startle cast and crew. Yet not all off-camera stories were lighthearted. Melissa Gilbert later wrote about her disillusionment with Landon after discovering his affair with Cindy Clerico, a young makeup artist, while he was still married. The revelation hurt many cast members who had viewed Landon as a father figure and moral role model. Viewers also noticed a certain quilt appearing across different homes and beds in multiple episodes, suggesting some props were reused for efficiency. Travel routes taken by the Ingalls children changed frequently too, sometimes crossing a bridge or sawmill and sometimes appearing from other paths. Actor Dean Butler, who played Almanzo Wilder, nearly suffered a major accident his first day on set when the horses pulling his wagon ran out of control after he dropped the reins. Thankfully, a crew member intervened, and Michael Landon later stepped in to shoot the scene himself. As for Albert Ingalls, his fate remains a mystery. Diagnosed with leukemia in a 1983 TV movie, it was implied he would die, but the show never confirmed it, leaving fans speculating to this day. In the series finale, “The Last Farewell,” the characters appear oddly youthful for 1901, even though by then many should have aged into their sixties or seventies. Katherine MacGregor, who played Harriet Oleson, was noticeably absent from the finale, reportedly due to a spiritual pilgrimage to India, though others cite unresolved tensions with Landon. All in all, these bloopers and behind-the-scenes tidbits add another layer of charm to a show that continues to captivate audiences.
