Little House on the Prairie (TV Series) Harriet's Happenings (1978) User Reviews

Stop the Presses!

[ExplorerDS6789 · 8/10 · 23 June 2011]

Walnut Grove was officially getting a printing press, headed by Harriet's bureaucratic second cousin, Sterling Murdock. Once the Pen & Plow newspaper office was all set up, Sterling hired himself two paperboys: Charles and Jonathan. Then he hired on Albert and Laura as "printers' devils", and Andrew got to deliver fliers. Guess who he got for a head reporter? Yep, Cousin Harriet. What really sealed the deal was that Harriet was willing to forgo her salary in exchange for free ad space. How can you beat that? Well, after bartering with Alice Garvey to make sure Nellie represents Walnut Grove in the spelling bee, Harriet introduced her very first ad for the paper: a 20% off sale at Oleson's Mercantile. Of course, the prices were raised 30% and 20% would be taken off. If you think that was a sneaky sales pitch, get a load of this: Harriet's first headline: War Declared! The folks of Walnut Grove were scared half to death thinking a war was declared, when in fact it was merely Oleson's Mercantile declaring war on high prices. The Pen & Plow's top reporter went on to print news stories that were nothing but twisted around, blown-out-of-proportion, first-hand gossip. Oh, but it didn't stop there. When Harriet found out that Erich Schiller was chosen to represent the town instead of Nellie, she fumed of Alice's betrayal and swore to get even. Out of pure spite, she printed vicious lies about the Garveys and the Schillers.

The night of the spelling bee arrived and poor Erich lost. Was it nervousness, or was it the fact that the Pen & Plow's head reporter kept distracting him? As a result, Erich decided to quit school. Once again it was up to Charles Ingalls to intervene. He helped Erich change his mind then he went to chastise Sterling, who was only interested in money and not what was being printed. Later on, the fat bitch went back to the press to have another few articles of B.S. printed. That's when Albert got a terrific idea. Time to literally give Harriet a run for her money. The next day, almost all of hero township flooded the mercantile for their 100% off sale. Laura and Albert had also tweaked a story about Nellie, making the Oleson daughter want to renounce her namesake, plus a hilarious story about Harriet to boot. Now you think she would have learned her lesson from this little act of tit for tat: gossip hurts. If it were anyone else, I'd say yes, but this is Harriet Oleson we're talking about here. Right away she printed a few more little gems: one stating that Jonathan was going to give Alice a ham for their anniversary, and that Charles fathered Albert illegitimately. Well, sir, that did it. Come Sunday services, Charles would help the folks see just how sick and twisted Harriet's 'Mishappenings' truly were. With Reverend Alden out of town, Charles was filling in. To start the service, he selected Harriet to read from Exodus 20:16, only she was unable to do so. The reason? Charles had borrowed the Schillers' German Bible, proving a point that just because one cannot read another language does not make one illiterate, as Harriet accused those nice folks of being. Charles went on to point out that The Pen & Plow was outright breaking the Eighth Commandmant, and he spoke of how when folks buy a paper, they are supporting sin. During the service, Sterling stormed out, fully aware of his misdeeds. Well, the result of that service was the timely death of The Pen & Plow. Now Walnut Grove will have to wait until Season 9 to get a legitimate newspaper.

This might be debatable, but I think this episode details one of the worst things Harriet Oleson has ever done. I thought it was bad when in "The Inheritence" she tried to intervene in the auction and buy the Ingallses' farm, but printing outright libelous statements from people who kinda, sorta like her and put up with her crap was just downright grounds for her being excommunicated the hell out of town. Why they never did that, I don't know. Well, once again Katherine MacGregor brings her A-game as that nasty bitch Harriet who we all really love to hate, and we love it even more here. Michael Landon as Charles was once again the voice of reason and without whom that town would fall apart. I wonder how they managed without Charles all those years. WG must have been a real pit. So if you like Harriet Oleson, or you like to hate her, I recommend Harriet's Happenings. It brings out the sheer wickedness of her nature, and some parts are downright funny. Either way, it's a winner.

Walnut Grove first newspaper

[mitchrmp · 10/10 · 2 August 2013]

Harriet Oleson's second cousin has arrived in town planning to start a newspaper. Everyone is excited until it's discovered that he and Mrs. Oleson are cut from the same cloth. Harriet gets to write a column herself, but uses it to spread rumors and hurt people. Why Nels doesn't put his foot down and make her stop is beyond me...She is rather nasty in this episode. But when Laura and Albert turn the tables and make her the topic of gossip, she gets very upset and demands the children are punished. Now granted, the things they printed were nothing compared to what she did BUT they were about her - and that made all the difference!

Mostly comedy but with drama and very relevant today as well!

[filmgoer249711 · 10/10 · 13 January 2022]

Basically all Michael Landon productions, beginning with Bonanza where he honed his crafts as a writer and director, were able to do serious episodes and funny ones and the audience still find it compelling. This episode is mostly Mrs. Oleson creating news where it does not exist and reporting gossip, half-truths, and crap. Of course, all of that is rather funny to see Mrs. Oleson make a total fool out of herself, but it gets serious and Charles takes matters into his own hands. Michael Landon lets us know that freedom of speech and the press does not give one the right to print half-truths and outright lies. A lot of negative things have been said about Mike recently, I regard them as crap, but some buy into them. Mike is not hear to defend himself against things people say today, but some assume guilty until proven innocent, even though it is supposed to be the other way around. Several things that a former cast member said about Michael can easily be proven wrong. One allegation is that most directors did not make it through the first season. For the record, the majority of episodes in the first season and throughout the series were directed by Michael, Bill Claxton, Victor French, and Maury Dexter. Sean Penn, made his acting debut in the series, because his father Leo Penn directed some episodes. Leo directed a first season episode of Little House. Of all the directors that directed an episode during the first season, Alf Kjellin was the only one who did not work for Michael Landon again. Leo Penn would go on to direct a few more Little Houses and a couple of Father Murphy's. Another allegation that he cut this persons screen time is also false. If anything the character Carolina Ingalls was given more and more and more screen time as the show developed through the years.