They don't make shows like this one anymore. At least that's the buzz at certain "family friendly" publications concerning the release of a whole whack of Little House on the Prairie on DVD. Yep, now you too can own the movie pilot and season one and two of the show.

They certainly were wholesome, and I remember watching the show as a kid; even back then I could sense that the show's creators were feeding me a diet of crap, but there was something so extreme about it that made it fascinating. Spawned in '74, in an America no doubt yearning for a fuzzy nostalgic past in a country turned upside down by Watergate and Vietnam, the show had patriarch Michael Landon teaching his young family about discerning right from wrong. The show may seem too artificially sweet for some crowds - upon sitting through both boxed sets in a marathon I had to be rushed to hospital as I'd slipped into a diabetic coma. The best thing about these early episodes are the nasty antics of one of TV's greatest bitches, little Alison Arngrim as Nellie.

» Matthew Hays