Little House on the Prairie. Remember it? Wellllll, I just looked up an episode that aired in December of 1978 – I would have been 30. I missed it and apparently I missed any rerun of it. I didn’t know a good thing had happened; I do now.

Katherine was sleeping and Clara found the series on the Hallmark Channel and so we watched it together. It was an airhead plot, actually, two airhead plots woven together. I came home and looked it up and guess what? Yes, here is a viewer’s comment (about one of the plots):

The regular writing staff was either high or absent when this dreadfully lame plot was hatched.
1.0
By ceosmom, Aug 20, 2012
Too bad “Bomb” and “Stunk Up the Place” aren’t available as classifications for these reviews; either would apply to this embarassingly bad episode of LHOTP. One hour seems like four as “actresses” Lindsay and Sydney Greenbush (as Carrie Ingalls and her “fairy godsister”), one-dimensionally mumble their way through a morass of inane and ludicrous dialoge. Granted, the script is bad, but the girl’s acting is worse. No wonder the sisters playing Carrie were largely relegated to the part of “prop” throughout the series run.

Horrible writing and acting aside, the story itself is just plain dumb. Charles goes off to work for a month, leaving a testy Caroline with four children and a farm to look after. Albert and Laura, of course, can’t be bothered with Carrie, but for some reason, the writers have Caroline turning on her as well, treating her as a pest and a nuisance for most of the show (at one point, Caroline sends Carrie to the Garveys by herself, and then “berry picking at the pond” alone. Hello?! Who are you, and what have you done with Ma?). All this neglect causes Carrie to retreat inward, where she meets on several occasions her “fairy godsister”. Together they visit what appear to be rejected or leftover props from 1973’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, are chased by a giant spider, and visit heaven, where the only people they meet are two old saints and the Ingalls dog, Jack. And the special effects…I’ve seen better on “I Dream of Jeanie” and “Land of the Lost”. Don’t lose an hour of your life watching this one!

From THIS SITE

And so it goes.