Revivals,remakes, and reboots have been all the rage in the TV world, but I don’t think anyone saw this one coming.
Netflixwillrebootthe 1800s period-dramaLittle House on the Prairie, based on theLittle Housebooks by Laura Ingalls Wilder (published in the 1930s).
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The showrunner, Rebecca Sonneshine (The Boys,The Vampire Diaries,Archive 81), had this to say:
“I fell deeply in love with these books when I was 5 years old. They inspired me to become a writer and a filmmaker, and I am honored and thrilled to be adapting these stories for a new audience.”
The OriginalLittle HouseIs Still Popular
The original TVadaptationofLittle House on the Prairieran from 1974 to 1983. It had 200 episodes and four specials. Over that decade,Little Housewon multiple Emmy Awards, mostly for Outstanding Cinematography. It’s one of those beloved shows from a bygone era of television that feels so distant from the stories we get today.
With that said, Nielsen did release its year-end report on streaming numbers. They specifically highlighted that the originalLittle Housetotaled 13.25 billion minutes of watch-time. For perspective,The Boys, one of the most popular currently running shows in the world, accrued 13.58 billion minutes.Top overall wasBlueywith 55.62 billion.
It’s pretty surprising and great to see a classic likeLittle House on the Prairiestill have an audience. Though Nielsen did note the demographic skewed “older”.
How Will The NewLittle HouseDiffer From The Original?
In the press release, Netflix gave some insight into the tone of this new adaptation.
A transformed adaptation of Wilder’s semi-autobiographical books, the newLittle Houseon the Prairieis part family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West. The series will offer a kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of those who shaped the frontier.
You could easily describe the original show as being a family drama, survival tale, and origin story of the American West. The main difference we should expect is an increase in scope and scale. Netflix has all the money, so they can tell a larger, bolder story that turns something intimate into, in their own words, something “epic”.
In the 90-minute pilot movie forLittle House on the Prairie, the Ingalls family leaves home to settle in Kansas. It’s hard getting there, but they survive and build and everything seems to be going well. But it turns out they’re on land owned by Native Americans. The film ends with the government evicting them and the family having to move elsewhere.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Netflix turned that 90-minute pilot into an entire 10-episode first season that really highlighted the journey, drama, etc.
