TVSquad

Little House on the Prairie confounded my young mind on many levels: first of all, I thought the series was an adaptation of the Michael Landon vehicle I Was a Teenage Werewolf, which led me to the erroneous conclusion that all werewolves are farmers. This is not true: most werewolves, like zombies, work in the service industry.

Also, because the show took place in the latter half of the 19th century, I assumed that's when it was filmed, too. It never occurred to me --keep in mind the show began two years before I was born-- that it was a modern show set in the past. I assumed it was a really old show and that anyone involved with it was probably long dead.

Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls on the series, is not dead, and neither is Patrick Swayze, who I don't believe had anything to do with the series. They will both, however, appear in a musical called Prairie based on the series of books by author Laura Ingalls Wilder. Gilbert will play the mother and Swayze will play the father. A national tour of the musical, with music by film composer Rachel Portman, is planned for spring of 2008.

Right pic: During a break on the set of the TV series Little House on the Prairie, a young Melissa Gilbert attempts to remove a perfectly healthy appendix from a stray dog.