The BEST episodes of Little House on the Prairie
Every episode of Little House on the Prairie ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Little House on the Prairie!
Based upon the best selling "Little House" series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The show follows the lives of a simple farming family, the Ingalls, who settle into a quaint little house near the small town of Walnut Grove during the late 1800s. The majority of the shows were narrated by Laura and the series follows her from when she and her family arrive in Walnut Grove until her adulthood with Almanzo Wilder, with whom she starts a family of her own.
#1 - Wave of the Future
Season 8 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/7/1981
Mrs. Oleson changes the restaurant into a franchise restaurant, She has a hard time living up to the agreement of the franchise. Charles and Nels get together and decide to open up a restaurant of their own, right across the street. The new restaurant forces Mrs. Oleson's restaurant out of business. The town is now back to normal, or at least as normal as it can be.
#2 - I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away (2)
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/13/1978
Charles and Caroline sign Mary up for the blind school in Iowa. At first, Mary is very reluctant to learn anything at the school. However, after being with her teacher, Adam Kendall, for a while, she turns her outlook on life around. Mary is such a great student that Adam asks her to help her teach at a blind school with him.
#3 - I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away (1)
Season 4 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/6/1978
Mary falls in love with Seth. When Mary's eyesight starts to get worse, Charles takes her to a specialist. He is devastated when the specialist tells him that Mary will lose her sight. Charles is unable to tell Mary for a while that she is going blind. When Mary does go blind, the whole family suffers.
#4 - Meet Me At The Fair
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/28/1977
The Ingallses and Olesons take a trip to the fair. Patrick, a carnival worker and Mary's boyfriend, and his boss, Cass (a balloonist and suave ladies man) vie for Mary's attention; Charles and Nels entering a jackass riding contest; and Carrie has her own adventure.
#5 - Sylvia (1)
Season 7 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/9/1981
Albert's budding romance with a young girl is complicated when it is discovered that she is expecting.
#6 - Laura Ingalls Wilder (2)
Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/29/1980
Almanzo's dreams of building a home do not go as planned, forcing him to postpone the wedding. Laura has a way for them to earn some money, but his rejection of her idea starts a feud between them.
#7 - The Election
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/21/1977
As a prank to make him look foolish, the older boys of Walnut Grove school nominate the object of their practical jokes, gentle Elmer Dobkins, to run for class president against popular Mary Ingalls and wealthy Nellie Oleson. While Mary and Nellie wage their campaigns with promises of popcorn and gum balls, Mr. Dobkins witnesses his son being teased by the older boys and, when he finds out why Elmer was nominated, angrily orders him to pull out of the election. But, when election day comes and the race seems too close to call, a cruel act and children tired of being bullied decide the outcome.
#8 - I Remember, I Remember
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/23/1978
Mr. Ingalls is severely delayed when a wheel breaks on his wagon in the pouring rain. This is the day of Charles and Caroline's wedding anniversary. Everything had been all prepared and set up for that day. When Charles doesn't show up in time, Caroline tells the children how hard it was to get Charles to notice her and how many heartbreaks she had before she finally knew that Charles loved her.
#9 - Troublemaker
Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/25/1976
When Miss Beadle can no longer handle the older students' bullying, she is fired. Her mean-spirited succecssor immediately clashes with Laura, and unfairly blames her for several incidents in the classroom.
#10 - The Music Box
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/14/1977
Laura befriends a new girl, Anna, who stutters and has a hard time making friends. A jealous Nellie starts an elite club and although she invites Laura, she leaves Anna out. While at the Olesons, Laura steals one of Nellie's music boxes.
#11 - The Inheritance
Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/6/1978
When Charles learns that he's inherited the estate of a wealthy uncle, the Ingalls family find themselves on the brink of a new way of life.
#12 - Sylvia (2)
Season 7 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/16/1981
Albert's girlfriend's pregnancy brings chaos into both their lives.
#13 - He Was Only Twelve (1)
Season 8 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/3/1982
While Mr. Edwards, Charles, and James are in Sleepy Eye, James gets shot during a bank robbery. James, who is in a coma, is taken to the hospital. While James is in the hospital, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Ingalls, and Albert look for the bank robbers. They find them and bring them to justice. Charles continues to believe that James will get better.
#14 - The Rivals
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/9/1978
Charles must try to save his business from a competitor. Laura, who is love with Jimmy Hill, must compete with somebody else for him.
#15 - The Nephews
Season 7 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/19/1981
Almanzo gets suckered into watching his brother Royal's two bratty boys.
#16 - He Was Only Twelve (2)
Season 8 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/10/1982
When Charles refuses to admit that James will likely never recover from his gunshot wound, he leaves Walnut Grove with his adopted son. He builds an altar in the woods and hopes that God will bring a miracle.
#17 - Men Will Be Boys
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/13/1978
Jonathan and Charles allow their boys to prove their manhood by allowing them to take a trip to Sleepy Eye by themselves. Jonathan and Charles secretly follow the boys. The boys end up making the trip with no problems at all. However, the fathers get into some embarrassing situations following their boys.
#18 - The Man Inside
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/2/1978
Amelia, a new girl that Laura meets in school, is ashamed of her very overweight father. Her father works at the blind school where Mary works. All the blind students like him a lot. They claim that they can see his love. One day, Laura and some other students from school, start making fun of the overweight person, not knowing that they were making fun of Amelia's father. Amelia's father pretends to leave town since his girl is so ashamed of him. He hides out at the blind school. When he is involved in an accident, Amelia reveals to her dad how much she loves him.
#19 - Ebenezer Sprague
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/24/1975
Laura Ingalls is stunned to learn that her amiable fishing friend is none other than Walnut Grove's new banker, miserly Ebenezer Sprague, and heartbroken when he accuses her of becoming his friend to secure a loan for her family.
#20 - The Lost Ones (2)
Season 7 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/11/1981
The Cooper children go home with Charles, but as they're adjusting, a set of adoptive parents arrive.
#21 - The Reincarnation of Nellie (2)
Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/12/1981
Nancy turns out to be worse than Nellie ever was. She even locks another girl in the ice house. The students devise a plan to teach Nancy a lesson. They trick her into being the star in a dunking tank. Also during this episode, Adam and Mary move to New York so that they can earn a living and Hester Sue comes to Walnut Grove to work at the restaurant.
#22 - Laura Ingalls Wilder (1)
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/1980
Upon being sold a piece of land, Almanzo is eager to begin building a home for him and Laura. He hires his friend Harv Miller to assist him with his crop. Meanwhile, Laura is offered a teaching job at a faraway school.
#23 - Goodbye, Mrs. Wilder
Season 7 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/2/1981
Laura resigns from her teaching position when she is forced to integrate French and art appreciation into the curriculum. Mrs. Oleson takes over the position.
#24 - The Award
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/11/1974
While studying for an optional history exam in the barn, Mary accidentally knocks over a reading lamp and starts a fire. Caroline punishes Mary by telling her she couldn't take the exam. Mary doesn't tell Ms. Beadle this until the day of the exam.
#25 - Dark Sage
Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/26/1981
Dr. Baker posts an ad for another doctor, to relieve his workload (and Mrs. Oleson's constant pestering). He hires Dr. Caleb Ledoux, but doesn't count on him being black. The Ingalls are among the very few to accept Dr. Ledoux, as others are outright hateful and racist. Even Dr. Baker struggles with his prejudice and, to show his spite, gives the young doctor minor cases. In the end, Dr. Ledoux is the only doctor available to call on a pregnant woman who is having labor complications. The woman's husband won't allow the doctor in the house (because he's black), and can only get to her when Charles knocks the man aside. Ledoux performs a successful surgery and delivers a son to the couple. A stunned and shaken Dr. Baker witnesses the surgery and concedes that only Caleb's and his superior training could have saved the woman's life. Dr. Ledoux later angrily tells his wife he plans to leave Walnut Grove. But only Dr. Baker's emotional speech at church convinces the good doctor to stay.