Years ago, some of us camped out in front of our TVs on a Monday night with the whole family to watch Little House On The Prairie.

There was the heart-warming, over-arching theme that family is everything. That home is where the heart is (a young Laura Ingalls said it herself), that some friends are like family. There were lessons on resilience, standing up to bullies (anyone remember that dreaded Nelly Olson?)

Little House also taught us that women can also do tough things, like rebuilding towns and tending to crops (on stolen land). Little House also tacked issues like adoption and addiction (The Edwards family). Very seldom, between my grandmother, my mother and myself, was a dry eye in the house. When we heard of Michael Landon’s death, we all mourned him and cried again. My Little House book collection was my cherished possession from Barnes and Noble. I could not wait to read every single page of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s works.

In reality, Little House On The Prairie tacked some modern-day issues without putting the spotlight on them. Mrs. Oleson was called out for her racism in one episode. But the reboot has critics scratching their heads and wondering when the Ingalls will fly the pride-progress flag outside of their homestead or post one of those “In This Little House” lawn signs outside.

There’s no other way for me to put this: Netflix did indeed woke-ify Little House on the Prairie. This new version makes a deep bow to contemporary concerns about the politics of the source material. Some of the Ingalls family’s closest new friends on the show are an Osage couple, a black doctor and black storekeeper, and a French Canadian woman who wears trousers and practices free love.”–Rebecca Onion, Slate

When Slate is saying the reboot went woke, we’re in trouble. Salon, loves it, though. (Of course they do.) This is the “mature” thing to do, according to Salon‘s Melanie McFarland:

Showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine builds this new ‘Little House’ on a foundation of restored and reconsidered history. The eight-episode result maintains the gentle nostalgia we’ve wrapped ‘Little House’ in: Laura (Alice Halsey) remains an adventurous optimist, while Mary (Skywalker Hughes) struggles with the burden of being the responsible eldest child. Charles and Caroline are a handsome couple, with Pa hewn in the rugged spirit immortalized by Michael Landon in the 1970s TV classic.

But it also suggests that viewers are mature enough to absorb the tougher truths omitted from Wilder’s original vision, as well as the roles of others who were minimized, like Sims’ good doctor. Where his character appears briefly in ‘Little House on the Prairie’ to treat the Ingalls when they fall sick with what Laura describes as ‘fever ‘n’ ague,’ the show makes him as central to life in Independence as the real George Tann was. The same goes for the Osage people on whose land the Ingalls settle illegally and whose logs Charles uses to build his cabin.”-Melanie McFarland, Salon

After all, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “bootstrapping mythology” in her original works does not “square” with audiences. George Tann is a black man. Young Reboot Laura becomes friends with an Indigenous girl named Good Eagle. Good Eagle’s family befriends the Ingalls family who snaked their logs to build their home. This nice, Ingalls family stole their timber and their land but, they are gracious enough to forgive but never let them forget it. Then, there’s the reboot of the Oleson’s:

Netflix’s Ingalls family are good people, even by 2026 standards, and you can see it in contrast with the Jameses. The Jameses are town-dwelling rich folk who don’t appear in the Little House books but seem to be an adaptation of the Oleson family … The Jameses’ vision for Independence — hierarchy, respectability, a church, a school — first seduces, then repels, the more gentle-minded Ingallses, Ma and Mary. The James matriarch, Jemma, played by Mary Holland, brings a welcome comedic hateability to this sunny show.”-Rebecca Onion, Slate

Got it. The Olesons are the token MAGA family. And they’re there for comedic relief. Sounds like Rebecca Sonneshine is a bit of a passive-aggressive Nelly Oleson, don’t cha think?

I look forward to the episode where Doc Baker begins transing all the kids and Mary teaches us that blind people can’t see gender.

— Brandon Straka #WalkAway (@BrandonStraka) January 30, 2025

TV writer Rebecca Sonnenshine, who came up with the reboot of the show has this to say about the recent woke criticisms:

I’m not even sure what ‘woke’ means to people anymore, to be honest. I know what I think it means, which is the definition of it being aware and alert to social injustice and prejudice, in particular racial prejudice. So, when people say, ‘I hope it’s not woke,’ I think, ‘Really? Oh, that’s interesting.’ But I don’t think people are using it in that manner; I think it’s just become a catch-all word for things that I don’t quite understand. If I had to sum it up, what people are afraid of is that something from their childhood will be portrayed in a way that scares them.”-Rebecca Sonneshine

Sonneshine’s writing background has been primarily horror. Perhaps she should have stuck with that. This white girl who took a spot at UCLA (that she could have given to an immigrant or an Indigenous person but didn’t) comes off with this pretentious drivel? “Things I don’t quite understand” and “things people are afraid of from their childhood”? What in the fresh hell is this?

To us, “woke”, in this case, means ruining something that should have remained untouched. This is not about fears of our childhood or uncomfortable truths or (shivers) scary stuff. Honestly, leave a classic alone. But, if you must, Ms. Sonneshine, please put a disclosure at the beginning of your reboot about how the show was filmed on stolen land and provide a reel with all cast members, including yourself, apologizing profusely for your utter privilege.

“Pa” is rolling over in his grave right now:

He literally blew up the outdoor set to avoid any “remake” on the final episode.

— Christine King 🇺🇸 (@ChristineLKing9) January 30, 2025

Michael Landon, like most people on this earth, was not without his flaws. But, he certainly knew good, wholesome TV. Next up, the reboot of Highway To Heaven. Can’t wait for the trans-furry on a leash to come and counsel the questioning young man. Go West, young man. Go West.

Photo Credit: Bureau of Land Management, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons/Cropped