Netflix’s reboot of the classic television series Little House on the Prairie is being met with mostly positive reviews from Rotten Tomatoes’ critics.
Airing on NBC for nine seasons from 1974 to 1983, Little House on the Prairie was a frontier family drama partially based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s fourth book in her Little House series — 1937’s On the Banks of Plum Creek — and as such, the series is largely set in Walnut Grove, Minn. The original series starred Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls and Michael Landon and Karen Grassle as her parents, Charles and Caroline Ingalls, as well as Melissa Sue Anderson as the oldest Ingalls daughter, Mary.
All eight episodes of Little House on the Prairie debuted on Netflix on Thursday. The new version of Little House on the Prairie is based on Ingalls Wilder’s 1937 book of the same name — stars Luke Bracey as Charles Ingalls, Crosby Fitzgerald as Caroline Ingalls, Alice Halsey as Laura Ingalls and Skywalker Hughes as Mary Ingalls. The series chronicles the Ingall family’s move from the Big Woods of Wisconsin to Kansas in the late 1800s.
Little House on the Prairie so far has earned a 75% “fresh” Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score on the site’s Tomatometer based on 36 reviews. RT’s Critics Consensus, Audience Summary and Popcornmeter score based on verified user ratings are still pending.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘Little House On The Prairie’?
Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter is among the top critics on RT who gives Little House on the Prairie a “fresh” score. Fienberg writes in his RT review summary, “Much of the show’s success is attributable to casting directors Rachel Tenner and Rick Messina and a young cast that walks the line right up to precocity without ever sacrificing what has always made these characters so endearingly imperfect.”
Aramide Tinubu of Variety also awards Little House on the Prairie a “fresh” score on RT, writing, “Though the show is slightly slow at the start, the childlike whimsy and robust themes are as resounding today as they were 150 years ago.”
James Poniewozik of the New York Times also awards the series a “fresh” score, writing on RT, “Little House on the Prairie is, mostly, the mildly reformulated bowl of sunshine it’s advertised as, but it is also conscious that it is a story of creation.”
USA Today’s Kelly Lawler has reservations about Little House on the Prairie, but still deems it “fresh” on RT, writing, It might be sickly sweet, or it might be a warm hug on a bad day. The series is easy watching, if overlong.”
Judy Berman of TIME Magazine is among the top critics on RT who give the series a “rotten” score. Berman writes on RT, “Although it’s been updated for the streaming era with a serialized plot and revisionist overtones, this Little House suffers from the same cloying excesses as its predecessor.”
Another detractor of the new Little House series is Nick Schager of The Daily Beast, who writes in his “rotten” RT review summary, “Its intentions are noble, but its execution is messy, with situations and dynamics resolved via the most even-handed and comforting solutions available — a process akin to smoothing out a tablecloth’s creases.”
Carla Meyer isn’t a fan of Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie, either. Meyer writes in her “rotten” RT review summary, “Although grittier than the original, the Netflix show never approaches Deadwood-style realism or intrigue.”
All eight episodes of Little House on the Prairie Season 1 are new on Netflix.