Little House on The Prairie was one of my favorite shows as a kid. I remember watching it religiously and from what I can remember, I shed a lot of tears. It wasn't until I grew up and actually analyzed the show that I realized how tragic and depressing it was.

I wanted my kids to enjoy it as I did, not realizing that it was so depressing and sad. They cried too. The producers covered hundreds of social issues that were prevalent then and still are to this day.

In one episode, Laura and Mary's friend gets raped by a family friend. Laura's adopted brother Albert falls in love with this poor girl who has also become pregnant from the assault. The town and the girls father thinks it's Albert's, who completely denies it. When the truth comes out, after a scuffle with the rapist, who by the way tries to rape the girl again, Charles and her father shoot him dead. As the girl was trying to get away from the rapist, she climbs a ladder with weak steps and falls. In the next scene, the doctor tells Albert that she lost the baby. The girl tell Albert that finally they can be together and with those words said with a kiss, she dies.

After harvesting a crop that would make any farmer envious and toiling in the field from sun up to sun down, Charles Ingalls is devastated when a storm comes and destroys all that he has grown. The family then has to leave Walnut Grove so Charles can look for employment elsewhere.

Another time that Charles has to leave to look for a job, he meets an Irish guy looking for a job also and they become traveling buddies. They end up getting a job working with explosions. As the Irish guy is joking with Charles atop a small mountain an explosion goes off killing him. Charles then has to return to his dead friends home and tell his ten year old son and his mother that their father and husband got blown to bits.

I think the worst episode was one where Laura and Mary Ingalls adopted brother Albert was messing around in a basement, smoking a pipe with his friend Andy and when they get sent back upstairs and forget to put out the pipe. As you can imagine a horrible thing happened. The basement they were in was in The Walnut Grove School for the Blind. All of the teacher's and students escape except for Andy's mom who goes back inside to get Mary's baby. They show her banging the window with her elbow as it breaks into pieces. She has the baby in her arms as flames engulf them. It was horrible.

To be a family orientated show, they showed a lot of devastation and heartache. This show was show about morals and ethics but some of the characters could take some lessons in both.

Caroline Ingalls fakes her pregnancy so her husband doesn't think of her as an old dried up prune.

Laura Ingalls prays that her little brother will die so she can have her father all to herself.

A bully that comes to Walnut Grove smacks the crap out of Mary one day, giving her a black eye.

A soldier who comes home from the war to live with his mother steals drugs from the small time doctor to satisfy his dope addiction.

A boy who comes to live with his grandparents beats his grandfather down after his grandfather wakes him up for breakfast. The grandparents then lie about their grandson to the locals so nobody would find out that he was being abusive. The boy also stole Charles Ingalls pocket watch that his dying father gave him and lost it in a game of blackjack.

Nellie Oleson falls from a horse (that she beats) that Laura Ingalls sold her and fakes her paralysis. She then makes Laura feel guilty for selling her the horse and makes Laura do all of her homework and her chores.

Laura and Mary want to buy the Reverend Alden a new bible for his birthday and take church funds and "invest" it into some miracle medicines. They try to sell them to the towns people to double their money but get caught.

Harriet Oleson eavesdrops on a conversation over a telephone line and hears that a Alice Garvey was married before. Alice's husband didn't know so Harriet gossips to her daughter Nellie. Nellie just can't help herself and decides to torment Alice's son Andy and tells him. Expectedly, he's devastated. Andy tells his dad and his dad leaves Alice Garvey.

Laura Ingalls steals a music box from Nellie one day as they celebrated Nellie's birthday at Nellie's house. Laura takes the music box to her barn and as she's listening to it, she drops it and breaks it. Just then Nellie walks in and catches her. So dear Nellie decides this is great time for blackmailing Laura.

A lady who suffers the loss of her daughter kidnaps Laura Ingalls and holds her captive in her basement.

After a midget man loses his job in the circus, he comes to Walnut Grove to start over. His wife is pregnant and about to give birth anytime. He goes to town and tries to get a job. After he fails to obtain a job the first day, his wife unexpectedly goes into labor and dies after delivering their daughter. The man goes back to town and goes to the local bank and asks for a job. The head banker gives it to him. As soon as Mrs.Oleson finds out, she threatens to take all of her money out of the bank unless the head banker fires the circus man. So he does.

And that was just the first four seasons. The pain and blackmailing, backstabbing, lies and just plain ol' meanness continues for another six seasons.

Little House on The Prairie could have rivaled Dynasty, Melrose Place, and any other nighttime drama that had you watching week after week. It was just disguised as a family drama. When in reality it was a scandalous night time drama wrapped in wholesome blanket of family, love and cheesy cliche's.

And I watched it every week!

There's The Predator. Threre's The Terminator. There's Annie Bates. And there's The Joker. And then you have one of the scariest character of all time. Harriet Olsen. One of the best villians in television history. She lived to torment everyone in Walnut Grove and made no apologies. She was the richest woman in town, lived in the biggest house and had the biggest mouth. She's won my vote for scariest villian of all time.