Season 4 Premiere: Summer Recap & What’s Ahead

0:01 If you're listening right now to the Little House 50th Anniversary Podcast, we know something about you. We know that you're obsessed with Little House.

0:09 On the Prairie.

0:10 For more than half a century, Little House on the Prairie, the series and the books have been bright lights for people all over the world who seek out goodness, decency, and human connection.

0:22 Here on the Little House 50th Anniversary Podcast, we celebrate everything that made Little House so special.

0:28 The stories, the characters, the actors, and the messages that have made Little House iconic family television.

0:35 And a perfect counterpoint to a world that feels like it's going off the rails every day.

0:40 Where is Michael Landon when we need him most? I'm your host, Pamela Bob.

0:45 And I'm your prairie.

0:46 Bitch, Alison Arncrow.

0:48 And I'm Dean Butler.

0:50 Our hashtag imaginary boyfriend. Join us for our loving, quirky, and often irreverent conversations about the finest family drama in the history of television.

1:01 And the imperfect people who made it that way.

1:04 We are extremely grateful for the support of VisitSeeMeValley.com for their continuing sponsorship of Little House on the Prairie and the Little House 50th Anniversary Podcast. Well, well, well, bonnet heads, we're back. Oh, no, they're looking very tired and very stressed.

1:22 Who are you?

1:24 It's been a hot minute. It's been a prairie minute.

1:29 What's in that tub?

1:31 We've had a... Not strong enough, I'm telling you.

1:35 As you can see, we've needed the break, and perhaps maybe we could have used another week or two. Who knows?

1:41 We need a break from the break.

1:42 We needed a break from the break.

1:45 Yes.

1:47 Well, we're a mess. We're a bit of a mess. But we're so excited to be here, you guys. Who am I? Hi, I'm Pamela Bob. Who's that lady? Who's that lady? It's me. I'm Pamela Bob. I'm the lady. I'm the lady. Although, I will say, at our last event, there were many more people who knew who this lady was. So that made me feel nice.

2:06 I think that's awesome.

2:07 That was very nice.

2:08 I think that's awesome.

2:10 It was good. Anyway, hi. For those of you who don't know, I'm Pamela Bob. I'm the creator and star of Livin' on a Prairie. And which is the award-winning short form series that is hilarious. And if you haven't watched it yet, why? Why are you depriving yourself of joy? I don't understand this.

2:25 Yeah, it's really fun.

2:27 And I am here. Yeah, Alison's in it. And Dean could have been in it. It's his one biggest life regret.

2:32 I know, I know.

2:32 It was a huge, it was a huge misjudgment on my part.

2:37 Your only, only life regret.

2:40 Okay. No, not the only one.

2:45 Well, I am here with our ever-loving prairie bitch, Alison Arngrom!

2:50 Yeah!

2:50 And our hashtag imaginary boyfriend, Dean. Butler, who I have seen recently. But you guys, you haven't seen us in a very long time. And I will just say we appreciate all of the comments and the private messages going, when are you back?

3:08 I can't.

3:08 I'm on withdrawal. Washing dishes isn't fun anymore. When are you guys coming back? So hi, guys. We're here. We're back. How are you?

3:17 It just makes me feel good to know that I could still be the imaginary boyfriend.

3:22 Always in front of her.

3:22 I mean, it's like, you know, that's sort of a, you know, that's sort of a fun space to be in, to be the imaginary boyfriend.

3:30 Yeah.

3:30 Hello.

3:31 It's, well, it's lasted, you know, it caught on because it's true. It caught on because it's true. I voiced what millions of people around the world have always thought.

3:42 Oh my God, Pamela.

3:43 That's it.

3:44 That's so very, that's so sweet.

3:46 Such a compliment.

3:48 So now, so, and Allison is, Not the imaginary bitch on the prairie, she's the real bitch.

3:54 On the prairie. She's the actual bitch, yeah. There's no, yeah, there's no two ways about that one.

4:00 Yeah, it's not an imagination, it's like we've seen it.

4:04 It's very obvious.

4:05 As the teacher says, beauty is fleeting, villainy is forever.

4:09 Amen, sister. Built a whole career on that one.

4:13 Yeah, for sure.

4:14 Oh my God. Well, where should we start? I guess we should just sort of do a recap of what we've been doing this summer and why we needed to take a brief hiatus from recording because the three of us were really all over the place. Like the French, we took August off. We took August off.

4:34 But we really did. That's the thing is.

4:36 That we took August off from this because it was.

4:39 Just like, it was a must.

4:41 Listen, if we took... these three months or two and a half months off, we would look very much more rested today than we are. But we've been working very, very hard behind the scenes.

4:51 Yes. Yes. Well, and just other aspects of our lives. We've been busy. So, all right. Well, so let's start.

4:59 Do you want me to start?

5:01 Yeah, let's start with you.

5:02 I think I should start because I think I actually had the more enjoyable summer than you guys might have. Really? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I didn't have any life-altering things happen to me this summer, except that I was working very hard. But I was working.

5:19 You were in shows.

5:19 Yeah, yeah.

5:20 You were in two shows.

5:21 I guess when we stopped... I know, a few. You were in more than one show. When we stopped recording, I had come back... I was in Salt Lake at Pioneer Theater. I'd come back. We were still recording. And then by the time we stopped, I was on my way to Music Theater Wichita in Kansas, where I was doing Fiddler on the Roof. And my, oh my, you guys, this was like a career high. This is one of the career highs for me. That's awesome.

5:44 One of the most- Such a great show, Pamela.

5:46 It's a great show.

5:47 Yeah.

5:48 But when it's not done right, it's not a great show. You know, it could be- Or it could be super hokey if you did it wrong.

5:55 It could be hokey or caricature- How many times have you done it? I'm curious.

5:57 I've never done it. So here's- Oh good, so your first time, okay. Listen, my entire young adulthood, childhood into young adulthood, I dreamed of being in Fiddler on the Roof. Like, give me a daughter, any daughter, I'll play any of them, we're good to go. And I would never be seen. There were two Broadway revivals. I didn't get an audition for either one of them. I've never had an audition for a regional production. And what's weird is that I remember once walking into my agent at the time saying to me, he was on the phone with the casting director going, please see Pamela Bob, please. And then him going, no, no, she's 100% Jewish. See, Pamela? I'm like, they wouldn't?

6:41 Do it.

6:42 So I don't know if it's the light hair or the green eyes or it maybe just wasn't the concept of what they thought the look should be. But then I'd go see these productions and there would be like these Aryan princesses as daughters. And I was like, how did I not get an audition for this? Anyway, the full circle is that, you know, I'm older now, could not play a daughter if, you know, if I wanted to.

7:06 Golda.

7:08 So when I got this audition for Golda, I just never saw myself as Golda. Especially because that part is usually a much more crasser sort of older looking.

7:18 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

7:20 Could be very stereotypical.

7:22 Did you play her crass and older looking?

7:24 Well, I played her tough because she is tough. Because she lives a very hard life with a man who drives her insane. And, you know, when you've been with your husband for 30 years, maybe you can relate to something like that. Not going to say names or anything. But let me put it, I guess what I mean by that is. I could relate to her now in a way I couldn't have related to her 10 or 20 years ago. No way. So when I auditioned for it, I felt very connected to it. And again, I wasn't expecting to get it. I just thought, well, this is cool.

8:01 And then I got it. And it was just the most blissful experience with the most incredible cast. I mean, this was a production that if I had cast Fiddler, this is who I would have wanted to see. It was every single person was spot on right. It was done with such integrity and care. Nothing was a dumb caricature.

8:25 The talent was insane. And the choreography was direct from the Jerome Robbins estate. Like it was just this.

8:32 Glorious- That's a big one.

8:35 Yeah, huge.

8:37 I think the Jerome Robbins estate is very stingy about the way they give permission.

8:43 Yes, and who they allow to teach it.

8:44 So this choreographer had to be in the pocket or it wouldn't have happened.

8:48 Yes. It was just incredible. And hats off to Music Theater Wichita. If any of you guys have been there, it is just the most incredible place. It's run beautifully. The theater is huge. It's a part of this huge... infrastructure in the middle of the city, um, that, you know, the convention center is there and the theater is there.

9:11 I know, it's like the center of the city. It's just, it's incredible. And, um, so anyway, that was great. Um, and then as soon as I got back home, I went straight in, I went straight into a, literally the day I got, day after I arrived home, I was in a theater festival, a show that I've been workshopping, which is glorious, glorious, glorious, was chosen to be a part of this festival. And so we did a concert version of that, which went great.

9:39 This was the Sting thing.

9:41 No, no.

9:41 No, that's different.

9:42 Did we even talk? No, Sting was before. Sting was before I left. Sting was in June. I've really had an eventful summer. Sting, Nixon Five, Music Theatre Wichita. Then I came back, did this festival. I also did a demo recording for a new show written by the same composers, which is just insane. And it's, I will just say it has to do with maybe the culture of the political world that we're living in right now. And what was crazy is that the journalist, Michael Wolff, who I actually even follow on socials and everything. He was there watching the whole thing, like as an advisor. It was crazy.

10:26 It was insane. And then I had family. My husband is from England and his brother and son came in in August. So we were with them, having a great time. And then at the end of August, we were in England with all of them. And I saw lots of theater in London and had a great time and then went up north and then down south and then... came back and boom right back into school and routine oh and and right into nashville which we will all talk about later which also was absolutely insane but anyway my that's my summer in a nutshell it was it was all positive things which i'm very very grateful for um so but nashville will have to walk up that's a whole yeah we'll talk.

11:08 We'll talk about nashville separately um Alison, you want to talk about your summer now?

11:14 We went places. I have to literally look at this thing going, and then I was there, and then I was there, and then I was there, and then I was there, and then I was there. And then we were places together, Dean and I were. So yeah, we like June. So in June, I, you know, ha ha, tweaked my back. Okay, technically I went to the emergency room because I couldn't stand up, but the disc kind of pooched out a little, and it hit a nerve, and it was bad, the whole sciatica thing. But when I went to the hospital, they did an x-ray, and nothing's broken. And they gave me a little bit of steroids to swell against the one shot because it's just bad for you. Good for you like once. And then I had an MRI, which is very exciting. You never

11:50 had one before.

11:51 You've never had an MRI before?

11:53 An exciting MRI. It's loud.

11:56 It's loud.

11:58 I'm the jerk that doesn't mind an MRI. I know it's very claustrophobic.

12:01 I've never spent the night in the hospital. This was now, I think this was like my third trip to an emergency room in my entire life.

12:06 Wow.

12:07 I just, no, I have, I have like my adenoids and tonsils. I'm a freak.

12:11 Knock on all the wood.

12:12 Yeah.

12:12 Ridiculously healthy despite of it. I have already bunny hair, but I like went, Oh, my legs don't work. Um, so they went, yeah, you can't have a problem. Um, and the MRI came out and it was like, as, as my brother-in-law who was an MRI tech said, I wish my own MRI looked this good. So it's not that bad really. But Yes, it's the aging thing and herniated disc and whatnot.

12:36 I'm like, ugh.

12:37 But I got sent to physical therapy. And I'm just going to keep saying, Tyler, physical therapy, Tyler, physical therapy. And like you said, get him a fruit basket, a million dollars. I don't know why. But like one session, it stopped hurting. At two sessions, I was like starting to walk normally. And they're Pilates-based. It was funny. I was talking about it to someone on Facebook, and it did spell check. And so it said pirates. And They don't have pirates therapy. They have Pilates therapy. But if you start pirate therapy, I'm signing up for that. I would do the art. But they have a Pilates thing.

13:12 So they do massage and the stretches. But then as soon as you're well enough, they're like, here you go. And next thing you know, you're on the rack with like weights and things. Building up your core to take the pressure off your back. And holy moly, does it work.

13:25 I know.

13:25 Pilates is good.

13:26 At one point, they said, you know, walk heel to toe, like, you know, the direct driving test. And I couldn't do it. I was like, God, I hope I don't get pulled over because I'm dosed. I can't even. And then I could do that. And every time I went, they're like, okay, that position you just got in and that amount of weight you just, you literally couldn't do that two weeks ago.

13:44 I said, yeah, I think I'm noticing that.

13:46 How many sessions have you had with these people? Is this multiple times a week? Is it? Okay.

13:52 I was going once or twice a week and I got, and like Baroque, I was a mess. I like needed a wheelchair in the airport. But then when I went to Malone, New York, as you saw, I did my standup back and we hung out at Malone. I was like, rah, rah, rah. And then I went to P-Town and did several shows there and then met you, drove straight from there to meet you in Ohio.

14:09 Yeah.

14:10 Oh my God. Heritage Village, Ohio, which was the bomb. That was awesome. I remember it was kind of going, It's far to the restroom. Can I walk that far in the grass? I'll find out. But then I did. And then I had more friends go. And they said, guys, I'm a little worried because we've gotten to where I can stand and walk. I have this French show coming up where I literally dance. And they're like, no problem.

14:33 And we kept going. And by God, last weekend here in France... Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday, a two hour long show. Pamela's seen it. She knows. Would you say it was like a Richard Simmons?

14:44 I said it's like a two hour Richard Simmons episode. I mean, it is nonstop cardio.

14:48 It's insane.

14:49 It's literally sweating to the oldies because it's all about the 80s.

14:54 Had you ever met Richard Simmons, Alison? Of course you had.

14:57 Did you ever spend any.

14:58 Time with him?

14:59 I have not.

14:59 I have a really good friend who's really good friends with him, though, so I would get, like, updates on him.

15:02 I used to ride on a lot of airplanes with Richard Simmons doing events for NBC.

15:08 You did?

15:08 And this guy was.

15:11 What you saw was what you got.

15:13 This energy was, like, full-on, full blast all the time. If you're doing that for two hours, you're, you know, you've obviously, the therapy has worked.

15:26 I was behind Richard Simmons once in a parade. Oh my God, it was insane. But yeah, my friend Richard, who's the tour guide, The bus would come by Richard Simmons' house. He'd come outside and meet everybody in the tour bus, I think.

15:37 Oh, yeah.

15:37 I've heard of that. There's a great podcast about where is Richard Simmons. It's like a 10-part... It's excellent. This is before he passed away. But, you know, he went into hiding for.

15:47 He did, he did. He's just like, I can't... He couldn't deal. But he loved everybody. But that aerobic level... I mean, Reeboks during the show. I put on the Reeboks and the whole thing.

15:56 It's all 80s.

15:57 And it's like intense cardio dancing in Sandy for two hours. And I freaking did it. Three times in one weekend. Thank you. And so the physical therapy works. And I was not in pain. I haven't taken like an Advil or anything. Wow. That's like it.

16:11 Oh, yeah.

16:12 I'm not even on drugs. I'm like on a heating pad.

16:14 You're not? I thought you were always on drugs.

16:17 No, folks.

16:18 I heard it here.

16:19 I'm definitely on decongestant and time tea right now. Because every germ in Nashville and Paris has a toxin.

16:27 It's waiting for you, yeah.

16:29 There's a combo. I got a combo of Nashville, Paris, respiratory something. I have the Kathleen Turner flu. But I have fabulous tea for this, and it's helping. But yeah, physical therapy is, yes, I'm going to go back when I get home and do whatever they tell me. And I'm doing all the little exercises, stretchy things they gave me.

16:50 And holy crap, I can move.

16:52 Good. Yeah, yeah. Well, good for you.

16:57 There's nothing worse than feeling like you are limited physically, and it works on you mentally, physically, obviously.

17:07 It's no fun. So good for you that you have found the cure.

17:12 And, you know, like Allison, I'm just saying to everybody, if you're looking for referrals in your life, Allison is.

17:20 A great source of referrals.

17:22 So, you know, Catherine and I wanted to do air conditioning in our house. And I was talking to Alison about one day and out came the referral for Integrity Comfort Systems in Simi Valley. She swore by them. I called them one of the best hires of a service provider that I've ever made. These guys were incredible.

17:50 And then Alison has referred me to, I mean, I've talked about kitchens.

17:55 I've talked about painting. I've talked about it. Alison's always got a referral.

17:59 I got a guy. I got a guy. Yeah. I got a guy. I always got a guy.

18:03 You got a guy.

18:04 I always love that. Promotions 11.

18:06 You know a guy.

18:07 I know a guy.

18:09 She really does.

18:10 I know a guy.

18:12 Well, yeah. Yeah, no, Allison's referrals are very good.

18:17 So when I, when I think about, you know, what I'm going to be going through coming up in November with my hip replacement and I, they always assign physical therapy at the, you know, Cedars assigns physical therapy and you go through that, but, but I'm going to keep Tyler in mind.

18:34 I've got spinal stenosis.

18:36 I've got all the things.

18:37 That, you know, I've got all these issues. None of these people.

18:41 Are paying us for sponsoring us, but we love your integrity air conditioning and we love you.

18:44 Yeah.

18:46 Yeah.

18:47 Yeah. So let's, I'll just, I'll recap my summer a little bit. It's been a little bit of a, it's.

18:55 Been, you've had a rougher summer.

18:57 It's been a challenging summer.

18:58 Yeah.

18:58 I think, um, So I think early on in the summer, my mother passed away on August 15th. And so leading into my mother at 91 years old passed away on August 15th.

19:16 But the several months of.

19:21 Where we're really processing the fact that this change is coming.

19:26 Yeah.

19:28 You know, as a family, I mean, there's nobody who doesn't go through this on some level. We all go through this and how we cope with this becomes, it's really, really important. And so as a family, we tried to, you know, my sister who lives in Virginia, and obviously I'm here in Los Angeles, my brother is in the Bay Area where my mother lived her whole life. My brother, Scott was really, was really in the center of this along with his wife, Sheila, and they were watching her and present for her.

20:01 And she had 24 hour.

20:03 Care and all that, but it's, you know, as you watch someone coming down and you just, you just know that this is, you know, that the journey is coming to an end. So I think, you know, through most of the summer, um, through most of the summer in the background always was this inevitability that was coming.

20:26 And so I, you know, because we knew for weeks or months that this was sort of this impending sort of thing.

20:31 You just know, you just know it's coming.

20:34 And, the one, one thing that was wonderful about my mother is that her, her spirit was always good. She was always optimistic. She wanted, you know, she wanted to put her best foot forward. She was not a complainer. Um, and so, you know, we got to watch this as a family, we got to watch this process done gracefully, you know, and, um, So as that's all going on, then, you know, the finishing touches on a book that was committed to write.

21:12 So working on that and.

21:16 Going back and forth to Northern California and working on the book and delivering the book and rewrites on the book. And then something that we're going to talk about. more extensively after we take a little break is, you know, what happened in Nash... what we did in Nashville. And, you know, Allison and I are a part of this company, Prairie Legacy Productions, that we created.

21:40 And we really had.

21:43 we really had to be at the center of making this work.

21:48 And our colleague, Mike Davidson, was, you know, was out in front of that.

21:54 And.

21:54 but we had to be increasingly present.

21:58 And a lot of unknowns.

21:59 Going into that event, a lot of unknowns going into it. And so, but we got there and we were all, the three of us were there.

22:08 Shindig in Nashville, complete with a performance at the Grand Ole Opry.

22:13 It was, it was pretty awesome. It was pretty awesome.

22:16 I think we should, I think we should take, I mean, I.

22:21 Just want to say, I'll just wrap up this segment by just saying that I, I'm always grateful for the things that happen.

22:31 My mother was a spectacular woman.

22:35 The gifts that I got from her are so omnipresent in my life and everything about me flows through what she brought into my life. So that loss is dramatic and it had to be done, you know, as a family and we had to be close and as close as we could be for something that you just can't predict and know. And then you have to deal with, you have to do the rest of your life at the same time. So I was glad that we could, that this could come off of the plate during that window of time.

23:11 I was grateful for that.

23:13 And we were trying to be supportive. There were times where he'd say, okay, here's what we're doing. But if that phone rings, I'm going up to California.

23:20 Yeah.

23:20 Yeah. Yeah, we were on alert.

23:23 Yeah, go, go, man.

23:24 Yeah, no, of course, you have to. Everyone has to do that.

23:28 The pictures you posted, I mean, she looked regal, just so regal. Those pictures of her and the family, and it was just the queen.

23:36 My mother had a little of that quality in her, for sure.

23:40 And she was a graceful, gracious, endlessly kind, but, you know, was not afraid to tell you what she thought about anything. So I adored her and she was my friend.

23:59 She was my mother.

24:00 She was, you know, she was, it was huge for me.

24:04 So, and now we're, you know, now as a family, we're marching on.

24:09 So let's march it. Let's, so. Thank everybody for their, to Allison and Pamela, thank you for your understanding. Oh my goodness. That things have to happen the way they have to happen. Of course.

24:21 We've all had a, we all had a busy time. We came out of the summer and into the.

24:26 Fall in Nashville, Tennessee. Let's take a quick break and let's come back and talk about Nashville.

24:31 And we survived it.

24:32 Yes.

24:33 We'll be right back. Let's go. We're back. Hi, guys. How are you? Okay, that was our little summer recap, but we're neglecting to talk about the big sort of event that happened on September 11th, 12th, and 13th, and that is the Nashville event. I mean, where do we even begin with this one? First of all, I'll begin by saying you guys were killing yourselves. I mean, I was not a part of this planning for this event.

25:12 I wasn't even in the event until sort of last minute when you called me and said, hey, can you do the panels? And I was very happy to come in and do that.

25:19 And you did them beautifully, as always.

25:22 Thank you. But my God, what I was hearing and what you guys were telling, I mean, it just sounded like it was a very tough, thing to accomplish, and yet it was all accomplished quite beautifully.

25:35 The weekend went great. And there was a breakfast and a dinner where we were like, we need more cinnamon chicken. And we had the chefs doing his version of cinnamon chicken. And then we had a whole show, a whole show at the Opry thing with Johnny Cash's family. Just to add more things. It was just slammed.

25:51 Yeah, it was slammed.

25:51 It was a lot. It was a lot. And the crazy part is, we're like, the night before... Dean, did you sleep?

25:58 No, there was no sleep. I didn't sleep the night before.

26:00 Yeah, not really. And these people show up and people are coming to you and going, this is the best event ever. I've never had so much fun. I thought, but when are you throwing the next one? This is great. This is the nicest one I've been through.

26:13 Yeah, I know.

26:14 I know.

26:15 Oh, okay.

26:16 I know.

26:17 Yeah, I think that what people can't know about these, unless you've done one, and once you've done one, you know, but it's the... all the moving parts that make an event like this come together are extremely fluid. And particularly when one of the challenges is that if we were doing these events every weekend, we would, well, you wouldn't, you'd get a rhythm going on and you know things.

26:45 Yeah, it would be a well-oiled machine.

26:46 We're never doing that. If you come to me and say, let's do this event every weekend, I'm going.

26:50 To say no.

26:51 No, we're never doing that.

26:54 I know that.

26:54 Whatever.

26:55 Yeah, I think So it's, you know, as we do them, you're having to figure it out. Each thing that we, each time we do this, it's a, yes, we know what the basic form of it is, but all the moving parts that bring it together are completely new. And this was different for us because it was out of the state of California. We had done, you know, we had done an event in 2025 or.

27:18 2025 in Columbia, and we did late in 2025 in Strathern Park.

27:25 California, home base, relatively driving distance. This was a full-on travel experience for everybody.

27:34 Even the big 50th with 18,000 people, that was Simi Valley. It was just over the hill. No, this is we all packed up and went to a foreign land of Tennessee, which worked out for me because all my in-laws lived there and they all showed up. And volunteer. They put their butts to work.

27:50 They were very nice.

27:53 Yeah, let's do a shout out to, because you brought it up, let's do a shout out to the volunteers.

27:59 Oh, my God.

28:00 Those incredible individuals, and you know who you are, who came and stood in with us to make this happen.

28:08 You cannot do these events without volunteers. We were so fortunate.

28:12 We had people who had started with us in Simi Valley 1.

28:16 They'd come to Columbia.

28:19 A core of those people went to Strathern Park in Cine Valley to do the second event with us, or did three events with us. And it was just astonishing to me that they were willing to get on airplanes and fly to Tennessee and be there with us. And there's really great comfort when you can look around and you know. We don't see this group of volunteers every day.

28:41 They're not a regular part of our day-to-day existence, but But you know that they know what we do.

28:48 And so it's just incredibly helpful. You know who you are. We could not do this without you.

28:55 Our last minute step with my friend, Laura Purcell, just absolutely hijacked all her friends. And they came and kicked butt. And then the entire Schoonover family showed up.

29:05 Yeah.

29:05 And it was hilarious. I had them running the Miss Beetle table. Terry and Brittany were running the Miss Beetle table. When Nicola Courtney showed up, they didn't even get in the room. The beau grabbed them and said, you're doing this line. You're doing crowd control in the hall. It's like, no.

29:18 And the thing about... And think about all of those incredible volunteers. And first of all, it's so nice to see these familiar faces because even the couple events that I've been to, they were also there and they've been so.

29:30 I mean, I.

29:30 Cannot explain how very essential these people are to these events. And not only are they essential because they know what they're doing, but they're full of joy, and they care about this, and they know how to talk to people, and they have just incredible personalities and dispositions. They're the type of people you want around. And they're just incredible.

29:55 And just personally, they take care of me so, so nicely that I really feel taken care of when I go to these things. So yeah, shout out to the volunteers.

30:07 He was shouting out the volunteers.

30:08 I also, I think we also need to shout as we look at this, our colleague, Mike Davidson, who's really his vision is, was the thing that jump-started.

30:20 Even going to Nashville. He believed that we.

30:25 Needed to do an event or should do an event sometime in 2026. And the timing of it adjusted multiple times during the planning period. But it was Mike's vision that we go to Nashville. And it was Mike's willingness to get on the phone and call Grand Ole Opry and talked to their executive producer about doing a Little House event. Apparently, Mike always said this was like the quickest pitch he'd ever made. He said, you know, could we celebrate Johnny Cash and Little House on the Prairie at the Grand Ole Opry around the 50th anniversary of Johnny and June's performance in the.

31:04 Collection of Little House? And there were really no back and forth questions. It was, yes, let's do this. I mean, it was.

31:12 Really that simple. The Opry people are amazing.

31:16 They are amazing.

31:17 We weren't just doing it. We threw in a freaking show.

31:20 Yeah.

31:20 We had. I mean, obviously, they have all these fabulous, famous, famous country musicians at the Opry. And then, yes, Johnny Cash's son and Carter Cash, the whole Carter Cash family. And it was bonkers. And then you coming out and to guess old Dan Tucker and the whole cast comes out. And then I, I, I had to make a speech.

31:39 Yeah. Which was so good.

31:40 I was like, no pressure at all guys. Ah, I'd like, right.

31:44 Yes.

31:45 Give them the plaque and the thing. And then this made the circle being broken. They sang me the circle being broken. And we all had to come out and join in.

31:53 I was like, it was.

31:55 Terrifying and fabulous at the same time. I couldn't believe we were doing this, but we literally had, and Gary freaking Mildare.

32:02 So you, you obviously know him. I, I, he's not, I mean, I know his name.

32:08 I've never been around.

32:09 Gary was huge coming up in standup in the seventies when Lena was starting out, letter was starting out. Aaron Mildare was absolutely everywhere. And he was like the stand-up host person on Don Kirshner's rock concert, which is like before there was MTV, shows like that. And my dad was the manager for the Village Idiots that were the sketch, who were brilliant, the sketch comedy group at Don Kershaw.

32:34 So he's like, we'll get revealed there. Yeah, and then he did, he totally remembered seeing my dad. It was like, oh yeah, Thor, yeah.

32:40 Right.

32:40 So it was just so insane, the combination of people. But we were there all night and then there was whole talk back afterwards.

32:48 With the couch thing. It was a very long day because you guys started around seven o'clock in the morning.

32:53 Oh yeah.

32:54 And for the event, the normal event- And then the Opry after, which is a three-hour show.

33:02 We worked a triple shift. Okay, we did the autograph show, then we did the Opry, and.

33:07 Then we had a talk back after, which was also extraordinary. But it was all so incredible.

33:12 It was amazing.

33:13 And we were all so tired.

33:15 To be on stage at the Opry? I said to Bob, because Bob's father was so into country music and the Opry, I said, what would your father do if he knew you were hanging out backstage at the Opry? If he knew I was going to be on stage... Technically singing and dancing. Mind blown. But yeah, we threw on like a celebrity autograph event and a dinner and a breakfast and a show, a full-on musical extravaganza on stage at the Opry.

33:42 Which I don't know if it's out on YouTube yet, but I know that Opry does post all of their shows online. Oh, yeah.

33:50 I have a copy of the entire show.

33:52 Yes, we do. We got a copy.

33:54 Which I think it's watermarked. I mean, they don't want it out there.

33:59 They did post segments of it.

34:02 I think there will be moments of this that will work their way into social media content for sure.

34:07 But it's a courtesy that they provide. So do you have a copy of it, Pamela?

34:14 Yeah.

34:15 You do?

34:15 Okay.

34:15 So Allison, you have it?

34:19 I have a copy, yeah.

34:21 It's a Dropbox download, yeah, yeah. And everybody saw it because I was in the airport playing souvenirs and I said, oh, I was just at the Opry. The woman looks and goes, yeah, I know.

34:33 Yeah, well, yeah.

34:34 I watched the whole thing.

34:36 What are you talking about?

34:37 Also, from my experience, because you guys, you know, I was in the wings watching most of it and capturing a lot of photos. And I have such awesome backstage photos from the Opry.

34:48 Nice.

34:49 And it was just, the whole night was just absolutely surreal. I mean, it was just, everyone just kept looking at each other going, where are we? How did we end up here? This is, this is insane.

34:59 It was like a big dream sequence.

35:01 It was.

35:02 It was like, this does not happen.

35:03 Yes, it was.

35:04 And not only were we on stage, there's the pieces of the original stage from the theater. That's what's now the Ryman, the boards. And they brought, so there's a.

35:12 Section, a certain, You stand in the circle at the Grand Ole Opry. That is hallowed ground in country music.

35:21 Yeah. And I don't know if you guys could tell, but the audience... The love from the audience for Little House on the Prairie was so remarkable. It was incredible. They just were so excited to see you. People kept shouting, we love you! And it was just awesome.

35:41 Right before you went on, you're gearing up to stand, you go out there and you're like, okay. And I was like, these are our people?

35:46 Yes. I think this is our crowd.

35:50 I think we're good. No, there's no question.

35:52 You know, there's such commonality thematically with what Little House was all about and what the major themes of country music are with family and community and dealing with setback.

36:03 And, you know, people joke about country music and heartbreak and all of that.

36:10 Little House embodies all of that. And so, yes, they are right in sync. Dan Rogers at the Grand Ole Opry. knew right away that this was, he said when, this Dan is the executive producer that Mike pitched, and he said, I've been, you know, he's been the executive producer of.

36:27 The Grand Ole Opry for 27 years.

36:29 He said, if I were to tell my parents, I think both of his parents are gone, but he said.

36:36 They would be prouder of this, of this night, than.

36:40 Of anything I've done for 27 years at the Grand Ole Opry because they loved Little House so much. It was a very, very special night. If you haven't been to the Grand Ole Opry, there is such love in that space and such professionalism in that space.

37:02 Oh, it's a well-willed machine, man. These guys are absolutely awesome at what they do.

37:07 They do this five nights a week. There are no two shows exactly the same. They have a common format that they work with. But you never know what you're going to get there. And it's never the same show twice. It's always something's different in every show.

37:25 So for us to get to be a part of that.

37:30 Even just knowing what the dressing rooms were like.

37:32 Oh my God.

37:34 Which are gorgeous and everyone's custom designed. And it's just, I mean, and you're walking by photos and plaques honoring these legends.

37:42 Legends.

37:43 I mean, it was just, it was just wild.

37:46 And they had food backstage and then they had popcorn and tea.

37:49 Great popcorn. Great popcorn.

37:53 You know, and you could also feel, it's interesting, we were just, we were just coming off of the extreme heartbreak in Nashville about the passing of Dolly Parton. And you could, you know, you could feel that, that, sort of those, that imagery of Dolly Parton, she was such a huge part of the, of the, she always will be a huge part of the country experience. But, you know, I feel like they brought out pictures that maybe weren't always home.

38:22 Oh, yeah.

38:23 The portrait of her.

38:24 And the whole picture.

38:25 You know, she just, yeah, I mean, really, just really, really special, special stuff. And something that, you know, to get a chance to perform there and to be The musicians, the musicians, and Pamela, I know you can speak to this because, you know, the musicianship, the commitment to doing things beautifully, there is a, well, Alison, you can relate to it just because of being a performer, but to be with those musicians and Matt Combs who played Pa's real.

39:02 Fiddle on the stage at the Grand Ole Opry.

39:04 It sounded incredible.

39:05 Pa's fiddle.

39:06 Yes.

39:09 And it was so funny because the Reverend, the Reverend Diamond was there with his whole family. And they're like, yeah, but as soon as you're done, you've got to go back to the box.

39:16 It has to get back to the museum. So I was in the wings watching the most of the show. And at one point I went on the stage. There's a pew sort of area where you can go.

39:26 And sit on the stage.

39:26 Yes, which is a great place to watch, by the way.

39:28 While you guys were doing the Q & A on the stage. I was in the pew watching you guys doing the Q & A. But I was, you know, backstage next to some guy, you know, a guy. Backstage is packed. I mean, the hula hoop girl was there and all these musicians are there. And, you know, just, you know, it's just like a wild act, right? And this guy is in the wings, and I don't know who he is. And we're just sort of, you know, there are big monitors that we're watching as well as can watch the stage from the wings. And at one point, I realized, oh, he's the guy from the museum who's holding Paz Fiddle. And so I was like, okay, that is Paz Fiddle next to me right now. He is the one in charge of it. Okay. So when he,

40:10 you know, he passed it to Matt Combs, who played And then when guys got off stage, went right to this guy, took it right back and made sure it was, everything was good and taken care of. But yeah.

40:20 It was like handcuffed to the briefcase. Yes.

40:23 Oh, totally.

40:24 Totally.

40:24 For sure.

40:25 Understandably.

40:25 There was a huge board discussion in Mansfield about whether they could allow the fiddle to travel. I mean, it had been the farthest away it had been from Mansfield since it traveled there in a covered wagon.

40:37 Wow.

40:38 I mean, this was, it was really a huge thing.

40:41 And we just reasoned that what a great way to bring awareness to Pa's fiddle and to Mansfield, to the Laura Ingalls Wilder story, to put Pa's actual fiddle on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, streamed worldwide.

40:59 Sounding glorious.

41:01 And it sounded fantastic.

41:04 Matt Combs, because I did a panel with him that last day, and he and his daughters played, and it was just a lovely... I actually think we should release it. We have the audio of it. I think we should release it just as an audio. stream because it's so enjoyable. But he, so obviously he wasn't playing pause fiddle at the panel.

41:21 It was going back to Mansfield, yeah.

41:23 But his fiddle was from the same time in the 1800s and the same type of fiddle. So it was sort of as close to pause fiddle as you could have gotten, which was also very, very cool.

41:34 I didn't know that.

41:35 Yeah.

41:36 That his actual fiddle was a historic instrument.

41:38 Yeah.

41:39 Yeah.

41:40 That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool.

41:43 This was, I mean, So, you know, to step out of summer into the fall at the Grand Ole Opry, I mean, I'll be honest, I don't know when the next event is.

41:53 Going to come. I think it's going to take us a while to recover from this one.

41:56 Yes.

41:56 But this was a really glorious way for us to be able to do this. And to be able to add for the first time, Alice, you can speak to this. have Charles Bloom there with us again, have Melissa Francis.

42:09 Can we talk about Melissa Francis.

42:11 For one second?

42:11 Cassandra Cooper Ingalls, who had never been with us before.

42:14 No.

42:14 Missy Francis Cassandra, first time ever.

42:18 First time ever. And, you know, it was so awesome talking to her. And she did the panel with all the kids of Walnut Grove, the daughters of Walnut Grove. So she did the Carrie twins and Baby Rose and Baby Grace. And then it was Melissa Francis. And She was... They were so... You guys are at your table, so I don't know how much you saw of this, but I saw a lot of it.

42:41 Didn't see any of it.

42:41 The connection between those girls was so intense and beautiful. It was like a family reunion all over again.

42:50 That's awesome.

42:50 They were so happy to be with... They were so happy to see Melissa Francis. Melissa Francis was so... happy to be there and to be able to connect with everyone again. And what I didn't know, I don't think any of us knew, was that she had wanted to be a part of these Little House events for decades and was not allowed to. She was contractually obligated as her job as a journalist.

43:13 Contractually restricted. Restricted.

43:16 That they would not allow her to do any of it. So unbeknownst to all of us, she had been sort of pining away, wanting to reconnect with everyone. And this was her first, I mean, what a first go out of it, doing it at the Grand Ole Opry. And I know she had a very meaningful time, as we all did. I mean, everyone had a crying moment during our panel. And just, it was extraordinary. Also, by the way, not too shabby being a fly on the wall hearing all y'all's conversations about childhood in.

43:51 In this industry at that time. I heard things that I will never repeat ever. Yeah, no, no. The public will not know.

43:59 Maybe you have to.

44:00 Talk to the patrons about some of that.

44:04 No, no, no.

44:05 The bus, hello.

44:08 Pat Laberto and you had Todd Bridges and you had Melissa Francis and you had the guy.

44:11 I mean, Todd was talking to me. No, it was like, it was like, My 80s child brain was exploding in that bus hearing these conversations. I mean, just surface level, Todd was talking to me about, like, you know, he dated, you know, Janet Jackson for four years from 16 to 20. So he was talking to me all about the Jacksons.

44:32 And I was just going, uh-huh, like it was a normal Tuesday. It was not normal for me at all. But no, and hearing about maybe, like, the parents of these kids or, like, what it was like, if there was conflict or... just the celebrities that they would all know and hang out with, as if everything was just normal for them.

44:50 They were so young, because I heard the kids talking on the bus, because remember, I was 12 when I started.

44:56 Yeah, they were young.

44:58 Little, Matt, Pat, that whole gang, Todd, they were all younger, and Melissa Fred, they were all younger. And I heard them all comparing notes, and yes, they were talking about everything. The industry, what it was like to be famous that young.

45:08 Not 12, but like that young.

45:10 And the parents, and the things. And I was just like, oh, the children, the children are talking.

45:18 But there is something about that 70s, 80s child actor, what television was at that time. It was always the same circle of child actors we saw over and over again. I mean, it was very rare you saw someone new on the scene. So they had this intimate, crazy life with each other. During the time in which we have never seen since then. And it was, there was never a time like that before then. And there has never been the same sort of era culturally since then. And so they all are living like this little pocket of cultural time. That's insane.

45:58 It really wild. I, I agree. I, I, it just jumped into my, you know, post, Charles Bloom has become, you know, he was with us in New York on the podcast, which was wonderful, and we had him with us in Mansfield, and he sang again his wonderful Pearly Day parody, his night and day parody, here in, you know, there in Nashville. He did something on Saturday, Friday night after the program. His father was a screenwriter, and... he had written a Western that starred Johnny Cash, and Johnny Cash had given his.

46:37 Father, Charles' father, the vest that he wore in the movie. And it was one of.

46:42 Johnny Cash's first movies.

46:44 Yeah, exactly.

46:46 And the label on the inside of the vest, very plainly written Cash on it.

46:52 So, yeah, no, I didn't see the labeling on the vest.

46:54 Oh, I did.

46:55 I have photos of it. Wow.

46:57 Oh, you do?

46:57 Oh, that's cool.

46:59 So.

47:00 On that Friday night at the talk back at the Opry, Charles gave the vest back to the Cash family. And I don't know how emotional it was for the Cash family. It was incredibly emotional for Charles Bloom. Because this had been a link to his own father. Something that his father wanted him to have. And Charles decided that he thought that this vest should come home to the Cash family.

47:24 And I... it was very, very emotional for him to do that.

47:29 And I think, I hope that, I hope the Cash family saw.

47:37 Well, Dean, you didn't see their faces because you were on stage with them.

47:41 They were slack-jawed.

47:43 They were slack-jawed.

47:44 I mean, when he starts, they were like, wait, where is this going? And then he said, I think I have something. I mean, Johnny Cash Jr.

47:50 Was just stunned, like eyes wide open. Carleen at one point literally went, I mean, did a huge mouth open, looked at her brother like, oh my God, oh my God. I think they were very affected by it.

48:03 And they were all hugging. I mean, he could not stop crying backstage. They were all hugging. Yeah.

48:09 I'm so glad that that ended up being a nice moment because I know it was something that Charles fought about for some time before coming to Nashville with it. And I think that was the main thing that for me, you know, I said, You have to be there because you have this story.

48:28 About this vest. I don't know what you're going to do.

48:30 We didn't talk about whether he's going to give them the vest, but I said, you have to talk about the vest. I mean, if there's no better time to talk about the vest than in Nashville.

48:39 And I think he, Charles, really, while we were there, because I know because we were talking about it before he did it, I think he really, it was just sort of like, the signs are all here pointing to, I am, this cannot just be a coincidence that I am in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry right now with Johnny's children. Like, This has to happen. And more importantly, the wonderful thing about him giving it back to them is that now this vest will be protected, it'll be archived, it'll be saved, it will be preserved. It is safe to go on and on and on. And Charles was like, it's just been in my closet.

49:19 Yeah, right.

49:19 It's been hanging in his closet for 30 years. If I don't give it back, what's gonna happen to it? So he did the right thing.

49:24 But the chain of events, it's true, because what are the odds that you would say, hey, you know the guy Charles Bloom, who was Pearlie Day's composer, and we track him down, and then we have him to our event, and he's a smash, and then... yeah we talk him into coming and then we wind up in nashville with the cash family when he's all of this happened yeah.

49:47 Charles charles if you're listening to this you're sort of a kismet kind of a thing here i mean it's your inclusion all this has really really been fun we we have loved having you and we hope that we will If you're watching, Charles, we hope we will see you again at other events.

50:03 You just, you bring a lot.

50:05 Yeah, he's wonderful.

50:07 And we appreciate it.

50:07 Can I quickly tell you my Carlene Carter story while we were there?

50:10 Oh, of course. You have cash connections.

50:12 So I have cash connections. Let's trademark that. I have some cash connections. Anyway, so obviously Carlene Carter was there, June's daughter. And I have a weird friend. of separation from Carleen because I've mentioned this before in the show that I played June Carter in a show called Wildwood Flowers, the June Carter cast story. What I didn't tell you before was she had originated that part first. Carleen Carter played her mother in this show first. Actually, I think at the Ryman Theater. I mean, I think they did it there first. And then I came and took it over from her.

50:57 At the Ryman?

50:58 Not at the Ryman. We did it at North Carolina Performing Arts Center. That's where we did it, in Charlotte. But I had... Carleen had originated it, and then I stepped in and did it at the next production. But I was working with the same people who had worked with Carleen doing it, so I had heard, I mean, story, story, stories after stories about Carleen Carter, and I had already worked, this is so also very random, I had already worked with other members of the Carter family in a previous show that I had done, so I was already sort of hooked up with the family and obviously the rich, rich history And so finally we're at the Grand Ole Opry and there's Carlene. And I'm going, I have to say something to her. I have to say something to her.

51:46 So I finally approached her and I said, and I missed Johnny Cass Jr. He, I think, had left already by the time I was trying to find him. But anyway, I did get to Carlene and I said, hi, I just want to let you know that. I played your mom in Wildwood Flowers. And she was like, what? That was you? And I was like, yeah, that was me.

52:04 And I named the mutual friends that we both worked with on it. And she was like, oh my God. And we started talking about it. She was like, I want to talk to you more about it. She took down my number. We started texting.

52:13 Oh, so you've communicated with her?

52:16 Oh, yeah. Oh, that's awesome. And I confided something in her, which I didn't know if it was going to be the right move or not, because I didn't know how she was going to take it, which is... And I've actually talked to psychics about this. I've talked to people about this. There was a moment in Wildwood Flowers, that show, that as June Carter, part of her act was she would go out into the audience and just improv. June Carter was hilarious. She was a comedian. She was just naturally funny. And I would have to, every performance, go out into a 2,000-seat theater and and improvised with the audience.

52:54 And yes, just like your expression, Dean, that was me every day, the dread, the dread I would experience before this scene would happen every single day. I was like, oh my God, I don't know what I'm gonna do. And like, what if I'm not funny and I don't know what I'm gonna say.

53:09 Well, you couldn't not be funny.

53:11 Well, that is not true, first of all, but thank you. But inevitably what would happen was, Every performance that I did, I would go out into the audience and I felt like something overtook me. Like something that was not me overtook me. I was saying and doing things that I couldn't have ever planned in advance. Never, never. And it would be like a hit every night. And then as soon as I'd be done, I'd, you know, go back on stage and exit the wings. And I would literally go, what just happened? What just happened? Like, I wouldn't remember it.

53:52 I didn't know how it happened. I knew that it was funny, but I didn't know what exactly. And so I started talking to a couple people about it, a couple of psychics, actually, about it, who said, no, you were channeling. She was channeling through you. That's just what it was. Now, I am not so egotistical to be like, oh, yeah, she was totally channeling through me because I am a very special person. But I think there is something to it. Anyway, so I mentioned to Carlene, I said, I have to tell you something. You know, that part of the show where I'd have to go out into the audience, I think your mom maybe was channeling through me, and she went without a beat. Oh, she definitely was. She is really busy up there. She comes to me all the time.

54:38 She's busy, busy, busy, absolutely busy. She's absolutely she was. I have no doubt about it. And I just like the validation I felt and the relief that I felt, first of all, that I didn't offend her in any way. Because obviously this is her mother I'm talking about.

54:52 She's really busy up there.

54:53 That is what she said.

54:54 Oh, she did.

54:54 She's really busy up there. She is really busy. She comes all the time. All the time she comes. So that was a really honestly incredible experience for me.

55:04 Pamela, I think we buried the lead on this.

55:07 I mean, this is like, this is a wonderful story.

55:11 Isn't that cool?

55:14 This is a great way to maybe, you know, think about wrapping this up, our first episode back. We have had such a fun time channeling our memories, channeling through others and our own experiences and memories. things about Little House and being a voice of all of that for those of you who love to listen. And it's just, the program continues.

55:35 To be this incredible gift. And we are so, I mean, Alison, I'm sure you have a million things to say about this.

55:43 There is so much good that has come through this for all of us.

55:50 And so we're grateful.

55:53 We're glad that you enjoy listening and we're going to keep talking.

55:58 Yeah, we will. And we'll see. Hopefully we'll do a live event or two soon, but we'll see. We're not in any planning stages because we're all tired right now, but we will get to it. I promise. Can I also just say one thing, quick thing before we log off? Hey, if anyone out there works for Meta or knows somebody who works for Meta, my Living on a Prairie Facebook page has, I'm just going to announce it. It's been orphaned, meaning I was taken off of managing my own page mysteriously out of nowhere. So I can't post on it.

56:32 It exists. If you look up Living on a Prairie on Facebook, the page is there, but I have no control over it anymore. So I have done several requests through Meta, which is all AI. You can't get to a human being. I am waiting. They responded immediately. first and it was a mistake so i had to resubmit everything again so i am still waiting on a response i have a friend who is a friend who works at meta who helped and all he could say is it could take a few days it could take a few weeks it could take a few could take a few years yeah or never or never so just putting it out there i might have to start all over which is a drag but hopefully i won't and if anyone knows anything about how this all works you know

57:18 contact me.

57:19 There's, there is some meta person who watches this. I, you know, I don't know, but you know, we've been at sort of at that half a million downloads kind of thing.

57:29 Someone knows.

57:31 Yeah. So this is my desperate plea. If you follow me on Prairie TV on Instagram, um, I, I do a story at Prairie TV on Instagram. Um, And I mean, I'm on TikTok, but I'm not really on TikTok. I don't check it all as much. But I will say on my stories every day, I've been doing a countdown. So today will be day nine. So I'll just give an update on not having my page still. Fun. This is fun.

58:01 This is fun.

58:02 Technology.

58:05 We are excited to be back, everybody.

58:08 And we've got some fun things coming up right away.

58:12 We do.

58:12 And so fun conversation that we'll be having.

58:14 This next season is going to be great.

58:15 Yeah, we have already had.

58:16 Season four, everybody.

58:18 Can you believe it?

58:19 Season four.

58:21 I know.

58:21 Dean, do you remember when this was going to be? Let's do 50 episodes.

58:24 Yeah, no, of course.

58:26 We were riding in a limo in Tennessee.

58:30 Three in the morning.

58:32 Yeah. And we said, we need to do something.

58:35 And here we are doing it.

58:36 Yep.

58:37 And I'm the lucky girl that gets to.

58:39 Come along for the ride. It just had to be you.

58:42 It had to be you.

58:44 Wonderful you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. Let's say goodbye, but we'll be back.

58:50 Goodbye, everybody. We will be back. And we have a really great season in store for you. We're super excited. And thank you for being with us. And thank you for all the messages and the DMs. And the comments saying, when are you guys back? When are you guys back? We appreciate it so much. Without you, we could not be doing this. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

59:09 And let's say it for the first time in season four, Bob, get the wig. Let's fly, baby. Oh, we haven't done this in like three months.

59:23 It's fun to soar again.

59:26 Yeah, I know. Gotta build the arm muscles.