Little House on the Prairie

“It has kept the original name, and in all other respects is exactly the same. By which I mean: imagine Little House on the Prairie remade for a mainstream audience in 2026. It is exactly like that. Just as LHOTP: The Landon Years were a perfect rendition of the western myth for the TV-viewing world of half a century ago (bright skies, crisp linens, happy women and children under the care of a heavily blowdried patriarch, frequent careerings into melodrama and not a care in the world for historical accuracy or need to acknowledge awkwardness such as the displacement of entire native populations and wholesale land theft), so now is LHOTP 2.0. It is exactly the revamp you would expect. The new LHOTP is a precision-tooled and well-oiled machine.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Netflix is on a hiding to nothing with its remake of Little House on the Prairie. Anyone old enough to remember the 1970s series will regard it with misty-eyed nostalgia. Anyone young enough to be in the market for children’s programmes will prefer the streamer’s more garish options to a wholesome story of pioneer life in pretty bonnets. It’s the reboot that nobody needed… Stymied by the need to appeal to a family audience, this Little House is merely bland…The overall look fits neatly into the Instagram aesthetic. You won’t be able to shake the feeling that this was made for an audience with modern – ie. short – attention spans
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“It looks amazing but feels confused and hamstrung. Is this a nostalgia trip for us oldies or an attempt to find a new young audience? Some of the world’s greatest fiction observes the world through a child’s perspective and that is a key part of the books’ appeal. Netflix may want us to feel Laura’s struggles but she’s slightly lost in this account, which seems more keen to see her life through the eyes of a liberal arts college professor in 2026. This Prairie pulls its punches.”
Ben Dowell, The Times