Great TV and the Truth

After my last two posts I thought I was finished with ranting about Little House. I was about to leave the computer when I thought of something else. As much as I adore the series, it was quite a shock to read the actual books, which were much more factual. They were real 'diaries' of a sort. The real stories. It came as quite a shock that the Olsens weren't real. That ma and pa were a lot tougher in countenance than their tv counterparts. It shouldn't have. Life in the 1800's, as much as we'd like to romanticize it was HARD. The stories that are so uplifting on television with their happy endings and messages, were real heartbreakers, or soulbreakers back then. The problem is, we tend to believe what we see, especially if we know it's 'based' on the truth. Little House was based on the truth, but strayed quite a bit to make it entertaining. It's not nearly as entertaining if there's always a bitter ending. It would have lasted a season. We may have gotten a better idea of life in the late 1800's but it wouldn't have made for great tv.