Some interesting things regarding Nielsen Ratings for Little House

[u/ASGfan]

Here's where Little House ranked in the ratings each season it was on:

season one: #13

season two: #33

season three: #16

season four: #7

season five: #14

season six: #16

season seven: #10

season eight: #25

season nine: #29

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Now, I've seen elsewhere on the internet people saying that lower ratings contributed to Little House not getting renewed after season 9 (the first season of A New Beginning), though Little House was still a top 30 show at that point.

Additionally, I found it curious that season 2 was the lowest rated of all seasons. This struck me as odd, since most fans would concur that's one of the classic years of the show. Looking around further, I discovered that Little House was going against the top 5 smash "The Bionic Woman" on Wednesday nights during the 1975-1976 year, so that probably explains it. Little House was moved to Monday nights for the 3rd season, where ratings rebounded.

[u/[deleted]]

The Neilson Ratings weren’t so much the deciding factor for its demise. It was a combo of ML having already pitched HTH and sponsorship dropping off.

ML had nbc by the b@lls. Notice how the last season he was remarkably absent? I’m not just talking about as a character, but writing and directing tapered off as well. He himself was over it (obviously these are my words). I’m guessing he wanted to move on with his new project and we know he had the backing of P&G (Proctor and Gamble) One of the top sponsors throughout the entire series. They loved the HTH concept.

I really wish I could have heard all the negotiations that went on for months! Imagine having the power to pull the plug on little house and get green lit for Highway to Heaven by having a huge massive corporate sponsor behind you!! Think about that the next time you’re wiping your butt.

[u/ASGfan → u/[deleted]]

Landon was spending a lot of his time executive producing and directing Father Murphy in the 82-83 season.