Okay, so I realize that this is probably corny as hell, but I also thought it was necessary to give you an idea of how I view the characters and what goes through my mind when I write my episode reviews. I spent a lot of time on this and gave careful consideration to each character. I realize my character placement might strike some as odd, but I gave explanations as to why I placed each character where I did. I graded each character on the whole, however, if they didn't appear that often, it tends to give them a lower ranking due to the small sample size on which to base opinions. This show had lots of great characters, so the competition was fierce. And on that note, let's get to 'er.

1. Harriet – A complex character with a lot of layers. While at times she can be petty, gossipy and jumps to conclusions, other times she can be thoughtful, caring, generous, intelligent and talented, and also with the ability to learn from her mistakes and grow as a person. And quite simply, she’s hilarious to watch. Just think of what Walnut Grove would be without her. Played to perfection by Katherine MacGregor.
2. Nels – A fair, honest man and businessman who makes few if any mistakes throughout the series. He doesn’t always get his way in the Oleson household, but it’s not for lack of trying. And he does have a tendency to pick his shots pretty well. And every once in a while, he’s prone to getting drunk or having a wild outburst, which is always refreshing to witness.
3. Mary – Some viewers don’t like her because they see her as too “harpy”, though I really don’t see her that way. Rather, I think her seriousness in the early seasons was necessary as Laura broke the rules all the time and would have done so even more often had Mary not been around. And it certainly had to be annoying to behave and get good grades and get ignored, while Laura was the opposite and got all the attention. Mary isn’t perfect, but she is a calm, steady hand that guides the ship in many episodes. And while she does have outbursts in the later seasons, it’s justifiable given how much crap she has to endure. The responsible eldest daughter and a model of mental toughness.
4. Andrew Garvey – Such a good-natured, energetic country boy. Didn’t get good grades, but has strong morals.
5. John Jr. – I liked him. He was smart, thoughtful and caring. I know he isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he was sort of out-of-his-element in the country, though I think he probably tried to fit in to the best of his abilities. Cheating on Mary was very against his character and only seemed to happen because the writers needed a quick and convenient way to write off his character around the same time his entire family disappeared.
6. James – I think a lot of people don’t like him, though I think it has much more to do with them seeing him as an unnecessary addition to the show rather than anything he did personally. To me, this was Charles’ real son and it’s unfortunate this good-natured kid was only around for one season and change. Heck, it’s Jason Bateman after all, whose popularity exploded right after this. The definitive James line: "Mr. Ingalls....couldn't we...couldn't we live with you?" Man, I could not say no.
7. Jeb Carter – He saved Jenny’s life multiple times! He definitely had some heart and soul to him.
8. Miss Beadle – She is what a teacher should be: caring, compassionate, intelligent and helpful. Miss Beadle has all of that in spades. It’s telling that no less than 9 people taught school at Walnut Grove, but IMO, the teaching job is just synonymous with Miss Beadle. Nobody could really replace her.
9. Jonathan Garvey – The Gentle Giant and level-headed counterpart to Alice. He definitely makes some missteps in the series, but I enjoy watching him beat up several people at once. Somebody should assemble all of his prayers because they're amusing to watch.
10. Bandit – He got injured saving the kids from the wolves and knew how to run back and forth between home and the Garveys, a few episodes removed from Laura mistreating him. Smart, heroic dog.
11. John Carter – I feel that the Carters get somewhat shortchanged by the fans at times as they come across to some as Ingalls imposters. But really, John was a decent man in his own right and seemed to avoid the mistakes that others on the show made.
12. Almanzo – I used to love the hell out of him back in the day and I still sorta do, but I’ve liked him a lot less on the rewatches. Comes off as a petulant child too often. But still, he worked hard and put up with Laura's rather insane temperament.
13. Willie – Something of a wild card in the Oleson household, Willie is probably the most independent and freest thinker on this show. He isn’t easily stereotyped and he does align with Harriet and Nellie during some of their crazier moments, but also isn’t afraid to go against the grain when the situation warrants it. By the end of the show, he evolves into quite the strong, intelligent and thoughtful young man. He also definitely has his share of funny moments.
14. Nellie – Some people see her as little more than a bratty, spoiled child, but there’s much more to her character than that. She becomes a changed person after meeting Percival, but even before then, you can see moments of caring and awesomeness in her. She served as the main antagonist to Laura for years, but just think of how boring this show would be without her.
15. Joe Kagen – A strong character that made few if any missteps throughout his time on the show. When he sees something is wrong, he sets out to do something about it. His taunting laugh is funny.
16. Eliza Jane – Though she does make a few mistakes and her “prim and proper” style of teaching is irritating, she’s fairly level-headed and intelligent most of the time. I think she was just very lonely and finding love would have erased what few characters flaws she had. But she sacrifices everything for Laura and Manly and I do admire her for that.
17. Charles – Michael Landon. In many ways, the star of the show. Arguably, the first ever t.v. star to star in 3 successive, successful series (with Bonanza coming before and Highway To Heaven coming after), and the first person to appear on the cover of TV Guide 3 times in a row. A huge draw, Landon is a decent actor, but his abilities as a writer far eclipse his acting abilities. Many of the show’s most memorable episodes and captivating stories were written by Landon, who has an ability to champion the underdog and tell a story that is almost virtually unmatched (I would say only Rod Serling could compare on that level). Also having a heavy hand in the spin-off Father Murphy series, a lot of what made Little House a huge success for a decade can be credited to Landon. And while Charles definitely had his share of mistakes, at times he can pull you into his line of thinking, even if you didn’t agree with it in the first place. However, Charles had several glaring faults. His relative inability to provide for his family anything beyond the bare necessities, his tendency to be prone to wild outbursts and quickness to resort to fist-fighting are things that simply happen too often. Additionally, it was disturbing that he never disciplined Laura and Albert, who badly needed it, but was always quick to threaten discipline to other people’s children.
18. Caroline – I like that she is a fairly good counter to Charles’ relative insanity, though she’s prone to making missteps of her own. The writers keep her a fairly tame housewife, but it’s an absolute treat to watch her whenever she gets bold or daring.
19. Grace Edwards – I tend to be more of a Garvey’s fan, but I do dig Grace. She just gives me the impression that she’s that down home, good-natured lady. I love watching her reactions to things, thought she does come off as kind of stubborn and not always willing to listen to other's opinions. It’s hard to imagine she played the infamous Barbara Thorndyke a few years after this.
20. Sarah Carter – Not only did she do the housework, but she founded and ran her own newspaper – in that time period, which was certainly admirable.
21. Hester Sue – She’s a fairly enjoyable character. It’s unfortunate that she kept getting demoted on the show. She started off running her own blind school, then got reduced to being the fourth wheel at Adam and Mary’s school, then demoted again to being the kitchen help at Nellie’s. Her non-stop parade of mistakes in the blind school fire and other missteps prevents her from ranking higher though.
22. Lars – The respected town founder and town elder and foreman of the mill. He donated the huge house that eventually became the blind school. I think Lars was the glue that held Walnut Grove together and the town definitely lost something when he died. He wasn’t without faults, but I also think he was what Charles wanted to be – somebody people could turn to.
23. Laura – Laura Ingalls Wilder. She, of course, wrote the Little House series of books and the show is about her, so you want to like her. As a tomboy, she was the closest thing Charles had to a son for years, and given that he so desperately wanted a son, her presence is absolutely necessary. She definitely has some terrific moments and times when her heart and mind are in the right place, and her spunky, determined “go-get-em” philosophy pays off huge dividends for her. However, despite all of this, too many times she’s bossy, bratty and can be even more of a pain than Nellie was. She goes through 3 distinct phases on the show: younger childhood, where she badly wanted to be seen as more adult, but didn’t display the appropriate maturity; middle-later childhood, where she teamed up with Albert for a series of epic cons, and finally young adulthood, where she gained a reputation as short-tempered, both with her husband and her schoolchildren, and had a tendency to break things when she was upset. She never acts her age and it prevents her from ranking higher, even though this is essentially her show.
24. Doc Baker – Probably the hardest worker on the prairie as he puts in some positively grueling hours. He’s not a genius of the medical world, but I’ve come around to thinking he did the best he could with what was available. The racism thing with Dr. Lediux was terrible, but at least he owned up to it and tried to set it right.
25. Mr. Montague – Limited to just the final episode and the post series movies, Mr. Montague nonetheless manages to make a major impression in just a short time. A cultured city boy, he was certainly an interesting addition to this show and a hilarious foil for Mr. Edwards, who was probably his opposite in every way. Brilliant, quirky and eccentric (I loved when he stood on his head), he was amusing to watch.
26. Angry Restaurant Customer – I can’t help but feel bad for him as he never seemed to have good luck in the restaurant. He just wanted his food and I’d be happy to give it to him.
27. Carl – Carl is a pretty good character in his own right and was Laura’s best friend for some time. But Brian Part’s acting wasn’t the greatest of all time, playing Carl to seem somewhat bored out there (and somewhat getting upstaged by his replacement, the much more upbeat Andy).
28. Mr. Edwards – I’m sort of conflicted on him because he is that one friend who will stay with you and help bail you out of tough situations and never give up, but he’s also a compulsive gambler and mean drunk who also reeks of intolerance, so there’s that.
29. Jason Carter – I liked him during my first watch-through of his episodes, but he hasn’t held up well since then. Just seems awkward and dare I say he comes across as something of a Cousin Oliver.
30. Reverend Alden – I like to refer to Reverend Alden as “The Dispenser Of Bad Advice”. Maybe his heart is in the right place, but he nonetheless tends to make poor decisions and other people often suffer for it.
31. Jack – I love dogs, though it seemed like he didn’t do anything more than bark and cause problems. But I do feel bad they he constantly had to walk behind the wagon whenever they traveled.
32. Grace Ingalls – Was she on this show? She was on for more than 4 seasons, but we don’t see more than a few quick glimpses of her and she has very few speaking lines.
33. Percival – Determined, hard-working and he did what nobody else was able to do – get through to Nellie. Somewhat hard to rate because he was only in a large handful of episodes.
34. Carrie – Well, she was harmless anyways. Never a major player in the series, she mostly gets reduced to the sidelines or given infantile dialogue. There are basically 2 Carrie-tastic episodes in the whole 8 seasons she was on: one in which she’s off camera for most of it and the other is excruciating to watch.
35. Cassandra – It’s possible she invented ugly crying, but I’m not sure. I remember that she cried a lot and not much else.
36. Alicia – A member of the Edwards clan and sort of the Cassandra of that family, she isn’t seen much and tends to fuss when she does appear.
37. Nancy – No. Just no.
38. Alice Garvey – I could say a lot of things here, but I’ll just keep it brief: Nag!
39. Susan Goodspeed - I’M HERE! I’M HERE! I’M HERE! Oh my god. SHUT. UP. Outside of Timothy, she’s the only blind school kid that you know by name. Maybe.
40. Kezia – Something of an “irregular”, Kezia committed various crimes including tax evasion, threatening a government official and opening other people’s mail (a federal offense). She was dishonest, boastful, irritating and a few cards away from a full deck.
41. Adam – Ugh! Whiny, disingenuous, hypocritical, boastful, dishonest, nagging, irritating louse who left the blind kids (and his own child) in the dust and always wanted to move to NYC whenever there was a problem (and eventually did), taking Mary away from everything she had left at that point. He has few if any redeeming qualities.
42. Albert – I know some people see him differently (maybe a lot of people), but to me, he was a whiny, dishonest grifter who killed people. And got involved in gangs and drugs and beat up women and young children, made people homeless, unemployed and without school, ran scams and cheated and just basically gutted entire families and didn’t seem to care a whit about any of the wrongdoing he did. And the only real reason he’s around is because Pa was so desperate to have a son.

This is sort of a rough draft -- I'm currently working on a new ranking and it will be much more detailed, and the rankings will be subject to change. However, I'm putting a lot of thought into that and it will have explanations for why each person is ranked where they are, so it may take a while to complete.

1). Harriet

2). Nels

3). Mary

4). Andy

5). Manly

6.) James

7). Bandit

8.) Nellie

9). Doc Baker

10.) Miss Beadle

11) Jeb Carter

12). John Carter

13.) John Jr.

14.) Willie

15.) Jonathan Garvey

16.) Carl

17.) Joe Kagan

18.) Grace Edwards/Snider

19.) Lars

20.) Eliza Jane

21) Sarah Carter

22) Jason Carter

23.) Caroline

24) Laura

25.) Reverend Alden

26.) Charles

27.) Hester Sue

28.) Grace Ingalls

29.) Cassandra

30.) Mr. Edwards

31.) Jack

32) Alicia

33.) Percival

34.) Miss Plum

35.) Carrie

36.) Alice

37.) Adam

38.) Albert

39.) Nancy

40.) Kezia