Michael Landon Predicted ‘Little House on the Prairie' Would Still Be Watched 50 Years Later
Little House on the Prairie was one of the most beloved television shows of the 1970s. Based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's book series, the 1800s-set show aired on NBC from 1974 to 1983, but it didn't end its run there. Little House has never been off the air, living on for more than 50 years in syndication and on streaming platforms.
Michael Landon was heavily involved in the production of Little House on the Prairie. Not only did he play frontier father Charles Ingalls, but he was an executive producer on the historical drama series. Landon died in 1991 at age 54, just eight years after Little House wrapped, but he once predicted the show would live forever.
Little House child star Patrick Labyorteaux (Andy Garvey on the series) recently shared a story about Landon's prediction on his podcast, The Patrick Labyorsheaux. The actor recalled a lunchtime conversation he had with Landon in the late 1970s after discovering a new TV sitcom that he felt should "worry" his boss. The show was Mork & Mindy, the 1978 sitcom that starred Robin Williams as an alien from the planet Ork.
"I was telling him that I was watching this new show and that it was this really, really cool show and maybe we should be afraid of it," Labyorteaux recalled. "Like I'm trying to warn Michael Landon about this show that's going to like, you know, take his lunch money. And he goes, ‘What's the show?' And I go Mork & Mindy. …And he was very calm with me, right? He was like going, 'Uh huh. You like Mork & Mindy?' I go, ‘Yeah, man. It's the greatest...are you afraid of it? Because it's going to be such a big hit.' And he was super calm. And he goes, ‘No, I'm not really afraid of Mork & Mindy.'"
While Labyorteaux assured Landon that the new show was "huge," Landon wasn't worried by the ABC sitcom's real-time '70s theme and colorful look, which included Williams' signature suspenders and puffy windbreakers.
On his podcast, Labyorteaux recalled that Landon schooled him on the "reality" of the situation.
"The reality is that they'll still be watching you on Little House in the Prairie in 50 years, and no one's going to be watching Mork & Mindy," Landon told him. "The reality is that this show is based in 1880s, 1870s, we're already the past. Mork & Mindy is based in the present, which was 1978, ‘79. And they're going to look like a fad. It's going to date very, very poorly compared to Little House on the Prairie."
While Labyorteaux still felt Mork & Mindy was awesome enough to be around "forever," Landon just told him, "We'll see."
Landon was right, of course. While Mork & Mindy was popular-it aired on ABC for four seasons-it didn't have the staying power or the five-decade fandom of Little House.
In the end, Landon also made sure that Little House went out with a bang. The series finale came in the form of a TV movie, which featured the dynamite-driven destruction of all the buildings in the town of Walnut Grove to foil a greedy land developer.
In a 1984 interview with The New York Times, Landon said of the finale, "I think it makes for a good strong pioneer ending."
"It was also a nice catharsis for the cast and crew," the Little House on the Prairie patriarch added. "There were lots of tears when we finally blew up the town. The actors had all become very attached to their own buildings, so it was very emotional."
Related: ‘Little House on the Prairie' Star Had Michael Landon in Stitches During Her Audition
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This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 6:06 AM.