Little House on the Prairie Season 1 Episode 1

Melissa Gilbert remembers the day in June 1974, when she had to film the closing titles at Big Sky Ranch for the show: "Actually, I was scared to death because the entire hill was covered with bees and I am allergic to them. We actually had to do it a few times because I kept running real fast just to get away. Mike finally persuaded me to slow down so I would not disturb the bees and they'd leave me alone....he was right." "One other silly footnote to the story is, at the very end of it I was imitating an airplane, with my arms out to the side, flying down the hill. After we finally got a take where I didn't race by the camera, they were thrilled that we got one in the can. Then someone realized there were no airplanes in the 1800s. It looked like we were going to have to do it again when Mike chimed in and said to me, 'Hey, Half-pint, were you being an airplane or a bird?' I said, 'A bird, now get me out of here!' And that's the story of the end credits."

This is the episode where we see the opening credits for the first time, and part of these credits show the three Ingalls girls running down the hill as the young actresses' names are flashed across. For obvious reasons, the clip with little Carrie tripping and falling is one of the most memorable and endearing moments in these credits, and 2-year-old Sidney Greenbush refused to start running again after she fell. She just stood up and walked slowly at her own pace. Everyone was calling out to her to start running again, but she wouldn't do it, and they ended up keeping the footage just as it was.

In a 2006 interview, Melissa Sue Anderson revealed something very interesting about the show's opening credits, where the Ingalls girls are seen running down the hill (as they were every week for the first seven seasons). The hill was actually much less verdant that it appears, and in order to make it appear more springtime like, the set decorators placed arificial flowers on wire stems all over the part of the field that would have been within camera range. All of the white daisies and other flowers that appear in the credits were fake; nothing was in bloom at the time. Furthermore, Anderson said that one of the wires supporting the flowers cut her on the leg, causing her to fall and sustain a minor whiplash. Later, a sprinkler system was installed on set, allowing those in charge to better control the environment, and thus the appearance, of Walnut Grove.

Ramon Bieri, who played Mr. O'Neill in this episode, died of cancer in May 2001, about 27 years after this episode was filmed. He was 72 years old.

At the beginning of the episode, Laura says "If I had a remembrance book....." Then, later in the episode, she says, "In my remembrance book, I marked down....." The writers obviously couldn't decide if Laura really had a remembrance book, or if she was just wishing she had one.

Audiences may be interested to observe how much harsher Reverend Alden is in this episode, as opposed to future ones. His sermon is darker and strongly emphasizes the wrath of God, in response to many so-called Christians who don't attend Church every Sunday. In the future, though, Reverend Alden lightened up a lot, and his tone was different.

Melissa Sue Anderson (Mary) went by the nickname "Missy" on the set of the show, because with Melissa Gilbert (Laura) also around, it got confusing. Anderson has said that she used to call herself "Missa" when she was really little, and then Missy came shortly after that, and now her husband calls her Miss.