For 30 years, Michael Landon had a strong working relationship with NBC. The actor originally played “Little Joe” Cartwright on the hit Western series Bonanza, which ran for an impressive 14 seasons on the network before being canceled as a result of the rural purge. But despite the network’s attempts to axe shows that appealed to rural America, Landon’s next series, Little House on the Prairie, became a massive hit, spanning nine seasons and three continuation specials during its time on air. So it shouldn’t be too surprising that, besides Landon himself, there was some occasional overlap between these hit productions. In fact, the Bonanza episode “A Matter of Consequence” and the Little House episode “A Matter of Faith” are particularly notable for being immensely similar, as the latter acts as a direct remake of the former.
“A Matter of Faith” Was Copied Directly from ‘Bonanza’s “A Matter of Circumstance”
On April 19, 1970, Bonanza aired an episode during its fourteenth season titled “A Matter of Circumstance.” This episode primarily followed Little Joe (Landon) after he was trampled by his horse, resulting in some major cuts and bruises, one of which became infected with gangrene in about a day or so. Fighting to keep himself alive, Joe wanders about the Ponderosa Ranch to find help. But when help arrives, he’s fast asleep and only notices it too late. Eventually, Joe settles on amputating his hand so that he doesn’t risk death by infection, only to pass out before he can follow through. When his father and brother arrive––Joe was supposed to meet them over a day earlier on a cattle drive––they find him still breathing, get a doctor, and save his life. It’s an incredibly engaging episode that relies more on physical action than dialogue.
Only six years later, on February 4, 1976, during the second season of Little House on the Prairie, a very similar premise is revisited in “A Matter of Faith.” However, this time, instead of following Michael Landon’s near-death experience, the Little House on the Prairie episode sends Charles (Landon) and his three daughters away while his wife, Caroline (Karen Grassle), is left behind. After cutting her leg on some loose wire, Caroline waits too long to tend the wound, fails to ask Dr. Baker (Kevin Hagen) to take a look, and finds herself wrestling with a cow in the middle of a thunderstorm. Soon, her wound is infected, and she goes through similar trials to Little Joe in the Bonanza episode. Inspired by her Bible reading (likely Matthew 18:8), Caroline decides to amputate her leg to save her life––only she passes out before she can do so. Thankfully, Charles realizes something is wrong when Caroline doesn’t meet up with him and the girls on their vacation, so he arrives just in time to get Dr. Baker. Caroline eventually recovers after some much-needed care.
When it comes to television, it can be easy to dismiss similarly plotted episodes as being penned by two different writers who came up with a similar idea. That sort of thing happens frequently, and you’ll often see episodes of similar shows tackle similar ideas. But in the case of this Bonanza-turned-Little House episode, it was a lot more than simple coincidence that brought them together. While Michael Landon is the familiar on-screen factor here, it’s worth noting that both “A Matter of Circumstance” and “A Matter of Faith” were penned by the same screenwriter, B.W. Sandefur. To make things more obvious, they even share a director, William F. Claxton! “A Matter of Faith” isn’t just a revisiting of that old Bonanza plot but a direct reimagining made by the same duo responsible for the original.
The ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Episode Is More Impactful than the ‘Bonanza’ Original
There are a lot of positive similarities to these two episodes beyond just the plot. For starters, when both Little Joe and Caroline wander through their land in search of any possible help, the camera switches to their hazy point of view with first-person shots that make us feel as uncomfortable as the characters. Well, maybe not as uncomfortable, but it helps us get the picture. Director William F. Claxton no doubt had the same idea for both projects and figured that if it wasn’t broken, there was no need to change it. Likewise, the tension each episode develops is incredible, and each gives our heroes false hope and quick outs that soon disappear as their would-be saviors ride off into the distance. “If only they had waited a few seconds longer,” we’re left hopelessly muttering at the screen. Claxton certainly knew this story well enough to deliver on both accounts, with each iteration as successful as the other.
But where the Little House on the Prairie episode further succeeds is in its choice of lead. While it might have been obvious to attempt the same premise again with Michael Landon––albeit as Charles Ingalls, who has much more to lose than Joe Cartwright––it was smart of writer B.W. Sandefur to center the survivalist tale on Caroline this time around. Despite appearing in 182 episodes of the 204 in the series, the Ingalls matriarch doesn’t often get stories centered on her. More often than not, she’s a supporting character in Little House on the Prairie’s narrative, and while she’s always got something to do, she (as the episode itself notes) doesn’t often get time to herself. “A Matter of Faith” changes that, elevating Karen Grassle’s performance as she fights to survive an impossible situation without those she’s come to rely on.
More than that, what makes Caroline particularly interesting in this tale is the different perspective she brings to the concept. While Little Joe thought pragmatically about cutting off his gangrenous hand, appealing to medical books for advice, Caroline does what the remake’s title suggests by gaining her wisdom from the scriptures. Upon reading Christ’s words, albeit in a dazed state that muddled their meaning, she decides the only way to survive is to purge herself of the infection. It’s a powerful moment that feels in character for Caroline in a way that wouldn’t if either of Michael Landon’s characters were in the same position. Additionally, Caroline’s role as a wife and a mother factors in masterfully here, as her own fears concerning the safety of her home put her in more danger when she locks the door, keeping Reverend Alden (Dabbs Greer) from discovering her condition much earlier.
“A Matter of Faith” Is What Remakes and Re-imaginings Should Strive For
In many ways, “A Matter of Faith” perfectly exemplifies how the same story can be told (even by the same people) in different and yet still meaningful ways without boring your audience. Having watched these two episodes back-to-back, it’s clear that both Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie are still distinct and different shows. One is a socially conscious adventure series that isn’t ashamed of its title as the second-longest-running television Western after Gunsmoke, while the other is a family-oriented Midwestern drama that expertly balances its conservative and progressive ideals. But in both cases, the same story is told in a way that fits within their specific framework, highlighting the character’s strength through similar ordeals that nearly kill them in the process.
Each episode ends with the respective doctors noting that Little Joe and Caroline were strong individuals willing to do an impossible yet courageous thing. Even with different endings, each show makes its own impact. With Bonanza, it’s Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) and his son (and Joe’s brother) “Hoss” (Dan Blocker) who are there to watch over Joe, but in Little House on the Prairie, the implications of Caroline’s condition are far scarier. For the Ingalls family, it would mean that Charles would be without his wife, and Laura (Melissa Gilbert), Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson), and Carrie (Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush) would be without a mother. Claxton and Sandefur’s second attempt at “A Matter of…” raised the stakes on the original, reminding us that the best remakes and re-imaginings still follow the original premise but with more emotional weight behind them.
‘Little House on the Prairie’ Often Borrowed Plots from Michael Landon’s Time on ‘Bonanza’
It’s worth noting that this wasn’t the last time a Bonanza episode was copied onto Little House on the Prairie. “A Matter of Faith” was only the first of many episodes Michael Landon lifted from his previous Western series, even if it was one of the best. Other examples include the William F. Claxton-directed “Joe Cartwright, Detective,” which the director returned to remake on Little House on the Prairie as “The Creeper of Walnut Grove,” and the Bonanza episode “A Dream to Dream,” which was penned by Landon and later adapted by him as “Somebody Please Love Me” during Little House on the Prairie’s fifth season (Claxton also directed both of these). Landon’s Bonanza classic “It’s A Small World” turned into the Season 9 episode “Little Lou” (during the time the show was renamed Little House: A New Beginning), and the filmmaker’s infamous “He Was Only Seven” from Bonanza was revisited during Little House on the Prairie’s eighth season as the equally notable “He Was Only Twelve.”
This isn’t an exhaustive list, of course. There’s also “The Younger Brothers’ Younger Brother,” which became “The Older Brothers” on Little House on the Prairie, and Bonanza’s “The Sound of Sadness,” which was remade as “The Silent Cry.” In all these cases, Michael Landon was involved, even if the original writers and directors shifted. Not all of these were as direct remakes as “A Matter of Faith” was to “A Matter of Circumstance,” but they followed the same basic ideas as their Bonanza predecessors. Even the Bonanza episode “The Stillness Within” shares similarities to the two-parter “I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away,” which chronicled Mary Ignalls’ real-life blindness. While Little Joe might’ve recovered his sight on Bonanza, Mary never did, either on television or in reality.
In the world of television, there are lots of fun connections that fans can make between different shows, some of which aren’t connected at all thematically. But what makes the remakes between shows like Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie so engaging is how similar they can be in some senses and how different they turn out in others. The Cartwrights and the Ingalls don’t have much in common, but Michael Landon always found a way to connect his two biggest series’, even if it was just for an episode or two.