Little House on the Prairie was known for its harrowing storylines during its nine-season run, but one of the darkest episodes of the series served as a difficult “test” to see if the show could go on without lead actor and showrunner Michael Landon. And much of the weight was put on Melissa Gilbert, whom fans had watched grow up on the series since 1974.
In an October 2025 appearance on the Little House 50 Podcast, series star Dean Butler revealed that the two-part episode “Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow,” which aired in February 1982, played a pivotal role in the future of the series.
“I think Michael used the success of this episode as part of the argument to say we can go on,” the actor said.
In the dire two-parter, viewers saw a shockingly different side of the beloved characters, most notably Laura Ingalls Wilder (played by Gilbert). The heartbreaking Season 8 episode featured a depressedAlmanzo Wilder (Butler) suffering from both diphtheria and a stroke. An angry and very pregnant Laura was left to deal with her husband’s illness as well as the aftermath of a tornado that destroyed their house—while also clashing with her sister-in-law, Eliza Jane (Lucy Lee Flippin), over Almanzo’s care.
On the podcast, Butler, who joined the cast of Little House on the Prairie in Season 6, explained that the “Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow” episode was filmed to see if he and Gilbert could lead the show without Landon.
“The underlying motivation for the episode was Michael had made the decision that he was going to step away at the end of the eighth season. And [producer] Kent [McCray] said, ‘We need to find out if you and Melissa can carry this,'"Butler recalled. “So they threw every calamity they could throw at us."
“As depressing as it was, the numbers were spectacular,” Butler noted. “They were really good. I think it was number four the first week and number two the second week for weekly programming. So it worked really well. But as I watched it over, I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, why were people watching this?’”
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Indeed, while they tuned in, fans weren’t sure what to make of seeing sweet and spunky Laura as bitter and Almanzo as depressed and miserable.
Gilbert addressed the emotional two-part episode in her 2014 book, My Prairie Cookbook, where she noted that it really tested her skills as an actress. “Diphtheria, a stroke, a baby, a tornado, a nervous breakdown,” she wrote. “This may be the first time I had to really reach to play Laura.”
On the Little House 50 Podcast, Butler said that despite the issues with the characters’ personality changes, he and Gilbert knew they had to perform. “I think we both went into it knowing that this was very important,” he said. “There was a lot to do in this, and so there was a lot of consequence potentially, and so we knew that there was a lot to it. I think that she and I worked very well together during this episode because we both knew that there was something at stake.”
“Little House on the Prairie” did go on. The show’s ninth and final season was renamed Little House: A New Beginning, and focused on the Wilders after Charles (Landon) moved the rest of the Ingalls clan to Iowa.
“You know, the reality was, okay, we went on for another year,” Butler said of Little House. “It was still in the top half of the ratings, but I think NBC was just, you know, was looking to change directions. …We had a great run.”
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