'Little House on the Prairie' review: Warm and welcoming

WHAT IT'S ABOUT This eight-parter from Rebecca Sonnenshine ("The Vampire Diaries," "The Housemaid") is based on the third of nine books in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s "Little House" series. It follows the Ingalls family — Ma Caroline (Crosby Fitzgerald), Pa Charles (Luke Bracey), Mary (Skywalker Hughes), Laura (Alice Halsey) and cherished mutt Jack — from Wisconsin to Independence, Kansas, where they try to build a homestead (or little house) out in the wilderness. This won't be easy, but you probably already know that.

MY SAY Like the classic book series it was based on, "Little House on the Prairie" (NBC, 1974-83) was among the most beloved TV series in history, and not just because Michael Landon's hair was so perfect and his Pa so valiant. Like those books, it was an exercise in national mythmaking and identity — the better angels of our nature in prime time, over nine happy, sappy seasons. Former President Ronald Reagan was a fan, which is probably why it's still considered a "conservative" show. But, really, who didn't love "Little House?" In her Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Wilder, "Prairie Fires," Caroline Fraser wrote that "courage, self-reliance, independence, integrity and helpfulness ran through all her stories 'like a golden thread.'"

Indeed, and also through that mawkish, old-fashioned, sweet, kind-hearted TV series.

And through this one, although there are big differences. Foremost, NBC and Landon (who starred and produced) whitewashed Wilder's already sanitized version of life on the Great Plains. There were hardly any Black or indigenous TV characters but that's been redressed here. Dr. George Tann — Black in the book, white on NBC — is played here by Jocko Sims. The Osage storyline is effectively the storyline of this entire first season. As Charles' Osage friend and neighbor William Mitchell (Meegwun Fairbrother) succinctly explains, "the railroad company made a deal [to buy the land], Congress scuttled it and now everything's back in play."

Will the Ingalls stay? As another friend explains, "out here, people come and go. You have to make peace with that." Or just end up going yourself. As Wilder wrote somewhere of her own father, he had a "wandering foot," so that may be a clue.

Where is "out here" exactly? The NBC series was shot in Simi Valley where, on a clear day, you could see the L.A. smog gently caressing the semi-arid hills. With this one, shot in Manitoba, Canada, there are few scenes of endless prairie, but there are at least grasslands — that grass literally as high as an elephant's eye. A mysterious Osage trail leading to who-knows-where traverses one of these fields. It's a handy metaphor for the Ingalls' own relentless and who-knows-where odyssey.

What's best about this series is the prevailing sense that Sonnenshine has actually read the books and esteems them, especially the characters who so memorably fill their pages. Bonded by love, buffeted by life's travails, Ma, Pa, Mary and Laura, aren't just some made-for-TV family (even though they are). Instead, they embody that Wilderesque American spirit — constantly pushing forward, inevitably moving backward, these four have grit, determination and hope. They may be restless wanderers but — to borrow Laura's (Melissa Gilbert) famous line from the famous show — they too believe that "home is the nicest word there is."

BOTTOM LINE Netflix has a hit — a nice one.