Little House on the Prairie Stars Say Age-Gap Romance Episode Wouldn’t Fly Today

Alison Arngrim, the iconic Nellie Oleson from Little House on the Prairie, recently stirred up nostalgia and debate on the Little House 50 podcast, reflecting on a 1977 episode that wouldn’t fly in today’s Hollywood. In "Here Come the Brides" from the show’s fourth season, her character, barely 13, elopes with teen heartthrob Luke Simms after a whirlwind romance. The catch? The actor playing Simms, Bob Marsic, was 22, while Arngrim was just 15 during filming.

Arngrim recounted the awkwardness of shooting romantic scenes with a near-stranger, chuckling about the absurdity of kissing on day two of meeting Marsic. "Hi, introduce yourself, now you’re in love," she quipped, noting the absence of modern safeguards like intimacy coordinators. She also shared a humorous moment when Marsic’s girlfriend visited the set, seemingly wary of the "pimply 15-year-old" stealing her man.

Co-star Dean Butler, who played Almanzo Wilder, joined the discussion, reflecting on his own experience filming a kiss with 15-year-old Melissa Gilbert, then 23 himself. He admitted to anxiety over the scene, which marked Gilbert’s first kiss both on-screen and in real life. "You just couldn’t do it today," Butler said, crediting the show’s tasteful handling and Michael Landon’s creative instincts for making the age gap palatable to 1970s audiences.

The episode’s premise—young girls swooning over an older man—raises eyebrows now, as does the casting of adults opposite minors in romantic roles. Arngrim and Butler agree: such storylines would be unthinkable today, with stricter oversight and cultural sensitivities reshaping how love stories are told on screen.