I’ve already outed myself as someone who’s not necessarily a TV show expert. And I do admit, at times I can be so detail-oriented on the one hand, and so completely oblivious on the other — often at the same time.
But did this really go right by me?
I was investigating a DVD collection I have of the series. It’s Season 3, and I received it as a gift. (My husband actually gifted me with the entire series this past Christmas, but I returned it. I’m still not pleased the collection’s been released without complete episodes, and it made me mad that we were filling the pockets of the production company to get an inferior product.) The kids have been watching this collection ad nauseam for the past two weeks. Every night, it’s popcorn and Little House. Popcorn and Little House. (Popcorn and milk?) And when I was studying the DVD case, I noticed a very weird thing, which I assumed to be a mistake that nobody caught.
“Look at this,” I said to my husband. “They got Mary with her eyes closed.”
He looked at the case. “But doesn’t Mary always have her eyes closed?”
“Because she’s blind?” I was incredulous.
He shrugged. To him, a casual fan at best, seeing Mary with her eyes closed to indicate her blindness was business as usual.
Is this really the way it’s always been?
What!? That’s absurd!
Mary’s eyes are somewhat narrow which may give the impression that they’re closed more often than they really are (look at the other pictures in this dvd album and you’ll see what I mean) but she totally looks like she’s squinting in the sun to me! I think it was just a bad selection and you’re right, nobody observed the eyes closed in that picture! It certainly isn’t to depict Mary being blind. (Especially since she didn’t go blind until the last episode of Season 4!)
Speaking of the show, Melissa Gilbert’s on The View today.