Is Michael Landon the greatest tv star of all time?

[Iron_Leopard]

I'm currently watching some Little House on the Prairie reruns and I'm stunned at how good it is. This show is so captivating. I was born in 78 so I remember watching this as a kid but haven't seen it since.

Got me thinking with his iconic role here and other notable roles in Bonanza and Highway to Heaven is he a strong contender for best television actor ever?

[Cyke]

Best Actor and Best TV Star are, in my mind, two different things. Dick Van Dyke comes to mind as probably someone even more prolific than Landon, though I wouldn't say he's the better actor. And I imagine that someone can make a similar case for Andy Griffith or Carol Burnett, among others.

It's funny, though, how in contemporary times we consider someone like Seinfeld as a pinnacle, even though he only had one role and hasn't really worked consistently since (nor does he need to). Same with Kelsey Grammer. Ed O'Neill isn't spoken of in the same vein, but he has two long running shows under his belt.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I'm currently watching some Little House on the Prairie reruns and I'm stunned at how good it is. This show is so captivating. I was born in 78 so I remember watching this as a kid but haven't seen it since.

Got me thinking with his iconic role here and other notable roles in Bonanza and Highway to Heaven is he a strong contender for best television actor ever?

I think he was one of the most talented that was on TV. I mean a lot of folks don't remember Landon or the impact he had on TV due to his death nearly 30 years ago. But the man literally was EVERYTHING on Little House on Prairie and Highway to Heaven . He was actor , producer , director and writer. He had started to gain that power on Bonanza as he started writing , directing and acting in that series. (a fact that NBC saw this and knew Landon had talent)

One of the funniest things about Landon's work on Little House was one that made one producer quit after the series got picked up after the TV Movie. Landon was adapting Ingalls work and Ed Friendly was a producer on it. So he came to Landon and questioned how they would do a TV series on this given that Ingalls only wrote 9 books on her life. Landon replied he'd write the show so basically he'd be doing it. Friendly already clashed with Landon before this and quit , and Landon would go on to write the series.


Saddest thing was his death. Landon was gonna do a comedy TV series in 1990 . He had never did a comedy show before and was gonna take a shot at it. (he would be an ex-con who gets released and lives with his now grown son)

[AndrewCrossett]

Landon was great... Bonanza is one of my favorite TV shows of all time. I would say Betty White is the greatest TV actor of all time. For the men? Maybe Ted Danson, or Dick Van Dyke, or Hugh Laurie. Or Martin Mull, John Larroquette, Stephen Root, Tony Randall, Christopher Lloyd...

I'm gonna go with Danson.

[tkitna]

Big fan of Michael Landon. My friends always laugh at me when I mention him when it comes to acting.

[Jokerz79]

I think he was one of the most talented that was on TV. I mean a lot of folks don't remember Landon or the impact he had on TV due to his death nearly 30 years ago. But the man literally was EVERYTHING on Little House on Prairie and Highway to Heaven . He was actor , producer , director and writer. He had started to gain that power on Bonanza as he started writing , directing and acting in that series. (a fact that NBC saw this and knew Landon had talent)

One of the funniest things about Landon's work on Little House was one that made one producer quit after the series got picked up after the TV Movie. Landon was adapting Ingalls work and Ed Friendly was a producer on it. So he came to Landon and questioned how they would do a TV series on this given that Ingalls only wrote 9 books on her life. Landon replied he'd write the show so basically he'd be doing it. Friendly already clashed with Landon before this and quit , and Landon would go on to write the series.


Saddest thing was his death. Landon was gonna do a comedy TV series in 1990 . He had never did a comedy show before and was gonna take a shot at it. (he would be an ex-con who gets released and lives with his now grown son)

Here's the pilot I don't know if a comedy it's in French and I don't speak the language.

[Zero Hunter]

It is hard to think of many actors that were on TV as long as he was non stop. I mean for pretty much 30 years he was always on TV.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Here's the pilot I don't know if a comedy it's in French and I don't speak the language.

Yeah I have never seen this . Youtube has a small 40+ second clip of Landon listening to Karen Carpenter in a scene of this.

[Starter Set]

I'm fond of that guy. You know, that's an actor i have seen on screen so much when i was a kid. Little house was aired pretty much every day (save for week ends), at 1pm i remember, and boy my mother sure loved that stuff.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I always liked how he ended the show (Little House). Where they filmed in the area they rented for years. Anyhow as part of the agreement ; Landon agreed with producers to remove the houses that were built and town to restore it back to what it was . So they decided on , lets wrap the series and dismantle the sets in 1 go. So they blew up the damn town ! Pretty awesome way to do this.

[AJBopp]

Hard to answer the question without more context. Most continuously active? Most talented? Most profitable? Highest paid? What does "greatest" infer exactly?

[Jim Kelly]

In my house, growing up, we loved Little Joe. So I'm willing to give it to Michael Landon. And in TV, he did it all--acting, directing, writing, producing. And promoting his shows on other variety and talk TV shows.

Landon probably best represents the separation between the TV world and the movie world that existed in his time--and still exists a bit now. I admire Dick Van Dyke and he's lived nearly twice as long as Michael Landon, so he's had the chance to do more work in TV, but he was an actor who crossed over into movies and he was a big movie star in the 1960s. Michael Landon was the lead in I WAS A TEEENAGE WEREWOLF, early in his career but he never became a movie star; however, his star shone on the small screen and he mastered that medium.

[Midvillian1322]

Hard to say and then theres actors like Bryan Cranston who are amazing but have transitioned into movie stars. If were just judging like the most talented actor to do long stints on TV. Iono with Landon I'd throw James Gandolfini and Hugh Laurie in there but outside Sapronos James was a film guy so iono if he should count. He just did one amazing show for all long time. Hugh Laurie's been in films but hes a TV guy. Lucy Is probaly the biggest TV star or most iconic... maybe iono. But if I was together a list of actors who are the most talented it would probaly be all film actors. The Brandos and Denzels of the wolrd.

[Alan2099]

Highway to Heaven doesn't get the respect it deserves these days. It was such a great show.

[Coin Biter]

I don’t know who was the “greatest”. For my money, The Sopranos is still the greatest TV drama of the last 20 or so years, and Gandolfini gave a great central performance - was he the greatest? In my childhood, perhaps Larry Hagman was the best known... his role as JR gave him a truly international following matched by few TV stars, particularly in the UK (and of course he’d been well known before that).

It’s subjective... but fun to discuss