Karen Grassle & Michael Learned Shared the Same Boring TV Mom Reality

Karen Grassle and Michael Learned are often mentioned together as two of television’s most beloved mothers, Grassle as Caroline Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie and Learned as Olivia Walton on The Waltons. But behind the warmth audiences remember, both actresses describe a surprisingly similar, annoying on-set reality, one that involved a lot of standing near the stove and pouring coffee.

In an interview on The Jim Masters Show, Grassle is asked whether she related to Learned’s comments about the frustrations of playing a TV mom. “Oh my god. Yes,” she said. Grassle explained that Learned is a friend, and that they bonded over “this exact experience of the frustration of the role of the mother in these series.” Grassle then paints a picture that longtime viewers can instantly visualize.