The year after "Bonanza" was canceled, Landon went on to star as Charles Ingalls in the pilot of what became another very successful television series, "Little House on the Prairie", again for NBC. The show was taken from a 1935 book written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose character in the show was played by nine-year-old actress Melissa Gilbert. In addition to Gilbert, two other unknown actresses also starred on the show: Melissa Sue Anderson, who appeared as Mary Ingalls, the oldest daughter in the Ingalls family, and Karen Grassle as Charles' wife, Caroline. Landon served as executive producer, writer, and director of "Little House." The show, a success in its first season, became Landon's second-longest running series.