This series starts this Saturday on TLC.

It's about the same family that was profiled in a documentary a year or so ago on Discovery or TLC -- the parents are dwarfs and so are a one or two of their four children, I believe. I remember this family because they were so positive and upbeat. I remember crying at how fantastic the parents were.

Entertainment Tonight did a piece on the new series earlier this week, and there was a big story in today's New York Times. Both said the show follows the family for several months, throughout their daily lives. I'm looking forward to it.

Am I allowed to post links here? Here's the info on TLC (if you google there's more, including the Entertainment Tonight story). http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/lpbw/lpb...lik=tlc_leftnav

OH I love this family! I watch Little People, Big Dreams everytime it is on. They have four kids, two are fraternal twins, one is a dwarf and one is average height. Then they have a daughter and another younger son both average height. The kids are all gorgeous and hilariously bratty. They beat on each other like crazy. I was so excited to see the promo for this show! Matt the dad was an Ewok! They live on this CRAZY farm that has a pumpkin patch and I think a Christmas tree farm. The dad has built all these play areas for the kids, like a huge swiss family robinson type tree house, a pirate ship with a moat, and several other similar things. I think the Matt does something with software.


Little People, Big Dreams the original show is on before the premier of the new show. I recommend it to everyone. Really really good.

Yep, that's the one. The New York Post gave the new show 3 and a half stars today.

When does it start?

I loved this family in the previous documentary, and am really excited to see this new series. My heart just broke when Zach (the one dwarf child, and a twin) says in the preview that he knows god has a plan for him by making him a dwarf, he just doesn't know what it is yet.

After re-watching the previous documentary and the first two episodes of this series I would love to meet Amy. Amy is so practical and competent. It's sometimes like she has 4 1/2 children with Matt being such a dreamer. Maybe both of them should be giving motivational speaches. But it appears that Amy's style is to teach by example.

I think we will learn a lot about attitudes, assumptions and biases as we watch this series. And if my daughter came home with either Zach or Jeremy I would be pleased to know them. There is that time when twins - especially fraternal twins - really estabish themselves as individual people and not a salt and pepper team. These children will complement each other just as their parents do.

It's refreshing to see a family that could be living down my street rather than in Tuckerville.

I just watched a few episodes of this..they seem like a great family. That farm looks awesome! I felt kinda of pervy because I found Jeremy quite a fetching young lad!

They live only about a half an hour away from me - I so want to just show up and ask if I can play on their farm. Does anyone know if their pumpkin patch is open to the public? I will totally go there next Halloween.

I like Amy - she's a smart lady. Matt seems like a bit of a dreamer and a romantic and that makes him a little irresponsible, but he seems like a really nice guy. It is actually nice to see that the kids have calmed down a little bit now that they're older.

Aw! What a cute family. The twins seemed to have a great relationship!

Zach is awesome. He is such a sweetheart and I can't wait to see what is in store for him.

The dad was cracking me up at the convention. He is already trying to arrange a marriage for Zach.

I thought that the dad was putting too much pressure on Zach. Poor kid has enough problems that he doesn't need his father stressing him out over chickies.

I just saw two episodes of this last night. I LOVE this family. I paricularly liked when Matt, Zach, and Jeremy went to the convention up in Seattle (?). I love the relationship between the two brothers, they're hilarious. The dad, Matt, is quite the taskmaster, though, particularly when it can to getting poor Zach's future marriage off the ground. Zach just looked completely mortified. Poor kid, he's only 15, but I guess Matt feels that in their world when opportunity knocks you answer. Zach did say though that he wanted to start a family as soon as possible, wants three sons, all dwarfs. That was really cute. Still, he is only 15 and it is a big world out there (no pun intended), so maybe he should leave his options slightly more open.

Loved Amy. So smart, competent and in control. More so than most normal sized parents you see. If only she could raise everyone's kids. I loved that she didn't overreact to her youngest son falling off of his bike like a lot of parents would.

I am in love with this pretty pretty family. I think the kids are about the most adorable things ever. Especially the youngest boy, what an angelic face. The are all so good looking. Jeremy and Zack are the cutest! I loved seeing the genuine moments between them at the convention. I see Matt’s parents live very close to them now, I think in the first documentary they lived in another state. That farm is truly a masterpiece. I can't think of a better place to grow up for four rowdy kids. It cracked me up when the youngest boy ran inside crying to his mamma after falling off his bike, and afterwards he stomped over and threw himself down on the sofa. What an ordeal indeed. Whenever you are hurt you just want your mom.

I saw the first documentary and the first new episode for the first time, back-to-back.
What's great about this show is how quickly I got over the "these people are small" aspect and got sucked right into the family dynamics. That Amy is one awesome woman - I admire her so much. So much more inspirational than the "I popped out 87 children and I'm having another" lady.
Had to laugh at poor Zach - the one thing his dad decides to follow through on and it's finding a wife for the son who's most uncomfortable around girls. Matt- give the guy some breathing room! It's the age of the internet, after all- he'll do fine.

How does Matt earn a living?

I had to chime in.
I love this family. I guess I just like the relationships. It was pretty evident when Matt took the twins to dig out the Beetle.
On one hand, the twins are different cuz of the whole average/dwarf thing. But then they are opposite personalities, but then they share the whole "twin-inside joke thing" and I love how the teenagers are always shown sleeping.

Aside from the focus on the "little people" thing, I'd like to see how Molly handles being the only girl. She seems be called on to help Amy a lot more than her brothers.

I was a bit unnerved by Matt trying so hard to set a 15-year-old Zach up in marriage, but then I figured maybe it was just the whole dating thing. I mean Zach still has to finish high school and college and everything.

And word to everyone saying the kids are gorgeous. I'd get Jeremy and Jacob in commercials right away. Especially Jacob. What a cutie. And I love his comment about his mother as a soccer coach. "She's not going to get bigger, so get used to it."

I totaly love this family as well.

Amy rocks as a mom. She's level headed, even in the chaos of raising four kids.
Matt cracked me up when his parents were talking to him and saying "do you know you can make a person crazy" or something like that and he's sitting there clicking his retractable pen over and over and over - that sound was making ME crazy!!

The twins are adorable. Regardless of size, they're both going to have girls all over them, and so will little Jacob when he's older.

When I watched the first special, I spent most of it wanted to grab Matt by the hand (or neck) and lead him to the "help wanted" ads, since it seemed Amy was working day and night while he dreamed of big things. I'm hopeful the series can give a fuller picture...or at least make her stop worrying about cash so much.

Didn't they say that Matt had financed the farm through sales of computer systems when they were younger? It didn't seem like he was just sitting on his ass while Amy was doing all the work. Also, Amy didn't look like the type to tolerate that.

I kicked myself when I realized I had missed the premiere of this show. Luckily TLC is rerunning it today.

I loved the family in the original program and am not surprised to see them back on the screen again. It's not often in reality tv that you come off with a positve opinion on the participants. Zach in particular was a sweetie and great kid.

My memory of the original show was that Matt was trying to sell his step-stool kit while Amy was working a couple part-time jobs and doing a lot of the parenting. There was a thread about that show at one time where that seemed to be the take on the situation, not just my delusions. Sometimes, it's hard to tell, admittedly.

Fromm what I learned at the TLC website, Matt made a good living as a software salesman, bought the farm, then gave it all up to sell the accessiblity kits to hotels. Leading to less income for the family, which is what prompted Amy to take part-time jobs, which she had not done when he was selling software.

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I really enjoyed this show and glad that I accidentally happened to tune in. My husband worked with Matt at a software company in San Jose a few years back. He did make quite a bit of money doing that, but he also made some money in real estate investments as well. As I recall, after the company was sold off, he left sales altogether to do his outreach work. He has also written a book called Against Tall Odds: Being a David in a Goliath World, which I'm sure led to this show.

Loved the twins opposite personalities--such typical fifteen year olds.

Amy is too cool and I am thoroughly amazed that she has gone through three pregnancies, raises four kids, works, coaches soccer, and runs her household and farm. I feel downright lazy in comparison.

I really liked the first two episodes, as well as "Little People: Big Dreams," which I hadn't seen before. They seem like such a great family. magicman, I feel lazy too, compared to Amy!

I admire the way she helps Zachary deal with challenges he faces as a little person -- "Well, I don't know what to say right now, but we'll just figure out how to handle it." Seemed so practical and loving.

I'm looking forward to more episodes!

I caught "Little People, Big Dreams" after I saw the first two half-hour episodes. My main thought -- I want to throttle that girl in the orange shirt who seemed to find it so damn entertaining to bully and humiliate poor Zach. So. Much. Hate.

Love the family. Amazing what a difference orthodonture can make; Zach was all teeth in the original special but in the series he's turning out to be rather studly.

I watched the first episode and the special last night. I'll be watching the 2nd ep. sometime this week.

I felt so sorry for Zach at the birthday party. I know that kids can be cruel at that age, but I wanted to kick that girl's ass! Horseplay was one thing, but spitting on other people is just plain wrong. I liked how Amy gave him a realistic response. Either extreme [don't let it bother you, or telling off the kids] wouldn't have been right.

I think Matt had said that he had gotten laid off.

WTF @ spitting -- this isn't Flavor of Love!

The part I found particularly touching was when Zach mentioned if he had the choice to be small or normal-sized, he would stay the same, because he knows that he is a little person for a reason. However, I can't believe his twin brother didn't stand up for him when that girl was pinning him down. That was just wrong on so many levels. I'm inclined to think that his normal sized twin brother is not as sympathetic to his physical limitations as he would like us to believe.

I understand why his brother didn't help him. Its a matter of pride. If Zach was being pinned down by a guy or several guys, I bet he would have helped him. But I doubt Zach would have wanted his brother "saving" him from a girl.

ETA: That made me more inclined to believe that they don't even see the differnce anymore, their just brothers, like any other.

I thought I remembered that it was, but I couldn't find any confirmation on Matt Roloff's site. Nevertheless, the farm looks magnificent there! I'd like to visit it, myself. Here's also an interesting article from the New York Times.

Zach's myspace

Jeremy's myspace

I went to college with Amy. She and I lived on the same floor freshman year, and she was a very together person at that time.

The interesting thing is that after knowing her for a while, I completely stopped thinking of her at all as different -- she was just shorter than I was.

I saw the original documentary and knew I'd like the show, which is why I didn't watch the premiere. I've got weeks worth of tapes or shows I like sitting around gathering dust because I can't ever find time to watch them so the last thing I need is another "must watch" show. But I caught the reruns tonight and the original shows and, as I suspected, I'm hooked. A great family with a great attitude and fun to watch. Even though it's about the trials and tribulations of being a little person in regular-sized world, you don't feel beaten over the head by a message. When it comes up, it's generally within a given context, like Zach playing soccer. All around a good show. But why is it being shown in half-hour blocks?

I really wanted to enjoy this show, but I couldn't- it just bored me to tears. It's wonderful that this family has no issues and are a normal family and all, but I don't want to watch a normal family. This is supposed to be entertainment and fun- it was just boring. Oh well. At least they're happy.

The gun segment on tonight's episode really bothered me. I understood why he made a big deal about the "friend" sneaking a beebee gun in, but if he had a rifle himself, it *is* a little hypocritical. And then as they're all taking turns firing the gun, I'm just wondering "where's the ear protection?" If you want to teach your kids to handle a rifle safely, show them *all* of the parts of gun safety, including hearing and eye protection. Yeesh. Next episode Amy won't be fixing up a bleeding head, she'll be trying to restore hearing to her three deaf sons. :(

As an Oregonian, I have to say this latest episode was outstanding at showing how gorgeous and awesome this place is. Yay for Oregon! Also, this family is fantastic. My roommate and I were just talking about how nice it is to watch a reality show about normal people.

Oh, I totally agree with you, Aiders.
I am from coastal BC, and I used to visit clients in the Portland, Newberg and Oregon City areas.
The only one thing I miss since I got my new job are my visits there. I love Oregon.

I just had a chance to watch the original documentary. Did anyone notice the scene in the van where Zach is in the front seat digging away in his nose? My kids & I were cracking up. I'm sure he's embarassed by it.

I tell you, it's good to see normal dysfunction on TV, but the parents did bug me. They often seemed to be bitching at each other, the mother making snide comments about the father and his not doing whatever. I think it's because they remind me of one of my brothers and sisters in law who think that WE all think it's cute when they cut each other down in front of us. Just not entertaining to me.

The kids were ok. But kids that age are annoying as hell.

The gun deal bothered me because I didn't know if each of the campers' fathers gave permission for their sons to shoot. We didn't see all the boys shoot, but I got the impression that Matt wanted to teach them "gun safety." So not only was there a lack of hearing protection, we didn't know if the kids had permission to listen to Matt's talk. Also, that was a very weird firearm. There was no shoulder piece. I guess it was designed that way for Matt's use. Someone needed to have stood behine Zach so that when he fired, he wouldn't tumble backwards so much. That being said, I laughed and laughed when he did. I know I'm hellbound for that. It was just so damned funny.

Gah! That house was a mess. Amy and Matt need some other TLC people to help de-clutter. That one room they showed when the boys were all gone?? Wowsa.

Where in Oregon are they? It's stunningly beautiful.

I feel bad for Amy about that. I can't imagine that anyone else in the house helps her with the cleaning.

I also wondered about health care for the family members. If Matt has his own company that is just starting out and Amy works part time, I wonder if they have health insurance. I could imagine that this could be a concern for Amy, I think she mentioned that she and Zach do not have health problems yet but Matt does. In general having four children would probably cause higher health care cost, I would think.

Helvetia. It's about 45-1hr away from downtown Portland, I think. In the Intel/Wine Country suburbs. It could be slightly closer, I never go out there because it's fairly hick-ish, just to drive through to the coast!

I love this show. In the newest episode, I thought Zach was out of line when he called his dad an "idiot." But anyways, I admire Amy because she seems like a really strong woman. Also, this is such a teeny-bopper comment but Jeremy is a lil hottie. All of Amy and Matt's kids are really cute kids.

You know, the house was probably so cluttered because "the boys" had been getting stuff together for the trip and had to abide by Matt's tight schedule, so just left messes behind them. I'm pretty sure they would have had to clean up after themselves any other time. Amy seems to be the kind of mom who wouldn't stand for havoc any other time.
(That said, a house with 3 teenagers and an eight year old is never going to be pristine...)

My completely unfounded speculation is that Amy's PT work might be, in part, to have health benefits for the family.

Nope. In other episodes, scenes of the house are a MESS! Amy even admitted that she was not very organized anymore.

I kinda like that their house is a mess. Seems very realistic to me considering they have four kids. My house growing was was about half as messy as theirs but then again, there were only two kids living in it so it makes sense. I don't know, just makes them seem like my kind of folk - they'd rather be out having fun on the farm than worrying about things being neat for appearances, even on tv.

A smart person once said, you'll never look back in life and say "I should have kept my house neater", but you could say "I wish I spent more time with my kids".

The house is messy but I can't imagine how hard it is to keep it clean with 4 kids.

Their land is amazingly pretty. What a wonderful place to grow up in.