The Year That Wasn't

Melissa Sue Anderson, the 20-year-old star of "Little House on the Prairie" never went to Harvard. So CBS spent 20 days of shooting and $2 million creating a Harvard career for her. The product will be a made-for-TV movie entitled "Freshman Year," slated to air sometime this fall.

Anderson plays a wide-eyed innocent from Nebraska who makes it to Cambridge on scholarship. As Toby King, she lives in Holworthy with a pre-med and an actress (the latter is played by Kim Delaney of "All My Children.") She starts out with high hopes, studying hard to keep up her grades and comping for The Crimson to launch her journalism career.

Toby also has to make some money, so she spends nights babysitting for her Expository Writing teacher (played by Loretta "M*A*S*H" Swit). But that job ultimately triggers her downfall as she starts an affair with her professor's husband a Cambridge architect (Joel "Silver Spoons" Higgins). The relationship drains Toby, and lands her first in University Health-Services, then back home for a short stint. There is, of course, redemption, but to find out exactly what happens, you'll have to watch the 90-minute film. You will never see it in real life.