The Waltons

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Cover art for the DVD release of The Waltons first season. Bottom row from left to right; Ben, Mary Ellen, Jim Bob, John Boy, Olivia, John Sr. Top row from left to right; Grandma (Esther) Walton, Jason, Erin, Elizabeth, Grandpa (Zeb)

This article is about the TV program "The Waltons". For the various bands named "The Waltons", see The Waltons (band)

The Waltons was an American television series which ran on CBS from 1972 to 1981. The show was created by Earl Hamner, Jr. and was based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara. The series pilot was a TV movie entitled The Homecoming: A Christmas Story broadcast in 1971. After the series left the air, three TV movie sequels were broadcast in 1982, with three more during the 1990s (1993, 1995, 1997).

Earl Hamner's rural childhood growing up in the unincorporated community of Schuyler, in Nelson County, Virginia provided the basis for many of the storylines of The Waltons. The setting of the series was referred to as Walton's Mountain. The nearby towns of Scottsville and Charlottesville are occasionally mentioned by name.

The family, consisting of John and Olivia Walton and their seven children, as well as John's aging parents, Zeb and Esther, struggles to live a decent life during the Great Depression and World War II. John Walton and his father operate a lumber mill, with the Walton sons helping out in the business as they grow older.

The audience follows the family's story through the eyes of John-Boy, the eldest son and an aspiring novelist. In the signature scene that closes each episode, the family house is draped in darkness, save for one light in an upstairs window. Through voice-overs, each character bids the other good-night until the last good-night from John Walton, Sr. to his son: "Good night, John-Boy." "Good night, everyone" -- and the last light in the house clicks off.

After completing high school, John-Boy attends (the fictional) Boatwright College (most likely modeled after The University of Richmond where Earl Hamner attended). He later goes to New York to work as a journalist.

Actor Richard Thomas, who played John-Boy, left the series in 1976 (his farewell episode aired on 3-17-77) in an effort to expand his repertoire. He would make two additional guest appearances before the role was recast. For much of the 1976-77 season, Grandma Esther Walton was not seen because actress Ellen Corby had suffered a stroke, which was written into the storyline. In mid 1978, Corby and Will Geer shared one final episode together as Grandma returns from rehab. The following September, it was revealed that Grandpa had passed away (actor Will Geer had died during the summer hiatus). Subsequent episodes featured Grandma dealing with her diminished ability to move and speak. (In an early episode dealing with Grandpa's illness, the narrator mentions that in coming years Grandma will be the first to die. This inconsistency was not edited from reruns.)

World War II deeply affects the family. All four of the Walton boys enlist in the military. Mary-Ellen's physician husband Curtis "Curt" Willard is sent to Pearl Harbor and is reported to have died during the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. Years later, Mary Ellen hears of sightings of her late husband, investigates, and finds him physically alive, but living a brooding existence due to war wounds. This is the last time Curt was seen on the show.

In "The Waiting," the second John-Boy (played by Robert Wightman) made his debut in a storyline involving John Boy's military plane being shot down. Olivia and John hold a bedside Thanksgiving vigil at the veterans hospital. While reprising the John Boy character, this was also the last episode Michael Learned had as a contracted regular player. Olivia is recruited as a volunteer at the hospital and her character is seen less and less. Eventually, the matriarch develops tuberculosis, and must enter an Arizona sanitarium. Olivia's cousin Rose (Peggy Rea) moves in to watch the brood. Two years later, Ralph Waite's character John moves to Arizona to be near Olivia. During the later years of the series, several of the Walton children marry and begin having families of their own.

[edit] Emmy Awards

The Waltons won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 1973. Also in 1973 Richard Thomas won the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Michael Learned won the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Drama Series three times (1973, 1974, and 1976). Ellen Corby was also a three-time winner in the Supporting Actress category, winning in 1973, 1975, and 1976. Will Geer was awarded the Supporting Actor Emmy in 1975. Beulah Bondi also won an Emmy in 1977 for Lead Actress in a Single Performance for a guest appearance on the series.

[edit] Cast

• Richard Thomas¹ as John 'John-Boy' Walton, Jr. #1 (1972-1977)
• Robert Wightman as John 'John Boy' Walton, Jr. #2 (1979–1981; 1982 movie)
• Ralph Waite as John Walton, Sr.
• Michael Learned as Olivia 'Livie' Walton (1972-1979)
• Ellen Corby¹ as Esther 'Grandma' Walton (1972-1977; 1978-79)
• Will Geer as Zebulon 'Zeb/Grandpa' Walton (died 1978)
• Judy Norton Taylor¹ as Mary Ellen Walton Willard
• Jon Walmsley¹ as Jason Walton
• Mary Elizabeth McDonough¹ as Erin Walton
• Eric Scott¹ as Ben Walton
• David W. Harper¹ as James Robert 'Jim Bob' Walton
• Kami Cotler¹ as Elizabeth Walton
• Joe Conley as Ike Godsey
• Ronnie Claire Edwards as Corabeth Walton Godsey (1974→1981)
• Helen Kleeb as Mamie "Miss Mamie" Baldwin
• Mary Jackson as Emily "Miss Emily" Baldwin
• Earl Hamner Jr. as Narrator
• Beulah Bondi as Aunt Martha Corrine Walton (2 guest appearances)
• John Ritter as Rev. Matthew Fordwick (1972-1976)

¹ These actors were also in 1971’s The Homecoming: A Christmas Story.

Three of the major characters were played by different actors in the 1971 movie pilot. John Walton was played by Andrew Duggan; Olivia Walton was played by Patricia Neal; and Grandpa Walton was played by Edgar Bergen.

[edit] Episodes

• Main Article: List of The Waltons episodes

[edit] DVD Releases

Warner Home Video is releasing The Waltons on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. As of 30 January 2007, the first four seasons have been released and the fifth season schedule to be released on May 8, 2007.[1] The pilot episode- The Homecoming - A Christmas Story was released by Paramount Home Entertainment on September 23, 2003.

[edit] Trivia

• In the German dubbing version, the name of Zebulon "Zeb" Walton was changed to Samuel "Sam" Walton. The television network ZDF which first aired The Waltons in Germany was worried that the name "Zeb" could be mistaken with "Sepp" which is a Bavarian short form of the name Joseph and could be seen as being cliché. Also, a few minutes were cut from each episode in the German version so that the show would fit into its designated time slot. There were further cuts when the show was re-run on Pro 7.

• In 1974, "The Carol Burnett Show" did a "Waltons" send-up featuring the family sitting around a hot dog singing, "Things can't get much leaner than Thanksgiving wiener."

• Whenever Cracked Magazine parodied the Waltons, they invariably had a celebrity or character as an adopted son, adding the suffix "-boy" to his name.

• In the very first episode of the series (apart from the pilot) the family assembles around their new radio and listens to the Edgar Bergen and Charly McCarthy Show. This was an homage to Bergen who had played Zeb Walton in the pilot (The Homecoming: A Christmas Story). Edgar Bergen was a famous ventriloquist who had vicious dialogues with W. C. Fields in that radio show.

• Long after the show was done filming, the set was burned down by serial arsonist John Orr.

[edit] External links

• Fan site
• The Waltons Webring Homepage
• The Waltons at the Internet Movie Database
• Encyclopedia of Television
• Walton's Mountain Museum official website
• The Waltons Forum
• A Walk with Grandpa Walton and the Walton family