Jump to content

The Waltons

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from The Walton's)
For other uses, see The Waltons (disambiguation).
The Waltons
Season 1 Title Card
GenreHistorical drama
Created byEarl Hamner Jr. (1923-2016)
Based onThe Homecoming
by Earl Hamner Jr.
Starring
Narrated byEarl Hamner Jr.
Composers
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons9
No. of episodes221 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Producers
Running time45–48 minutes
Production companyLorimar Productions
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseSeptember 14, 1972 (1972-09-14) –
June 4, 1981 (1981-06-04)
Related
  • The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971)
  • A Wedding on Walton's Mountain (1982)

The Waltons is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural western Virginia during the economic hardships in the Great Depression and following World War II eras of the 1930s and early 1940s. It was created by noted Hollywood screenwriter Earl Hamner Jr. (1923-2016), based on his 1961 book / novel of remembrances Spencer's Mountain and the following 1963 film made of the same name, (but reset in the Grand Teton Mountains of Wyoming in the western U.S. Rocky Mountains), starring Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara and James MacArthur. The subsequent television series set in the Commonwealth of Virginia aired from September 1972 to June 1981.

The television film (pilot) The Homecoming: A Christmas Story was broadcast on December 19, 1971.[1] Based on its ratings and critical success, the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS-TV) television network ordered up the first season of episodes (to be based on the same characters although occasionally with some changes of different actors cast in the roles) and that became the later decade-long television series The Waltons.[2] Beginning in September 1972, the series was broadcast on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS-TV) network for nine seasons in total. After the series was canceled by the network and ended its run in June 1981, still three additional reunion television film sequels of two hours each were aired in the following season / year of 1982 on competing television network of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC-TV), with three more made-for-TV films following, airing in the 1990s back on CBS. The Waltons was produced by Lorimar Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution in later syndication in subsequent years / decades.

Despite its eastern United States locations situated in the Appalachian Mountains / Allegheny Mountains / Blue Ridge Mountains chain setting of western Virginia's lower famous Shenandoah Valley, it was actually filmed for the interior / indoor scenes situated in the longtime Burbank Studios back lot in the Burbank district of Los Angeles, California, along with the Walton house and yard exteriors along with surrounding farm buildings and Godsey's general store. The exterior rural mountains and forest scenes were actually shot a distance away in the Sierra Nevada chain of the Rocky Mountains in eastern California.

The show's end sequence famously featured an aerial shot looking down on the old white country house and its long wrap-around front porch surrounded by the mountain forest with its second floor windows lit up in the night darkness, then gradually blinking out one by one with the various family members saying "Good Night" to one another calling them out individually by name before going to bed and switching off their lamp, ending with a usual few notes of a musical tune in the background as the house scene and screen went dark. According to the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation - which televised the series overseas in the United Kingdom), "Goodnight, John-Boy" was one of the most common catchphrases and humorous slang terms of the 1970s.[3]

Premise

[edit]

Setting

[edit]

The main story is set in Walton's Mountain, a fictional mountain community in the fictitious Jefferson County, Virginia.

The real place upon which the stories and remembrances of creator / screenwriter and author Earl Hammer, Jr. are based is in and around the community of Schuyler in Nelson County, Virginia. During and after the broadcast years of the series, a small museum and sets of exhibits were set up in that small town along with materials / brochure from the Virginia State tourism bureau.

The time period is from 1933 to 1946, during the Great Depression and World War II eras, during the presidential administrations of 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) and 33rd President Harry S. Truman (1884-1973). The year 1933 is suggested by a reference to the opening of the Century of Progress exposition and World's Fair in Chicago, a brief shot of an automobile registration, and it is divulged in episode 5 that the date is in the spring of 1933.[4] The last episode of season one, "An Easter Story," is set in February – April 1934. The year 1934 takes two seasons to cover, while some successive years are covered over the course of a few months of episodes.[5]

The series finale, "The Revel," revolves around a party and the invitation date is given as June 4, 1946. A span of 13 years is therefore covered over the show's nine seasons. There are also some chronological inconsistencies, most of which do not hinder the storyline narrative. The episode depicting the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was broadcast on the historic date's anniversary of December 7th, but actually 37 years later in 1978, which however that year fell on a Thursday, which coordinated the month and date on which the attack occurred but not the day of the week on which the series was broadcast.

The first three sequel / reunion movies (A Wedding on Walton's Mountain, Mother's Day on Walton's Mountain, and A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain), all produced in 1982, but are set in the post-Second World War era of 1947, during the Truman presidential administration. Of the later reunions movies, A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion, filmed in 1993, is set in 1963, and revolves around 35th President John F. Kennedy's assassination on Friday , November 22nd, 1963, then A Walton Wedding, made in 1995, is set in year 1964, and the final film A Walton Easter, filmed in 1997, is set several years later in 1969.

The series began relating stories that occurred 39 years in the past and ended with its last reunion show set 28 years in the past.

A continuity error exists in the final reunion movie about how many years John Sr. and Olivia are said to be married, counting back to the first episode. In this reunion movie, John and Olivia are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in 1969, which dates their wedding to 1929. However, in the first episode of the series supposedly set in 1933 ("The Foundling"), John-Boy is only 17 years old and he has six brothers and sisters, meaning he was born 1916.

Story

[edit]
Father John Walton Sr. (Ralph Waite), eldest son John-Boy Walton, Jr. (Richard Thomas), and mother Olivia Walton (Michael Learned) in 1972

The story is about the family of John Walton Jr. (known as John-Boy): his six siblings of brothers and sisters, his parents John Sr. and Olivia Walton, and paternal grandparents Zebulon "Zeb" and Esther Walton. John-Boy is the first of the seven children (15 years old in The Homecoming pilot film; 17 at the beginning episode of the series),[6] who becomes a journalist and novelist. Each episode is narrated at the opening and closing by a middle-aged John Jr. (voiced by author Earl Hamner, Jr. on whom the character of John-Boy is based). John Sr., who quit his city job after the traumatic events in the 1971 pilot episode, manages to eke out a living for his family by operating a lumber saw mill with the help of his sons as they grow older. The family income is augmented by some small-scale truck farming, and John Sr. occasionally hunts in the surrounding mountain forest to put meat on the table. In the simpler days of their country youth, all of the children are rambunctious and curious, but as times grow tough, the children slowly depart from the innocent, carefree days of walking everywhere barefoot while clad in overalls and hand-sewn pinafores, and into the harsh, demanding world of accountability and responsibility.

The family shares hospitality with relatives and strangers as they are able. The small community named after their landmark property is also home to folk of various income levels, ranging from the well-to-do Baldwin sisters, two spinsters who distill moonshine whiskey that they call "Papa's Recipe;" Ike Godsey, postmaster and owner of the local general store with his somewhat snobbish wife Corabeth (a Walton cousin; she calls her husband "Mr. Godsey"); an African-American couple, Verdie and Harley Foster; Maude Gormley, an elderly woman and presumptuous folk artist who paints on wood; Flossie Brimmer, a friendly though somewhat gossipy widow who runs a nearby boarding house; and Yancy Tucker, a good-hearted handyman with big plans but little motivation and perseverance. Jefferson County sheriff Ep Bridges, who fought alongside John and Ike in the earlier World War I and was awarded the congressional Medal of Honor, keeps law and order in Walton's Mountain, surrounding fictional Jefferson County and its nearby county seat larger town of Rockfish. The entire family (except for John Sr.) attends a nearby village Baptist church, of which Olivia and Grandma Esther are the most regular devoted attendees.

In the famous signature scene that closes almost every episode, the family country white house is enveloped in darkness, save for 1, 2 or 3 lights in the upstairs bedroom windows through the view of an elevated camera shot. Through voice-overs, two or more characters make some brief comments related to that episode's events, and then bid each other goodnight, after which the lights go out gradually, while a few notes of a musical tune theme are played.

After completing high school at his small country schoolhouse, John-Boy attends fictional Boatwright University in the fictional nearby town of Westham, Virginia. He later goes to New York City to work as a journalist. In subsequent years (seasons / episodes) he is in Britain working for the famous Stars and Stripes (United States Armed Forces newspaper) during the Second World War.

Grandma Esther Walton (Ellen Corby) and John-Boy Walton (Richard Thomas), in 1976

During the latter half of the 1976–1977 season, Grandma Esther Walton suffers a stroke and returns home shortly before the death of her husband, Grandpa Zeb Walton (reflecting longtime actress Ellen Corby's real-life stroke and the subsequent death of actor Will Geer, who portrayed those characters for the past five seasons / years).

During the series' last few years, Mary Ellen and Ben start their own families; Erin, Jason and John-Boy are married in later television movie sequels. Younger children Jim-Bob and Elizabeth struggle to find and cement true love.

The experience World War II and its home front in the early 1940s deeply affects the family. All four Walton boys enlist in various branches of the military. Mary Ellen's physician husband, Curtis "Curt" Willard, is sent the year before to Pearl Harbor and is reported to have perished in the Japanese naval air attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, December 7th, 1941. Several years later, Mary Ellen hears of sightings of her "late" husband, investigates and finds him alive (played by another actor), but brooding over his war wounds and living under an assumed name. She divorces him and later remarries.

John-Boy's military plane is shot down over the English Channel / North Sea around Great Britain, while Olivia becomes a Red Cross volunteer at the nearby Veterans Bureau military hospital and is seen less and less. She eventually unfortunately develops tuberculosis and travels west to Arizona, entering a sanatorium for medical treatment because of its hot / dry climate. Olivia's cousin, Rose Burton from Baltimore, bringing her two young grandchildren moves in at the Walton house to look after the remaining family. Two years later, John Sr. himself moves to Arizona to be with Olivia. Grandma Esther appears in only a handful of episodes during the eighth season. She was usually said to be occasionally visiting relatives in nearby Buckingham County. Consistent with the effects of actress Ellen Corby's actual stroke, Grandma rarely speaks during the remainder of the series, usually limited to uttering brief one-or two-word lines such as "No!" or "Oh, boy!", but happily at least able to continue her guiding presence, (just as it would be in a real-life family facing the same medical / physical conditions).

Six feature-length movies were made after the series run. Set from 1947 to 1969, they aired between 1982 and 1997.

Episodes

[edit]
Main article: List of The Waltons episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedRankRating
First airedLast aired
PilotDecember 19, 1971 (1971-12-19)——
125September 14, 1972 (1972-09-14)April 19, 1973 (1973-04-19)1920.6[a]
225September 13, 1973 (1973-09-13)March 14, 1974 (1974-03-14)228.1
325September 12, 1974 (1974-09-12)March 6, 1975 (1975-03-06)825.5
425September 11, 1975 (1975-09-11)March 4, 1976 (1976-03-04)1422.9[b]
525September 23, 1976 (1976-09-23)March 17, 1977 (1977-03-17)1522.3[c]
626September 15, 1977 (1977-09-15)March 30, 1978 (1978-03-30)2020.8[d]
724September 21, 1978 (1978-09-21)March 22, 1979 (1979-03-22)37[7]19.0[7]
824September 20, 1979 (1979-09-20)March 13, 1980 (1980-03-13)——
922November 27, 1980 (1980-11-27)June 4, 1981 (1981-06-04)3018.6
TV Movies6February 22, 1982 (1982-02-22)April 27, 1997 (1997-04-27)——
  1. ^ Tied with The Partridge Family and Medical Center
  2. ^ Tied with M*A*S*H
  3. ^ Tied with Little House on the Prairie
  4. ^ Tied with The ABC Sunday Night Movie

Characters

[edit]

The following is a brief summary of the main characters. See List of The Waltons characters for a more complete list.

Grandpa and Grandma Walton
  • John "John-Boy" Walton Jr. (Richard Thomas, seasons 1–5, guest seasons 6–7, three movie sequels; Robert Wightman, seasons 8–9 and one movie sequel), the eldest of the 7 children
  • John Walton Sr. (Ralph Waite, seasons 1–8, 8 episodes of season 9 and all movie sequels), the family patriarch (Andrew Duggan starred as John Sr. in The Homecoming movie only)
  • Olivia Walton (Michael Learned, seasons 1–7, guest season 8, and 4 movies), the matriarch (Patricia Neal starred as Olivia in The Homecoming movie only)
  • Zebulon "Grandpa" Walton (Will Geer, seasons 1–6), John's father (Edgar Bergen starred as Zebulon in The Homecoming movie only). Due to Geer's declining health during the sixth season, the script was adapted to the fictional death of his character with Geer's death in 1978.
  • Esther "Grandma" Walton (Ellen Corby, seasons 1–5 & 7, 2 episodes in seasons 6 and 8, and in 5 movies), John's mother
  • Jason Walton (Jon Walmsley, entire series and 6 movies), second-oldest brother; musically talented
  • Mary Ellen Walton (Judy Norton, entire series and 6 movies), headstrong oldest daughter; becomes a nurse
  • Erin Walton (Mary Elizabeth McDonough, entire series and 6 movies), second Walton daughter; works as a telephone operator and as manufacturing supervisor
  • Benjamin "Ben" Walton (Eric Scott, entire series and 6 movies), third Walton son; has an entrepreneurial spirit
  • James Robert "Jim-Bob" Walton (David W. Harper, entire series and 6 movies), youngest Walton son; mechanically inclined
  • Elizabeth Walton (Kami Cotler, entire series and 6 movies), youngest of the 7 children
  • Ike Godsey (Joe Conley, entire series), proprietor of the general store (Woodrow Parfrey starred as Ike in The Homecoming movie only)
  • Corabeth Walton Godsey (Ronnie Claire Edwards), seasons 3–9, John Walton's cousin, marries Ike
  • Curtis Willard (Tom Bower, seasons 5–7), Mary Ellen's husband
  • Cindy Walton (Leslie Winston, seasons 7–9 and 4 of the reunion movies), Ben's wife
  • Rose Burton (Peggy Rea, seasons 8–9 and 1 sequel), Olivia's matronly cousin who fills in as matriarch during Olivia's absence

Production

[edit]

Inspiration

[edit]

Earl Hamner's rural childhood growing up in the unincorporated community of Schuyler, Virginia, provided the basis for the setting and many of the storylines of The Waltons. His family and the community provided many life experiences which aided in the characters, values, area, and human-interest stories of his books, movies, and television series. Hamner provided the voice-over of the older John-Boy, usually heard at the beginning and end of each episode.

John-Boy Walton's fictional alma mater, Boatwright University, is patterned after Richmond College, which became part of the University of Richmond on Boatwright Drive near Westham Station in The West End of Richmond, Virginia, about 70 miles (110 km) east of Schuyler.

Television film

[edit]

The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971) was not made as a pilot for a series, but it was so popular that it led to CBS initially commissioning one season of episodes based on the same characters, and the result was The Waltons.[8] Except for the Walton children and Grandma Esther Walton, the characters were all recast for the TV series. The musical score was by Oscar-winning composer Jerry Goldsmith and was later released on an album by Film Score Monthly paired with James Horner's score for the 1982 TV movie Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. (Goldsmith also scored several episodes of the first season, but the producers believed his TV movie theme was too gentle and requested he write a new theme for the series.[9]) The series was also commissioned in response to the rural purge that the networks in general and CBS specifically had done that eliminated most rural-themed shows in 1971, and the subsequent backlash from fans of those shows that were still popular at the time of their cancelation.[8]

Patricia Neal (as Olivia) won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama. The movie was also nominated for 3 Emmys: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Neal), Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama - Adaptation (Earl Hamner), and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama - A Single Program (Fielder Cook).[10]

Filming

[edit]

The town of Walton's Mountain was built in the rear area of the main lot at Warner Bros. Studios, bordering the Los Angeles River, but the mountain itself was part of the Hollywood Hills range opposite Warner studios in Burbank, California, the reverse side of which, and slightly to the east, is Mount Lee and the Hollywood Sign. The Waltons house façade was built in the back of the Warner Brothers lot. After the series concluded, the set was destroyed. For the reunion shows, a replica Waltons' house façade was built on the Here Come the Brides set on the Columbia Ranch studio, now part of the Warner Brothers studios. As of July 2023, the Waltons Columbia Ranch site has been built over with sound stages.

For the first few seasons, the show would oftentimes shoot exterior scenes in Frazier Park, 70 miles (110 km) to the north of Los Angeles. They would also occasionally film scenes in Franklin Canyon Park in Beverly Hills.

Release

[edit]

Broadcast

[edit]

Some sources indicate CBS put the show on its fall 1972 schedule in response to congressional hearings on the quality of television. Backlash from a 1971 decision to purge most rural-oriented shows from the network lineup may have also been a factor. The network gave The Waltons an undesirable timeslot – Thursdays at 8 p.m – opposite 2 popular programs: The Flip Wilson Show on NBC and The Mod Squad on ABC.[11] "The rumor was that they put it against Flip Wilson and The Mod Squad because they didn't think it would survive. They thought, 'We can just tell Congress America doesn't want to see this'," Kami Cotler, who played Elizabeth Walton, said in a 2012 interview.[11] However, CBS had enough faith in the show to devise a full-page newspaper ad flanked with the show's positive reviews, urging people to watch the show. Radically increased ratings were attributed to this ad, saving The Waltons.[12]

Ralph Waite was reluctant to audition for the part of John Walton because he didn't want to be tied to a long-running TV series, but his agent persuaded him by saying, "It will never sell. You do the pilot. You pick up a couple of bucks and then you go back to New York."[11]

Following the cancelation of the series in 1981, a total of six reunion movies were released: A Wedding on Walton's Mountain (1982), Mother's Day on Walton's Mountain (1982), A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain (1982), A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (1993), A Walton Wedding (1995), and A Walton Easter (1997).

Syndication and Reruns

[edit]

Lorimar sold the distribution rights of The Waltons to Warner Bros. Television to avoid a lawsuit owing to the similarities between the series and the film Spencer's Mountain (1963), which Warner owned.[13] Warner Bros. acquired Lorimar in 1989, and has continued to syndicate the series ever since.

Reruns have aired in the U.S. since 1981 after the series was canceled from CBS so from 1981-1984 reruns of the waltons began airing on local television stations across the United States. And in 1984-1993 the show continued in reruns and by 1993-1998 the waltons reruns found a new home on the family channel later renamed fox family channel and then ABC family and later Free-form and by 1998-2002 it started airing on hallmark channel but now currently the show airs on MeTV and hallmark channel.

In the UK, the series was broadcast on BBC 2 and BBC 1 and during the 1970s/1980s – the first three seasons were broadcast on BBC 2 from February 18, 1974,[14] to May 17, 1976,[15] on Mondays at 20.00 GMT, and seasons 4 and 5 were shown on BBC 1 from September 5, 1976,[16] to August 30, 1977,[17] on Sundays at 16.10 in 1976 and Tuesdays at 19.00 through 1977. After that, seasons 6–9 would be broadcast on BBC 2 again, starting on April 30, 1979,[18] and concluding in April 1983.[19] The three reunion TV movies filmed in 1982 were also shown on BBC 2 from December 21 to December 28, 1983.[20][21][22] The show was repeated on Channel 4 between 1986 and 1991 and again from 1996 to 2000. It last aired on Sony Channel until March 31, 2020, in the UK.

Home media

[edit]

Warner Home Video has released all nine seasons and six TV movies of The Waltons on DVD in Region 1. Seasons 1–4 have been released in Region 2. The pilot movie, The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, was released by Paramount Home Entertainment. Lorimar produced the series, CBS produced the pilot film, which is why Paramount, under CBS Home Entertainment, handles home video rights for The Homecoming.

German-release DVDs provide German or English soundtrack options, with dubbed German voices, or the original English soundtrack, although the German episode titles are not always either literal or precise translations of the original English-language titles.

DVD name Episodes
Region 1 Region 2 (UK) Region 4 (AU)
The Homecoming: A Christmas Story N/A September 23, 2003 N/A N/A
The Complete 1st Season 24 May 11, 2004 November 1, 2004 November 11, 2015
The Complete 2nd Season 24 April 26, 2005 July 3, 2006 March 9, 2016
The Complete 3rd Season 24 April 25, 2006 September 11, 2006 May 11, 2016
The Complete 4th Season 24 January 23, 2007 March 5, 2007 July 13, 2016
The Complete 5th Season 24 May 8, 2007 N/A March 15, 2017
The Complete 6th Season 22 January 8, 2008 N/A August 9, 2017
The Complete 7th Season 23 April 29, 2008 N/A November 8, 2017
The Complete 8th Season 24 January 6, 2009 N/A March 7, 2018
The Complete 9th Season 22 April 28, 2009 N/A March 7, 2018
TV movie Collection (not including the original movie) 6 January 26, 2010 N/A N/A

Streaming

[edit]

Seasons 1–9 are available via streaming in standard-definition as well as high-definition video through services such as Amazon Prime Video.[23]

The cast at the 40th Anniversary of the show in 2012

Reception

[edit]

Accolades

[edit]

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 3 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. Veteran actress Beulah Bondi won an Emmy in 1977 for Lead Actress in a Single Performance for her guest appearance as Martha Corrine Walton in the episode "The Pony Cart" (Episode #111). She first appeared in The Waltons episode "The Conflict" (Episode #51) as the widow of Zeb Walton's brother.

The series itself earned a Peabody Award for its first season.[24] In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Waltons No. 34 on its list of the 60 Best Series of All Time.[25]

In 2017, from March 20 to March 24, INSP network remembered the life of Earl Hamner Jr. (who died in 2016) by featuring clips of interviews (once per episode) with him about his time involved with The Waltons during the breaks while its syndicated reruns aired from 3–5pm and again at 7pm.

Cultural significance

[edit]

On January 27, 1992, then-President George H. W. Bush said, "We are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons."[26] In response, The Simpsons made a short animated segment for a repeat showing of the episode "Stark Raving Dad", in which the family watches the speech, and Bart remarks, "Hey, we're just like the Waltons. We're prayin' for an end to the Depression, too."[27]

Reboot TV films

[edit]
"The Waltons: Homecoming" redirects here. Not to be confused with The Homecoming: A Christmas Story or All American: Homecoming.

On November 28, 2021, The CW aired[28] The Waltons: Homecoming,[29] a remake of The Homecoming: A Christmas Story. Also set in 1933, this film features the Walton family (portrayed by new actors) minus Ben, waiting for John to get home by bus. Richard Thomas narrated.[30] Executive producer Sam Haskell hopes the movie will lead to a new series.[28] Another film A Waltons Thanksgiving aired on November 20, 2022.[31] In it, Ben was added to the family. Ratings for the second reboot film were much lower.[32]

See also

[edit]
  • These Are the Days; short-lived animated TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera which was inspired by The Waltons

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "The Waltons" The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971) at IMDb[unreliable source?]
  2. ^ "All About The Creator". All About The Waltons. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Goodnight John Boy". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  4. ^ "The Typewriter", Season one, episode 5
  5. ^ A significant anachronism occurs in the first season. In the first episode, the Waltons listen to the popular Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy's radio program (in tribute to Bergen, who originally played Grandpa Zebulon Walton in the 1971 pilot film). However, Bergen's radio show did not actually begin airing until three years later in 1937.
  6. ^ "The Foundling," season 1, episode 1
  7. ^ a b "Ratings info" (PDF). www.americanradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  8. ^ a b Crump, William D. (2013). The Christmas encyclopedia (Third ed.). McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 434. ISBN 9780786468270.
  9. ^ Jon Burlingame, p. 153, TV's Biggest Hits: The Story Of Television Themes From "Dragnet" To "Friends", Schirmer Books, 1996, ISBN 0-02-870324-3
  10. ^ "The Homecoming-A Christmas Story".
  11. ^ a b c King, Susan (2012-09-28). "40th anniversary celebration of 'The Waltons'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-04-30.[dead link]
  12. ^ IV, J. Garland Pollard (25 March 2016). "Earl Hamner and the CBS Brand | BrandlandUSA". Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  13. ^ Lee Rich Interview: Archive of American Television. Retrieved on June 14, 2014.
  14. ^ "BBC Two England - 18 February 1974 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  15. ^ "BBC Two England - 17 May 1976 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  16. ^ "BBC One London - 5 September 1976 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  17. ^ "BBC One London - 30 August 1977 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  18. ^ "BBC Two England - 30 April 1979 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  19. ^ "BBC Two England - 29 March 1983 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  20. ^ "BBC Two England - 21 December 1983 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  21. ^ "BBC Two England - 23 December 1983 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  22. ^ "BBC Two England - 28 December 1983 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  23. ^ Prime Video: The Waltons: The Complete First Season Retrieved October 22, 2013
  24. ^ "The Waltons". peabodyawards.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  25. ^ "TV Guide Magazine's 60 Best Series of All Time". 23 December 2013.
  26. ^ Griffiths, Nick (April 15, 2000). "America's First Family". The Times Magazine. pp. 25, 27–28. Archived from the original on August 11, 2014.
  27. ^ Ortved, John (August 2007). "Simpson Family Values". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on August 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  28. ^ a b Brokaw, Francine (November 27, 2021). "The Waltons return in a new TV movie". Daily Herald. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  29. ^ "The Waltons: Homecoming". IMDb. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  30. ^ Mitovich, Matt Webb (November 28, 2021). "The Waltons' Homecoming: Did CW Movie Remake Evoke Enough Charm?". TVLine. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  31. ^ Rice, Lynette (September 14, 2022). "CW Sets Premiere Date for A Waltons Thanksgiving". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
  32. ^ "Ratings: American Music Awards Slip vs. 2021, Waltons Audience Wanes". TVLine. November 21, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Waltons&oldid=1244520052"