The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his
book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name.
The show is centered on a family in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression
and World War II.
The series pilot aired as a television movie entitled The Homecoming: A Christmas Story
and was broadcast on December 19, 1971.
Beginning in September 1972, the series originally aired on CBS for a total of nine seasons.
After the series was canceled by CBS in 1981, NBC aired three television movie sequels in
1982, with three more in the 1990s; on CBS.
The Waltons was produced by Lorimar Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television
Distribution in syndication.
Plot
Setting The main story takes place in Walton's Mountain,
a fictional town at the foot of a mountain in fictitious Jefferson County, Virginia.
The actual place upon which the stories are based is in Nelson County, Virginia and is
the community of Schuyler.
The time period is from 1933 to 1946, during the Great Depression and World War II, during
the presidential administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman.
The year 1933 is suggested by a reference to the opening of the Century of Progress
exposition in Chicago, a brief shot of an automobile registration, and it is divulged
in episode 18 that the date is in the spring of 1933.
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.
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 in nine seasons.
There are some chronological errors, which ostensibly do not hinder the storyline.
A Thanksgiving reunion show, A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion, filmed in 1993, takes place in 1963,
and revolves around President John F. Kennedy's assassination; A Walton Wedding, made in 1995,
is set in 1964; and, the latest reunion show, A Walton Easter, filmed in 1997, is set in
1969.
Story
The story is about the family of John Walton Jr., his parents, John and Olivia Walton,
their seven children, and John's parents Zebulon "Zeb" and Esther Walton.
John-Boy is the oldest of the children, who becomes a journalist and novelist.
Each episode is narrated at the opening and closing by a middle-aged John Jr.
John Sr. manages to eke out a living for his family by operating a lumber mill with his
sons' help as they grow older.
The family income is augmented by some small-scale farming, and John occasionally hunts to put
meat on the table.
The family shares hospitality with relatives and strangers as they are able.
The small community named after their property is also home to folk of various income levels,
ranging from the well-to-do Baldwin sisters, two elderly spinsters who distill moonshine
that they call "Papa's recipe"; Ike Godsey, postmaster and owner of the general store
with his somewhat snobbish wife Corabeth; an African-American couple, Verdie and Harley
Foster; Maude, a sassy octogenarian 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.
Jefferson County sheriff Ep Bridges keeps law and order in Walton's Mountain.
The entire family attends a Baptist church, of which Olivia and Grandma Esther are the
most regular attendees.
The Church the Hamners actually did attend was Schuyler Baptist Church, near the Hamner
homeplace and still in operation.
The church has helped host several events honoring Earl Hamner, Jr including one in
2014.
In the signature scene that closes almost every episode, the family house is enveloped
in darkness, save for one, two or three lights in the upstairs bedroom windows.
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.
After completing high school, John-Boy attends fictional Boatwright University in the fictional
nearby town of Westham.
He later goes to New York City to work as a journalist.
During the latter half of the 1976–77 season, Grandma Esther Walton suffers a stroke and
returns home shortly before the death of her husband, Grandpa Zeb Walton.
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.
World War II deeply affects the family.
All four Walton boys enlist in the military.
Mary Ellen's physician husband, Curtis "Curt" Willard, is sent to Pearl Harbor and is reported
to have perished in the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941.
Years later, Mary Ellen hears of sightings of her "late" husband, investigates and finds
him alive, 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, while Olivia becomes a volunteer at the VA hospital
and is seen less and less; she eventually develops tuberculosis and enters an Arizona
sanitarium.
Olivia's cousin, Rose Burton, moves into the Walton house to look after the brood.
Two years later, John Sr. moves to Arizona to be near Olivia.
Grandma appears in only a handful of episodes during the eighth season.
6 feature-length movies were made after the series' run; set from 1947 through 1969, they
aired between 1982 and 1997.
Characters
The following is a brief summary of the central recurring characters.
See main article for a more complete list.
John "John-Boy" Walton Jr., the eldest of seven children.
John "Johnny" Walton Sr., the family patriarch Olivia Walton (Patricia Neal pilot; Michael
Learned series seasons 1–7, guest season 8, and three movies; matriarch.
Zebulon Tyler "Zeb/Grandpa" Walton,, John's father
Esther "Grandma" Walton, John's mother Jason Walton, entire series and six movies,
John-Boy's younger brother; musically talented Mary Ellen Walton, entire series and six movies;
headstrong oldest daughter; later a married nurse.
Erin Esther Walton, entire series and six movies; second Walton daughter; works as a
telephone operator and as manufacturing supervisor.
Benjamin "Ben" Walton, entire series and six movies; third Walton son; has an entrepreneurial
spirit James Robert "Jim-Bob" Walton, entire series
and six movies; youngest Walton son; mechanically inclined.
Elizabeth Walton, entire series and six movies; youngest of the seven children
Rose Burton, seasons 8–9 and one sequel; Olivia's matronly cousin who fills in as matriarch
during Olivia's absence Production
Inspiration 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 seventy miles east of Schuyler.
Filming The town of Walton's Mountain was built in
the rear area of the Warner Bros. Studios, but the mountain itself was part of the range
opposite Warner studios in Burbank, California.
The Waltons' house facade 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 facade was built on the Here Come the
Brides set on the Columbia Ranch studio, now part of the Warner Brothers studios.
The Waltons' house is still used as scenery at Warner Brothers.
For example, it served as the Dragonfly Inn on The Gilmore Girls
Broadcast and release
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
two popular programs: The Flip Wilson Show on NBC and The Mod Squad on ABC.
"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.
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."
Ratings 1972–73: #20
1973–74: #2 1974–75: #8
1975–76: #14 1976–77: #15
1977–78: #21 1978–79: Not in the Top 30
1979–80: Not in the Top 30 1980–81: #30
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.
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".
She first appeared in The Waltons episode "The Conflict" as the widow of Zeb Walton's
brother.
The series also earned a Peabody Award for its first season.
Home media DVD releases
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 sound-track options, with dubbed German voices,
or the original English soundtrack, although episode titles, in German, are not always
either literal or precise translations of the original English-language titles.
Streaming Season 1 and 2 were made available via streaming
through services such as Amazon Instant Video.
Syndication Lorimar sold the distribution rights of The
Waltons to Warner Bros. Television to avoid a lawsuit owing to the similarities to the
series and the film Spencer's Mountain, which Warners owned.
Warner Bros. acquired Lorimar in 1989, and has continued to syndicate the series ever
since.
Reruns currently air in the U.S. on INSP, the Hallmark Channel and UP.
In Canada, The Waltons airs on Vision TV and BookTelevision.
True Entertainment airs the series in the UK.
References
Further reading Conley, Joe.
Ike Godsey of Walton's Mountain.
Albany, BearManor Media.
ISBN 978-1-59393-508-5.
External links The Waltons at the Internet Movie Database
The Waltons at TV.com The Shed Waltons Mountain
The Waltons at the Encyclopedia of Television Walton's Mountain Museum official website
All About The Waltons The Waltons website
A Walk with Grandpa Walton and the Walton family
The Walton's Mountain Community Center The Waltons at HallmarkChannel.com