TV Series

Series Name:	The Waltons
Format:	TV Series
IMDB:	IMDB Page
Years:	1971 - 1981
Country:	USA
Language:	English
Genre:	Drama
Rating:	4.7 Rate
Collection:	Seen It Wishlist
Community:	21 Have Seen
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Selected Cast	Jon Walmsley as Jason Walton
	Mary Beth McDonough as Erin Walton
	Eric Scott as Ben Walton
	Judy Norton as Mary Ellen Walton
	Richard Thomas as John-Boy Walton
	Ralph Waite as John Walton, Sr.
	Michael Learned as Olivia Walton
	Will Geer as Zeb Walton
	Ellen Corby as Esther Walton
	David W. Harper as Jim-Bob Walton
	Kami Cotler as Elizabeth Walton
	Joe Conley as Ike Godsey
	John Ritter as Rev. Matthew Fordwick
	Ronnie Claire Edwards as Corabeth Walton

Notes

Drama series following the life and trials of The Walton family a 1930s and 1940s Virginia mountain family through financial depression and World War II. There was 9 series with 210 episodes.

On DVD & Blu-ray World

DVD Box Set

The Waltons : Season 3 - Warner Home Video - USA (2006)

DVD

The Waltons: The Complete First Season - Warner Home Video - UK (2009)

DVD Box Set

The Waltons : Season 2 - Warner Home Video - UK (2006)

DVD Box Set

The Waltons : Season 4 - Warner Home Video - UK (2007)

DVD Box Set

The Waltons : Season 2 - Warner Home Video - Canada (2005)

DVD Box Set

The Waltons: The Complete First Season - Warner Home Video - Canada (2004)

Comments and Reviews


GEMSMFAN 24th Dec 2015		The TV pilot



Neil Forbes 9th Aug 2015		All digitally spruced up, RC. By the way, did you get my reference to HD(Hot Dogs...woof, woof!)?



Record Collector 9th Aug 2015		The show last time I saw it back in 1991 they were still using original film print these days it's all polished up with better results



Neil Forbes 9th Aug 2015		@RC, yeah! And we sit in front of this giggle box and chomp on our HD's(Hot Dogs) while trying to watch the garbage foisted on us by the commercial stations.



Record Collector 8th Aug 2015		Now it's all HD



Neil Forbes 8th Aug 2015		@23sjkidoo - I should clarify about channels in different countries on VHF. I believe the American/Canadian VHF channels were only 6Mhz wide(for NTSC) where in Australia, New Zealand and Europe where PAL and SECAM were used, the channels were 7Mhz wide. UHF channels for Australia, New Zealand and Europe were 8Mhz wide. I'm not sure of the American/Canadian UHF channels or if they were 7 or 8Mhz wide. There was an international system which determined channel frequencies, width and number of channels, and the colour systems in use. it was CCIR(though I'm not sure what the acronym stood for). But, aside from Australia and New Zealand, it was generally accepted that the 88-108Mhz frequencies were set aside for FM radio.



Neil Forbes 8th Aug 2015		@23skidoo, it depends on how the TV channels used the VHF spectrum in each country. In Australia, until the late 1970s we used the VHF band exclusively for TV and only started utilising UHF for translator installations for some regional stations. It wasn't until 1980 when SBS started their TV service on UHF Ch.28 and (briefly) VHF Ch.0 that the UHF band started to be used more widely. FM radio in Australia didn't start until 1974 and it was the advent of FM which forced some stations off the three TV channels that swallowed up the FM radio band. They were Ch.3(85-92Mhz), Ch.4(94-101Mhz) and Ch.5(101-108Mhz). It's that which allowed us to pick up TV audio on our radios in the days before the first FM radio stations started up, but you had to have that band on your radio. I don't think Canadian broadcasting authorities would allocate TV channels across the 88-108Mhz FM band there, they, like the USA, would keep the FM frequencies free for that purpose.



henry29 18th Jul 2015		That's how We listened to Top Of The Pops In the Power Cuts of the 70's. A huge Display with Airplane, Police. Ambulance, TV, and a dozen others on It. And Yes a Coax Cable output I converted to Record on to Tapes straight to the Player to record programs just like Record Collector did. If only the tapes hadn't disappeared many years ago. I remember the Girls In the Waltons and Little House. Saying, If I'm not married by the time I'm 16 I'll become an old Maid. H.



23skidoo 17th Jul 2015		@Neil. Actually I'm in Canada. For some reason though it was possible to occasionally pick up TV broadcasts on regular radio, but only with stereo systems, it seemed. Doesn't happen anymore. To remain on track, one unusual aspect about this show that I remember, bit they only did it for a brief time, was they had to credit the actress who played Olivia Walton as Miss Michael Learned, due to her unusual first name. Eventually they dropped that.



Neil Forbes 17th Jul 2015		Yep. That's the Sally Boyden episode, She was a cutie back then but with it she packed a lot of talent into that tiny frame. Acting proved to be another side of her talents we discovered through that Walton's episode. I remember her in a guest spot on YTT in 1979 where she did the Dolly Parton song, "Here You Come Again" and thought to myself "Dolly Parton, eat your heart out!" Sally's version was far better. It proved she could do Country/Rock and could mix it with the likes of Linda Ronstadt.



Record Collector 17th Jul 2015		I checked Neil originally broadcast in America 15th December 1977



Neil Forbes 17th Jul 2015		RC, the 1974 episode, is that the one with Sally Boyden? If so it can't be from 1974 as Sally was still tied up with Young Talent Time(and aged only 9 years). It wasn't until 1977 that she had left YTT and went off to do that "Lassie" movie and her "Waltons" episode.



Record Collector 17th Jul 2015		The episode I mentioned was from 1974 not shown here in Australia until 1977the program made its debut here inAustralia three years after its American debut



Neil Forbes 17th Jul 2015		Yeah, RC, we have strayed a bit off the track.



Record Collector 17th Jul 2015		@23skidoo I used to do that and used to edit the songs into my cassette ahh the memories



Record Collector 17th Jul 2015		Ok I think we going off the subject



Neil Forbes 17th Jul 2015		RC, it was handy ONLY if your local TV station was on VHF Ch.3, 4 or 5! Ch.0 to 2 of 5a up to 11 and the radio was as useful as tits on a bull!



Neil Forbes 17th Jul 2015		@23skidoo, "Battle Beyond The Stars" Yep! That was so un-John-Boy-like of Richard Thomas, played tongue-in-cheek. I think I saw some brief snatches of it but not the whole show. On the matter of TV on radio, I'd have to assume you're in Australia or New Zealand where FM radio was late in coming. Just about everywhere else in the world, the 88-108 Mhz frequency range was set aside for FM broadcasting. In Britain, a system once existed with TV where the video was transmitted FM and the audio AM on the VHF band but after a while, Britain went all-UHF with video and audio transmitted FM. Today though, it's all fingers, toes and thumbs(digital, get it? Ha-Ha) That early FM video/AM audio system may have been receivable on an AM radio with one or two short-wave bands because the frequency range may have been up in that area of the band and you'd likely get all or most of the BBC and ITV stations' audio carriers. Here in Australia though, from 45 Mhz right up to 222 Mhz, the VHF band(with a couple of gaps here and there) was taken up by TV signals.



Record Collector 17th Jul 2015		Mind you it was quite handy if you're not near a television



Neil Forbes 17th Jul 2015		If your TV station broadcast over VHF channels 3(85-92 Mhz), 4(94-101 Mhz) or 5(101-108 Mhz), then yes, an AM/FM set switched to FM would pick up the audio from any station transmitting on those VHF Band 2 channels. The audio carrier was just below the upper limit of each channel. Station WIN-Wollongong and Station AMV-Albury(NSW/Wodonga(Victoria) were two immediately recognisable stations transmitting on 94-101 Mhz(Ch.4), Station NBN-Newcastle and Station ABC-Canberra were on 85-92 Mhz(ch.3) and Station ABHN-Newcastle was on 101-108 Mhz(ch.5) before the arrival of 2NUR-FM-Newcastle required ABHN to be bumped up to Ch.5a a year or so beforehand. Such was the situation in Australia in the 1970s that the internationally-recognised FM radio band, 88-108 Mhz was "swallowed up" by TV signals.



23skidoo 17th Jul 2015		@Neil The film was Battle Beyond the Stars, which was basically a Star Wars spoof crossbred with The Magnificent Seven (even featuring Robert Vaughn who was in The Magnificent Seven). It was a fun movie - I have it on DVD - but at the time a lot of people dismissed it as "John-Boy in space" when they weren't focusing on Sybil Danning's skimpy costume. You are correct about the pilot movie. It aired in 1971 and was called The Homecoming: A Christmas Story. I think Thomas was one of the only major cast members to come back for the series. The series was actually based upon a novel called Spencer's Mountain, which was made into a movie of the same title released in 1963 starring Henry Fonda. In the film and novel it wasn't John-Boy it was "Clayboy" because the father's name was Clay, not John. Re: TV on radio. I used to do that all the time in the 1970s. I even recorded some TV soundtracks on cassette that way. Not every radio was able to to do it.



Record Collector 17th Jul 2015		Back then when you listen to your television through your radio ooohhhhhh spoooooky the twighlight zone theme sounds haha



Neil Forbes 17th Jul 2015		Amazing how the casting agents got away with that one, ay Monolith? And RC, Jim-Bob not a Walton? Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!!(departs keyboard in a hurry, runs away and bawls his eyes out at the thought - oh no, it can't be....) Sigh.... It's okay everybody, I've recovered my composure(gulp!). I must remind myself, it's only a TV show...only a TV show...only a TV show...only a TV show...*fades away)



Monolith 17th Jul 2015		John Boy's mum was only 12 years his senior in real life.



Record Collector 17th Jul 2015		Saturday night back in the days before the VCR I audio taped a episode the story of jim bob didn't believe he's a Walton



Neil Forbes 17th Jul 2015		@23skidoo, a part in a space-based show would be about as far away from John-boy Walton as it would be humanly possible to be for Richard Thomas, I'd reckon! Can't think of the actual title(mind's a blank at the moment) You might well remember it. I do recall a movie which may have served as a pilot for The Waltons but Ralph Waite wasn't cast in the role of the father, and Richard Thomas's character, John-boy was only 15 in this movie(Thomas himself may have been just a couple of years older than that).



23skidoo 17th Jul 2015		@Neil. I remember when Richard Thomas left the series, it was the same sort of scenario faced by Happy Days when Ron Howard left a year or so before it ended, except worse because my recollection is that the entire concept of the show was that it was the memories of John-Boy as a young man, so without John-Boy the show actually lost its narrator and focus. I think they got around that by convincing Thomas to come back for guest appearances, but if not for the fact it still had strong ratings they probably should have ended it when he left. But to be fair to Thomas he was trying to escape the typecasting; he ended up doing a bunch of TV movies and a lot of work on Broadway, but it really wasn't until he showed up on The Americans two years ago that he was finally able to get out of John-Boy's shadow, at least in terms of television.



Neil Forbes 17th Jul 2015		RC, it was Sally Boyden! But thanks for the info. I was out by a year. She'd not long finished on Young Talent Time when she scored a role in a new "Lassie" movie, then came the Waltons episode(one or two other roles in between, I guess) and all before her 13th birthday. She'd also been the youngest recipient of a gold record award for her LP, "The Littlest Australian" on the Hammard label and her follow-up LP, "A Day In The Life" also went gold(I believe). Sally Boyden: One very busy young girl all those years ago! Would you believe she's now a 50-year-old?



Record Collector 17th Jul 2015		Sally Boyd appeared in one of the 1977 episodes



Neil Forbes 17th Jul 2015		I think the show actually finished with the character "John-boy" reading TV news as an anchorman for his state's TV network affiliate in the 1950s. By the time the series ended, Richard Thomas was no longer in the role of John-boy as he'd moved on to other acting work. An extra note, ex-Young Talent Timer, Sally Boyden had a guest spot in the show in a Christmas episode(I think it was a Christmas episode) as an English girl evacuated to the USA during the war years. I think her appearance was in 1978 or so.



harley 17th Jul 2015		I was going to add the all Walton family but my epilepsy has be causing me trouble and it looks like I forgot again. Anyway did John Boy get the typewriter back.



23skidoo 16th Jul 2015		I'm surprised a cast list for this doesn't include its iconic John Boy. I'll rectify that right away. PS: Sorry guys, had to rate it a 5. It was somewhat overrated but it was half-decent and had good atmosphere especially in the early days when it was still fresh. And I have admiration for Ellen Geer returning to the show and continuing to play Grandma Walton after suffering a stroke. It was the first time I'd ever heard the word when my parents explained it to me and it was a learning experience. I was only 5 or so. All that said, I still have problems processing that a) Richard Thomas currently co-stars in The Americans and b) that he doesn't look a whole lot different than he did 40 years ago!



Monolith 16th Jul 2015		I have to there's no zero.



nboldock 16th Jul 2015		Oh come on, you can't rate it "1"?!

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