Posted on 09/13/2022 9:44:37 PM PDT by DallasBiff
“The Waltons,” one of TV's most popular and enduring programs, turns 50 on Wednesday
The Rev. Matt Curry’s parents were children of the Great Depression, just like “The Waltons” — the beloved TV family whose prime-time series premiered 50 years ago.
When Curry was growing up on a farm in northern Texas, his carpenter father and teacher mother often argued playfully over who had a poorer childhood.
“The Depression was the seminal time of their lives — the time that was about family and survival and making it through,” said Curry, now a 59-year-old Presbyterian pastor in Owensboro, Kentucky. “My dad used to talk about how his dad would go work out of town and send $5 a week to feed and clothe the family.”
So when “The Waltons,” set in 1932 and running through World War II, debuted on CBS on Sept. 14, 1972, the Currys identified closely with the storylines. Millions of others felt the same, and the Thursday night drama about a Depression-era family in rural Virginia became one of TV’s most popular and enduring programs
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
That is the difference between what endures and what doesn’t. Whether the author can overcome their own era or not.
We called it LHOP.
I liked the parents and John Boy but didn’t like the rest of the family much, especially the grandparents and Mary Ellen.
It was Earl Hammer’s family
Large, close-knit families were the norm in the 50’s. So it stands to reason that the viewing audience in the 70’s would identify with the Waltons.
I never liked that show. I think I may have tried to watch it a total of maybe 5 times. Infact I still turn away from most movies John Boy is/was in...
Didn’t know that about either one. I did know that Geer was a raving left-wing lunatic.
“It was Earl Hammer’s family”
It was Hamner’s family, and it was my mother’s family. Same poverty, time period, number of children, lifestyle. I enjoyed the show, but was able to easily identify when episodes took a PC slant.
If sitcoms and prime time television from the mid fifties through 1970 along with Saturday morning TV programming were to replace current prime time our country might find a thread that would lead back to a moral nation.
However, the biggest missing link is the lack and loss of being proud to be a Christian nation and proclaiming it in the public square and teaching the Bible in the public schools.
WWG1WGA!
Imperfect, but so much better than what kids are watching today. At least there were good life lessons and values taught.
What some of the actors did in their private lives didn’t affect the show and seem non important in rating it.
I spot the PC at times, but overall a wholesome show.
Now that’s funny, and sound like something Jimmie Walker would say!
As a kid, I HATED this show. My parents would turn it on, and if you wanted to watch TV, this was it. Can’t remember what else was on during that time slot.
When I turned 30, I was working second shift, so I’d get up in the morning and turn on TV. For some reason, I started watching The Waltons and really started to like it. Go figure.
Still remember Patricia Neal in “The Homecoming” (1971) which started it all.
Yep, the Rural Purge. I suppose The Waltons was an attempt to cater to those who were outraged by it.
Will Geer yes. Ellen Corby no. The left made that up like they made it up about everyone in the past to make it seem like so many were homos and they weren’t.
Will Geer was a big time communist sympathizer and disgusting.
Of course, Earl Hamner the narrator and author of Spencer’s Mountain of which the Walton’s was based, was a big time leftist.
Kami Cotler who played the youngest child Elizabeth now has a “wife.”
It was from one of his stand up routines.
I liked it from the beginning but lost interest as the characters aged and the political overtones grew more obvious.
I was the same age in the 70s that John Boy was in the show in the 30’s so that gave me a bit of extra ability to identify. And we grew up very rural, too.
Side note: I was also the same age as Kevin in the Wonder Years. But not the same age as it was being shown, but I was the same age as the character was in the setting of the show, the 1960’s.
The show has been discussed here before, so I knew exactly what kind of responses were likely to appear.
If I get my oil change and car wash done in time, I might be able to catch the morning showing on Me-TV.
Cheers!
LOL.
When I was growing up and there were only 3 channels on British telly, the most amazing thing happened... along came Channel 4, and over time instead of having to watch Songs of Praise, and Highway (Harry Secombe of the Goons, also famous as Mr Bumble in Oliver!) doing MORE religious singing... we had CHOICE. The BBC had Last of the Summer Wine for light relief, and we got to watch more interesting stuff The Waltons and Lost in Space on Channel 4.
My gran was really into The Waltons when they started repeating it from the beginning in the 90s. Fanatically so. Sunday visits had to be carefully timed because she’d be at church in the morning, watching church services on television in the afternoon...
She was a right cantankerous old biddy - think Granny out of Beverly Hillbillies but half the height and twice as stern. Woe betide anyone who interrupted The Waltons. She had to go to hospital one time, the ambulance showed up to take her there and the Waltons was halfway through - they rang the doorbell, she shouted at them to wait a bit, they called out to see if she was okay, she told them to shut up...
And waited till the ad break, before opening the door. The poor sods had to wait till the next ad break to confirm that she had her bag ready, then had to wait till the end credits before she’d leave!
My homeplace is also in the Blue Ridge - about 20 minutes away from Hamner’s, My parents were depression babies, both from families who had been in the area for generations. Everybody miserably poor before, during and after the depression.
My mama loved The Waltons. Often her sister Ruby would come over and they’d watch it together. You’d think because of the story location and with their ages fitting in among the Walton children during that time period that they’d find a lot of common experiences on the show to which they could relate. You’d be wrong. Mama and Aunt Ruby thought the Waltons were living large - Depression be damned!
If the scenes were in the kitchen, mama would point out how bright and large the area appeared - and how everybody had room to sit down and eat together - all at the same table.
Aunt Ruby was especially fixated on their Kitchen sink.
If Olivia Walton made mention of the money running low, mama would say: and her with all the fancy hats and clothes. Her kitchen is filled with expensive cookware. She could sell all of that!
If the scenes were outside of the house, their conversation centered around how everything was kept very clean and orderly.
In reflection, I realize, of course this is what would attract the attention of girls who grew up in a small, dark 3 room house (with 4 other siblings).
When any water used inside had to be manually carried in from outside, then, yes, a functioning kitchen sink is worthy of comment. 🙂
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