The surprise hit of the 1972-1973 TV season,
The Waltons is one of a handful of weekly, hour-long dramatic series that can truly qualify as "wholesome family entertainment" -- and one of the very few that succeeded spectacularly on those terms.
The Waltons was created by Earl Hamner Jr., who based the series on his own experiences while growing up in the South during the 1920s and 1930s. Hamner had previously written an autobiographical novel with a similar theme, Spencer's Mountain, which was filmed in 1963 with
Henry Fonda in the lead. Eight years later, Hamner wrote the screenplay for the TV movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, again adapted from his own novel, in which he introduced the Walton family of Jefferson County, VA, who lived and worked on a "mountain" bearing the family's name in the Depression Years.
Patricia Neal and
Andrew Duggan starred as Olivia and John Walton, with
Edgar Bergen and
Ellen Corby as Grandpa and Grandma Walton,
Richard Thomas as oldest son John-Boy Walton (Earl Hamner's "alter ego"), and Judy Norton-Taylor, Mary Beth McDonough, Kami Cotler, Eric Scott, David W. Harper and Jon Walmsley, respectively, as the other Walton children, Mary Ellen, Erin , Elizabeth, Ben, Jim-Bob, and Jason. A huge ratings success,
The Homecoming was spun off into the weekly CBS series
The Waltons, beginning September 14, 1972. All of the actors who'd played the Walton children in the movie repeated their roles, as did
Ellen Corby as Grandma Walton; however, appearing as John Walton in the series was
Ralph Waite while
Michael Learned was cast as Olivia Walton, and
Will Geer played Grandpa.
During its nine-season network run,
The Waltons covered the years 1934 through 1945. Although the series started in the depths of the Depression, the Walton family remained relatively solvent thanks to the lumber mill run by John and Grandpa. As in the movie, the character of John-Boy Walton remained the "eyes" of series creator Earl Hamner Jr., who narrated each episode.
Richard Thomas remained in the role of John-Boy until the series' sixth season, maturing from high-school student to college scholar, ever in pursuit of a professional writing career (at one point, John-Boy set up his own local newspaper, "The Blue Ridge Chronicle"). When Thomas left the series, it was explained that he had become a war correspondent in Paris, had been reported missing from action, and had returned seriously injured and in coma. Upon "awakening", John-Boy was more or less reborn in the form of actor
Robert Wightman, who stayed with the series until its cancellation. There were several other personnel changes in the course of the series' run. In 1977,