Week of Nov. 28: Remembering Family: "The Waltons"

Certainly one of the best family programs ever was the CBS drama "The Waltons," which ran from 1972-81.

The program was based on the real-life experiences of creator Earl Hamner, who grew up in Virginia during the depression. He first turned those experiences into the book "Spencer's Mountain," which became a feature film in 1964. It starred Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara and James MacArthur (Hawaii Five-O's Danny Williams).

"The Homecoming" was written in 1970 and followed by the 1971 CBS television movie "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story." For that movie, the names had been changed from Spencer to Walton, the number of children modified to seven, and the characters modified and, in some cases, softened from the novels. Patricia Neal played Olivia Walton and Edgar Bergen played Grandpa (Zeb) Walton. Character actors included Cleavon Little, William Windom and Andrew Duggan, who briefly played John Walton. However, eight cast members would stick around for the series: Ellen Corby, who played Grandma (Esther) Walton, Richard Thomas, who played John-Boy, and Judy Norton, Mary McDonough, Kami Cotler, Jon Walmsley, Eric Scott and David Harper, who played, respectively: Mary Ellen, Erin, Elizabeth, Jason, Ben and Jim Bob Walton.

For the series, of course, Michael Learned and Ralph Waite would play Olivia and John Walton, while the legendary Will Geer would play Grandpa. Joe Conley played storekeeper Ike Godsey, while Mary Jackson and Helen Kleeb played the bootlegging Baldwin sisters. John Ritter's rise to stardom included a recurring role on the show as Rev. Matthew Fordwick.

Behind the scenes, Jerry Goldsmith wrote the memorable theme song and Alexander Courage wrote background music. Hamner wrote most of the episodes. Directors included some of television's best (Philip Leacock, Alf Kjellin and Ivan Dixon, who had co-starred in the comedy "Hogan's Heroes.").

Geer, Corby, Learned and Thomas all won Emmys, as did the show itself. Its high point was the first six seasons, until Thomas left, Corby suffered a stroke and Geer died. Learned left the show in 1979. All the surviving cast members would return for televsion movies during the 1980s and 1990s.

Though the official Web site hasn't been updated recently, it has detailed information about the series:

http://www.the-waltons.com/

Also, most of the series is available on DVD. And there are tons of clips on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22the+waltons%22&search_type=&aq=f

Until next week, Goodnight John Boy. And Happy Viewing!