The Waltons: building the best possible collection (1 Viewer)

[Brent Reid]

When my wife and I got married (bottom photo on the left), we both gave up jobs and had to move someplace new. We had hard times. We were so broke when we moved that all I had was a little 13-inch color TV with a built-in VCR. We didn't have a couch so we'd sit on our Igloo ice cooler. We bought the first season of Little House on DVD and I got a 25-inch TV. Every night our hour of sanity was watching Little House. As time went on, things got easier. It took us several years to get through Little House. By the time we did, we had moved and bought our own house. I was working in the entertainment industry and she had a good job as a university professor...

Easily the most thoughtful poster on this site and always a pleasure to read. Thank you for sharing.

 

[sjbradford]

Part of me wishes The Waltons had ended after the fifth season, with John Boy going off to New York. The last episode of that season had flashbacks and could have functioned as a series finale. It also concluded the show’s original premise - a young man coming of age in the mountains of Virginia. It would be a much stronger series overall.

Those last four season are an example of a show going on too long and visibly declining. Season 6 is OK, but John Boy and Grandma are missed. Seasons 7 and 8, with Grandpa gone and Grandma and Olivia on part-time status, are a sharp decline from what came before (doesn’t help that the scripts became more syrupy and preachy). And don’t get me started on the last season, with almost all the original adult cast absent (Ralph Waite is there for the first seven episodes).

To me, Michael Learned’s departure was the toughest one. I hated to see John Boy, Grandma, and Grandpa go, but those departures at least made narrative sense. Children grow up and leave home, and grandparents get sick and die. But they never could properly explain Olivia’s absences. Olivia has tuberculosis and is staying with a relative. Olivia is volunteering for the Red Cross in Washington during the war. The war is over, but Olivia has relapsed and is moving to a warmer climate. Ugh.

 

[Carabimero]

Easily the most thoughtful poster on this site and always a pleasure to read. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for your sentiment. It is greatly appreciated and something that means a lot to me to see.

 

[Mr. Handley]

I just recently finished Season 7. I have Seasons 8 & 9 on flippers, but will not watch them again until they get a proper single-sided release!

 

[Carabimero]

I just recently finished Season 7. I have Seasons 8 & 9 on flippers, but will not watch them again until they get a proper single-sided release!

I ripped my Waltons flippers into avi files of about 500mb each, put them on a data stick, and we're going to watch them that way. May I never have to touch those flippers again.

 

[bmasters9]

I ripped my Waltons flippers into avi files of about 500mb each, put them on a data stick, and we're going to watch them that way. May I never have to touch those flippers again.

Smart move!