Television Shows We Grew Up Watching in the 70's: The Walton's

This is a new series about television shows middle-aged men and women grew up watching in the 70's. I was born in 1964 and our choices of television channels were limited in the 1970's. We had about ten total channels to choose from and most of us did not have HBO. HBO was launched in 1972, but most people were not able to get it. In was in the 1980's that most of today's most popular cable networks were launched. This series will deal with the most popular television shows we grew up watching in the 70's, today we will look at The Walton's.

The Walton's originally aired on CBS from 1972-1981. The show took place on Walton's mountain, which many of us believed was a real town, but was actually a fictional town located in Virginia. The time of the Walton's was during the Great Depression during the Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. John-Boy is seventeen years old and is the main character of the show. His parents have been married for eighteen years.

The Walton family consisted of parents John and Olivia who had seven children; the grandparents also lived with the family. The story was based on the family trying to survive during the time of the Great Depression. The story is told through John-Boy who was played by Richard Thomas until 1976 when he left the show for better opportunities. The story unfolded in the little town of Walton's Mountain as we met characters of the town and grew to love most of them.

Four of the Walton boys entered World War II. I remembered watching the family based drama unfold in front of an old radio where the family listened to news about the war and the world that surrounded them. I remember Grand Pa Walton and his secret recipe. I remember watching the family as they went to the old Baptist church, for a time John Ritter played one of the ministers.

In our household we followed the drama and got to know the fictional Walton family. We watched the children grow-up into adults, some of them getting married and having their own children. We watched a family stick together during tough times. We watched the family in pain as they lost some of their loved ones. The Walton's may have been a fictional family, but they were the type of family that made the U. S. grow strong during some of the tougher times in our history as a nation. Goodnight John-Boy, Goodnight Mary-Ellen.

List of Stars on The Walton's

Richard Thomas-John-Boy

Ralph Waite-John Walton Sr.

Michael Learned-Olivia Walton

Ellen Corby-Grandma Walton, Deceased 1999

Will Greer- Grandpa Walton, Deceased 1978 during the run of the show

Judy Norton Taylor-Mary Ellen Walton

John Walmsey-Jason Walton

Eric Scott-Ben Walton

Mary Elizabeth McDonough-Erin Walton

David W. Harper-Jim-Bob Walton

Kami Cotler-Elizabeth Walton

John Ritter-Rev. Matthew Fordwick, deceased 2003

The Walton's finally fizzled out after a long run on television. It was a great family show that I was proud to watch as a young boy and a teenager. The Walton's was one of the shows I watched in the 70's on our black and white television and I enjoyed every minute. Stay tuned for more of the fun television shows we watched in the 70's. We didn't have too many channels, but we had a lot of fun shows we enjoyed.

Sources

CBS

Wiki

Memories from youth