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December 19, 1971…’The Waltons’ Debuts on CBS

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December 19, 1971…’The Waltons’ Debuts on CBS

The series began as a television movie entitled ‘The Homecoming: A Christmas Story’ and was broadcast on December 19, 1971 and is included here without any commercials, either web or broadcast.

There is a scene here with the family gathered around the radio listening to Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy…notice that Edgar Bergen is playing the role of Grandpa Walton.

The TV movie did well and plans were made to develop it into a series. CBS thought that a big star in the John Walton role would be good, and Henry Fonda was asked to audition, but after reading the script, he said, “What do you need me for? The kids and family are the stars.”

The Walton House was actually located in the northern section of the Jungle area of Warner Brothers studios in Burbank. Walton’s Mountain, which could be seen from the house’s front porch, was actually a slope of the Hollywood Hills directly south of the Warner Bros. Studios. Interiors of the house were filmed on Stage 26.

When the show premiered on CBS at the beginning of the 1972-73 season, most media pundits felt it didn’t have a chance, airing as it did opposite two longtime ratings powerhouses, ‘The Flip Wilson Show’ on NBC, had been the number one show in America for the previous two seasons, and ABC’s ‘Mod Squad’ was a long-standing favorite, as well.

Surprisingly, ‘The Waltons’ out-performed both shows in the ratings by a wide margin. ‘Mod Squad’ was canceled by the end of the season, and Flip Wilson, rather than have the same thing happen to his show, announced that the 1973-74 season would be his last. All this happened just a year after CBS felt that rural shows were “out,” and set out to prove it, in a highly controversial move, as Fred Silverman canceled several long-running series, like ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ and ‘Green Acres’ which were still very popular and doing well on televisions weekly ratings. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umEEnFtmV0I

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9 responses to “December 19, 1971…’The Waltons’ Debuts on CBS”

  1. Clark Humphrey

    Wasn’t Fonda in the original film version of Hamner’s childhood, the theatrical feature Spencer’s Mountain?

  2. Robert Berthel

    They listened to that program in episodes as well.

  3. James Stanley Barr

    One of the best takes on that show was when Bush 41 said that they needed a nation more like the Waltons than the Simpsons. To quote Bart Simpson, “Hey, we’re just like the Waltons. We’re praying for an end to the Depression, too.” 😀

  4. Linc Oldham

    The show was good up until the last couple of seasons when they brought in “Rose” and her two brats in an attempt to “Cousin Oliver” the show. Oh yeah…and the fake John-Boy was in there too during a season or two.

  5. Rick Bozeman

    Lot of people complained the program did not depict the average family in the depression years; well it was not supposed to; it was based on the family of series creator and narrator Earl Hamner.

  6. Carson Cooper

    Yeah, great series until it Jumped the Shark with the imposter John-Boy, the additional new kids, and “Rose.” But all the shows prior to Will Geer’s passing were great.

  7. Martha Retallick

    And recall that that Waltons weren’t living together because they were smitten with each other. It was the Great Depression. People lived that way because they couldn’t afford to live separately.

  8. Bob Jones

    I liked the show until they replaced Richard Thomas’s John-Boy character.

  9. Jeanne Chmura

    I loved this show

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