As a fan of Little House, yes millions of years later I decided to give this show a chance.
I've forced myself to watch episodes because maybe I was missing something.
Nope. The episodes are just so bland.
Are these people even related? I see no chemistry.
And Richard Thomas won awards for his portrayal of John Boy. (shrug emoji).
And the Waltons had 9 seasons? Wow. Just Wow.
I always liked Little house better because the characters were more memorable than the Waltons. I mean, Miss Olson, Mister Edwards,Nelly/Nancy,Albert each characters had such strong personality and each of them even had their own personal musical score to go with them. So yeah Little house just had more personality than the Waltons , however I still love the Waltons, what it lacks in memorable characters it makes up for in story lines.
shareThat's funny, when I was young I loved Little House and never watched this. Now I've flipped. Imho, this show has much more depth (and subtlety), less in the last couple of seasons.
Maybe if I genuinely gave it a chance I could get into The Waltons, but for now I don't think I could take it. Just hearing the music gives me the creeps. Even Carol Burnett made fun of the "goodnight" everyone shtick. And Ma and Pa doling out their home-spun wisdom while John-Boy (which right there is cringey) soulfully declares his authorial aspirations with full support from all -- man, it just seems too saccharine. I liked it when I was young, but for some reason I can't warm up to watching it now.
shareAs someone who LOVES Little House, I thought maybe I can get into this.
No, don't fool yourself into if you gave it a chance. This is awful and boring.
Nothing is really going on. You don't really learn any lessons.
Little house became silly though. I don't remember The Waltons have an episode with a big blue light coming down from god and curing someone, or an Angel named Johnathan giving advice to John Boy. Yeah there was an episode about a medium or something like that but never on the level Little House took some of their episodes. Plus Little House had 100% comedy episodes...remember the "older brothers" episode. Completely stupid.
The Waltons was a bit more consistant in story telling. Though both shows stubkbat keeping a consistant timeline. Little house went from the 1860's to1890's and everyone aged about 10 years. Waltons (with the later movies),went from the early 30's all the way to 1969. Lol...
I only like the Christmas special which was also the pilot show. Patricia Neal played Olivia as a quirky, principled lady. She was weird but interesting.. I found the Michel Learned portrayal to be too severe and emotionless. Other than John Boy, the sons were bland, shallow characters. The grandparents were cute but formulaic. Grumpy Grandma and ol’ hoot Grandpa.
share It's a fair show with quite a number of poor episodes such as a lot of series are.
Strengths : John got his temper up which was rare for TV then.
Olivia was extremely religious at a time when TV was pulling away from religion.
John Boy sees everybody around him for what they are causing personal discomfort.
Ellen Corby had the right take on Grandma as being not sugary.
Sheriff Bridges not as laid back as say Sheriff Taylor from TAGS.
Made John Ritter work as a minister agains during a time TV was going anti-religion.
Corabeth. Obnoxious but a common commodity in most communities.
Episodes such as The Conflict, The Sinner, Grandma Comes Home.
Neutral : Ike Godsey. A little too affable but could get riled up such as in The Dustbowl Cousins.
Mary Ellen. Typical bratty teen but was useful in a few episodes such as the quilt.
Jason.
Grandpa. Will Geer was good but the character FTMP was poorly used.
Poor: The rest of the kids. Window dressing. Eric Scott nice guy but not much of an actor.
Average episode. Waltons poking noses into business of 1970's Urban type neighbors.
Average 1970's production values. Did not look overly like 1930's Virginia.
Post note. The show really should have done more with Jason. The Waltons are rural working class folk so it should have been Jason striking out with his musical ambitions and got into farming. Storylines could have included balancing his life with that of his family and his wife's family. Many issues to deal with for television when a man has his own problems along with dealing with his parents and his wife's family.
I post the following in response to a PM. Examples of what could be done with Jason. Every kid imagines being prominent whether it is in music, athletics, or academics. A vast majority of people never realize their dream because they lack the ability to go with the desire. So how does Jason deal with it? Drinking? The support of a good wife and a willingness to engage in an area never before considered?
John and Olivia had a good relationship with his parents and in particular with respect to career. Maybe the show should have looked at something from the opposite end where the in laws are harder to satisfy it relative to Jason.
Nobody wants to see reality in television back then. I don't think so even for escapists. Television had The Brady Bunch for those who did not want to hear a discouraging word and sky is clear all day. We are talking about a show that started with The Great Depression and the view was not from a NYC penthouse. I don't think that CBS would have chanced the Waltons losing everything but they faced struggles. Jason could have had his own set of challenges with People and business. The show lost a lot with the passing of Will Geer and Michael Learned getting itchy feet. Jason should have been pushed squarely to front and center unless the feeling was Jon Walmsley was not up to the task
I was him in 2018 in Pittsburgh in the Ballet playing Ebeneezer Scrooge.
shareHorse dingies to what you say. The Waltons was a fun show.
shareShow started out well but did regress I later seasons. Really stretching for story ideas. Really missed when the mom decided to leave the show, just wasn’t as good.
I actually became disillusioned with Little House even before I did with Waltons.
Yeah both shows suffered in later years. I think LH was the worst offended....a new beginning put the final nail in its coffin.
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