Full disclosure...I watched all 221 episodes of classic CBS family drama The Waltons from 1972 to 1981 (which, in nine seasons, racked up 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, 2 Golden Globes, and a Peabody Award, to name a few of its accolades). Then, I anxiously awaited the six made-for television movies, hungry for more time with these TV characters who felt like family to me. And, yes, I still watch The Waltons regularly.
So, when I found out The CW was rebooting TV film The Homecoming: A Christmas Story as The Waltons’ Homecoming, which introduced the fictional family called Walton in 1971, I was...well...apprehensive. How could any outlet (The CW, in particular, which is drenched in superhero-themed dramas) even attempt to tackle it?
“When I first heard of The Waltons being redone, I thought...well, sure, here we go, we’re not going to be the only Waltons anymore. We have to pass the baton now; our moment is done,” said The Waltons star Richard Thomas, who is returning to narrate the film (in place of the late Earl Hamner, who created The Waltons and served in that capacity). “Then I thought this is a classic and classics get redone. How many movie versions of great titles have there been, or novels that have been adapted, or TV shows that have been rebooted? And I realized this is the mark of the impact and the iconic nature of the show.”
“When they called and said they wanted me to do the narration I could not have been happier,” he added. “Aside from the fact that it still keeps me connected to The Waltons, now...50 years later...I get to inherit the role Earl Hamner had. When I was invited to do an introduction on camera to sort of pass the torch, that was even better.”
Initially considered a long-shot to succeed in the fall of 1972 opposite then top-rated favorites The Mod Squad on ABC and variety hour The Flip Wilson Show on NBC, viewers slowly gravitated to The Waltons. By season two it was the second highest-rated series in all of primetime (behind Norman Lear’s All in the Family on CBS). And, today, it is remembered as the idyllic American family, where the end sequence in each episode featuring the family saying goodnight to one another is now a cultural trademark.
“My character was not your typical male crime fighter or hero, which we were so accustomed to at the time,” noted Thomas. “John Boy was sensitive and caring, and it was a representation of a leading male character we just never saw before.”
“We also never really got the credit we deserved for tackling some very timely and serious issues,” he added. “Discrimination, death, disease, war, book burning and so much more, many of which are still so timely. We did it though the eyes of a family with strong ethical values who cared about each other. With so much happening in our world today, I think the time is ripe for this type of storytelling.”
Logan Shroyer, who has inherited role of Thomas’ John Boy Walton, is certainly a testament to the value of the family friendly drama category. This spring he wraps up his six season role as teenage Kevin Pearson on NBC’s concluding This Is Us.
“I think the success of This Is Us is a direct reflection of The Waltons, where family values and the relationships within the different generations are on the forefront,” noted Shroyer. “It really was a groundbreaker.”
Like the 1971 film before it, the action in The Waltons: Homecoming centers on the absence of father John (Ben Lawson), who is forced to find work in another part of the state and has not returned home yet as Christmas approaches. But, unlike The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (and ultimately the original series), the beloved family of seven Walton siblings is suddenly minus the third eldest son Ben in the CW remake.
“We made the decision to reduce it to six because we had so many characters in this movie that we had to service, and we didn't want to add another kid just to have him say, ‘Hey Momma,’ or ‘When's Daddy coming home?,” or that kind of thing,” said executive producer Sam Haskell. “But it is my plan to bring Ben back if this were to go further. I would love to include every single person involved because it was such a perfect little miracle of people coming together and putting the best they had into the pot.”
Diehard fans of The Waltons will also notice other differences in The Waltons: Homecoming, notably what happens after John Boy goes in search of his father. But rather than reveal that ending, let me whet your appetite for the coming film (which my “crystal ball” tells me will score for The CW, albeit with older aged viewers) with 10 factoids about The Waltons you may not know.
1) Ralph Waite, of course, is remembered as John Walton, but the first choice for the role was Henry Fonda. Fonda played family head Clay Spencer in the 1963 film Spencer’s Mountain, which was the basis for The Waltons. But he felt the character of John Boy (Clay Boy in Spencer’s Mountain) was already the male lead.
2) The Waltons might have been called The Spencers had the name been legally available for usage.
3) In the first episode of The Waltons (The Foundling, originally telecast on September 14, 1972), the family gathers around the radio to listen to ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his puppet Charlie McCarthy. This was a shout out to Edgar Bergen, who originated the role of grandfather Zebulon Walton in The Homecoming: A Christmas Story.
4) The Homecoming: A Christmas Story and The Waltons were based on the childhood memories of creator Earl Hamner, who was actually the oldest of eight children (and not seven as portrayed in the film and TV series). The third oldest son Ben, played by Eric Scott, was a combination of two of Hamner’s brothers.
5) Ellen Corby (Grandma Esther Walton) and Beulah Bondi (Martha Corrine Walton, who was in two episodes), both appeared in 1946 holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life. Bondi played Jimmy Stewart’s mother Mrs. Bailey and Corby appeared in one small scene as shy Mrs. Davis.
6) Will Geer, of course, played happy-go-lucky Grandpa Zebulon (Zeb) Walton, who wanted to be needed and was never shy of a sip (or two) of the Baldwin ladies’ “recipe.” But in December 1977, in the middle of his final season on The Waltons, Geer guest-starred on dramedy Eight Is Enough as Sam, a burglar who breaks into the Bradford home and steals their Christmas gifts. Grandpa Walton a Christmas thief???
7) After over a one year absence as a result of a stroke, Ellen Corby returned The Waltons in the episode title Grandma Comes Home (originally telecast on March 30, 1978). Corby goes down in the TV record books as the first handicapped performer to appear regularly in a TV series. But her reunion with beloved husband Zeb was short-lived. Will Geer passed away on April 22, 1978 at the age of 76. Corby, meanwhile, died on April 14, 1999 at the age of 88.
8) The iconic family home on The Waltons resurfaced, albeit in a modernized version, as establishment The Dragonfly Inn on dramedy Gilmore Girls. Sadly, the house eventually burned down in a fire on the Warner Bros. lot.
9) Like any long-running TV series, a number of the original actors from The Waltons exited the series (including Richard Thomas, who chose not to renew his initial five year contract). “I was 25 and wanted to pursue other things,” he said.
Thomas returned for two episodes at the end of season six (and the three made-for television movies on CBS in the 1990s). But in season eight, Robert Wightman was added to the cast as John Boy, which most critics (myself included) refer to as a “jump the shark” moment on The Waltons.
10) At age 70, Richard Thomas at present is the same age Will Geer was when The Waltons began in 1972. As Ellen Corby as Grandma Walton would say, “Good Lord!”
The Waltons’ Homecoming, The CW’s first movie historically, airs on Sunday, November 28 at 8 p.m. ET. If enough viewers tune in, this could ultimately be upgraded to a regularly scheduled series (complete with guest appearances from some of the original actors from The Waltons).
