The Waltons: The Complete First Season (1972) Review

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(More customer reviews)With so much junk on TV these days,it is so refreshing to see The Waltons with it's honest basic family values on the screen again. It's nice to see a show that isn't mean spirited as so many American shows are these days.
The Waltons made it's debut in the US on Sept 14th 1972 and continued on for nine seasons.
At first it struggled in the ratings but picked up speed after getting many good reviews and went to number one in the ratings. This first season won five Emmy awards including best series,best actor Richard Thomas,best actress Michael Learned and best supporting actress in Ellen Corby.
It went on to win many more.
The First Season episodes are-
The Foundling- A six year old deaf girl is found abandoned on the Waltons doorstep.
The Carnival- When the carnival manager leaves with their money,four stranded carnival members are helped by the Waltons.
The Calf- Jim Bob and Elizabeth take a calf to save it from slaughter.
The Hunt- John-Boy reluctantly goes on a hunt and saves John's life during a bear attack.
The Typewriter- John-Boy borrows the Baldwin's sisters typewriter to type a manuscript and loses it.
The Star- When a meteorite falls,Zeb believes it is an omen of his death and takes to bed.
The Sinner- The new preacher Matthew Fordwick(John Ritter)arrives and upsets John with his strict preaching.
The Boy From The CCC- A boy from the CCC who is found with an injured ankle is taken in by the Waltons and causes trouble.
The Ceremony- Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany come to Waltons Mountain.
The Legend- John's WW1 buddy comes to visit and is obviously living in the past. He accidently starts a fire.
The Literary Man- John Boy meets a writer and gets distracted from cutting timber therefore jeopardizing a timber contract.
The Dust Bowl Cousins-The Denby family,distant cousins,arrive on the mountain and upset everybodys life by stealing and fighting.
The Reunion- The Baldwin sisters cousin arrives for a visit and tries to scam the sisters out of their "recipe".
The Minstrel- Mary Ellen feels trapped in her surroundings and runs off with a travelling minstrel.
The Actress- A famous actress finds herself stranded on Waltons Mountain with car trouble. Her driver absconds with the money.
The Fire- Lutie Bascomb objects to Miss Hunter teaching the theory of evolution to her students. He sets fire to the school.
The Love Story- John Boy discovers love in the form of Jenny Pendleton.
The Courtship- Olivia's uncle Cody Nelson,laid off from his job,comes to visit the Waltons.
The Gypsies-a stranded Gypsy family refuses help until Grandma saves their babies life.
The Deed- The Waltons must raise money to register a deed to Waltons Mountain to stop a company from mining their mountain.
John-Boy goes into town to get a job and gets mugged.
The Scholar- A neighbor,Verdie Grant,asks John-Boy to teach her to read and write.
The Bicycle- John Boy agrees to help blacksmith Curtis Norton to write letters to his pen-pal fiancee.
She arrives to find him much different to the letters.
The Townie- After going on a date with John-Boy,Sarrah Simmonds(Sissy Spacek)sees him as a way to escape her boring lifestyle.
The Easter Story- Coming home from church,Olivia collapses and is diagnosed with polio.
After The Waltons was cancelled in 1981,there were some telemovies made,three rather average ones made in 1982 and another three much better ones,with Richard Thomas back as John-Boy,made in 1993,1995 and 1997. The final movie had John-Boy as a reporter on TV covering the 1969 moon landing.
One negative point-in what must have been a production error,the subtitles are in French only. There are no English subtitles.
Obviously someone at Warners Home Video has made a bad mistake in production. This makes it difficult for any elderly viewers or hard of hearing that might want to watch this show.
Subtitles are supposed to be standard on all DVD box sets and I note that overseas versions of The Waltons have corrected this mistake(just not the American version).
Hopefully,they will get that right when Season Two one day gets a release.

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They built their home on the timeless mountain that bears their name. They built their lives on even stronger stuff: the bedrock of family. This 5-disc set features all 24 Year-One episodes of the beloved series that ran 9 years and won 5 Emmy Awards its inaugural year, including Outstanding Drama Series. Richard Thomas plays the key role of John-Boy Walton, a youth on the verge of manhood during the Great Depression and a fledgling writer whose observations are filled with the growing-up lessons and love he receives from father John, mother Olivia, Grandma, Grandpa and all the rest of The Waltons.

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