Hi there everyone,

It's been a week of rest and relaxation for us here as we have just finished the second week of the school holidays. Tim and James both go back to school next Tuesday for term 3 and Rod also starts work again after having a week off.

We really haven't done much though. Both Rod and I had colds early in the week, but are both fine again now. We went to see an Australian stage production last Sunday called "The Boy From Oz". There's not too many original Australian musicals around, and certainly not too many have been successful, but this one is fantastic. It's based on the life of Peter Allen, the songwriter and performer, who was once married to Liza Minelli. There's talk of it eventually going to the USA but there seems to always be an extraordinary amount of red tape to get through before that happens.

Rod and I also went to see the next fascinating installment of the "7 Up" series, "42 Up". There's been a lot of publicity about it during the past couple of years and having seen each of the other programs, we couldn't miss this one. It was great...we really enjoyed it. It's a little like The Waltons reunions in that it's nice to catch up with all of the people from time to time.

Speaking of The Waltons, as of course we really should do :-)), a new show started here which has been reviewed as being a cross between The Waltons and Touched by an Angel. It's called Seventh Heaven, and yes I do know that its been going for some time for you but its great. I don't know that I'd really say it was like The Waltons though. Still it's a terrific family drama.

I happened to catch Richard Thomas on a recent Touched By an Angel episode where he appeared very briefly before heading off to Turkey...or should I say running away! Another Walton person was David Huddleston who I saw on The Practice recently. Remember he was the writer A.J. Covington who John Boy was so impressed with. He was playing a Judge too. Do you think they look at all of the old Waltons cast when they want a Judge on The Practice? haha I also saw Lynn Hamilton as a Judge recently too.

Anyway enjoy the digest and have a great week.

Goodnight for now,

Karen.

Hello from Geri Ann in Phoenix, Arizona!

Some comments on the TV Guide article from 1977 that was quoted in this Digest - I think part of the appeal of the later seasons of "The Waltons" that was not foreseen in this TV Guide article was that while all those "cute redheaded children" were indeed growing up, they didn't need to stay little and cute for the series to keep fan interest. It was wonderful for the fans to get to see them become adults, marry, have children of their own, and experience World War II in so many different ways (becoming a war widow, fighting in the war, being a POW in a Japanese prison camp, etc.) While the original appeal of the series in its early years lay in how cute the children were, and the "little children" stories that could be told, the appeal of the later seasons most definitely was in watching the experiences of young adulthood with these people we had all come to love as small children. (And the grandchildren - John Curtis, Virginia, and Charlie - were cute, too, until the writers decided to conveniently forget their existence in the recent reunion movies!)

Michael Learned didn't think Olivia was realistic? Goodness, she seemed very realistic to me. I wonder what Michael Learned wanted them to do with the character to make her "more" realistic; I wish she would have commented on that more in the article.

Another part of the realism of the series for me was the very things the article commented on - things such as Grandma's stroke, etc. They could have recast Grandpa when Will Geer died, or recast Grandma when Ellen Corby had her stroke, but by writing Grandpa's death and Grandma's stroke, etc., into the story, it was very true to life. Real-life families experience deaths of beloved family members, or illnesses of beloved family members; to see the Waltons experience the same added to the realism of the show.

Very interesting article! I enjoyed reading about that!

Geri Ann

KAREN'S COMMMENT: Thanks for your thoughts about the article Geri Ann. There's a further installment at the end of this digest. I too, wish that Michael Learned had explained herself further. I always thought that Olivia was written as quite a forward thinking woman for her time, even though she usually chose to be a stay at home Mum. She had her opportunities to work and later even went back to study. She also encouraged her girls to continue with their studies. Any more thoughts on this? Don't hesitate to jot me a note.

Good Morning from Edmonton or should I say a very rain soaked Edmonton!!! I have one small question? WHAT IS IN THE RECIPE????

KEITH

KAREN'S COMMENT: Good question! What ingredients are used for the recipe? I seem to remember the ladies getting heaps of Mason Jars, and there was some sort of water they asked John Boy to get too. Any other ingredients mentioned?

This last Friday there was the episode on the Nurse. It is 10 episodes from the Nurse to the Quilting. However Monday the 5th of July is the Marathon so that doesn't count.

Last week I told you I was going to get the videotape of The Carousel thanks to Dave in Indiana. It has arrived and it has been gratefully received. I noticed however something that was said on that episode--that adoption records had been sealed since 1957,and this was early 1946 when this episode took place. It may have been since 1857-I want to listen to the tape again before I contact 85 Blue Ridge Parkway about a blooper.

Donald

KAREN'S COMMENT: I've just been sent a copy of The Carousel too and can't wait to watch it. I'll have to listen for that part.

Hi! My name is Kurt. I'm 14 years old and I live in Los Angeles, California. I have been a fan of The Waltons for almost a year now. I haven't seen every episode yet but I hope to one day. I only have one friend that knows I watch The Waltons. If the guys I skateboard with and the guys on my baseball team ever found out, I would never hear the end of it. I'm an only child and I live with my grandmother so I guess I like The Waltons so much because it would be fun to live in a big, noisy house with lots of brothers and sisters.

I've only been getting the Waltons Digest for a couple of weeks but it looks like fun to read. I just saw an episode a few days ago called The Wingwalker. Was the guy who played the pilot the same guy that later played Mary Ellen's husband? Also, Jim-Bob is my favorite character (my best friend and his parents think I look like him in the earlier shows). I was wondering if anybody knows what David Harper is doing now.

Thanks,

from Kurt.

KAREN'S COMMENT: Glad you enjoy The Waltons Kurt. I'm sure many of us were closet watchers of the show when we were younger too. :-) I think David is keeping fairly much out of the limelight these days, so there's really not much news about him.

KAREN: Now someone wrote to tell me that the Will Geer Theatricum now has a web site so check it out at:

http://theatricum.com/

I also discovered a list of top 100 prime time shows listed on the Ultimate TV site. Here's the article but you can also check it out at:

http://www.ultimatetv.com/corporate/pr/98909.html

"UltimateTV Releases Top 100 Prime-Time TV Shows of All Time

(LOS ANGELES, CA - September 9, 1998) Forget critics and highbrow Hollywood insiders. UltimateTV, the most comprehensive online site devoted exclusively to television, polled more than 8,300 real TV fans to determine the top 100 prime-time, TV series of all time.

In honor of the Emmy's 50th Anniversary, Ultimate TV, rated the No. 1 TV web site by USA Today readers, polled TV fans nationwide between August 6, 1998 and September 1, 1998 to establish the definitive top 100 list of TV shows.

With more than 8,300 users voting, here are the winners:

1. I Love Lucy

2. M*A*S*H

3. Star Trek

4. The Andy Griffith Show

5. Cheers

6. The Dick Van Dyke Show

7. The Mary Tyler Moore

Show

8. Bewitched

9. The Twilight Zone

10. All in the Family

11. The Carol Burnett Show

12. Happy Days

13. Mission: Impossible

14. The Cosby Show

15. The Simpsons

16. The Brady Bunch

17. The Avengers

18. ER

19. Seinfeld

20. The X-Files

21. Little House on the

Prairie

22. Quantum Leap

23. Get Smart

24. Hill Street Blues

25. The Ed Sullivan Show

26. Gilligan's Island

27. Family Ties

28. Bonanza

29. The Addams Family

30. The Flinstones"

These are the top 30, but The Waltons comes in at number 70 so does actually rate a mention. It's an interesting list I thought. Anyway go to the link and check out the whole 100 top shows. Your comments are welcome.

And finally here is the second installment to the article I started last week called "Growing Pains On Waltons Mountain" taken from the TV Guide June 25-July 1, 1977. I'll give you the third installment next week.

"Hamner admits the characters of the children are "obviously younger than the actors. We're giving it top attention this season". As an example, Kami Cotler, who plays Elizabeth, the youngest of the Waltons, urgently requested a meeting with Hamner at the start of the current season. "I hope," she told him firmly, "Elizabeth won't have to pretend any more that she doesn't know where babies come from."

He agreed that "We've been writing Elizabeth much too babyish." Of course, when Hamner wrote the special called "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story," which was first-televised six years ago and became The Waltons, Elizabeth was a baby, and most of her six brothers and sisters were like so many lovable puppies and as hard to tell, apart. Now Kami, 11, likes to discuss Elizabeth's camera angles and staging with directors.

On the first special, John-Boy was happy with the Christmas gift of a couple of writing tablets, and Richard Thomas, an engaging juvenile, made it believable and touching. Having a novel published this year is fine, but somehow it's doubtful that it will have the same tug, or Nielsen numbers, as the initial show in which the cowlicked boy has his Daddy get home for Christmas - and bring a present to boot.

Thomas says he may come next season to do a show or two. Hamner hopes that works out, but in the meantime he envisions not only letters from John-Boy but also episodes in which the family is grouped around the radio listening to the famous novelist being interviewed. "It happened to me when my first novel was published."

In a two-hour special this season, Mary Ellen, the oldest daughter, married a doctor, and though she and her new husband are staying in the community, its still another Walton fluttering from the nest. Judy Norton Taylor, 20, who plays Mary Ellen, got married herself a year ago.

Jason, the sandy-haired tyke who liked music, has grown into big, jug-eared Jason, the bandleader. Jon Walmsley, 20, who is Jason, grew so fast during one summer hiatus that a flutter of letters accused the show of bringing in a new kid. Ben, the mischievous little redhead who always knew how to scrounge a quarter, is now a minor moneybags around Waltons Mountain and clearly self-reliant. Eric Scoff, 19, who plays Ben, is a flip young sophisticate, a natural casting to play a young Jimmy Cagney. Mary Ellen, Jason and Ben, and the actors playing them, can't pass for children anymore, and that creates problems for a show on which kids have been as essential as sugar in a candy factory.

You can't even call Jim-Bob and Erin little any more. Jim-Bob (David Harper) is going with girls, asking to be called James Robert and building cars. Erin (Mary McDonough), who was supposed to be nonmotivated, will sashay off to business school. David himself, 15, is a thoughtful, somewhat withdrawn teenager, and Mary, also 15, is going through whatever it's like to be an exuberant cheerleader and class beauty. That leaves only Elizabeth (Kami) who can still be called a child, and if you do you'll probably get a kick in the shins."