Hi everyone,

Here we are at the 14th August today and Tim is finally 18 today! He is now able to vote, drive a car, go into the casino and drink legally, so he is very excited. I think he wants to do it all in one day though. We have had a very nice lunch today and he is heading out with a huge group of his friends to celebrate tonight. They are going into the city, having dinner in there, and then going to a movie at Crown Casino. They have very luxurious chairs and very good service in there. It's a bit different to the normal movies. Rod's going in to collect some of them later tonight and dropping them home. He is really looking forward to it.

Now onto Waltons news. The 14th is also the day that the Waltons radio will be dedicated in a special ceremony at the Waltons Mountain Museum. I know that some of you will be attending so I hope you will all write and share your experiences with those of us who can't go.

There's also some specials on TNN this week, which Mike has sent the details for. Thanks for that Mike. It allows many of you to plan your taping hours ahead of time.

With regard to the favorite Waltons episodes, many of you have replied and I have included them here. Why don't you let us know what your favorite Waltons episode of all time is? It might be hard to decide but give it some thought and drop me a line.

Until next week,

Goodnight everyone,

Karen.

HI Karen,

Good Morning from Edmonton!!!! I have a question for you about Australia. What are your seasons? I have a step sister who lives somewhere in Australia and is coming here for a visit with her two kids in September. Are the kids in school at that time?

We just watched the episode where Martha Corrine comes for the summer and it was good!! Who played Martha Corrine?? Take care,

Keith

KAREN'S COMMENT: Hi Keith. At the moment we are nearly into spring, but in many parts of Australia its fairly warm all the time. Whereabouts does she live? Down here it can still be quite chilly during spring, but further up north the weather is quite tropical. Inland it's different again.

Martha Corinne was played wonderfully by Beulah Bondi, and earned her an Emmy for her performance in The Pony Cart. Terrific writing would have helped too though, I'm sure.

Karen wrote: It seems to me that writers do often like to keep the younger children on television shows young and "cutesy". They seem to think that with younger children being involved they will attract younger viewers to the show. I often wonder if that's why they added Serena and Jeffrey to the show. Elizabeth was growing up and they needed extra characters to catch younger viewers with. Did Serena and Jeffrey add much to the show? What do you think?

Hi Karen...

Regarding the misnomer of casting younger children into a show in hopes to revive it...I think it depends on the dynamics of the show and how it fits into the storylines. I think a great way of introducing a new child character into the show would have been to have Olivia have another "Walton". We, as the audience have formed a bond with the Walton family as if they are our own...and we love to watch them grow up and move on to other aspects of life.

I realize that some of the actors felt it was time to leave the show...so perhaps the producers felt they needed to add some new blood. But I found it more interesting to watch the stories that dealt with the characters we had already come to know and love and THEIR interactions with others.

I think it would have been wonderful to have the characters of Jeffrey and Serena on for a few episodes as they are Walton relatives...but not for the whole season. If the producers had enough faith, they could have realized the value of focusing in on the characters that were still there a bit more. In my opinion, there was plenty of fresh material as Elizabeth and Jim Bob were just coming into their own, Ben and Cindy were starting their new family, Mary Ellen was struggling with being a single parent, and Jason was coming to terms with the war and a new love, etc.

All in all, I like the fact that the Waltons were growing up...that is why I originally tuned into the show, for the characters and the stories that dealt directly with them. :0) How do you feel?

Gina

KAREN'S COMMENT: Gina, I agree with everything you've said. Having Serena and Jeffrey in for a few episodes would really have been much better I think. I'm like you and preferred the growing up storylines of the other Walton children. There was really a lot of scope for those to develop. In retrospect, with all of the other older actors leaving, its a wonder that some of the younger cast members didn't move on before the end of the series too. I think a lot more could have been done with the Aimee/Jim Bob storylines too, but these didn't really seem to develop very much.

Hi Karen and other Waltons Digest members:

I was just wondering if anyone had any information on whether Ralph Waite has been married, and does he have any children? Also, I was especially touched by Eric Scott's loss of wife after the birth of his daughter. Somehow, this doesn't go along with the happy time of having children that most people experience. I hope that he has remarried, or has found personal happiness. Also, he was such a nice actor, it seems hard to believe that there wasn't more interest in him after the Waltons. Maybe, he was typecast as Ben.

Wendy

KAREN'S COMMENT: Yes Ralph Waite has been married and has children. I'm not sure how many. Eric's story is particularly tragic isn't it. It's not the type of thing you hear too often these days, thank goodness, although you do still hear of younger people dying and leaving young families. I think that it is every mother's and probably every father's nightmare, that they might die when their children are very young.

I think the Little House episode may have been the Angry Heart. This past week we have seen several good Walton episodes. One was the Great Motorcycle Race with Aimee Godsey's adoption and Eileen McDonough playing the part of Patsy Brimmer. John Olvey sent me the video of the Walton Reunion they had in California. It was quite good and so good to see Leslie Winston and Peggy Rea as well as Eric Scott.

The episodes have been posted on the Forum and TNN's website. BTW it is not TNT (Ted Turners network but TNN is going to show the Walton special episodes

It is so interesting about Shirley's close caption instrument which enabled her to find out it was 1937. I know Alex and Marca visit this site and will be able to figure it out also, hopefully. I do hope a lot of people are writing CBS about the Walton special.

Many thanks

Donald

KAREN'S COMMENT: I must say that I keep wanting to say TNT instead of TNN too, like one of the writers did last week. Over here we have TNT which shows old (as in vintage) movies and is a terrific channel, but we don't have TNN at all. Maybe if we did we might get more Waltons episodes!

FAVOURITE EPISODES:

I think one of my favorite episodes is the one where grandpa died and John is reminiscing about Pa on the porch with Olivia and at the end where the kids are all gathered on the mountain saying their goodbyes to Grandpa!! A DEFINITE TEAR JERKER!!!

Keith

Nominating one favorite episode is virtually impossible. But I'll suggest "The Best Christmas," while knowing that I'm overlooking at least two dozen other worthy contenders.

Jim

Hi everyone,

I think voting for everyone's favorite episodes is a fun idea. If I have to pick just one I think it would have to be "The Best Christmas". I tend to think of that episode as the last one with everyone together (I know that it isn't but it's close) maybe because there is such an effort for everyone to be together.

Leigh Ann :)

My favorite is "The Quilting". I liked when Olivia told Grandma to mind her own business for once. Grandpa, was particularly funny in this episode. The look on his face when he was anticipating dropping by the Baldwin's for a bit of recipe was priceless, as was the look when he discovered it was turpentine.

It was cute to see the kids all bugging Mary Ellen and G.W. out on the porch. When she chucked her flowers at Jason I finally understood why everyone was always a little wary of Mary Ellen. Usually she just tells people off and then runs up to her room. And I got a laugh when John warned G.W. to be ready to duck because of Mary Ellen's bad mood. G.W. replied "I always am with Mary Ellen!" I could go on and on, but this is just a sample of why it's my favorite!

Dana

KAREN'S COMMENT: Well so far it seems that The Best Christmas and The Quilting are favorites amongst some of you. How about some other comments?