Hi everyone,

I'm writing this, at least starting to, on a very wet Friday afternoon. It's actually a bit cold today too.

Well, we here in the Kearney household have been both celebrating and trying to recover from colds. All of my men have been on antibiotics for colds, sore throats, ear infections and such, but lucky me! So far I've avoided them all. The school musical is next week and both the boys are trying to recover in time. Poor old James couldn't even hear for some of his rehearsals this week, and he is Professor Higgins, the lead man! Anyway he can now hear again and is well on the road to recovery so it should be a good week. Tim is trying to get rid of his cough in time too.

We are also celebrating. My Dad turned 70 during this week and we all went out to celebrate. He is really well and playing golf a couple of times a week, and keeps himself really busy with lots of different things.

Tim also got his first round of results this week and he was a very relieved young man. There were three A+'s, an A and a B. Each subject has 3 marked assessment tasks and a few work requirements each and these results were for each of his assessment 1 tasks, except one in Specialist Maths which has only just been handed in. Some of the assessments are done within the school and some are externally marked. It's very complicated. Anyway he has done remarkably well and now only has to put his head down for a further couple of months and it will be all over. He went to visit one of the Universities he is applying to last Sunday and came home all excited about a Multimedia and Engineering course which he is hoping to get in to. You need pretty high scores though, but we're hoping he makes it.

I did manage to add another few digests to the archives, so if you are a recent member, you might like to catch up with those. They include some of the articles which I reprinted from some of the old TV Weeks I have acquired recently and they make good reading.

I think the rain has finally stopped for a while. Perhaps I'd better too. :-)

Goodnight everyone,

Karen.

PS It's Saturday night now as I'm just finishing putting this together and it's still raining. Things are very soggy at the moment. BTW I have had some time off in between compiling this. :-))

Karen,

In the Walton's forum on the official web page I posted a question to Kami Cotler regarding her Brother. She wrote back that he has left acting and is a full time student again in San Francisco at University. She did not say but, I suspect he is studying for his Master's or Ph.D as she said he was fast becoming a professional student!!!!

Cally!

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thanks for this information Cally. It seems that one of the guests who most gets asked about is Kami's brother Jeff.

Hello all,

In answer to Cally's question about what Kami Cotler's brother is doing now -- Kami posts frequently on the Waltons forum (www.the-waltons.com). Someone recently asked her about her brother. She replied that Jeff is a student in San Francisco. She also said that he chose to leave acting when he reached junior high age because he hated to miss school.

In response to the query about favorite episodes: Many of mine are already listed (The Secret, Day of Infamy, The Quilting, The Book Burning, The Children's Carol) and there are lots of others that I love and one that I would especially like to add to the list -- The Scholar. John-Boy teaches Verdie to read and, in the process, they both have to overcome hurt feelings and misunderstandings. This is a WONDERFUL episode.

Thanks,

Julie M.

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thanks for adding your favourite eps Julie. Hopefully we can start voting on the nominated ones soon.

I don't know the answer to the question about the Carousel- It may be that there was someone at CBS who had a clever imagination- we just talked about Zelda Maynard and the connection of those two names with the Dobie Gillis show that was also on CBS- now this past week we saw the Inferno-which had a guest appearance by someone named Joe the Bartender--does any body recall that name before? How about the Jackie Gleason Show from 1961-1968????

Have written Les Moonves two letters so far. Will write again in a couple of weeks if nothing is said about a special. I used to subscribe to TV Guide but 5 years ago when my subscription came up for renewal I deliberately forgot to send it because my cable provider and my local newspaper provide me with a complete program schedule.

I heard on the Forum that Beyond the Prairie was shown not too long ago but in Japan! I asked if the Japanese was dubbed or if the English was spoken and then the Japanese characters were flashed across of bottom of the screen and the reply was that it wasn't dubbed. So its available in English. Probably CBS needs a time slot in which to show it.

To answer the question about Ben and Cindy's daughter Virginia. On the Waltons Thanksgiving reunion which concerned November 1963 it was mentioned that Virginia had died 2 years ago. That would mean that she lived until she was 18 or 19 and died in 1961, The cause of death is not mentioned and caused speculation on the forum but it was not scarlet fever or diphtheria. That was what John Srs sister died of in the early 1900s. Charlie the son of Ben and Cindy was born in May of 1947 during Mothers Day on Waltons Mountain. He then appeared on Day for Thanks on Waltons Mountain when he was 6 months old, Never thereafter. His whereabouts are also a speculative matter.

Donald

KAREN'S COMMENT: Yes, the Little House movie is definitely available in English. We have it available for rental on video out here, and Brenda mentioned that she had finally seen it too. For some reason though, CBS doesn't seem to be in any rush to air it. It hasn't been shown on TV out here yet, but that might be something to do with the video release. There's an agreement that movies have to be available for rental for 12 months before they can be shown on TV.

Hello Karen,

I have noticed that there has been a lot of discussion concerning John Boys graduation from college. I refer everyone to the episode "The Threshold" from the 1980-81 season. It is the 17th episode and was first broadcast on April 2, 1981. In this episode John Boy is back home and he is looking for a job so he can continue to write. John Boy has gone back to Dean Beck at Boatwright University to look into the possibility of teaching at the university but works out a deal with the Dean. The university had received a donation of television equipment. If John Boy can persuade the Board of Governors to keep the equipment and begin a program teaching television at the university then he will be the teacher. Approximately 46 minutes into the episode (including commercials) the following conversation takes place.

[Dean Beck has just seen a demonstration of what John Boy wanted to do to persuade the Board of Governors to keep the equipment and begin a television teaching program. The Dean does not like what he sees and lets John Boy know that what he did will not work.]

Dean Beck: ... the board meets in three days.

John Boy: Maybe if I kept it simple - something you could read.

Dean Beck: Or you could.

John Boy: I'm a writer not a performer.

Dean Beck: You are a respected Alumnus of this university and you're a published author. Are you game?

John Boy: Yea.

There is one other thing to note that is not stated directly by Dean Beck. I do not believe he would have ever been allowed to let anyone who did not have a degree teach at the university. So by implication he could not have made the deal with John Boy about beginning a program teaching television unless John Boy had the credentials. This of course assumes that they are able to persuade the Board of Governors to keep the equipment and develop the program. Also it is kind of hard to be an alumnus if you do not graduate from the place. I hope this answers the question of his graduation status.

Goodnight Karen!

Brian

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thankyou for this transcript Brian. There we have it in writing, or speaking! that John Boy did in fact graduate from Boatwright. Well done.

Dear Karen

Has any one asked whether Sheila Allen, who played the part of Fannie Tatum the telephone operator, and Sian Barbara Allen who played the part of Jenny, one of Johnboy's crushes, might be related?

Donald

KAREN'S COMMENT: Interesting question, but I suspect not. Anyone know definitely?

FAVORITE EPISODE:

I have added a little quiz to my main site for you to all vote for your favourite episode easily. I have listed some of the nominated favourites there, and will continue to change them weekly for a few weeks so that all of the nominated ones get a turn. We will then be able to vote for the "all time favourite" from the weekly winners. I have to trust you all to place only one vote though, and I know this is very hard to do. Have fun and I'll let you know the results next week, or you can see them for yourself by going to my site.

THE WALTONS: THE UNOFFICIAL HOME PAGE:

http://www.oocities.org/TelevisionCity/2792/walton1.htm

In the meantime, here are some more nominations and thoughts.

Hi Karen and all,

My favourite episode(s) are The Homecoming, The Prophecy (that's the one where John Walton has his class reunion), The Best Christmas, and The Thanksgiving one. Oh! And one of my all time absolute favourites is An Easter Story. I remember watching that the first time it was shown....I was a senior in high school, and remember thinking that I wish I lived back in the time of the Waltons.

Last night I watched "A Day of Thanks On Waltons Mountain". It was great....one of the best of the movies made toward the end (or shortly after) the Waltons ended. But somehow it never seems right when Olivia, Grandpa, and Grandma aren't at home.

Have a good week everyone!

Nancy

Hi Karen and Waltons fans,

I just thought of another favourite episode. The Quilting. I am a quilter, and would absolutely have loved it if my relatives had given me a quilt when I "came of age". Too bad this custom isn't as widespread as it used to be. But that is a great episode.

Nancy

Greetings Karen,

I guess you must know by now that I am a BIG fan of the Waltons and have watched faithfully since the original beginning. Thanks to the invention of VCR's I am doing quite well with the taping of the episodes that I don't have yet... so far I have about 15 tapes and find that I can get about 8 episodes on a 120 min. cassette if I leave out the commercials; otherwise I can get about 6 episodes. I'm having so much fun doing this and am grateful that they are running the shows in order!

As for some of my favourite episodes, well... this is tough to choose so I will keep it to my top five favourites:

"The Birthday" - loved Will Geer and consider his character to be the Grandfather that I never got to have. It always bugged me that they use to list his name in the credits as "the grandfather"... he will always be "Grandpa Walton" to me. This episode always brings me to tears. Love his 'a-wikki-wikki-wakki-woo-woo' dance in this episode.

"The Competition" - when Erin falls in love with Chad Marshall. The competition between Erin and Mary Ellen was just like real sisters, ha! In the end, Mary Ellen realises that Chad really liked Erin and Erin really loved Chad, I love the moment when Mary Ellen comforts Erin and they share a hug and cry.

"The Burn Out"- this episode shows the true love and bonding of a family and what strength they truly have even in the storm of adversity. I love it when John-Boy tells Elizabeth that the best way to not be afraid is to put yourself 'smack-dab in the middle of all those that you love'!

"The Scholar" - the bond of a true and loyal friendship between Verdie and John-Boy. I love it when at the end John-Boy tells Verdie as she is boarding the bus: "Verdie, don't forget to write" and the two share a laugh and smile. What a wonderful story!

"The Venture"- when John works so hard to finish the mill and ends up with pneumonia. My favourite scene is when Olivia sits everyone down to tell them that John wants them to sell the equipment... it gets to me all the time. The struggle that this family had to go through; it was so realistic... love kept them going and love of family kept them strong.

Well, that's my TOP FIVE... I could easily go to a TOP TWENTY if I could, LOL!! Thanks for letting me share my love of this show with you! Thanks too for all the efforts you put forth to make the newsletters so interesting and full of information! I appreciate it!

Friends With You,

Eve

Hi Everyone - I, like all of you just love The Waltons for its homespun, down to earth values that we just don't see any more on network TV. One of my favourite shows, has to be the one when Martha Corrine comes to visit the Walton family and basically outstays her welcome. John-Boy driving her home, finds out that she has a heart condition, and insists that she goes back home with him. This is the episode when Martha Corrine passes away, and I found it so very touching. Here is a woman that has lived through the Civil War, and countless other trials and tribulations, and basically took it all in stride. If only, we could all do that in our busy, noisy world!

One last thing, I would just like to say thanks to TNN (The Nashville Network) for carrying The Waltons, and thank God for the satellite dish!

Barbara

Hello Karen,

You sure picked a tough assignment asking us to choose a favourite episode. My favourite character is Jason, and I have always been partial to "The Gift." I especially like the scene in it when Grandpa comes to comfort Jason and Jason finally accepts the flute. I also like "The Choice" because it is the first time that Jason openly defies his father and one can sympathise both with Jason for wanting to choose his own path and with John for wanting his sons to share in the family business.

--Laura

Hi Karen,

It's hard to pick a favourite episode without watching all of them again. But, I choose 'The Hero'. I thought it was wonderful how they showed how really awful war is - but still managed to honour the soldiers.

Barbara