Hi there Waltons fans,

Well over the past few days I have had a lot of mail come in again about A Waltons Easter, and some people are very disgruntled about the time problem which has been raised. It's interesting... some people are quite annoyed by it and others suggest that it's TV and it shouldn't be a problem. I guess everyone will make up their own minds and if they don't like it they really don't need to watch do they! :-) Anyway I have included a couple of their letters so that you can all share them too.

Now a couple of requests from me. Someone suggested (sorry but I can't remember who it was) that I might put together a timeline of events which happened to The Waltons. What I would like from you fans is that while you are watching the show, if you happen to notice a reference to something important, could you please jot it down and send it to me? The sorts of things I would like to include are wedding dates (e.g. Curt and Mary Ellen were married in 1937 I think), anniversaries, births, deaths etc. This would help me enormously when I come to compile it all. The other thing I am looking specifically for is references to the Waltons family history. Martha Corinne and CoraBeth are both related to John's family, I know. Can anyone think of any more? What about Olivia's family? Can anybody think of any references to hers? Just send me a line if you think of anything.

I also had an email during the week from someone who is hoping to publish a book on The Waltons. I have published his letter for you and if you can help him with any of the information he requires can you please drop me a note and I'll send them all onto him.

Well it's over to you now....

From Eric:

Greetings from Indy. Lets not all get caught up with the time period thing. Lets be grateful that sixteen years after the show leaves network television it is still doing well in the ratings! As for the collectibles, I myself have the paper dolls, the board game, the lunch box, and the truck. All are not in good condition. I still need the episode, The Changeling, to complete my Walton Library. That's it for now SEE YA!

KAREN'S COMMENT: I agree with Eric, it's nice to catch up with the family and what is going on. The time thing doesn't add up but doesn't really concern me either.

From Rob:

Hi, my name is Rob Crang. I'm 35 and live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I have a wife, 2 daughters and a baby due to arrive on May 9. I have been hooked on the Waltons since around 1984. I remember it being on when I was a child but I never watched it. However, while in University I started watching reruns (at 2 a.m. no less - the life of a student!) I come from a smaller town about 120 miles west of here, so I think the Waltons sort of reminded me of home.

Jump ahead to 1987. While preparing to go on our first major vacation, my wife and I decided to go to the Blue Ridge Mountains. I had recently had a dream about going there and in my dreams the Mountains were incredibly beautiful. Luckily for me my wife indulged me and we drove down there. The area was incredibly beautiful. We had no plans whatsoever to find where the Waltons lived as we had no idea what the town was called. As luck would have it, while driving in the area of Schuyler, I took a wrong exit on a freeway and came upon the Waltons Mountain Country Store. This was a store set up to promote the area. They gave us directions to Schuyler. Boy were we excited. We spent the afternoon walking around the town, taking pictures. We had half a mind to knock on the Hamner's door but thought that Doris would not like to be disturbed. How sad to find out later that she liked fans dropping by -- and now it is too late.

New Year's Eve 1987. I was watching Dick Clark and saw the Richard Marx band playing. I was surprised to recognized Jon Walmsley (Jason Walton) playing guitar in his band. It was exciting to find out that he actually was using his musical talent (which was apparent by watching the show).

Next bit of luck. While driving through North Dakota in July of 1988, we heard an ad on the radio that Richard Marx was coming to Grand Forks, ND! We went to Grand Forks and purchased tickets for the show in August. In August we went back to Grand Forks for the concert and decided to camp in a State Park about 20 miles west of the city. The day of the concert we took a hike on a nature trail in the campground. As we walked a group of horse back riders came up behind us on the trail, so we moved over to let them pass by. The horses walked by, all except the last one which started acting up right near me. As I looked at the rider I realized it was Jon Walmsley! I spoke to him about the concert, etc. He was very nice. I got his autograph later at the concert.

In early 1995, I got on the Internet. I naturally searched for the Waltons but never found anything. I remembered reading that Jim-Bob (James Hamner) worked at the University of Virginia. I did a search of their staff and found his name. I e-mailed him and we corresponded back and forth for quite a while. He was very interesting and didn't seem to mind my intrusion! He told me of Snowy River: The McGregor Saga which Earl produced down under and I started watching it. It was great!! It seems to have disappeared however, and I wonder if anybody knows if it was canceled or if we Canadians just don't get it anymore.

Jim-Bob also told me that Joe Conley (Ike) would come for the museum opening every year.

I have kept a journal of all the episodes (some may call me obsessive!) and I hope to compare it to the one Karen has on-line as soon as I find the time. As far as the time-line of the Waltons, I agree it is rather disturbing how they changed it but it is closer to the actual time now (although a little too far into the future). If anybody has seen the movie Spencer's Mountain which was the first book about the Waltons, it was set in the fifties. I have been lucky enough to find both the Spencer's Mountain book and The Homecoming book at used book stores over the years. They both have the dust covers and Spencer's Mountain is actually signed by Earl!

Regarding the Easter Special, we celebrate Easter in Canada in March or April. I don't understand why they had such a glaring error as the moon landing of July, 1969 right at the beginning of the movie. Also, where was Jonesy, Cindy, Ike and Cora Beth. If they couldn't do the show, I don't understand why they weren't at least mentioned. As far as the grandchildren their were a lot of them on this special, just none of the original ones (names different, different number of children, wrong ages, Mary Ellen's problem re no more children fixed, Ben's kids disappeared, etc.) I just reread the above paragraph and it sounded very critical. Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie.

Anyway, I've probably written a letter the length of a whole digest so I'll sign off now.

KAREN'S COMMENT: Well Rob you certainly have a history with The Waltons don't you? How great that you were able to meet Jon Walmsley. It's good to know that he has continued with his music, and also good that the show was able to incorporate his talent into his character. I only found out about Snowy River when Earl Hamner first emailed me. I hadn't watched it and so didn't realize that he was associated with it. He did tell me though that he was a bit disappointed that he wasn't given more control over it. Down here it is called Man From Snowy River. I don't think it is being shown on our commercial TV anymore, but one of our cable networks has picked it up and is showing it. I'll check an episode and tell you what year it was made in.

It's an interesting point that you made Rob about the man on the moon and Easter. I take it that it was Easter 1969 when they were all gathering? I hadn't thought about that before. It does seem strange when they got the previous one about JFK in November 1963 right!

From Marlene:

About the time line: There are other discrepancies throughout the series, but I would think that has to be-- to bring them into the 60's and to tie it in with the Kennedy Assasination and the Walk on the Moon, etc.

What bothered me, and it seems a few other fans, the most was that in the 1982 Mother Day Special, Mary Ellen couldn't have children and 10 years later in the Thanksgiving 1993 Reunion she has Katy and Clay about the same age as left off in 1982, and no mention of John Curtis. Well I can guess that she adopted them---but 4 years later in 1997, again two different children in the Easter Special and a boy with bright red hair about the same age as Clay was 4 years earlier. Ben's wife Cindy is missing and so is his son Charlie--It is mentioned in the 1993 Special that Ben's daughter Virginia died, but what happened to Charlie?

Another thing, I am as much interested and maybe more in the other children and their families. You know they carried the show after John Boy left and we really watched them grow up as they were younger than John Boy. Richard Thomas changed the least because he was a young man 20 years old in 1971. The Fans in the 70's no doubt were disappointed that John Boy left the series and I heard the ratings didn't do quite as well---but in my own opinion, as a fan in the 90's, see it from a different perspective and am more interested in all the children to see how they grew up and changed.

The last I heard about the Godseys is that Cora Beth is in the "Knife Thrower Assistant," a play she wrote and Ike is working on a novel. I too missed them in the Easter special.

KAREN'S COMMENT: You've said it all Marlene! I agree totally. Actually Cheryl, whose letter I have included below, has emailed Earl through Ralph at the Blue Ridge Chronicle and she might respond if she hears anything. I'll let you know. Interesting to see both the "Godseys" writing books now.

From Cheryl:

I enjoyed the special...I thought it was particularly interesting that they had John-Boy and Janet wind up with twins instead of just one child, given that Richard Thomas is the father of triplets in real life.

I've been in touch with Ralph at "The Blue Ridge Chronicle" and in the course of several e-mails, I expressed my exasperation with the writers messing with the timeline. I sat down and figured it out, and if John & Livvy's 40th anniversary wasn't until 1969 or 1970, then all of the children except Elizabeth would've been born before John and Olivia were married. I told him that many of us have enjoyed the show because of the family values it represents, and to have that as one of the major premises of the movie was, in my opinion, just plain dumb. After about the third or fourth e-mail, he told me that he was going to pass my concerns on to Earl Hamner...so we'll see if there's any response from that.

From David:

I too, was questioning the 40 year anniversary and was questioning whether that date was correct. <smile> However, I'm a fan of Doctor Who, and often the writers of that show put more holes in the continuity than Swiss cheese, so this one inconsistency was something I could live with.

I really like the way they didn't resolve John-boy's feelings about wanting to return home vs. Janet's feelings about wanting to stay in New York. I think people are often critical of the Waltons, due to the sometimes Brady Bunch way they patch things up, and this movie left this problem very, very much unresolved. I thought that was a nice, realistic touch.

I love Elizabeth's character, but the kid needs to grow up a little. She was off gallivanting all over the planet and now she comes back home and is hurt that the love of her life didn't wait for her, when there wasn't a promise or commitment to begin with. Or was there? I've missed so many of the original shows and haven't seen all of the reunion movies, so I may be missing something.