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* BrilliantButLazy: Jim-Bob. Seriously, he'd be a renowned genius if he tried. His achievements include being able to repair virtually ANY mechanical item, building his own car from pieces he finds, building his own shortwave radio which he uses to talk to people in the UK and building his own AEROPLANE!
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* BrilliantButLazy: Jim-Bob. Seriously, he'd be a renowned genius if he tried. His achievements include being able to repair virtually ANY mechanical item, building his own car from pieces he finds, building his own shortwave radio which he uses to talk to people in the UK and building his own AEROPLANE!'''''aeroplane'''''!
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* LongRunners: Nine seasons, and this for a series not expected to last one.
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* LongRunners: Nine seasons, and this for a series not expected to last one.'''''one'''''.
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* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: After Will Geer died following the sixth season, the show opened season 7 with an episode depicting the aftermath of Grandpa's (offscreen) death.
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* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: After Will Geer died following the sixth season, the show opened season 7 with an episode depicting the aftermath of Grandpa's (offscreen) death. The same episode also deals with the death of Flossie Brimmer, whose actress (Nora Marlowe) had likewise died during the show's hiatus.
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* HalloweenEpisode: Season 7's "The Changeling" has Elizabeth pestered by a poltergeist on the cusp of her 13th birthday.
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* HalloweenEpisode: Season 7's "The Changeling" has Elizabeth pestered harassed by a poltergeist {{poltergeist}} on the cusp of her 13th birthday.
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* HalloweenEpisode: Season 7's "The Changeling" has Elizabeth pestered by a poltergeist on the cusp of her 13th birthday.
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* ChristmasEpisode: Several, not counting the PilotMovie.
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* ThanksgivingEpisode: Season 2's "The Thanksgiving Story", as well as ''two'' reunion movies centered around the holiday.
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* TitleDrop: John-Boy mentions that, if he made a TV show, it'd be called 'The Waltons'.
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* TitleDrop: In one episode John-Boy mentions that, if he made a TV show, it'd be called 'The Waltons'.''The Waltons''.
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The remarkable thing is that this series began on CBS around the same time as its notorious "rural purge" in which shows like ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'' and ''Series/GreenAcres'' were cancelled en masse as not appealing to the desirable audience demographics from 1968 through 1973. It was expected to die a quick death like the few remaining survivors of the "rural purge" would eventually do. Instead of dying a quick death against ''The Mod Squad'' and ''The Flip Wilson Show'' as expected, the show soon killed ''them'' and went on for a successful nine-year run. Some have called it the lone survivor of the "rural purge" although the show began during it, not right before it. The show and its cast also picked up several Emmy Awards and a Peabody.
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The remarkable thing is that this series began on CBS around the same time as its notorious "rural purge" in which shows like ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'' and ''Series/GreenAcres'' were cancelled en masse as not appealing to the desirable audience demographics from 1968 through 1973. It was expected to die a quick death like the few remaining survivors of the "rural purge" would eventually do. Instead of dying a quick death against ''The Mod Squad'' ''Series/TheModSquad'' and ''The Flip Wilson Show'' as expected, the show soon killed ''them'' and went on for a successful nine-year run. Some have called it the lone survivor of the "rural purge" although the show began during it, not right before it. The show and its cast also picked up several Emmy Awards and a Peabody.
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Series creator Earl Hamner, Jr. based the show on his own childhood experiences, which he had previously mined for the 1961 novel ''Spencer's Mountain'' (itself adapted as a 1963 film starring Henry Fonda and MaureenOHara). Prior to the actual series, CBS aired a PilotMovie in 1971 called ''The Homecoming: A Christmas Story'', which featured Patricia Neal as Olivia Walton and Edgar Bergen as Grandpa; these roles would be re-cast for the series.
to:
Series creator Earl Hamner, Jr. based the show on his own childhood experiences, which he had previously mined for the 1961 novel ''Spencer's Mountain'' (itself adapted as a 1963 film starring Henry Fonda HenryFonda and MaureenOHara). Prior to the actual series, CBS aired a PilotMovie in 1971 called ''The Homecoming: A Christmas Story'', which featured Patricia Neal as Olivia Walton and Edgar Bergen as Grandpa; these roles would be re-cast for the series.
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* AbuseIsOkayWhenItIsFemaleonMale: Played for laughs whenever Esther hits Zebulon with her broom.
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* AbuseIsOkayWhenItIsFemaleonMale: AbuseIsOkayWhenItIsFemaleOnMale: Played for laughs whenever Esther hits Zebulon with her broom.
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* OnceAnEpisode: The "good night" sequence.
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----
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-->''Good night, John-Boy, wherever you are.''
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** John-Boy, after being virtually absent for two seasons following the departure of Richard Thomas from the cast, reappeared in Season 8 with Robert Wightman in the role.
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** John-Boy, after being virtually absent for two seasons following the departure of Richard Thomas from the cast, reappeared in Season 8 with Robert Wightman in the role. Thomas would return to the role in the reunion films.
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* AbortedArc: When Jenny Pendleton appears in 'The Thanksgiving Story' she mentions that she'll be going to the same college as John-Boy next year, which suggests she was probably planned to appear in Season 3 (when John-Boy starts college) but she's never seen again.
* BarBrawl: John-Boy and John get into one in one episode.
* BrilliantButLazy: Jim-Bob. Seriously, he'd be a renowned genius if he tried. His achievements include being able to repair virtually ANY mechanical item, building his own car from pieces he finds, building his own shortwave radio which he uses to talk to people in the UK and building his own AEROPLANE!
* CallBack: In the very first episode Mary Ellen has a bird's nest for the Christmas tree, and that same nest is seen again in 'Day of Infamy'.
* CallBack: In the very first episode Mary Ellen has a bird's nest for the Christmas tree, and that same nest is seen again in 'Day of Infamy'.
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* CreatorCameo: Series creator Earl Hamner appears as a minor character in 'The Journey'.
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* CreatorCameo: Series creator Earl Hamner Jr. appears as a minor character in 'The Journey'.Journey'.
* CringeComedy: Some of the pranks played on John-Boy in 'The First Day' could be called this. For example, somebody tells him he needs to deliver a goat to a specific room, he goes there very eagerly, unaware that he's taking it to the room of Proffessor Gote, a man who does not appreciate jokes about his name...
* CringeComedy: Some of the pranks played on John-Boy in 'The First Day' could be called this. For example, somebody tells him he needs to deliver a goat to a specific room, he goes there very eagerly, unaware that he's taking it to the room of Proffessor Gote, a man who does not appreciate jokes about his name...
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* Hey,It'sThatGuy!: Sissy Spacek, who plays Sarah Simmons, went on to play Carrie White in the film Carrie.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Almost every episode is titled like this 'The [X]'. The first set of specials all of 'Walton's Mountain' in the titles, and the second set of specials are all titled like this 'A Walton [X]'.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Almost every episode is titled like this 'The [X]'. The first set of specials all of 'Walton's Mountain' in the titles, and the second set of specials are all titled like this 'A Walton [X]'.
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* Hey,It'sThatGuy!: HeyItsThatGuy: Sissy Spacek, who plays Sarah Simmons, went on to play Carrie White in the film Carrie.
** And Ashley Longworth Jr. is Will Riker from StarTrekTheNextGeneration.
** Hilary was one of the First Doctor's companions in DoctorWho.
** Curtis Norton (in his second appearance) is Mr. Edwards from LittleHouseOnThePrairie.
** Jason's friend Seth was RonHoward.
** On that subject, the actor who plays Joanie from HappyDays is also in an episode.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Almost every episode is titled like this 'The [X]'. The first set of specials allof have 'Walton's Mountain' in the titles, and the second set of specials are all titled like this 'A Walton [X]'.
** And Ashley Longworth Jr. is Will Riker from StarTrekTheNextGeneration.
** Hilary was one of the First Doctor's companions in DoctorWho.
** Curtis Norton (in his second appearance) is Mr. Edwards from LittleHouseOnThePrairie.
** Jason's friend Seth was RonHoward.
** On that subject, the actor who plays Joanie from HappyDays is also in an episode.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Almost every episode is titled like this 'The [X]'. The first set of specials all
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* AbuseIsOkayWhenItIsFemaleonMale: Played for laughs whenever Esther hits Zebulon with her broom.
* AuthorAppeal: This is based on Earl Hamner's real life childhood.
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* BewareTheNiceOnes: Papa Walton may the iconic loving father, but ''do not'' think you can take advantage of him. One drifter thought he could when he was bunking with the family and tried to steal some money before making his escape; the next thing that happened is that he was staring down a shotgun wielded by John who is quite adament that the thief put back the money and explain himself. John-Boy is no pushover either when facing bad guys, once forcing a young girl con artist to confess her crimes in front of the family and later on [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome beating up both boys singlehandedly that jumped him earlier in the episode]].
* BizarroEpisode: One episode is about a poltergeist invading the Walton home. No other episode features any overt supernatural elements (though one episode is ambiguous about a Ouija Board...) and this is never mentioned again.
* BizarroEpisode: One episode is about a poltergeist invading the Walton home. No other episode features any overt supernatural elements (though one episode is ambiguous about a Ouija Board...) and this is never mentioned again.
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* BeachEpisode: In 'The Seashore' the Waltons have to look after the Baldwins' beach house for a while.
* BewareTheNiceOnes:Papa John Walton may the iconic loving father, but ''do not'' think you can take advantage of him. One drifter thought he could when he was bunking with the family and tried to steal some money before making his escape; the next thing that happened is that he was staring down a shotgun wielded by John who is quite adament that the thief put back the money and explain himself. John-Boy is no pushover either when facing bad guys, once forcing a young girl con artist to confess her crimes in front of the family and later on [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome beating up both boys singlehandedly that jumped him earlier in the episode]].
* BigBrotherInstinct: In 'The Big Brother' John-Boy talks about how he feels this for everybody.
* BittersweetEnding: Several episodes end this way.
** In 'The Achievement' John-Boy leaves to become a writer, fulfilling his dream, but leaving his family.
** 'Grandma Comes Home' is this in hindsight, since it was the final appearance of Will Geer as Zebulon, who, in real life and within the show, died shortly afterward.
* BizarroEpisode:One The episode 'The Changeling' is about a poltergeist invading the Walton home. No other episode features any overt supernatural elements (though one episode 'The Ghost Story' is ambiguous about a Ouija Board...) Board) and this is never mentioned again.
* BewareTheNiceOnes:
* BigBrotherInstinct: In 'The Big Brother' John-Boy talks about how he feels this for everybody.
* BittersweetEnding: Several episodes end this way.
** In 'The Achievement' John-Boy leaves to become a writer, fulfilling his dream, but leaving his family.
** 'Grandma Comes Home' is this in hindsight, since it was the final appearance of Will Geer as Zebulon, who, in real life and within the show, died shortly afterward.
* BizarroEpisode:
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* CatchPhrase: A few characters have some.
** Esther often says "Good Lord!" and, in later series, "Oh boy...".
** Zebulon usually says "awomen" after grace has been said, rather than "amen".
** Esther often says "Good Lord!" and, in later series, "Oh boy...".
** Zebulon usually says "awomen" after grace has been said, rather than "amen".
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* CharacterDevelopment: Both Olivia and Esther became much less strict and more easy going as the series went on.
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* CharacterizationMarchesOn: The slightly snobbish, judgemental side of Corabeth is not present in her early appearances.
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* CreatorCameo: Series creator Earl Hamner appears as a minor character in 'The Journey'.
* DeadpanSnarker: Curt Willard is one of these.
* DirectedByCastMember: Richard Thomas and Ralph Waite both directed episodes.
* DeadpanSnarker: Curt Willard is one of these.
* DirectedByCastMember: Richard Thomas and Ralph Waite both directed episodes.
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* DownerEnding: A few episodes have an unhappy ending.
** 'The Hiding Place' suggests that Hilary and her husband may have be destined to be killed by Nazis.
** 'The Empty Nest' ends with the family sitting around and talking to Zebulon's grave.
** 'The Parting' ends with Olivia having to move to a sanitorium due to illness.
** 'The Hiding Place' suggests that Hilary and her husband may have be destined to be killed by Nazis.
** 'The Empty Nest' ends with the family sitting around and talking to Zebulon's grave.
** 'The Parting' ends with Olivia having to move to a sanitorium due to illness.
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* Hey,It'sThatGuy!: Sissy Spacek, who plays Sarah Simmons, went on to play Carrie White in the film Carrie.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Almost every episode is titled like this 'The [X]'. The first set of specials all of 'Walton's Mountain' in the titles, and the second set of specials are all titled like this 'A Walton [X]'.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In 'The Threshold' Elizabeth talks to John-Boy about what he'd call a TV show he'd make about the family, and he says it'd be called 'The Waltons'.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Almost every episode is titled like this 'The [X]'. The first set of specials all of 'Walton's Mountain' in the titles, and the second set of specials are all titled like this 'A Walton [X]'.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In 'The Threshold' Elizabeth talks to John-Boy about what he'd call a TV show he'd make about the family, and he says it'd be called 'The Waltons'.
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* NoEnding: Season 9's final episode 'The Revel' was not written as a final episode for the show, neither was the final special 'A Walton Easter' and so, sadly, The Waltons does not have a proper ending.
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* RealLifeWritesThePlot: This is the reason behind Esther's stroke and Zebulon's death.
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* {{Retcon}}: In 'The Homecoming' Olivia finds out about John-Boy's writing when he is fifteen years old, in a Season 8 episode she mentions knowing about him and his writing when he was a little boy.
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* ShirtlessScene: John, John-Boy, Ben, Ike and even Zebulon have had them.
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* TitleDrop: John-Boy mentions that, if he made a TV show, it'd be called 'The Waltons'.
* UncertainDoom: Hilary and her husband may or may not have been killed by Nazis.
* UnreliableNarrator: Not an intention trope, in this case, but he does contradict himself, for example, one time saying that Zebulon outlived Esther, when the opposite was true, and another saying that AJ Covington never returned to the mountain (he was back a few years later).
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: What happened to Bullet the calf? Elizabeth and Jim-Bob try so hard to save him, but then he's never seen again.
* UncertainDoom: Hilary and her husband may or may not have been killed by Nazis.
* UnreliableNarrator: Not an intention trope, in this case, but he does contradict himself, for example, one time saying that Zebulon outlived Esther, when the opposite was true, and another saying that AJ Covington never returned to the mountain (he was back a few years later).
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: What happened to Bullet the calf? Elizabeth and Jim-Bob try so hard to save him, but then he's never seen again.
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* OneSteveLimit: Averted. There are two Johns, two Bens, two Esthers and two Sarahs.
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* {{Expy}}: The addition of pretentious and gossipy cousin Corabeth as Ike's new wife seemed to serve no other purpose than to make her and Ike the Walton Mountain versions of Harriet and Nels Oleson of ''LittleHouseOnThePrairie'' (which had premiered a year before Corabeth's introduction).
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* SeventiesHair: The adult males and the girls had hair that was too long for the period.
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* SeventiesHair: The adult males and the girls had hair that was too long for the period. One Troper's grandmother spat "we girls didn't have our hair hanging down in our faces back then!" Her reaction to the Walton girls's feathered hair towards the end is unprintable.
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* SeventiesHair: For a show set TheThirties both the male and female characters had hair longer than what was correct for the period.
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* SeventiesHair: For a show set TheThirties both The adult males and the male and female characters girls had hair longer than what that was correct too long for the period.
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* SeventiesHair: For a show set TheThirties both the male and female characters had hair longer than what was correct for the period.
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* CartwrightCurse: Many of the guys Erin has shown interest in end up dead not long after (of the ones that survive, they turn to be of poor character).
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** Jon Walmsley's musical talents were often showcased on the series, as well.
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* ParanormalEpisode: Of all shows, this one had an episode about one of the kids being haunted by a poltergeist. It was the seventies, after all.
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alphabetization
* TheForties
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* TheForties
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** TheForties
*** WorldWarII
*** WorldWarII
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* BLAMEpisode: One episode is about a poltergeist invading the Walton home, no other episode features any overt supernatural elements (though one episode is ambiguous about a Ouija Board...) and this is never mentioned again.
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* BLAMEpisode: BizarroEpisode: One episode is about a poltergeist invading the Walton home, no home. No other episode features any overt supernatural elements (though one episode is ambiguous about a Ouija Board...) and this is never mentioned again.
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Popular FamilyDrama that aired on {{CBS}} from 1972 to 1981. ''The Waltons'' is about the life and trials of the Walton family in the 1930s and 1940s.
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Popular FamilyDrama that aired on {{CBS}} Creator/{{CBS}} from 1972 to 1981. ''The Waltons'' is about the life and trials of the Walton family in the 1930s and 1940s.
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Series creator Earl Hamner, Jr. based the show on his own childhood experiences, which he had previously mined for the 1961 novel ''Spencer's Mountain'' (itself adapted as a 1963 film starring Henry Fonda and [[MaureenOHara Maureen O'Hara]]). Prior to the actual series, CBS aired a PilotMovie in 1971 called ''The Homecoming: A Christmas Story'', which featured Patricia Neal as Olivia Walton and Edgar Bergen as Grandpa; these roles would be re-cast for the series.
to:
Series creator Earl Hamner, Jr. based the show on his own childhood experiences, which he had previously mined for the 1961 novel ''Spencer's Mountain'' (itself adapted as a 1963 film starring Henry Fonda and [[MaureenOHara Maureen O'Hara]]).MaureenOHara). Prior to the actual series, CBS aired a PilotMovie in 1971 called ''The Homecoming: A Christmas Story'', which featured Patricia Neal as Olivia Walton and Edgar Bergen as Grandpa; these roles would be re-cast for the series.
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* BLAMEpisode: One episode is about a poltergeist invading the Walton home, no other episode features any overt supernatural elements (though one episode is ambiguous about a Ouija Board...) and this is never mentioned again.
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* BLAMEpisode: One episode is about a poltergeist invading the Walton home, no other episode features any overt supernatural elements (though one episode is ambiguous about a Ouija Board...) and this is never mentioned again.
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** MemeticMutation: This ending became so iconic that as late as 2010, it was still being parodied in commercials.
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** MemeticMutation: This ending became so iconic that as late as 2010, it was still being parodied in commercials.
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* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: After Will Geer died following the sixth season, the show opened season 7 with an episode depicting the aftermath of Grandpa's (offscreen) death.
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* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: After Will Geer died following the sixth season, the show opened season 7 with an episode depicting the aftermath of Grandpa's (offscreen) death.
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* JerryGoldsmith
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* TheCastShowOff: Will Geer. He had a Master's Degree in Botany from the University of Chicago, and worked as a professional botanist after being blacklisted in 1950. Grandpa's knowledge of plants makes a lot more sense now...
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Waltons_9799.jpg]]
Popular FamilyDrama that aired on {{CBS}} from 1972 to 1981. ''The Waltons'' is about the life and trials of the Walton family in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Waltons are a large country family in rural Virginia who run a saw mill on Walton Mountain in the grinding struggle to make ends meet in the TheGreatDepression. As the initial lead character and narrator in his adulthood, Eldest son John-Boy Walton, noted, they didn't have much money, but they had a lot of love and fortitude to keep the whole brood going through thick and thin.
The remarkable thing is that this series began on CBS around the same time as its notorious "rural purge" in which shows like ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'' and ''Series/GreenAcres'' were cancelled en masse as not appealing to the desirable audience demographics from 1968 through 1973. It was expected to die a quick death like the few remaining survivors of the "rural purge" would eventually do. Instead of dying a quick death against ''The Mod Squad'' and ''The Flip Wilson Show'' as expected, the show soon killed ''them'' and went on for a successful nine-year run. Some have called it the lone survivor of the "rural purge" although the show began during it, not right before it. The show and its cast also picked up several Emmy Awards and a Peabody.
Series creator Earl Hamner, Jr. based the show on his own childhood experiences, which he had previously mined for the 1961 novel ''Spencer's Mountain'' (itself adapted as a 1963 film starring Henry Fonda and [[MaureenOHara Maureen O'Hara]]). Prior to the actual series, CBS aired a PilotMovie in 1971 called ''The Homecoming: A Christmas Story'', which featured Patricia Neal as Olivia Walton and Edgar Bergen as Grandpa; these roles would be re-cast for the series.
----
!!''TheWaltons'' includes examples of the following tropes:
* AbsenteeActor: Grandma, after coming home from her stroke anyway. She was not seen or mentioned in some episodes after she returned home.
* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: After Will Geer died following the sixth season, the show opened season 7 with an episode depicting the aftermath of Grandpa's (offscreen) death.
* AnimatedAdaptation: Not offically, but in 1974 {{Hanna-Barbera}} created an {{Expy}} called "''These Are The Days''" about the Depression Age Day family who might as well have been called Walton.
* AnyoneCanDie: After the war starts this sort of happens... One main and two recurring are killed.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Elizabeth says in one episode that she does not believe in ghosts, even though she attracted a poltergeist in the previous season.'
* BarefootPoverty
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Papa Walton may the iconic loving father, but ''do not'' think you can take advantage of him. One drifter thought he could when he was bunking with the family and tried to steal some money before making his escape; the next thing that happened is that he was staring down a shotgun wielded by John who is quite adament that the thief put back the money and explain himself. John-Boy is no pushover either when facing bad guys, once forcing a young girl con artist to confess her crimes in front of the family and later on [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome beating up both boys singlehandedly that jumped him earlier in the episode]].
* BLAMEpisode: One episode is about a poltergeist invading the Walton home, no other episode features any overt supernatural elements (though one episode is ambiguous about a Ouija Board...) and this is never mentioned again.
* CaptainsLog: John-Boy's memoirs.
* CelebrityParadox: The family were occasionally seen listening to their favorite [[RadioDrama radio shows]], including ''Edgar Bergen and Charlie [=McCarthy=]''...after Bergen appeared in the pilot movie as Grandpa!
* ClipShow: ''A Decade of the Waltons'', a movie-length 1980 special introduced by an onscreen Earl Hamner, Jr.
* [[DoorstopBaby Doorstop Kid]]: The first episode had a young deaf girl that was unable to communicate left on the Waltons' doorstep by her mother to prevent the father (who mistook her for mentally retarded) from sending her to an orphanage. One of the earliest examples of a clip show.
* FamilyDrama
* TheGreatDepression
* EveryEpisodeEnding: The family telling each other good night.
** MemeticMutation: This ending became so iconic that as late as 2010, it was still being parodied in commercials.
* FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin: In the Season 5 episode 'The Achievement' there are clips of the pilot movie, and all the clips of the adult characters were refilmed with the new actors.
* FrozenInTime: Very much averted. The series advanced from 1933 to 1945, while the last reunion movie was set in 1969.
* HappilyMarried: The show is a big fan of this one: Grandma Esther and Grandpa Zeb, John Sr. and Olivia, most of the kids eventually, Rev. Fordwick and Rosemary, Ike and Corabeth, Sheriff Bridges and Sara. Even when they have arguments, they rarely erupt into anything big except for a few times in the later seasons.
* LongRunners: Nine seasons, and this for a series not expected to last one.
* MultigenerationalHousehold
* NostalgicNarrator: Series creator Earl Hamner Jr., as the voice of the older John-Boy Walton.
* TheOtherDarrin: Every adult character (with the exception of Ellen Corby's Grandma Walton) was played by a different actor in the pilot film.
** John-Boy, after being virtually absent for two seasons following the departure of Richard Thomas from the cast, reappeared in Season 8 with Robert Wightman in the role.
* PilotMovie: ''The Homecoming: A Christmas Story''
* PutOnABus: In the second to last episode of Season 6 John-Boy literally leaves on a bus (though he had already been 'put on a bus' a season before when he moved to New York) (but the season still followed his exploits in TheBigApple).
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: John Walton may be the undisputed head of the household, but it's hard to find a father more understanding under such difficult circumstances. He's even changed his mind on unpopular decisions and will admit when he's made an error, especially to Olivia and John-Boy.
* ReunionShow: Several reunion movies aired in the '90s.
* {{Shopkeeper}}: Ike Godsey, who runs his store also as the local post office, auto garage and pool hall, so everyone has a reason to visit.
* TheThirties
** TheForties
*** WorldWarII
----
Popular FamilyDrama that aired on {{CBS}} from 1972 to 1981. ''The Waltons'' is about the life and trials of the Walton family in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Waltons are a large country family in rural Virginia who run a saw mill on Walton Mountain in the grinding struggle to make ends meet in the TheGreatDepression. As the initial lead character and narrator in his adulthood, Eldest son John-Boy Walton, noted, they didn't have much money, but they had a lot of love and fortitude to keep the whole brood going through thick and thin.
The remarkable thing is that this series began on CBS around the same time as its notorious "rural purge" in which shows like ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'' and ''Series/GreenAcres'' were cancelled en masse as not appealing to the desirable audience demographics from 1968 through 1973. It was expected to die a quick death like the few remaining survivors of the "rural purge" would eventually do. Instead of dying a quick death against ''The Mod Squad'' and ''The Flip Wilson Show'' as expected, the show soon killed ''them'' and went on for a successful nine-year run. Some have called it the lone survivor of the "rural purge" although the show began during it, not right before it. The show and its cast also picked up several Emmy Awards and a Peabody.
Series creator Earl Hamner, Jr. based the show on his own childhood experiences, which he had previously mined for the 1961 novel ''Spencer's Mountain'' (itself adapted as a 1963 film starring Henry Fonda and [[MaureenOHara Maureen O'Hara]]). Prior to the actual series, CBS aired a PilotMovie in 1971 called ''The Homecoming: A Christmas Story'', which featured Patricia Neal as Olivia Walton and Edgar Bergen as Grandpa; these roles would be re-cast for the series.
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!!''TheWaltons'' includes examples of the following tropes:
* AbsenteeActor: Grandma, after coming home from her stroke anyway. She was not seen or mentioned in some episodes after she returned home.
* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: After Will Geer died following the sixth season, the show opened season 7 with an episode depicting the aftermath of Grandpa's (offscreen) death.
* AnimatedAdaptation: Not offically, but in 1974 {{Hanna-Barbera}} created an {{Expy}} called "''These Are The Days''" about the Depression Age Day family who might as well have been called Walton.
* AnyoneCanDie: After the war starts this sort of happens... One main and two recurring are killed.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Elizabeth says in one episode that she does not believe in ghosts, even though she attracted a poltergeist in the previous season.'
* BarefootPoverty
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Papa Walton may the iconic loving father, but ''do not'' think you can take advantage of him. One drifter thought he could when he was bunking with the family and tried to steal some money before making his escape; the next thing that happened is that he was staring down a shotgun wielded by John who is quite adament that the thief put back the money and explain himself. John-Boy is no pushover either when facing bad guys, once forcing a young girl con artist to confess her crimes in front of the family and later on [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome beating up both boys singlehandedly that jumped him earlier in the episode]].
* BLAMEpisode: One episode is about a poltergeist invading the Walton home, no other episode features any overt supernatural elements (though one episode is ambiguous about a Ouija Board...) and this is never mentioned again.
* CaptainsLog: John-Boy's memoirs.
* CelebrityParadox: The family were occasionally seen listening to their favorite [[RadioDrama radio shows]], including ''Edgar Bergen and Charlie [=McCarthy=]''...after Bergen appeared in the pilot movie as Grandpa!
* ClipShow: ''A Decade of the Waltons'', a movie-length 1980 special introduced by an onscreen Earl Hamner, Jr.
* [[DoorstopBaby Doorstop Kid]]: The first episode had a young deaf girl that was unable to communicate left on the Waltons' doorstep by her mother to prevent the father (who mistook her for mentally retarded) from sending her to an orphanage. One of the earliest examples of a clip show.
* FamilyDrama
* TheGreatDepression
* EveryEpisodeEnding: The family telling each other good night.
** MemeticMutation: This ending became so iconic that as late as 2010, it was still being parodied in commercials.
* FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin: In the Season 5 episode 'The Achievement' there are clips of the pilot movie, and all the clips of the adult characters were refilmed with the new actors.
* FrozenInTime: Very much averted. The series advanced from 1933 to 1945, while the last reunion movie was set in 1969.
* HappilyMarried: The show is a big fan of this one: Grandma Esther and Grandpa Zeb, John Sr. and Olivia, most of the kids eventually, Rev. Fordwick and Rosemary, Ike and Corabeth, Sheriff Bridges and Sara. Even when they have arguments, they rarely erupt into anything big except for a few times in the later seasons.
* LongRunners: Nine seasons, and this for a series not expected to last one.
* MultigenerationalHousehold
* NostalgicNarrator: Series creator Earl Hamner Jr., as the voice of the older John-Boy Walton.
* TheOtherDarrin: Every adult character (with the exception of Ellen Corby's Grandma Walton) was played by a different actor in the pilot film.
** John-Boy, after being virtually absent for two seasons following the departure of Richard Thomas from the cast, reappeared in Season 8 with Robert Wightman in the role.
* PilotMovie: ''The Homecoming: A Christmas Story''
* PutOnABus: In the second to last episode of Season 6 John-Boy literally leaves on a bus (though he had already been 'put on a bus' a season before when he moved to New York) (but the season still followed his exploits in TheBigApple).
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: John Walton may be the undisputed head of the household, but it's hard to find a father more understanding under such difficult circumstances. He's even changed his mind on unpopular decisions and will admit when he's made an error, especially to Olivia and John-Boy.
* ReunionShow: Several reunion movies aired in the '90s.
* {{Shopkeeper}}: Ike Godsey, who runs his store also as the local post office, auto garage and pool hall, so everyone has a reason to visit.
* TheThirties
** TheForties
*** WorldWarII
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