I just thought I'd make a little thread to talk about the characters which I think are overlooked by either the writers on the show, or fans themselves.
10. Curt
Now, everybody loves Curt. Season 5, 6 and 7 he gives us some sarcastic charm and provides an interesting, rational character. Yet the writers thought it was okay to rewrite his history and change his personality entirely? Hm. I can only imagine they thought that he was so unimportant that they didn't think anybody would care.
9. JD Pickett
Introduced in Season 7, JD Pickett is a perfect satire of silly sexist attitudes in the 40s. He's so disagreeable, yet he's also just so loveable when he gets flustered when overhead with work or admits that Erin really is a very important part of his business.
8. Rose
She doesn't seem to be talked about much, and was pretty much entirely forgotten in the reunion movies. But as the show becomes dark and darker with family members becoming ill or dying and war breaking out across the world, it's lovely to have jolly old Rose with her positive outlook. She like a combination of Olivia and Zebulon, yet without being a clear stand in for either.
7. Daisy Garner
One of the few 'love interest' characters who went on to truely become an independent character. Introduces in Season 6, then developed in Season 7. She seems to be introduced as a new regular character, yet vanished without a trace before the seventh season is over. I guess they just changed their minds.
6. Sweet Billy
A lovely mountain character introduced in Season 8. I'm a sucker for nice characters in any medium (and nice people in real life!) so, of course, I loved Sweet Billy and his interesting storyline. Then they brought him back in Season 9...only to kill him off as if he wasn't important at all. I'd like to see more praise for this character.
5. Hawthorn Dooley
(I worry I've mispelled his name) he was there from the start, introduced in The Homecoming as the minister at the black church. He was entertaining, friendly and interesting. He returns, with a change of actor, in Season 1, and it basically turned into a generic character with no personality or even a hint of who he was before. Then he disappears without a trace and they act as if he never existed (Verdie says there's no black church on the mountain in the SAME EPISODE that the original actor who played Hawthorn returned in). A real shame, as he could have been a very nice regular addition to the show.
4. Jeffery and Selena
Introduced along with Rose in Season 8. It seems they wanted to keep the show 'young' by adding new children and, sadly, it was a bit obvious. But over time, I grew to like and respect them as any of the other characters. Then, JUST as everyone will have started to like them, they drop them as if they were nothing. Rose is happy with never seeing them anymore (despite seemingly having acted as a mother to them for some time) and, other than one line, are never even mentioned again by anyone.
3. Dr. Vance
Curt was excellent as the mountain's doctor, but so was Dr. Vance. It seems that, because of Curt, nobody remembers Dr. Vance, which is a shame. At least he wasn't entirely forgotten by the writers, and did have an 'exit' of sorts, but I can't say I ever see any discussion of this character.
2. John Curtis
He's not undervalued by the fans, because there's really nothing to him. I guess the writers had no idea what to do with him, so just never developed him. They also aged him really slowly (he's still a toddler after six years).
1. John-Boy Walton (as played by Robert Wightman)
For a lot of people, the change of actor for John-Boy in the last two seasons is the main thing that puts them off it. I almost have to wonder if this could have been what got the series cancelled, actually (with no John-Boy, people had hope that Richard Thomas would return, with this new actor, they lost hope as the character now had a new actor). But, despite all of that, he's not bad at all and it's so sad that so many people are turned off by him. He plays the role convincingly and lets us have more of John-Boy. Don't think too hard about Richard Thomas (I know that's hard) and you'll find he's really a rather good character after Robert Wightman takes over.
