Why Was The Show Finally Cancelled?

[kevin63]

I probably already know the answer to this one, but I wondered if anyone had some inside info to offer. It was probably felt the show had run it's course by then, and the ratings probably weren't that good anymore. Although I seem to recall looking at Nielsen ratings in 1981 and it said the show was number three. Is that possible that late in the show? As far as I know the series highest ratings were in the second season, where it was number two for the year. Can anyone shed some light on this?

[dfnmeows44]

I think they were getting to the point where it was time to move on--but we had the cast coming together
twice in 1982 for reunions so they probably felt it would be better to have a get together a couple times
a year or so rather than every week. Many of the members on the cast were getting older---even in the
case of Elizabeth and Jimbob. And remember other shows proved to be a disaster after they brought in
another cast member---this did not happen when the Waltons brought in Rose and her children so much but
what happend when the Brady's took in Oliver after all the other children were growing past their teen
years made them reluctant to take in another younger cast member just to continue the show!

[ncwaltonsfan]

This happens on a lot of long-running series,especially with children. Even the youngest outgrow their "cuteness" eventually so younger children are brought in to retain the "cute" factor. "The Partridge Family" did this their final season with Ricky Segall as a young next door neighbor of the Partridges. "My Three Sons" did the same thing with Barbara's young daughter Dodie,who was adopted by Steve after he married Barbara. "Little House On The Prairie" did the same thing when the Ingalls adopted Albert and the Cooper children and the Olsens adopted Nancy as Nellie outgrew her nasty ways and became a responsible adult . But yes,aside from growing up,there comes a time when the actors and those behind the scenes feel it's time to move on as does the audience as ratings declines are often the most obvious reason a show is canceled. Correct me if I'm wrong,but weren't there plans for a sort of revamped Waltons series or a sort of spin off showing the children as adults,sans John and Olivia,but keeping the Godseys,Baldwins,and other supporting characters after the 1980-81 season? I know "Little House" did this with Laura and Almonzo. It seems I read that something similar was planned for "The Waltons".

[Deleted]

I think that it could have gone on a lot longer (Gun smoke was on almost twenty years), but they would have had to shift the focus and let the kids grow up and start families or follow Elizabeth and see her get her Masters degree in Botany etc..

What I did not like about the later movies was that John kept harping about the lack of money. Drove me nuts. They could afford to go to Virginia Beach.

[wetherwacky]

And Jim Bob should have married Mary Francis. That would have made for a good story! Mary Francis giving up her life as a nun. Not that being a nun is bad. I respect Catholics a lot. But she should have married Jim Bob. One website said that Aimee was really Jim Bob's only true love. I don't believe that at all.

[dfnmeows44]

After Jimbob found out that he had not gotten Kathy Seale pregnant after all he seemed to be reluctant
to get interested in anyone else---except on the reunion episode where he took Aimee out and she
dressed up like a hussie in Corabeths great term!

[bcrd5000]

The show finished number 30 in ratings for the last year (80-81). The previous two seasons (78-79, 79-80) came in somewhere below number 30. Prime reason was Mork and Mindy which was a huge hit.

There was somewhat of a falling out between Waite and Hamner over the poor scripts for seasons 7 and 8 coupled with a remark by Hamner that Waite and Learned had outlived their time on the show.

Hamner had an idea about a new show called "The Young Walton's" without the parents but the season 9 ratings probably killed any hope of another season about any Walton's.

CBS must have told Hamner the show was cancelled before filming the last episode for two reasons: the "unknown" guests at the Baldwin Sisters ball were Hamner and members of the crew to make it a cast party and second, Hamner sign off at the end of show said he hoped viewers would remember the house the way he did.

However, Mary (Erin) McDonough said CBS nor the production company notified her the show was cancelled. A friend saw an article in the newspaper that the show was cancelled.
 

[carol]

They didn't need to bring in new children into the family. They already had John Curtis and Virginia. They could have aged them to the age they should actually have been in the last season which was between 4-6 years old and wrote stories around them as they did in the 1980's reunion movies. In the last season John Curtis was still 2-3 years old and should have around six since he was over a year old in Day of Infamy which is set in 1941. Ginny should have been about 4 years old.in the last season.

[glenn]

Watching the show in it's final season was like watching a dying person being tortured by being on life support!

[goodnight]

Sept 20, 2017 21:00:24 GMT -5 carol said:

They didn't need to bring in new children into the family. They already had John Curtis and Virginia. They could have aged them to the age they should actually have been in the last season which was between 4-6 years old and wrote stories around them as they did in the 1980's reunion movies. In the last season John Curtis was still 2-3 years old and should have around six since he was over a year old in Day of Infamy which is set in 1941. Ginny should have been about 4 years old.in the last season.

I know, that drove me crazy that they kept John Curtis and Virginia (Ginny) as practically babies. Many shows when they bring a baby into the family, they will have them age faster. Some examples are the little boy on Family Ties and the little girl on Growing Pains.

[JeriJet]

Sept 28, 2017 8:06:55 GMT -5 glenn said:

Watching the show in it's final season was like watching a dying person being tortured by being on life support!

Agreed.... it had run it's course. We can delight in the fact that it lasted much longer than most such series.

[nedandres]

Well, the final season was pretty painful, but the three post season TV movies (1982) were even more so. The proposed Walton children "spin-off" was supposed to be called "Waltons Mountain" I seem to recall. But it never happened. Actually some of the season 9 episodes were rather high in the ratings, especially the Curt Willard return show was in the top ten for the week. But some of the episodes are simply awful and the acting not very good. Perhaps the scripts are partly to blame.

[deborah1955]

“After Jimbob found out that he had not gotten Kathy Seale pregnant after all he seemed to be reluctant
to get interested in anyone else---except on the reunion episode where he took Aimee out and she
dressed up like a hussie in Corabeths great term!”

Jim Bob wasn’t the one who was out on the picnic with Aimee, that was Drew.

[dayton3]

Mar 5, 2009 16:01:17 GMT -5 ncwaltonsfan said:

This happens on a lot of long-running series,especially with children. 

IIRC that is part of what happened to my favorite western "The Rifleman". 

Johnny Crawford who played the Riflemans son Mark McCain was 12 years old both the actor and character when the series started but after five seasons was 17.    So the  show became more difficult to write for.     You couldn't simply write a "Mark in jeopardy,  needs his Pa's help" every third or fourth week.   

And Mark was kidnapped something like a dozen times during that series.   Some say that if you look at the stories closely you would see that series was mainly about Mark. 

[Zedxclon]

I was just reading in Lessons from the Mountain that they didn't expect to be cancelled because Season 9 had seen an increase in ratings. Then they weren't even told directly that it was cancelled - the news was just announced in a newspaper! Shockingly disrespectful to the actors, I think.

As much as I can see why a lot of people don't like Season 9, I'm quite a fan of it. The Victims, The Pearls, The Beginning, The Gold Watch and The Move are just a few of the excellent episodes from that season. I like that they consciously tried to adjust the tone of the show as it went on - if they had tried to make Season 9 like Season 1, I think that would have been pretty bad.