Missed Oppurtunities

[wetherwacky]

Howdy Ya'll,

To me it seems that throughout the show, the producers missed tons of opportunities to flesh out the characters and their personalities. Deeper levels of entertainment could have been attained by such measures as explaining Livy's childhood in more ways or adding more mischievous adventures of the Walton children during the summer time (no school). Seasons four and five were the peak of the show; the older Walton children were growing up and going out into the world more often, and yet, the youngest, namely Elizabeth and Jim Bob, were still learning through adventures in the woods and at home. The producers could have learned a lot by reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'Farmer Boy', the tale of Almanzo growing up. If more Tom Sawyer-like story lines were added, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th seasons could have been even better.

Have you ever felt like wanting to be one of the producers of "the Waltons" having such crystal clear hindsight? I say, if "Night Rider" can get a chance at a redo, THEN SO CAN "THE WALTONS!" Tell all your hindsight suggestions. We're listening.

[Tonyray]

Hay how about The Waltons The Next Generation A lot of shows did it why not The Waltons.

[dfnmeows44]

I have heard some things which were written by Laura Ingalls Daughter Rose Wilder Lane and they are not
G Rated. They would in earlier days been put on what was called the I L P and also rated as not suitable or
even R or X perhaps if not at least PG. So it is probably better that the Waltons did not have subequent
follow ups---the reunions were good but it may be better that they stopped there considering the way
tv went in the 1970s.

[kevin63]

I often wonder what would've happened to the characters if the show had continued into it's tenth season. With the war over the writers would have had to come up with new storylines for the "baby boom" years.

[wetherwacky]

Not exactly. There's Korea.

[bonjo]

I have always thought that "The Waltons- the first generation" would have been a good remake. It would be hard to fill Will Geer and Ellen Corby's personalities, but at least the writers would have a lot of backround info to build on, Rome and Rebecca Lee Walton and all of Grandpa's brothers and kin. As mischievous as Grandpa was I think there could have been a few good stories to tell and they could have worked their way up to John and Liv in their early days and even the children as toddlers--of course without Earl's mom around to tell the actors how she really handled all of those kids so well, that might lend itself to be a disappointment. How lucky we were to have Earl's family around to lend their "side of the story" to the writers.

[herb]

Well, I was a big fan of theOriginal series of "Lonesome Dove". The sequel to it was OK, the one with Barbara Hershey. The 3rd one, with James Garner, Pat Hingle, Sonia Braga, Randy Quaid, and George Carlin (Yep, George Carlin, playing a character part brilliantly) was much closer to the spirit of the original.

In between those, though, there have been so many sequels and prequels, the whole thing's been done to death.

Having said that, I don't doubt a sequel to the Waltons, or at least a variation of it could still be possible. Possible a storyline with one of the kids, by now having a mid-life crisis, coming back to retrace his or her steps, and finding what's left of the memories. Going in to Ike's store, that's been boarded up for years, after the big box stores put him out of business would be like going into a time capsule. Or Jim-Bob returning, fed up with being in the cities, and opening up his old garage across from Ike's old store.

Or finding Ike and Cora Beth themselves, tired of living with Amy and her family, tired of being treated like relics of the past, returning to the Mountain on their own. Bit by bit, person by person, they all drift back.

It could work either as a series or several TV movies.

But, the crucial, absolutely vital part of it would have to be the writing. As much as I am a fan of the show, something went wrong with a lot of the sequel movies, they sort of lost the original ethos of the series. There was too much effort to relate the show to real life events which took it away from the original idea of the show, which in my opinion was about a family and friends who all looked out for each other, and got each other through simple yet profound experiences. Yes, the original Waltons did bring in world events, by and large doing it well, with a couple of exceptions, but it never lost sight of the show itself being a simple storytelling show, with well drawn characters.

From my own selfish point of view, all I'd want from a Waltons reunion or sequel show is this - tell me a story. Never mind impressing me with technical stuff, or car chases, or blowing stuff up, or people running around in dental floss bikinis, or even wet T-shirt night at the Dew Drop Inn.

Just tell me a story that I can think about after the episode is over, like a lot of us are doing now, 30 years after the show aired, and I'm happy.

And surely I'm not the only person around who's tired of reality shows and gimmick shows...


Herb, feeling curmudgeonly at the moment.