Third Season of TV Classic The Waltons on DVD
by Randall Murphree
April 21, 2006
(AgapePress) - - One of television's all-time family-friendly classics assures that it will continue to reach new generations with the April 25 DVD release of The Waltons: The Complete Third Season."When it comes to moral values and decent entertainment, you can't get better television than The Waltons," says Tim Wildmon, president of American Family Association (AFA).
The Waltons made its network television premiere September 14, 1972, on CBS. The weekly hour-long drama follows one family's life as they run a lumber mill during the Great Depression in rural Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.
Wildmon watched The Waltons as a young boy growing up in rural Mississippi. His father, Don Wildmon, however, says he watched the popular CBS series with a little different perspective than did his son.
"Yes, I watched The Waltons for entertainment and edification," said the elder Wildmon. "But as a boy, I also experienced firsthand a little bit of the Walton lifestyle." Don Wildmon, founder and chairman of AFA, was born near the end of the Depression, an American era generally considered from the Stock Market Crash of 1929 to the U.S. entry into WWII in 1941.
"The Waltons was an ideal family show that illustrated what life was like during the Great Depression," said Rosemary Markson, Warner Home Video executive director, TV marketing. "The acting, writing and production value of this series were superb and did a remarkable job of bringing the real life drama of a loving family into the homes of America in a way that made us feel like we were part of that family."
Warner is releasing the DVD. Markson added that The Waltons may have aired more than three decades ago, but the series' messages, values and morals are still relevant today. She also believes the same goes for the show's entertainment value -- viewers of all ages will find the series to be thoroughly engaging.
The series is a reflection of Earl Hamner's life growing up during the Depression. Hamner created the series and narrated each episode. His own experiences were communicated to the viewer through the eyes of aspiring teenage writer John Boy Walton (played by Richard Thomas). The family includes father John Walton (Ralph Waite) and his wife Olivia (Michael Learned), and their children John Boy, Mary Ellen, Jim-Bob, Elizabeth, Jason, Erin and Ben.
Grandparents Zeb (Will Geer) and Esther (Ellen Corby) round out the family, illustrating a multi-generational family unit much more common in the Great Depression than it is today. They are an integral part of daily life in this large, loving family, who together face the challenges of 1930s United States while living on Waltons Mountain.
The Waltons has been recognized by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences as one of the top, award-winning programs of all time. Season three of the series aired from September 1974 to March 1975 and earned Emmy Award wins for both Will Geer and Ellen Corby.
The five-disc collector's set will feature over 20 hours of content, including 25 episodes from the third season. It will retail for $39.98.
"It's a bargain," declares Tim Wildmon. "At AFA, we would encourage families -- especially young families who have never heard of The Waltons -- to take a look at what quality television for the family is really like."
Randall Murphree, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is editor of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.
