Season 8

Starring: Michael Learned¹ (1-9,24), Ralph Waite¹. Also starring: Jon Walmsley and Judy Norton-Taylor, Mary Beth McDonough and Eric Scott, David W. Harper and Kami Cotler. Executive Producers: Lee Rich and Earl Hamner. Created by Earl Hamner. Produced by Rod Peterson.

Earl Hamner (The Narrator).

Edward O. Denault (Executive Production Supervisor), Claire Whitaker (Story Editor), Claylene Jones (Associate Producer), Jerry Goldsmith (The Waltons' Theme), Gene Talvin (Director of Photography 1-14), Serge Haigneré (Director of Photography 15-24), Ed Graves (Art Director), Marsh Hendry (Editor 1,6,9,10,13,16,19,22,24), Marshall Neilan (Editor 2,4,7,11,14,17,20,23), Bill Mosher A.C.E. (Editor 3,5,8,12,15,18,21,24), Walter Alzmann (Unit Production Manager 1-4,6,10-13,15-21), Britt Lomond (Unit Production Manager 14), Walt Gilmore (Unit Production Manager 22-24), Walt Gilmore (First Assistant Director 1,3,4,7,8,11,13,15,17,19,21), Ralph Ferrin (First Assistant Director 2,5,6,9,10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24), Edward E. Vaughan (First Assistant Director 23), Paul T. Sirmons (Second Assistant Director), Pam Polifroni (Casting 1-23), Michele Harding Walker (Set Decorator 1-12), Raymond Paul (Set Decorator 13-24), Fred Westcott (Property Master), Shirley Brewton (Costumer), Gene Ostler (Costumer 1-14), Jim Cullen (Costumer 15-24), Bill Reynolds (Makeup), Edith Lindon (Hair Stylist 1-10), Shirley Crawford (Hair Stylist 10-15), Dorothy Andre (Hair Stylist 16-24), Donna Kemp (Script Supervisor 1-11), Donna Turner (Script Supervisor 12-15), Mae Hershon (Script Supervisor 16,17), Richard Chaffee (Script Supervisor 18-23), Norman Webster (Production Sound Mixer), Dean Hodges (Production Sound Mixer 24), Victor Guarnier (Sound Effects Supervisor), Dick Kupper (Sound Editor 1), Dave Caldwell (Sound Editor 2-6,17-23), Joe Kavigan (Sound Editor 7-11), Jack Lowry (Sound Editor 12-16,24), Ken Runyon (Music Editor), Doris Hamner (Technical Consultant 10-24), Mitch Ackerman (Production Supervisor), Panavision®, Color by Metro Color, Sandy Dvore (Main Title), Filmed at The Burbank Studios Burbank California, Produced in association with Amanda Productions Inc.

Copyright © MCMLXXIX [1979] Lorimar Productions Inc. (1-13)

Copyright © MCMLXXX [1980] Lorimar Productions Inc. (14-24)

¹ In the episodes where they both appear, Michael Learned and Ralph Waite alternate (roughly speaking) for first billing.

Overall Nielsen rating for season: outside top 30.

After Michael Learned's apparently final decision to leave the show last season, it was rather a surprise for viewers to see her back, albeit only for part of the run of episodes once again.

A new character, John's cousin Rose (played by Peggy Rea), is introduced to provide a matriarchal presence and fit somewhere between the largely absent mother and grandmother figures. With her came her two young grandchildren, Serena and Jeffrey, to likewise plug an "age hole" at the lower end of things. Playing Jeffrey, Keith Mitchell was a good enough little actor; and Martha Nix, as his sister, certainly had the required "pretty little girl" credentials in spades, even if she wasn't quite as strong in the performance department.

Despite featuring in around half of the episodes last season, for some reason Ellen Corby's appearances this season were reduced to just three. Unfortunately, the various excuses given for Grandma's absence (e.g. away with relatives) tend to give the impression that she is considerably more active after her stroke than before it! Also the unexplained (or weakly explained) comings and goings of other characters (e.g. Rose and her grandchildren; Olivia; Cindy) is now becoming rather irritating.

Additionally, some of the actors now appear to be a bit bored in their roles. This is noticeable to some degree in Michael Learned as Olivia but rather more so in Judy Norton-Taylor. The Mary Ellen of these later Waltons stories is simply is not the same feisty character she was earlier in the show's history, as the old clips in the 10-year special at the end of the season serve to point out rather too obviously. Having said that, admittedly the scripts are giving both actresses very little to get their teeth into by this point (indeed, this being partially the reason that Michael Learned had chosen to leave the shown in the first place).

By now the period details are beginning to seriously slip as well. Large seventies' collars are no longer the rarity as they had been in earlier seasons, nor are flares on some of the pants. Mary Ellen's jeans seem chosen more to to adhere to the actress-in-question's butt than adhere to period detail (her brief running shorts in The Wager have a similar goal in life). Genuine of-the-era haircuts now seem to be the exception rather than the rule. All these small slips tend to give the impression that nobody much cared any more. This applies to the pre-titles episode introductions, too, which should have been constructed to offer a few little appetite whetters for the forthcoming story, not give away practically the whole episode!

At the end of The Home Front we learn that the (off-screen) John-Boy is Missing In Action, possibly dead. The Walton family then promptly forgets about their anguish for several episodes until The Waiting when John-Boy reappears, although now played by Robert Wightman instead of the original actor, Richard Thomas. The move to bring back John-Boy does rather smack of desperation, especially as Earl Hamner had publically proclaimed to the press at the time of John-Boy's original departure that, "We could never replace any of the characters by recasting."

In The Remembrance, Jason runs across Toni, a brusque young girl chauffeur who is driving the colonel at the Rockfish army camp... and takes an immediate dislike to her. Fortunately, by the end of the episode the pair have patched things up. Just as well, because Jason and Toni (aka Jon Walmsley and Lisa Harrison) were an item off screen too! Sadly, the Toni character, as with Cindy before her, although initially punchy and spunky, would ultimately be dulled down in succeeding episodes.

In The Home Front that good old country/Southern/hill-folk tradition, feuding, finally comes to Walton's Mountain (I'm sure Granny Clampett would be proud). Amusingly, Ben observes: "The last honest-to-goodness feud was settled when my daddy was just a little boy. It went on for so many generations they didn't even know how it got started."

Another one of the more memorable episodes is The Silver Wings which sees The Waltons retread Summer Of '42 as Jim-Bob has an affair with an attractive older woman whose husband is away at war. Unsurprisingly, the "loss of virginity" is rather more metaphorical in The Waltons version, as Jim-Bob takes his long-yearned-for first airplane flight and thus earns his silver wings.

The main season ends with a memorable scene as all the Walton boys go off the fight the war. Had it come to that, this would have been a good place to end the show, especially as the Normandy landings and the push up through Italy were in full swing, signaling the beginning of the end of Herr Hitler's shenanigans.

But... before next season, it was time for a celebration! CBS aired a two-hour special (A Decade of The Waltons) in the early summer of 1980, a couple of months after the main season had ended. The end of the eighth yearly season was a strange place to hold a ten-year celebration, it would seem, but creator Earl Hamner was on hand to tell us they were measuring from the start of production on the pilot, The Homecoming. The program was advertised in listings as also being the 200th episode, which was a bit closer to the mark.

The special unwisely tries to mix fiction and documentary in the same show, and the final result falls between the two stools. The fictional parts have the available 1972 members of cast (only, so no Cindy, Rose etc.) planning Grandma's birthday party. This causes them to remember past events and thus provides the cues for the old clips... Where things come unstuck is when Earl Hamner walks straight into the fictional action à la Rod Serling on The Twilight Zone. It really is quite weird to see the actors in character sitting in silence around the kitchen table as the monotonic Hamner (permanently wearing sunglasses for some reason) continues his narration behind them.

The last part of the anniversary show is more ambitious – the actors "meet" their real-life counterparts. Somebody made the very bad decision to have each encounter done with a split screen: actor on the left, corresponding Hamner family member on the right, with questions and responses filmed separately. Since nobody is actually speaking live to their counterpart, the "conversations" are necessarily scripted in advance, with the assorted Hamners clearly reading their responses straight from cue cards. Yes, the result is as atrociously stilted and hideously embarrassing as it sounds. Only one of the encounters even vaguely works: Jon Walmsley (Jason) and his opposite number, Cliff Hamner, who seem to have genuinely enjoyed a beer (or 10) together some years earlier.

"It was one spring day during the war that our mother came back to us, and with her arrival it seemed that everything began to look brighter. In Europe and North Africa, the Allied forces were gaining strength, giving new hope to those of us on the home front. There were dark days still ahead, but for now it was peaceful on the mountain and my family rejoiced in being together again..."

Episode # 8.01 (166) – double length  {S8,D1,sA}
Written by Rod Peterson and Claire Whitaker
Directed by Harry Harris
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast September 20, 1979, CBS   (UK: November 3 & 10, 1981, BBC2, in two-part version)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton). Special Guest Star: George Ralph DiCenzo (Calvin Satterfield). Guest Starring: Glenn Withrow (Tommy Satterfield), Eunice Christopher (Mrs. Satterfield), Lewis Arquette (J. D. Pickett), Don Matheson (Sergeant Barnes) and Todd Susman (Lapinsky). Featuring: Rachel Longaker (Aimee Godsey), John Crawford (Ep Bridges), Jeanne Campise (Pearl), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

As a member of the local draft board, John is accused of being responsible for a young man's death in action. A feud begins to develop...

"The arrival of spring was always a welcome time on Walton's Mountain. During the war, it was a reminder that life did renew itself in spite of the tragedies our family had suffered. My father's business was booming, my mother had recovered from her lengthy illness, and there was a feeling that the family could brave the dark days ahead. That strength was tested one day when our cousin, Rose Burton, came to visit..."

Episode # 8.02 (167)  {S8,D1,sA}
Written by E. F. Wallengren
Directed by Philip Leacock
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast September 27, 1979, CBS   (UK: November 17, 1981, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton)¹, Martha Nix (Serena)¹, Keith Mitchell² (Jeffrey)¹. Featuring: Michael and Marshall Reed (John-Curtis).

¹ First appearances of Cousin Rose and her grandchildren, Serena and Jeffrey.
² aka Keith Coogan.

Cousin Rose arrives to make Olivia's life easier, but her mischievous grandchildren make everyone else's life harder.

"The intermingling of what had gone before and what lay ahead was a never-ending process that touched our lives on the mountain. My father was not a man to live in the past – he honored it, but it was his way to live the time at hand. One early morning in 1943, the present was awaiting my sister, Mary Ellen, and the past was ready to catch up with our father..."

Episode # 8.03 (168)  {S8,D1,sA}
Written by Kathleen Hite
Directed by Gwen Arner
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast October 4, 1979, CBS   (UK: November 24, 1981, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring: Janette Lane Bradbury² (Ronie Cotter), Les Lannom (Sweet Billy), Madeleine Taylor Holmes (Grandma Floyd), Leon Fricke (Lieutenant Eller), Tamar Howard (Lady), Rick Slyter (Sam). Featuring: Joseph Justice (The Guard), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.
² aka Lane Bradbury.

To get a security clearance, John has to graduate from high school... 25 years late. Mary Ellen takes over as the county nurse but has trouble winning over the confidence of some of her patients.

"Although we were thousands of miles from the bombs of World War II, every day there were reminders that the tranquility of our lives had been shattered. As the fighting continued, my mother became increasingly restless. She yearned to be active – to make some contribution that would bring peace again to the world..."

Episode # 8.04 (169)  {S8,D1,sA}
Written by Juliet Packer
Directed by Gwen Arner
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast October 11, 1979, CBS   (UK: December 1, 1981, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring: Lewis Arquette (J. D. Pickett), Rachel Longaker (Aimee), Kerry Shear² (Mrs. Kass), Charles Parks (Mr. Swanson), Tony LaTorre (Charlie), Jason Semeleng (Elwin), Danny Gellis (Rob), Kimberly Woodward (Bernice), Jennifer Moskow (Anna Mae). Featuring: Gordon Hodgins (Mr. Miller), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.
² aka Kerry Shear Waite. She is the daughter of Pearl Shear (Zuleika Dunbar) and was married to Ralph Waite at the time.

When Ike takes dancing lessons, a suspicious Corabeth wonders if he's aiming to change partners. Olivia opens a day nursery for the kids of the women at the Pickett plant.

"As World War II ranged around the globe, the peace and quiet surrounding Walton's Mountain seemed even more precious. Throughout the nation, Americans worked together to maintain freedom and a way of life that had made our country great. Holding down an important job in a defense plant was my sister Erin's contribution, and she highly resented anything that interfered with it..."

Episode # 8.05 (170)  {S8,D1,sB}
Written by D. C. Fontana and Richard Fontana
Directed by Philip Leacock
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast October 18, 1979, CBS   (UK: December 8, 1981, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Mary Jackson (Emily Baldwin), Helen Kleeb (Mamie Baldwin). Guest Starring: Henry Darrow (Barry Stone), Les Lannom (Sweet Billy), Lewis Arquette (J. D. Pickett), David Cramer (G. I. Joe) and Charles Hallahan (Asst. Director Baker). Featuring:  Jerry Gatlin (The Camera Operator), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

Erin meets a documentary film-maker who tells her she's got what it takes to be a star, and invites her to come back to Hollywood. Erin's boss, J. D. Pickett, also wants to be in the film and tries to impress.

"There is something in a mountain which gives strength and stability to those who know it well. Its timeless slopes make troubles seem smaller. We were to draw on that strength many times during the anxious years of World War II. But those years brought troubles of a kind we had never known before – the pain of separation from loved ones who were sent overseas and who might have become casualties or prisoners of war... The agony of waiting...."

Episode # 8.06 (171)  {S8,D1,sB}
Written by Robert Pirosh
Directed by Philip Leacock
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast October 25, 1979, CBS   (UK: December 15, 1981, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring: Richard Venture (Paul Henshaw), Diana Douglas (Mrs. Denman). Featuring: Rachel Longaker (Aimee Godsey), Lillah McCarthy (Miss Fisk), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.

With John-Boy missing in action, a publisher asks John and Olivia for permission to publish their son's war journal. Ben gets a taster of his future parenting duties.

"The Second World War changed forever the course of our country and its people. Some of those changes were immediately clear; others gradually seeped into our lives and left lasting, sometimes painful, impressions. The whole world was in a great hurry, and its frantic pace was most often reflected in the young men returning from battle..."

Episode # 8.07 (172)  {S8,D1,sB}
Written by E. F. Wallengren
Directed by Walter Alzmann
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast November 1, 1979, CBS   (UK: December 29, 1981, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring: Jonathan Frakes (Ashley Longworth Jr.²), Elise Caitlin (Erma Jean Small).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.
² Ashley Longworth appeared previously in The Legacy in Season 7. He would go on to appear again (though played by Louis Welch) in a wedding on Waltons Mountain in 1982.

Ashley Longworth returns to the mountain and Erin is eager to get married, but Ashley seems to be a changed man... Elizabeth is fed up with Serena pestering her.

"There was hope in the air that second autumn after Pearl Harbor. The Allied forces were finally on the offensive, and, in Winston Churchill's words, those who had sowed the wind were now reaping the whirlwind. But in our home, as in millions throughout the nation, there was also anxiety for loved ones away in military service. Some of them would never return, and there were others whose fate was at that time unknown – the missing in action..."

Episode # 8.08 (173)¹  {S8,D1,sB}
Written by Robert Pirosh
Directed by Walter Alzmann
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast November 8, 1979, CBS   (UK: January 5, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton). Guest Starring: Jordan Clarke (Son Slater), Antoinette Stella (Darcy Thatcher), Diana Douglas (Mrs. Denman), John Steadman (Joe Bascomb), Macon McCalman (The Deputy) and Kelly Ward (Frank Thatcher). Featuring: Michael and Marshall Reed (John-Curtis).

¹ This story is a two parter with The Waiting, below.

Why won't a young soldier's wife answer her husband's letters? The reason spurs Olivia into action.

"Joy and tragedy walked hand in hand during the dark days of World War II. When good news came it always seemed to be tinged with sadness. The words: 'Your son is alive,' were too often followed by the phrase: 'He is badly injured.' When those words came to my family, it meant that the long wait was not over, it had just begun..."

Episode # 8.09 (174)^1,2  {S8,D1,sB}
Written by Kathleen Hite
Directed by Philip Leacock
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast November 22, 1979, CBS   (UK: January 12, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell³ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring: K Callan (Nurse Corrigan), Morgan Stevens⁴ (Sam Stodder), Diana Douglas (Mrs. Denman), Regis Cordic (Dr. Banion) and Robert Wightman (John-Boy)⁵. Featuring: Lynda St. James (Desk Nurse), Llynn Storer (Orderly), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ This story is a two parter with The Violated, above.
² Apart from the celebratory 10-year special, this was Michael Learned's last appearance until the Mother's Day on Waltons Mountain telemovie.
³ aka Keith Coogan.
⁴ Morgan Stevens would go onto play Paul Northridge, boyfriend and then husband of Erin, starting with The Lumberjack in Season 9.
⁵ This is Robert Wightman's first appearance as the replacement John-Boy. Ultimately, the original actor (Richard Thomas) would return for the three 1990's movies.

When John-Boy is hospitalized in Alexandria, Olivia volunteers for the Red Cross to be near him.

"As World War II continued, more and more American families felt the pain of separation from their loved ones. With no end in sight, they could only wait and pray for the day their friends and relatives would come home safely. During this time my brother, Jim-Bob, eagerly waited for his chance to join in the fight, and while he waited, he fell in love..."

Episode # 8.10 (175)  {S8,D2,sA}
Written by Michael McGreevey
Directed by Stan Lathan
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast November 29, 1979, CBS   (UK: January 19, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring: Patsy Rahn (Betsy Randolph). Featuring: Odell Burton² (Buddy Russell), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.
² aka Louis Odell Burton.

Jim-Bob falls for the allure of an older woman – the pretty wife of an Air Force pilot. Serena is trying to win a merit badge as part of her scouting troop.

"The Second World War brought women by the millions out of their homes and into the factories, doing jobs that normally would have been reserved for men. Attitudes changed as women found themselves to be every bit as capable as the men they replaced. All of Jefferson County watched with wonder when my sisters, Mary Ellen and Erin, decided to venture even farther into a man's world..."

Episode # 8.11 (176)  {S8,D2,sA}
Teleplay by E. F. Wallengren, story by Claylene Jones
Directed by Gwen Arner
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast December 13, 1979, CBS   (UK: January 26, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring: Jonathan Banks (Jeb Sanders), Mitch Carter (Sam Barker), Lewis Arquette (J. D. Pickett), Jerry Hoffman (Feed Store Clerk) and Cathy Worthington (Jessica Marlowe).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.

Mary Ellen and Erin saddle up for the local Run and Ride Race, traditionally a men-only event.

"My own memories of that Christmas in 1943 are vague and clouded, but those of my family remain vivid in the extreme. For the first time ever, my mother would not be home for that most special holiday. She – who'd taught all of us the meaning and spirit of Christmas – would spend it at the hospital with me. And though they all agreed her place was there, it put the season in a strange light. How strange, how unique and unreal it would become, no one could even imagine..."

Episode # 8.12 (177)  {S8,D2,sA}
Written by Kathleen Hite
Directed by Herbert Hirschman
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast December 20, 1979, CBS   (UK: December 22, 1981, BBC2)

Co-Starrig: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey), Mary Jackson (Emily Baldwin²). Guest Starring: Ned Bellamy (Paul). Featuring: Debbie Richmond (Lady in the Bar), Gordon Hodgins (1st Man in the Bar), Llynn Storer (2nd Man in the Bar), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.
² This is the only time one Baldwin sister appears without the other.

The Waltons show the true spirit of Christmas when they share the holiday with an escaped German POW whom Jeffrey has befriended.

"Walton's Mountain seemed especially beautiful to my brother, Ben, and his wife, Cindy, during the months they awaited the birth of their first child. But the war made its demands – Ben had to work harder than ever before, leaving Cindy alone at the time when she needed him the most..."

Episode # 8.13 (178)  {S8,D2,sA}
Written by Loraine Despres
Directed by Gwen Arner
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast December 27, 1979, CBS   (UK: February 2, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring:  Zack Lewis (Ned), Denise Latella (Sue Ann), Fred Downs (Dr. Lewis).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.

Cindy follows a book's advice on how to be a happy wife... and turns into a very unhappy woman. Meanwhile, young Jeffrey adopts a pregnant cat.

"The battlefields of World War II were thousands of miles from Walton's Mountain, but those times brought about many changes for my family on the home front. My brother, Jason, was training recruits at nearby Camp Rockfish, and, like all servicemen, forming the close relationships that became so important during the war. For the youngest members of our household, the changes were not too drastic. There were still chores to do, school to attend, and the joys or sorrows that went with such events as bringing home report cards..."

Episode # 8.14 (179)  {S8,D2,sA}
Written by Dan Ullman
Directed by Ralph Waite
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast January 3, 1980, CBS   (UK: February 9, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring: Todd Susman (Ted Lapinsky), Melvin F. Allen (Master Sgt. Barnes), Erica Hunton (Lucille), Mary Ann Oedy² (Flo). Featuring: Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.
² aka Mary Ann Hermansen.

Jason's eyes are opened when a Jewish fellow recruit tells him about his grandfather's fate at the hands of the Nazis. Elizabeth finds there are problems with being a straight-A student.

"In each of our lives, if we're lucky, we encounter a few extraordinary people who forever alter our perceptions and color our thoughts – they become the touchstones of our lives. In the spring of 1944, my sister, Elizabeth, came to know one of these special people..."

Episode # 8.15 (180)  {S8,D2,sB}
Written by Juliet Packer
Directed by Gwen Arner
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast January 10, 1980, CBS   (UK: February 16, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey), Mary Jackson (Emily Baldwin), Helen Kleeb (Mamie Baldwin). Guest Starring: Susan Krebs (Hazel Lamphere), Pat Corley (The Bartender), Kimberly Woodward (Lauren).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.

Elizabeth is fascinated by the new schoolteacher, a modern thinker who dares teach her students where babies come from. Cindy is reaching the final stage of her pregnancy.

"As my grandfather used to say: 'Everybody looks at the world through his own knothole.' My brothers and sisters and I, and the two cousins who came to live with us, were all brought up in the same house and in pretty much the same way. But the world looked a little bit different to each of us, and there was a day; a beautiful, bright, sunny day, but it looked very bleak to my brother, Ben, and even bleaker to my cousin, Jeffrey..."

Episode # 8.16 (181)  {S8,D2,sB}
Written by Robert Pirosh
Directed by Stan Lathan
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast January 17, 1980, CBS   (UK: February 23, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring: Lynn Hamilton (Verdie Foster), James Bond III (Josh Foster), Macon McCalman (The Deputy Sheriff), Chris Mulkey (The Roller), Robert Wightman (John Boy). Featuring: Ron Thompson (1st G. I.), Christopher Metas (The Private).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.

Jeffrey and Josh get into trouble when they try to reclaim some confiscated money from Ike's store. Stung by a soldier's sneering remark, Ben considers signing up.

"On Walton's Mountain, as everywhere else on earth in the later years of World War II, there was a constant feeling of dislocation and change... Until one weekend in 1944, in the midst of the chaos and confusion, we unexpectedly found a bright, sturdy link between ourselves and the way of life we were so swiftly losing: a rich reminder of who we were, what we were, and where..."

Episode # 8.17 (182)  {S8,D2,sB}
Written by Marion Hargrove
Directed by Herbert Hirschman
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast January 24, 1980, CBS   (UK: March 2, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton). Guest Starring: Woodrow Chambliss (Zadok), Lisa Harrison (Tony)¹, Ivor Francis (Dean Beck²), Harry Basch (Harrington), Ross Elliott (Colonel Usselbury). Featuring: John Furlong (Bohannon), Llynn Storer (The Lounger), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ This is the first appearance of Toni/Tony (Antoinette) Hazelton, who would later marry Jason. The actors playing the parts, Lisa Harrison and Jon Walmsley, were married in real life at the time.
² For this episode, Dean Beck comes from "the School of Agriculture" at Boatwright, rather than appearing to be in overall charge of the college, as previously. By his next appearance (The Threshold in Season 9) he seems to be back in his old job. To confuse matters further, he is now played by Ivor Francis who earlier played Professor Hoadley, also at Boatwright.

Twenty-one years after he made a date with Grandpa, cousin Zadok shows up to keep the appointment. At the army camp, Jason finds himself continually running across a forthright young female driver, and takes a violent dislike to her.

"On Walton's Mountain, we treasured our neighbors. Everyone knew everyone else, and we shared together in the joys and the sorrows of the people around us. We were all deeply alarmed when we learned that Miss Mamie Baldwin had developed an affliction, one that might forever confine her within her home..."

Episode # 8.18 (183)  {S8,D2,sB}
Written by E. F. Wallengren
Directed by Ralph Waite
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast January 31, 1980, CBS   (UK: March 9, 1982, BBC2)

Special Guest Star: Ellen Corby. Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey), Mary Jackson (Emily Baldwin), Helen Kleeb (Mamie Baldwin). Guest Starring: Philip Linton (Steve Prince), Tony Becker (Drew Cutler)², Becky Perle (Norma). Featuring: Arthur Hanson (Dr. Canfield), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.
² First appearance of Drew Cutler, sometime boyfriend of Elizabeth.

There is some worrying news for Miss Mamie when she visits the optician. Finding themselves both without their first choices of partners, Drew Cutler invites Elizabeth to a dance.

"As the Second World War raged on in Europe and the Pacific, those of us on Walton's Mountain were adjusting to the quickened pace of wartime living. Our family was enjoying a degree of prosperity previously unknown, but our changing fortunes were bringing changing values. And so it was to my father, whose strength had always been an unquestioned source of assurance, that the pain of doubt and uncertainty would come..."

Episode # 8.19 (184)  {S8,D2,sB}
Written by William Parker
Directed by Harry Harris
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast February 7, 1980, CBS   (UK: March 16, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring: Britt Leach (Easy Jackson), Ted Gehring (Joe Murdock), Lewis Arquette (J. D. Pickett), Bob Hastings (Carl), Victor Izay (The Doctor). Featuring: Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.

After setback after setback befall John at the mill, he throws a fit and quits.

"There were times when the war seemed further away, and life on the mountain went about its ordinary business. My father often said that he didn't have to sail the seven seas, or swim the Hellespont, or soar with eagles, if he wanted high adventure. All he had to do was wake up in the morning, and his family or his friends or a total stranger would ride up the road and hand it to him..."

Episode # 8.20 (185)  {S8,D3,sA}
Written by Kathleen Hite
Directed by Herbert Hirschman
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast February 14, 1980, CBS   (UK: March 23, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey). Guest Starring: William Schallert (Stanley Perkins)². Featuring: Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.
² First appearance of Stanley Perkins, who would come back into Rose's life in Season 9.

Rose is wooed by traveling salesman Stanley Perkins, an old beau who once swept her off her feet on the dance floor.

"There were many homecomings in my life, but the one I remember best followed a long spell in the hospital during World War II. A visit home would be the final step in my recovery, and I looked forward to the comfort of those familiar surroundings. I never dreamed that I would bring the war with me, and that it would haunt me, even on Walton's Mountain..."

Episode # 8.21 (186)  {S8,D3,sA}
Written by Juliet Packer
Directed by Harry Harris
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast February 21, 1980, CBS   (UK: March 30, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena), Keith Mitchell¹ (Jeffrey), Mary Jackson (Emily Baldwin), Helen Kleeb (Mamie Baldwin). Guest Starring: Diane Stilwell (Nan Bennett), John Furey (Stewart), Stephen Keep² (Bragdon), Michael Thoma (Mr. Truby) and Robert Wightman (John-Boy). Featuring: David Cramer (The Soldier), Philip Baker Hall (Major Gordon), John Philip Dayton (The Corporal), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

¹ aka Keith Coogan.
² aka Stephen Keep Mills.

John-Boy returns home, healed in body but troubled in his mind. Ike is astonished when he finds himself drafted into the military.

"They came from the mountains, from the plains, the east coast and the west. During World War II, America was a nation on the move. People from all walks of life and different sections of the country were coming together, learning about each other's customs, exchanging ideas, and sometimes falling in love..."

Episode # 8.22 (187)  {S8,D3,sA}
Written by Rod Peterson
Directed by Walter Alzmann
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast February 28, 1980, CBS   (UK: April 6, 1982, BBC2)

Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton). Guest Starring: Enrique Castillo (Eddie Ramirez), Jordan Charney (Capt. Roger Westerby), James Crittenden (Smitty), Corbin Bernsen (Casey), William Phipps (The Bus Driver), John Crawford (The Sheriff), Bill Morey (Mr. Smith). Featuring: Peter Stader (Bilge), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis).

Mary Ellen is drawn to a handsome paratrooper and Corabeth encounters a former admirer.

"Sometimes it seemed as if we'd always been at war. The quiet of our lives on Walton's Mountain was interrupted daily by headlines and bulletins that took us to far off deserts and island outposts with impossible names. Our days swung between hope and despair, but somehow we went forward, meeting the demands of life in a troubled world, proving at home what the war was proving on every front – that a crisis can make leaders of the most ordinary of men..."

Episode # 8.23 (188)  {S8,D3,sA}
Written by Claire Whitaker
Directed by Harry Harris
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast March 13, 1980, CBS   (UK: April 13, 1982, BBC2)

Special Guest Star: Ellen Corby. Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Leslie Winston (Cindy Walton), Peggy Rea (Rose Burton), Martha Nix (Serena)¹, Keith Mitchell² (Jeffrey)¹. Guest Starring: Tony Becker (Drew Cutler), Gary Imhoff (Roland Piper), Eric Stoltz (Sr. Boy #1), Susan McClung (Sr. Girl #1) and Robert Wightman (John-Boy). Featuring: Richard Lasting (Sr. Boy #2), Marte Post (Sr. Girl #2), Michael and Marshall Reed (John Curtis), Walker Edmiston (The Radio Announcer).

¹ This is the last episode for Jeffrey and Serena.
² aka Keith Coogan.

An unimpressed Jim-Bob ends up graduating at the top of his class and announces that, like his brothers, he too will be joining up.

"This is Earl Hamner. When I was growing up in the hills of Virginia during the Great Depression, I would never have believed that I would some day end up at a studio in Hollywood, telling the story of my life on television. As a matter of fact, television as we know it today didn't even exist. We grew up here, in this house, where my mother still lives. From the earliest times I can remember I wanted to be a writer. I was told that, to be a good writer, one should write about what he cares for most passionately. That was my family, and I wrote about them in my novel 'Spencer's Mountain' and in a later novel 'The Homecoming'. 'Spencer's Mountain' became a film, and 'The Homecoming' became a Lorimar-CBS television special in 1971. From the special grew the series 'The Waltons' which premiered in the fall of 1972. Since then we've covered 10 years – a decade of the Waltons. On this special program we'll visit my home town where it all began; meet my mother, my brothers and sisters, and the actors who have portrayed them all these years. Stay with us during the next two hours for a visit to two fairly dissimilar towns: Hollywood, California, and Schuyler, Virginia... and a fond look back at 'A Decade of The Waltons'..."

Episode # 8.24 (189)^1,2 – double length  {S8,D3,sB}
Written by Earl Hamner, episodes written by Theodore Apstein, Peter and Sarah Dixon, Dale Eunson, Kathleen Hite, Earl Hamner, John McGreevey, Rod Peterson and Claire Whitaker, Kathleen Powers, Andy White
Directed by Harry Harris and Philip Leacock, episodes directed by Walter Alzmann, Robert Butler, Fielder Cooke, Larry Dobkin, Harry Harris, Philip Leacock, Ralph Senensky, Jack Shea, Vincent Sherman, Ralph Waite
Music by Alexander Courage
Broadcast May 22, 1980, CBS   (UK: not broadcast?)

³Starring: Ellen Corby. Co-Starring: Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth Godsey), Mary Jackson (Emily Baldwin), Helen Kleeb (Mamie Baldwin) and Will Geer (The Grandfather), Richard Thomas (John-Boy)⁴. Guest Starring: Tom Bower (Curt Willard), Tammi Bula (Marcia Woolery), Barry Cahill (Buck Vernon), Nora Marlowe (Mrs. Brimmer), Michael Reed (John Curtis), John Ritter (Reverend Fordwick). With Special Appearances by: Doris Hamner, Bill Hamner, Clifton Hamner, James Hamner, Paul Hamner, Audrey Hankins, Marion Hawkins, Nancy Jamerson.

¹ This episode is part fictional and part documentary.
² This is the last episode for Michael Learned as Olivia until the 1982 telemovies.
³ Of the "Starring", "Co-Starring" and "Guest Starring" credits given here, only Ellen Corby appears in new footage; the others only in old clips. The "Special Appearances" are Earl Hamner's family, and appear in the interview segments in the last part of the show.
⁴ Uniquely, Richard Thomas as John-Boy is not credited anywhere on the episode despite appearing in many of the old extracts.

Grandma's birthday gift – a photo album – stirs memories of 10 years of laughs, sacrifice, courage, change and love. Series creator Earl Hamner hosts a special feature-length 200th episode celebration.