Customer Reviews

The Waltons: The Complete Sixth Season

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Season 6 was a great season for the best show ever!!
Here is the episode list:

The Hawk
The Stray
The Recluse
The Warrior
The Seashore
The Volunteer
The Grandchild (2 part episode)
The First Casualty
The Battle of Drucilla's Pond
The Flight
The Children's Carol (2 part episode)
The Milestone
The Celebration
The Rumor
Spring fever
The Festival
The Anniversary
The Family Tree
The Ordeal (2 part episode)
The Return (2 part episode)
The Revelation
Grandma Comes Home


This is last season in which all 11 members of the family appear although
there is not an episode with all of them in it. Grandma's performance in
Grandma Comes Home will never be forgotten. Richard Thomas is a guest star in The Return and The Revelation. Mary Ellen becomes a mother in The Grandchild. Jason is featured in The Recluse and The Family Tree. Ben and Jim bob have some great moments in Spring Fever. Olivia is featured in The Milestone and The Children's Carol. Elizabeth also has some great episodes - The Rumor, The Warrior, and The Ordeal. Erin has a great episode when she loses G.W. in The Volunteer. Racism is addressed in The Stray, The Festival and The Family Tree. The Waltons find out that they may have not have been the first to "own" Walton's Mountain in the Warrior. Jon and Olivia celebrate their 25th anniversary this season. Will Geer shines as Grandpa through the whole season. This is such a great season of the best family drama ever.
I highly recommend this season with 5 stars!!

It is nice that Warner Bros is making these great shows of "The Waltons" available on DVD, but I am sorry to report that I just watched the two-part episode "The Return" and it is edited and has approximately six minutes cut from it. How can this happen Warner Bros? In this
episode the character of John-Boy (Richard Thomas) returns home for a visit from New York. I own this episode on video tape, recorded several years ago from WGN. There are some coal mine scenes which are edited, including a scene of a small cave in before the big one hits. There is a scene in which the daughter Erin gives her father John some money to help the family out, and this is cut from the DVD. There is a scene in which the character of Harley refuses to discuss his fears of a possible cave-in with his wife Verdie which is not on this DVD. A scene in which John-Boy conducts an interview with a businessman is shortened too. Again, I think about six minutes total is missing.
I noticed a few edits in the season five set too. I must say when I am
paying for a complete season and see so many cuts or edits it is pretty
disappointing. Were the original master tapes not available? I would very
much like to know what happed as this cut up episode, "The Return", is one of my favorites. I thought that quality control at Warner Bros. would do a better job. From what I could tell "Grandma Comes Home" seemed complete, but what happened with "The Return"? This is why I rate this as four stars instead of five. The series itself is easily five stars.

I grew up watching the Walton's series and I have enjoyed them sooooooooo much growing up. So when I found out that Amazon had them I HAD to get them I have watched them over and over every week since then. I am thirty seven years old and I think every family should have the total and complete series of The Waltons they are that good!!! They have good morals and values that the world today is LACKING BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!! I think all ages should watch and learn how to respect and Love each other again.

The final episode of Season 6 is unbelievably touching, as Ellen Corby returns to the show, still struggling severely from the effects of her stroke in November 1976. But her courage is remarkable and her acting ability, through her eyes and facial expressions, is still Emmy-worthy. Her scene with Michael Learned, trying to prepare the string beans, and then the final scene ever with Will Geer, who died unexpectedly two months after the filming of this episode, are unforgettable.

The Waltons has long been one of my all-time favorite television shows, and Season 6 is at the top of the list, as it is the last season where we get to watch Richard Thomas as John Boy. However, some of the discs in the set I purchased do not work. I bought my set from Wal-Mart, but I have read reviews of people who have bought theirs at other places who have had the same problem. By the time I noticed this, I had disassembled the box the discs came in, so I could not return them. The Waltons DVDs are a must have; just be aware that there must be some manufacturing error on some sets, so check yours out before it is too late for you to get a refund or replacement if necessary.

Back in the seventies when I watched the Waltons on TV (CBS, Thursday nights at 7 PM), I thought that when John-Boy left the show, the series would "die", or at least diminish, as the series is told from John-Boy's point of view. Boy, was I ever wrong! Season 6 is chock-full of dramatic episodes that are every bit as good as the five seasons that preceeded it.

Jason is now the oldest brother in the Walton family, and he accounts himself well in the many episodes in which he plays a major role. "The Recluse" is an excellent episode where Jason draws out a reclusive woman from her self-imposed isolation. "The Warrior" follows this episode and is another great hour of entertainment. The Walton family is challenged by two Native American Indians who claim the Walton barn lies over sacred Indial burial grounds. The Indians try to burn down the barn. The Waltons resolve their dispute in an honorable fashion. "The Volunteer" is actually the first part of a two-part episode involving the relationship between G.W. and Erin. Erin rejects G.W.'s proposal of marriage, and joins the army. In a later episode, G.W. dies in a training accident and Erin has to deal with her guilt over rejecting G.W. Erin and GW both show they can act in these two episodes. I always thought the acting of G.W. was sort of "wooden", but he pulls off these two episodes with a maturity not seen in previous seasons.

Mary Ellen and Curt give the Waltons their first grandchild, a son in a two-part episode in mid-season. "The Milestone" gives Momma Walton a chance to show how very well she can act. She goes through her change of life in this episode. It is tastefully done as usual. "The Anniversary" shows the 25th wedding anniversary of John and Olivia Walton; it is a very special edition and shows the deep love they have for each other. Meanwhile, cracks appear in the marriage of Mary Ellen and Curt, as Curt is apart in the Army.

The season ends with a terrific combination of episodes. The first is "The Ordeal", another two-parter where Elizabeth is injured and Jim-Bob and Ben have to deal with their own guilt over her accident. This one is a real tear-jerker, especially at the end where Elizabeth takes her first halting steps after her accident. John-Boy returns in yet another two-part episode involving a disaster at a reopenned coal mine. The next to the last episode is another classic John-Boy episode, where he proposes marriage to his long-term girlfriend Daisy, but is in for a sudden revelation about her past. Finally, the season ends with the return of Grandma Esther Walton. (Actress Ellen Corby had suffered a stroke in real life, and had been away from the show since early in Season Five). This is another tear-jerker, and shows the courage of Ellen Corby in returning to the series, as she never fully recovered her voice as a result of the stroke. I have to applaud the producers of the Waltons for bringing back Grandma Walton despite her obvious disability. Many shows would have written her off, but not the Waltons. They deal with real-life drama and situations, and their love for each other and committment to family is what makes this show so endearing to all who love the series. I am sure every family today watching the Waltons wishes that their own family could have the love for each other that binds the Waltons together.

If you don't have this season, purchase it. It is well worth the investment. The entire family can enjoy the episodes. There is nothing like The Waltons on tv today, much to our great loss.

Jim "Konedog" Koening

Season 6 is enjoyable, but the absence of "John Boy" is keenly felt. As well, the show employs a large cast so maintaining storyline quality/consistency is challenging. But there's no avoiding the compelling reasons for the show's popularity -- the attractive moral values of yesteryear coupled with a hunger in our day for inclusion in an intact and loving family. Therein lies the secret of The Walton's success.

Having seen the original series as reruns on the Hallmark channel , due to my having choir on Thursdays, when they originally were shown in our area, the new millenium did not make them "quaint," but treasures. They became more of an enlightenment. Not only did their family, friends/neighbors "make do," but also, and more importantly, they depicted what is of real and lasting value:each other.

I consider each season of THE WALTON's to be a timely gift to ourselves.

We own all 5 prior seasons as well, and our 5, 8 and 9 year old sons beg for a "Waltons" show every night. We had already run through the 9 seasons of Little House on the Prairie and I was thrilled to find the Walton's and knew the boys would love it. This season was one I wondered about as the episodes are all new to me...about that time when the first run was on TV I started my teen years, working, etc and was unable to watch it. I thought that with John Jr off the series it might really lose something, but both my husband and I recently commented that the show really was about the entire cast, not just him and it was more evident than ever in this 6th season. Very well written story lines, involving the war brings a freshness to the show so things don't feel "rehashed" but new and interesting. While I have missed the character of Esther I know she returns and am thrilled to know we will be able to see her acting again in the show. Any Waltons fan will enjoy this season just as much as prior ones, if not even more.

And still I am left wondering why we can not find programming like this on TV today...obviously there is a market for it but studios can't seem to get that through their head. Perhaps some independent studio will "get it" someday. In the meantime, at least we have wonderful series like this on DVD for our kids.

This is one of our favorite shows however....I was very upset to discover that this set is missing some episodes. 2 of the disk are the same. I didn't realize this till long after the fact due my wife's illness so it's too late to return it. From reading the reviews I see others have the same problem, you'd think they would make this right.