THE WALTONS
Episode Synopses - Season 4

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  1. The Sermon
  2. The Genius
  3. The Fighter
  4. The Prophecy
  5. The Boondoggle
  6. The Breakdown
  7. The Wingwalker
  8. The Competition
  9. The Emergence
  10. The Loss
  11. The Abdication
  12. The Estrangement
  13. The Nurse
  14. The Intruders
  15. The Search
  16. The Secret
  17. The Fox
  18. The Burnout
  19. The Big Brother
  20. The Test
  21. The Quilting
  22. The House
  23. The Fledgling
  24. The Collision
  1. THE SERMON (11 Sep 1975)
    Writer: Kathleen Hite. Director: Harry Harris. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "So much of what we learned in those early years was rooted in that small schoolhouse on Waltons Mountain. I remember it warmly, and well, along with our teacher Miss Rosemary Hunter. And long after I left her school Miss Hunter figured prominently in a special time of learning for my mother, and for me. A time when each of us searched for that most elusive of persons, one's own self".

    Miss Hunter tells Olivia she's set the date for her marriage with Rev Fordwick, and asks Olivia to teach at the school while she's away on her honeymoon. Matthew Fordwick asks John-Boy if he'll take the service and give the sermon while he's away...... John-Boy is very apprehensive at the prospect of speaking before the community, as is Olivia at teaching.

    Grandma decides to "help" John-Boy with his sermon and writes copious notes for him, while at the same time he gets out lots of books to study. Not being able to decide on his subject, John says he ought to stop listening to what others want him to say, and think it out for himself. While up on the mountain during a family picnic, John-Boy quietly observes the others, and at the service he talks about the various ways each of his family is different, while being special in their own way.

    "I was never again to stand in for Reverend Fordwick, but it was an humbling experience, and a growing time. One that I learned much from, and have had occasion to recall many times during my life".

    Jim Bob: Mama do I get an "A" on my Favorite Person theme?
    Olivia: You deserve it, Jim Bob.
    Erin: He wrote about five favorite persons.
    Jim Bob: So I ought to get five "A"s.....
    Erin: Crabby.
    Elizabeth: I think you deserve them, Jim Bob.
    Jim Bob: Thanks, Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth: You stay after school longer that anyone else ever did! You're a champion record holder!
    Olivia: Goodnight Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth: Goodnight, Mama, goodnight Daddy.
    John: Goodnight honey.

    Also appearing -
    Ike & Corabeth Godsey (Joe Conley & Ronnie Claire Edwards); the Baldwin sisters (Mary Jackson & Helen Kleeb); Miss Hunter (Mariclaire Costello); Rev Fordwick (John Ritter); Prof Ranney (Basil Hoffman); Mrs Brimmer (Nora Marlowe); Martha Rose (Cindy Eilbacher).

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  2. THE GENIUS (18 Sep 1975)
    Writer: Robert Weverka. Director: Harry Harris. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "In those trying years of the Depression the achievements of any Walton family member were a source of pride for all of us. But the visit to our home of an extraordinary young man gave us all a new, and perhaps more balanced perspective in our views toward academic brilliance. It happened on a weekend when we were getting ready for a church bazaar".

    John-Boy is asked by Dean Beck at the college to take home for the weekend a young student, Lyle Thomason, who, although being an intellectual genius with a photographic memory, has absolutely no social graces. He has no friends and unthinkingly constantly rubs people the wrong way. At the church bazaar, Lyle antagonises eveyone so much with his attitude so John-Boy forcefully tells him some home truths, adding that underneath, he's probably quite a likeable person.

    "Lyle Thomason came back to stay with us several more times, and we enjoyed his visits very much. He did indeed prove to be a decent, kind, and very likable human being. But what pleased us even more, was that after that weekend, Lyle spent almost all of his free time visiting his own parents".

    Jim Bob: I'm glad I don't have a photographic memory!
    Elizabeth: Why wouldn't you like to have one, Jim Bob?
    Jim Bob: There are a lot of things I'd like to forget, like my grade in Civics.
    Grandpa: I knew a fellow once had a phonographic memory!
    Grandma: Old man now, that wasn't funny the first time you told it.
    Grandpa: Then why are you laughing Esther?
    Jim Bob: Why are you laughing, Grandma?
    Grandma: Oh Zebulun you stop that, now don't do that!
    Elizabeth: What's he doing, Grandma?
    Grandma: Oh my Lord he's tickling me, stop it now this minute or I'll go sleep on the sofa!
    Grandpa: Goodnight old darling!
    Grandma: Hm hm, goodnight.

    Note: John Walton (Ralph Waite) is away, working in Norfolk, so does not appear in this episode.
    Also appearing -
    Ike & Corabeth Godsey (Joe Conley & Ronnie Claire Edwards); the Baldwin sisters (Mary Jackson & Helen Kleeb); Lyle (Dennis Kort); Dean Beck (George D. Wallace).
    Note: Dean Beck will be played by Ivan Francis when the character appears in The Threshold (Season 9).

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  3. THE FIGHTER (25 Sep 1975)
    Writer: Andy White. Director: Ivan Dixon. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "When I was growing up during the great Depression, I often marveled at the road which connected us with the rest of the world, and which brought us friends and strangers. The road afforded us our isolation, and at the same time provided a link wth the rapidly changing cities. Here on Waltons Mountain there was a "Y" in the road, where a fateful decision was to be made by a new friend, a decision that was to involve the entire family".

    A black stranger, James Trevis Clark, comes looking for a job in response to John's advert. John-Boy deduces he's a prize-fighter, seeking a place to work while he trains, which upsets the family somewhat. Olivia gets so uptight at the thought of a prize-fighter living amongst them that she prevails on John to tell him to leave. But then they find him practicing preaching in the barn. It turns out that he wants to use the prize money to set up his own church in the district for the black folk. But when Verdie Foster finds James teaching her son Jody to use his fists, she's too angry to listen to any reasons.

    The fight is to be in Richmond, but when the man who is to be his manager finds out that the fight is fixed, he withdraws and John-Boy becomes manager for James. At the last minute, James's oponent is replaced by a champion fighter. During the ensuing hard fight James is injured and loses. Verdie, who has heard the fight on the radio, softens towards him and nurses him. Then the local black folk donate money and labor and they start building the church. In the still unfinished building, James gives his first sermon.

    "That Sunday and for several months to follow, this was the only church that James was to have. When a suitable replacement was found, James Trevis Clark insisted on moving on, for as much as he longed to be in the country, he returned to the streets from which he had fled. Working with youngsters, he was to live his religion on the playgrounds he established. Hundreds of boys and girls, both black and white, would turn to James Trevis Clark for leadership".

    Elizabeth: Mama?
    Olivia: Yes Elizabeth?
    Elizabeth: When people get the call, and they're baptised in the Rockfish River, are their sins really washed away?
    Olivia: Yes honey, they're really washed away.
    Elizabeth: Where does all the water go?
    Grandpa: Rockfish River empties into the James River at Howardsville, goes to Fort Union, Short Pump, Richmond, and empties into Hamptonrhodes harbour at Jamestown.
    Elizabeth: And all those sins end up in the sea?
    Olivia: That's right!
    Elizabeth: Is that fair to the fish?
    Olivia: Goodnight, Elizabeth!
    Elizabeth: Goodnight, Mama.

    Also appearing -
    James Trevis Clark (Cleavon Little); Mrs Verdie Foster (Lynn Hamilton); Ben Rafferty (Zachary A. Charles); Sam Mumford (Dave Shelley); Jody Foster (Erin Blunt); Zack (James Gammon).

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  4. THE PROPHECY (2 Oct 1975)
    Writer: Marion Hargrove. Director: Harry Harris. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "My father was a gentle man. One of the small things I always remember about him was a little trick he had of spinning a half dollar with one hand, usually without even thinking about it. One summer day almost forty years ago, he suddenly found he couldn't do it. As it turned out, it was a traumatic day for both of us".

    A professor at the college somewhat discouragingly tells John-Boy that being a writer isn't the way to make a living, it can be only a sideline.

    Eula Mae, one of John Walton's former classmates, comes telling him he must attend the 25th reunion of the class of 1911, although he doesn't really want to go. It's to be held in Rockfish but events conspire to prevent this so Olivia offers to have the reunion dinner at the Walton's house. During the after-dinner conversations, someone remembers that the boy voted "most likely to succeed" was John Walton, and then another of the class, now a noted businessman, reflects that it is John, not he, who has really succeeded, with a warm happy home, fine wife, and children, and here they all are, sitting, well-fed, at John's table. John, indeed, is the boy who did succeed!

    "Success is often measured in terms of how much money or fame one accumulates in a lifetime. My father knew little of either, yet he was the most successful man I have ever known. He lived each day with zest, a sense of adventure, and a twinkle in his eye. He loved his family well, and we miss him".

    Elizabeth: Mama?
    Olivia: Yes Elizabeth?
    Elizabeth: I never did get it figured out today - were you always stuck on Daddy?
    Grandma: It looked to me like they were all kind of stuck on him.
    Grandpa: I've always heard tell it's them quiet ones you've got to watch.....
    Olivia: John?
    John (outside, sitting alone at the now empty reunion dinner table): I'll be along, 'Liv.
    He tries once more to spin the half dollar coin - and succeeds.

    Also appearing -
    Eula Mae (Lynn Carlin); Rachel (Sandra Deel); Zack Rosswell (James Gammon); G.Cleveland (Cathcart James Ray); Mrs Graddy (Deanna Lund); John Martin Renshaw (William Phipps); Dr Porter (Beaumont Bruestle); Ernestine (Nicole Henzel); B.C.Graddy Jr (Jeff Cotler); B.C.Graddy (Noble Willingham).

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  5. THE BOONDOGGLE (9 Oct 1975)
    Writers: Rod Peterson & Claire Whittaker. Director: Ralph Waite. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "Of all the people who visited Waltons Mountain during my growing to manhood years, I remember one especially. He was a man who brought new ideas to an old way of life. For a brief time his presence stirred the Walton household, and threatened the time-honored traditions of our quiet community".

    Porter Sims, a reporter from New York, comes to get material for a guide book on Virginia. John-Boy takes him to see the Baldwin sisters who allow him to look through the late Judge Baldwin's private papers. These reveal that their father was accused of treason for harboring Yankee soldiers during the Civil War. Deeply shocked and hurt, they decide not to leave their house ever again. But further research among the papers shows that their father had in fact heroically ministered to the wounded of both sides, and that had the end of the war not prevented his trial from taking place, he would have been exonerated.

    Jim Bob tries to start up a business selling fresh fish to the locals. He collects the fish in a pond but Elizabeth gets fond of the little fishes and lets them go, leaving Jim Bob to explain to his disappointed would-be customers.

    "Their family honor restored, the Baldwin ladies returned to their happy yesterday world, cherishing the memory of another gallant gentleman caller. The guide books for all the States have become valued historical references, and when Waltons Mountain was mentioned in the volume for Virginia, Grandma never again referred to it as a boondoggle".

    Elizabeth: John-Boy, who'd want to read a book about Virginia?
    John-Boy: Well a lot of folks would, Elizabeth, people who were coming to visit here, and anybody who wants to know more about the state.
    Grandpa: And of course we'd all like to have Santa Claus read the Virginia State Guide, now wouldn't we!
    John-Boy: Alright Grandpa, why would we like to have him read it?
    Grandpa: Well, that way, we could say - Yes, Santa Claus, there is a Virginia! Ha ha ha!
    John-Boy: Goodnight everybody.

    Also appearing -
    the Baldwin sisters (Mary Jackson & Helen Kleeb); Porter Sims (Richard McKenzie); Mrs Brimmer (Nora Marlowe); Abel Bingly (David Clarke); Buck (Kevin Lee); Benny (Derek Triplett).
    Note: A "boondoggle" is an old pioneering term for anything made up from left-over scraps.

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  6. THE BREAKDOWN (16 Oct 1975)
    Writer: John McGreevey. Director: Ivan Dixon. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "Suffering in silence was not a popular past-time with me nor my brothers and sisters. Feelings good and bad in the Walton family were customarily laid out for everybody remotely concerned to see and hear and hopefully to adjust to. Sometimes of course we did hide our true feelings, out of hurt, and once in the case of my brother Jason, out of a refusal to believe he could have such bad feelings against his older brother".

    Jason is continually tired, he's working with Bobby Bigelow's band with an early morning radio programme, answering the band's fan mail during the day, playing at dances every night, as well as studying at the Conservatory. Although his mother repeatedly wants him to give up a lot of his commitments, he continues with his strenouous workload. His temper gets shorter, and one day just as he is about to leave, he collapses. This, at last, brings about an enforced rest and time to convalesce.

    Meanwhile, to earn some money, John-Boy takes a job at Boatwright cataloguing books for the librarian Prof. Hoadley, who wants him to change his course of studies to becoming a qualified librarian.

    "Out of that breakdown my brother emerged with a new maturity and he and I came to a better understanding. We stopped the old game of "follow the leader" and began to face things together. To my mother, Jason and all the rest of us would always be "the children". With my father's help she learned not to rush in and try to pick us up after every tumble. Still, we knew she was there ready to help if ever and whenever we reached out".

    John: 'Night Livvy.
    Olivia: I can't understand it.
    John: Understand what?
    Olivia: Why Jason would give a girl like Bet Morgan a second glance!
    John: You got to remember honey, love is blind.
    Olivia: But I felt boys looked for girls who put them in mind of their mothers!
    John: Yeh. Well, (laughing) goodnight 'Liv.
    Olivia (laughing): Goodnight.

    Also appearing -
    Bobby Bigelow (Mayf Nutter); Prof. Hoadley (Ivan Francis).
    Note: Ivan Francis appears again, as Dean Beck of Boatwright College, in The Threshold (Season 9).

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  7. THE WINGWALKER (23 Oct 1975)
    Writer: Andy White. Director: Harry S. Laidman. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "While we were walking the green meadows of Waltons Mountain, daring flyers were conquering the beckoning blue skies. We had come to know an airmail pilot who would fly slightly off course just to say "Hello" to us, and especially to Jim Bob. Jim Bob's head was in the clouds back in those days, dreaming of machines which he hoped one day to fly".

    One bright sunny day a stunt flyer, Rex Barker, comes to give an aerobatic display at a fair a few miles away. With him is a girl wingwalker, Bobby Strom. John-Boy seeks a story for a local paper and invites Bobby to stay at the Waltons insead of at a hotel in a town. He is attracted to her and she falls for him, but when she comes to realise that he doesn't fully love her, resolves to continue her dangerous career.

    "We were never to see or hear from the wingwalker again. To this day I think of Bobby Strom whenever I see a white dove in flight, and within Jim Bob's heart I'm sure there's a bitter-sweet memory".

    Elizabeth: Grandma, remember all the flies I swatted for you so Myrtle could stay?
    Grandma: You did well, Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth: I see a lot of fireflies outside, do you suppose they're friends coming to look for me with lanterns?
    Grandpa: More 'n likely they're the flies you swotted bound for Heaven with their halos burning bright.
    Elizabeth: Well I flushed them down the toilet....
    Olivia: Goodnight Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth: Goodnight Mama. Goodnight Daddy.
    John: Goodnight honey. Come on Liv, turn off the light.
    Elizabeth: Turn off the fireflies too.
    Grandpa chuckles.
    John-Boy: Goodnight Elizabeth.

    Also appearing -
    Rex Barker (Tom Bower); Bobby Strom (Lee Purcell).
    Note: Tom Bower reappears as Dr Curt Willard in The Wedding (Season 5).

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  8. THE COMPETITION (30 Oct 1975)
    Teleplay: Nancy Greenwald & Paul West. Story: Nancy Greenwald. Director: Alf Kjellin. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "Our home at Waltons Mountain was far off the beaten track, but we were connected with the rest of the world by a picturesque back-country road, muddy or frozen in winter, hot and dusty in the summer, rutted always, the road brought us many adventures. Sometimes a herd of deer would leap in front of the headlights, or the pine forest dappled with newly-blossomed dogwood or red bud would refresh the eye and lift the spirit, and I remember one occasion when I met a stranger on the road, a casual incident which led to fireworks in the family such as we had never seen before".

    A young man, Chad, on a camping expedition, falls in love with Erin, but realises he's met her a few years too soon. Olivia wants to have another baby but the doctor advises against it. The opportunity arises, though, to have temporary care of an orphaned baby girl. Chad's departure, and the handing over of the baby to the new foster parents causes heartache to both Olivia and Erin.

    "The cradle was never far back in the attic, it was used again and again as our own families grew, and I think she is never so happy as when one or all of her grandchildren come to visit in that house on Waltons Mountain".

    John-Boy: Goodnight Mama.
    Olivia: Goodnight John-Boy. Goodnight Mary Ellen.
    Mary Ellen: Goodnight Mama. Goodnight Erin.
    Erin: Do you think Chad will ever come back?
    Mary Ellen: I don't know Erin, maybe.
    Jim Bob: I hope he doesn't. When he was here, you and Erin were primping in the bathroom all the time.
    John: Goodnight Jim Bob!
    Jim Bob: A guy has to get in the bathroom sometime.
    Mary Ellen & Erin: Goodnight Jim Bob!
    Elizabeth: Goodnight everybody!

    A tidbit:
    Grandpa (saying blessing): ...Amen. I wonder why they never say "A-women"?
    Also appearing -
    Chad (Michael O'Keefe).
    Note: Chad reappears in The Elopement (Season 5).

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  9. THE EMERGENCE (6 Nov 1975)
    Writer: Hindi Brooks. Director: Alf Kjellin. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "In 1935 life on Waltons Mountain began to change, our activities took us more and more away from home and it was only knowing most of us would all be there again at night that helped us keep the family ties that had always been our strength. To help pay back the money we had borrowed from the bank, my father had taken a job in Norfolk, and when possible he returned home on weekends. My mother, under the additional pressures of being a substitute teacher found her life changed, and these changes took some getting used to for all of us".

    Samuel Miller is regarded as backward. Olivia, relief teacher at the school, discovers that he has poor eyesight and obtains glasses for him. Marcia Woolery, a girl-friend of John-Boy's schooldays, is prevented from marrying a fortune hunter and is found a job in the nearby town.

    "Samuel Miller continued on in Waltons Mountain School learning more and more every day. My mother was very proud of him and of herself. Marcia Woolery became a good sales clerk and when she did marry it was not out of desperation but out of love".

    Grandpa: John-Boy? Get Marsha all settled in?
    John-Boy: Yes Grandpa.
    Grandma: Is it a nice place?
    John-Boy: Well very nice she's got a corner room, big -
    Mary Ellen: - And two meals a day.
    John-Boy: Mary Ellen how did you know that?
    Mary Ellen: Her boss buys her lunch.
    John-Boy: Mary Ellen.....
    Mary Ellen: Mata Hari knows all....
    Olivia: Does she know when her bedtime is?
    Mary Ellen: Mata Hari never sleeps!
    John-Boy: No, she's too busy snooping. Goodnight Mata Hari.
    Mary Ellen: Goodnight Fickle Face.
    Elizabeth chuckles.
    John-Boy: Mary Ellen...
    Mary Ellen: Goodnight John-Boy.
    John-Boy (quietly): Goodnight.

    Also appearing -
    Samuel Miller (Bob Arsic); Marcia Woolery (Tami Bula).

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  10. THE LOSS (13 Nov 1975)
    Writer: Joan Scott. Director: Alf Kjellin. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "Sometimes life goes on in peaceful cycles like the seasons, a gradual blending of time and events that we scarcely notice, and just as we think we may have learned all there is to know about life, fate conspires to show us just how little we do know. Such was the case one especially beautiful day in early Fall. Our parents had told us that Olivia Hill had lost her husband in an accident and that she was coming to spend a few weeks with us".

    Olivia Hill finds it hard to control her grief at her memories of the short time she'd had with her husband.* Although the family try hard to encourage and cheer her she keeps bursting into tears. But when Calico the old cat dies in giving birth to three kittens, she takes command and nurses them through their critical first hours of life.

    "Our family learned a lot that Fall about life, about loss, but mostly about loving, thanks to Olivia and to Calico".

    Elizabeth: Daddy?
    John: Yes Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth: When I get married do I have to leave here?
    John: Well you'll probably want to honey.
    Elizabeth: No I won't. I'd be too lonely. Can I stay here?
    John: If you still want to when you're married, maybe we can work something out.
    Elizabeth: Goodnight Mama. Goodnight Daddy
    John & Oliva: Goodnight Elizabeth.

    Note: * see The Shivaree (Season 3).
    Also appearing -
    Olivia Hill (Deborah White).

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  11. THE ABDICATION (20 Nov 1975)
    Teleplay: Matt Robinson & Paul West. Story: Matt Robinson. Director: Harvey S. Laidman. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "A different sound, an unfamiliar shape, or shadow instantly alerts the creatures of the wild. Growing up on Waltons Mountain, seldom traveling far from the place where we were born we came to share this immediate awareness of something different, something new. It seems now in recollection that one of the milestone events of my 19th year followed the appearance in our community of something decidedly different, something none of us had ever seen before".

    At the same time as Edward VIII's abdication, a film company arrives to shoot a picture written by A.J.Covington, a writer friend, and John-Boy is asked to re-write some dialogue scenes. His skillful work results in the director firing the writer and offering John-Boy a job in New York, but he is upset at his friend's dismissal, and declines.

    "Twice A.J.Covington came into our lives on Waltons Mountain and twice he wandered on. The visit of the movie company had made almost as much history in our small community as the abdication of Edward VIII made on the world. Unlike Edward, my abdication from writing for the screen was a temporary one".

    John-Boy: Goodnight Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth: Goodnight John-Boy. I'm glad you're going to stay.
    John-Boy: So am I. Goodnight Mary Ellen.
    Mary Ellen: Goodnight Duke of Windsor. Too bad about your throne.
    Grandpa: That Wallace Simpson must be some cutie!
    Grandma: I hear she dyes her hair.
    Grandpa: That gossip is not home grown....
    John: Grow quiet, please.
    Olivia: Goodnight everybody.

    Also appearing -
    A.J.Covington George Dzundza).
    Note: In The Literary Man (Season 1), A.J.Covington was played by David Huddleston.

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  12. THE ESTRANGEMENT (4 Dec 1975)
    Writers: Michael Russnow & Tony Kayden. Director: Harry Harris. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "Sometimes people's lives would become entwined with ours for a brief time and then because of change or growth or the passage of time their lives would take different paths and we would never see or hear of them again. But there were occasions when people we had known in the past would reappear. I remember one such occasion, and it took us completely by surprise".

    Wade Walton, after the eviction from their mountain home,* had moved to the city and is running "moonshine" which has caused his young wife Vera to leave him and, with their baby to stay at the Waltons. After a brush with the law, they are reunited when Wade leaves the city, accepting a temporary job in the mill.

    Ben has been selling seedlings without a licence, causing the Sheriff to come looking for him....

    "In time Wade earned enough through his wages at the mill to open his own woodcarving shop in the house he had long planned to build. Now that he was able to follow the work he loved most he became the husband and the father he had always planned to be on the day he and Vera were married".

    Jim Bob: Mama?
    Olivia: Yes Jim Bob?
    Jim Bob: I can't sleep.
    Olivia: Why not?
    Jim Bob: You know that hula dancer Wade's got tattooed on his arm?
    Olivia: Yeh?
    Jim Bob: Well I got one on my arm now.
    Olivia: You'd better be joking....
    Jim Bob: I drew it on in indelible ink. I've been scrubbing and scrubbing it and it won't come off.
    Olivia: Then you just keep on scrubbing.
    Jim Bob: I will in the morning.
    Olivia: Right now!
    Jim Bob: Goodnight Mama.
    Olivia: Goodnight....

    Note: * see The Conflict (Season 3).
    Also appearing -
    Wade Walton (Richard Hatch); Vera (Lindsay V. Jones); Sheriff Bridges (John Crawford).

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  13. THE NURSE (11 Dec 1975)
    Writer: Kathleen Hite. Director: Alf Kjellin. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "The joy and pain of growing up came to each of us in different ways, but no one endured the experience alone. And so it was when Mary Ellen tried her first searching steps away from her childhood. It was a time of joy and pain for her and for the rest of us as well".

    At last, she leaves home for the first time to fulfill her ambition to become a nurse, but it's not long before John-Boy has to bring her back, as she found she needed extra subjects to pass the exam. Meanwhile she helps her friend the local District Nurse Nora Taylor in caring for a dying lady, and experiences what real nursing is.

    "By summer's end Mary Ellen had been accepted at the School of Nursing of the University of Virginia. All of us watched her grow through those difficult weeks as she gathered the knowledge and maturity she needed. At the end of it, Mary Ellen knew that nursing was to be her life, and as long as she pursued it, it was rewarding to her and to everyone who knew her as a nurse and loved her as a person".

    Erin screams.
    Olivia: Erin, was that you?
    Erin: There's a cricket in my bed! A big fat cricket!
    Olivia: Jim Bob did you put that in Erin's bed?
    Erin: Jim Bob....
    Grandpa chuckles.
    Jason: It was Grandpa!
    Erin: Mary Ellen, I wish I could go away to school with you.
    Elizabeth: So do I, I'd have my very own room.
    John: Everybody go to sleep!
    Erin: I'm gonna get you Grandpa!
    Grandpa laughs.

    A tidbit - (after Mary Ellen has been given a suitcase)
    Jim Bob (to Mary Ellen): Now you can go away and stay away!
    John-Boy: Are you sure that's what you meant to say Jim Bob?
    Jim Bob: Well it didn't come out like I thought in my head!
    Also appearing -
    Ike Godsey (Joe Conley); Nora Taylor (Barbara Eda-Young); Nurse Jenny Stevens (Charlotte Moore); Lair Basham (Jon Lorner); Essie Basham (Tamar Cooper); Nurse Collins (Ann D'Andrea); Nurse Smith (Elizabeth Rogers).

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  14. THE INTRUDERS (18 Dec 1975)
    Writer: Seth Freeman. Director: Richard Bennett. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "Whoever sees his father clearly? I believe I often saw my father, not as he was, but as I needed him to be. Then one difficult autumn I had a chance to glimpse the whole man and to understand him more fully".

    A new lumber company moves into the area and when Ben leaves home to find himself a job, ends up working at the rival saw mill. But when he learns of a contract being offered to the mill which delivers first, he returns home to his father's business. In the race to deliver first, Grandpa causes the rival company to float its logs down the river, while the Walton consignment travels faster by road.

    "Like the tortoise in Aesop's Fables, like Brer Rabbit in the Tales of Uncle Remus, my grandfather had outwitted the opposition with his cunning. We arrived at the site a full half-day ahead of our floating competition, and were awarded the warehouse contract. It kept us going for most of that winter".

    Mary Ellen: Goodnight Ben.
    Ben: Goodnight Mary Ellen.
    Mary Ellen: You ladies man!
    Olivia: Let's go to sleep now everybody.
    Elizabeth: Goodnight Jason.
    Jason: Goodnight Elizabeth.
    John: Liv, there's something I'm going to do when this Depression is over.
    Olivia: What?
    John: Put up proper walls in this house so everybody can't hear what's being said in every other room.
    Elizabeth: Why are you going to do that, Daddy?
    John: Goodnight, Elizabeth....

    Also appearing -
    Ike Godsey (Joe Conley); Cobbs (Bill Lucking); Ferris (Cal Haynes); Parsons (Tom Howard).

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  15. THE SEARCH (1 Jan 1976)
    Teleplay: Paul West. Story: Ellen Corby. Director: Harry Harris. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "We lived close to the land on Waltons Mountain and we felt a natural kinship with the forest which surrounded our home. It was our playground, a source of food and shelter, and a livelihood for our family. In the lore of our mountains there were stories of travelers who had been lost in the forest. One summer's day that legend became a terrifying reality".

    Olivia, Elizabeth and Jim Bob take the truck to visit some friends in the next county, taking with them as a gift a broody hen. Because of some roadworks they have to make a detour along a lonely bumpy track through the woods. Then a tire blows and the truck ends up off the track amongst the bushes, and the hen escapes into the forest. Elizabeth runs after the hen and Olivia and Jim Bob chase after her and they soon get lost. After a time they come across a bootlegger's cabin but the occupants, fearful that their secret location could be discovered, take them deeper into the woods and abandon them. As night falls a storm blows up and they shelter huddled beside a rock. Eventually they are found by a search party and taken home.

    "One member of the family was not to make it home. Betsy the broody hen found and hatched her eggs out there in the woods and for years after, perhaps to this day, a flock of chickens gone wild could be found in the vicinity of a big bramble bush in Benton's Hollow".

    Elizabeth: What was it like round here today?
    Mary Ellen: It was awful. Grandma made us work all day.
    Grandma: We got through. Goodnight Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth: Goodnight Grandma. Goodnight John-Boy.
    John-Boy: Goodnight Elizabeth. Goodnight Mary Ellen.
    Mary Ellen: Goodnight John-Boy. Goodnight Jim Bob.
    silence....
    Olivia: Jim Bob?
    silence...
    Olivia: Where is the little boy who looks after the sheep? He's under the haystack fast asleep. Goodnight eveyone.

    Also appearing -
    Ike Godsey (Joe Conley); mountain woman (Helen Craig); older son (Robert Sorrels); younger son (Red Currie).

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  16. THE SECRET
    Writers: Rod Peterson & Claire Whittaker. Director: Harvey S. Laidman. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "There comes a time in a young man's life when he begins to wonder how he fits into the world around him. When that time came for my brother Jim Bob it brought the unfolding of a long-kept secret".

    Jim Bob begins to wonder whether he's really a Walton. John-Boy takes him to look up his birth registration and they discover he had a twin brother who died at birth. His father explains that as that time had caused so much grief for his mother, it was never spoken of, but, because of it, Jim Bob was always especially dear to her.

    "The most valuable truth that all of us learned when that secret was finally revealed is that belonging to a family has less to do with being born than being loved. And with all the hurts and fears and wants we might remember from those Depression years, being loved is what we remember the best".

    Elizabeth: I told you Jim Bob would win the Yo-Yo contest.
    John-Boy: Who are you talking to Elizabeth?
    Elizabeth: Anybody that's still awake!
    John-Boy: I think I'm the only one. And I never said he wouldn't.
    Elizabeth: Well he did. And he's a real wow!
    John-Boy: Sounds to me like your're feeling sorry about trying to convince him he wasn't.
    Elizabeth: I told them I was sorry. So did Ben and Erin. For teasing him.
    John-Boy: Well then just forget about it.
    Elizabeth: Good idea. John-Boy?
    John-Boy: Yes Elizabeth?
    Elizabeth: Do you think I could have been left by the Gypsies, red-haired ones?
    John-Boy: Goodnight Elizabeth!
    Elizabeth: Goodnight John-Boy.

    Also appearing -
    Ike & Corabeth (Joe Conley & Ronnie Clair Edwards); Mrs Brimmer (Nora Marlowe); Mrs Breckenridge (Adrienne Marden).

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  17. THE FOX (15 Jan 1976)
    Writer: Max Hodge. Director: Richard Thomas. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "In the days of my boyhood on Waltons Mountain it was not only home to me but to the wild animals roaming the woods, and though they were not always welcome guests in our house, they were reasonably free and without fear. Sometimes though a threat to their lives would appear".

    Ben traps a fox but can't bring himself to kill it and is persuaded to let it go.

    Grandpa is fond of recounting his exploits in the Spanish-American war but when the chance occurs to meet old comrades, he is curiously reluctant. His unwillingness to go to the reunion is because his thrilling tale of the battle is at variance with the actual truth in that he wasn't part of the charge up the hill. But the chance meeting with an old comrade reveals that he'd saved the man's life.

    "Grandpa's story of the charge up Sanwan Hill was different when he told it after that, but in many ways more satisfying to him and his listeners. Just at dusk of that day, Grandpa rode alone up Waltons Mountain. Perhaps it was Sanwan Hill he saw there at sunset. This time there was only silence and peace, and this time he made it all the way to the top. I wrote my story for Adventure Magazine but it was rejected with a terse note from the Editor - Not interested in the Spanish-American War".

    Elizabeth: Ben, don't you feel good, letting the fox go?
    Ben: Well, what am I going to do for firecrackers on the Fourth?
    Elizabeth: How about me? Pop! Bang! Bang! Moo!
    Ben: You wouldn't fool anyone.
    Grandpa: Who's shooting off firecrackers this time of night?
    Elizabeth: See! I fooled Grandpa!
    Grandma: Old Man now don't you encourage their foolishness. You children go to sleep!
    Ben: Ok goodnight.
    Elizabeth: Goodnight.
    Everyone: Goodnight.
    (pause...)
    Elizabeth: Boom!
    Everyone: Pow! Bang! Shutup! Boom! Bang!
    Grandma: Oh, good Lord....

    Also appearing -
    Ike Godsey (Joe Conley); Maude Gormley (Merie Earle); Allen McCreary (Frank Ferguson); Bob Allerton (George Chandler); Elaine Allerton (Arline Anderson); the Yo-Yo King (Eddie Reider).

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  18. THE BURNOUT (two-hour episode) (22 Jan 1976)
    Writer: John McGreevey. Director: Harry Harris. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "As with most families everywhere, on Waltons Mountain we were faced with all kinds of troubles large and small, some growing out of personal weaknesses, others thrust on us by our changing world. Mostly when troubles struck we drew together, united against the common enemy, and came out of the struggle closer than before. But one year my family suffered a loss which rather than bringing us closer together, scattered us and threatened to destroy the fabric of our lives".

    John-Boy's jubilation at learning of a publisher's interest in his novel turns to sackcloth and ashes of disaster when one night Grandpa leaves an electric fire on in the bathroom. During the night the house catches fire, destroying the upper storey. The family tries to spend the following night in an old tent but the rain makes it untenable and the children are forced to separate, staying with various neighbors, and only John and Olivia remain in the surviving part of the house. Erin and Jim Bob go to the Fordwicks, Jason stays with the Baldwins, Ben shacks up with Yancy Tucker, and Elizabeth stays with the Godseys. Grandpa and Grandma are put up by Mrs Brimmer where Grandpa is attracted to one of the boarders, a Mrs Dunbar. Mary Ellen stays with the doctor where she upsets the household with her attempts to re-organise the office and surgery.

    Scattered to the four winds, all the family look forward to being together again - all but Elizabeth who behaves most strangely. Destruction seems to overtake all she is fond of, and so, fearing that disaster will come to her parents if she loves them too dearly, she withdraws herself. She retreats to the tree-house where John-Boy explains things and brings her comfort and re-assurance. He has already found, when helping to clear up after the fire, his pipe, and Grandpa's electric fire - still plugged in. With a lot of effort the house is repaired and the family re-united.

    "After the ordeal of the fire and separation my family seemed to have a new awareness of life's unpredictability, and out of that awareness came a new and largely unspoken tenderness. Open caring, whatever the circumstances, was our shared strength and consolation".

    Ben: Hey Jim Bob!
    Jim Bob: Um?
    Ben: How many hair rim you got now?
    Jim Bob: Haven't got any.
    Ben: Well what happened?
    Jim Bob: I traded 'em all to Showy Lowerby for a genuine shrunken head!
    Ben: Goodnight Jim Bob.
    Jim Bob: Goodnight Ben.

    Also appearing -
    Ike & Corabeth (Joe Conley & Ronnie Claire Edwards); the Baldwin sisters (Mary Jackson & Helen Kleeb); Rosemary & Matthew Fordwick (Mariclaire Costello & John Ritter); Professor Parks (Paul Jenkins); Zuleika Dunbar (Pearl Shear); Mrs Brimmer (Nora Marlowe); Dr Vance (Victor Izay).

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  19. THE BIG BROTHER (29 Jan 1976)
    Writer: John McGreevey. Director: Ralph Waite. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "Being the oldest in a large family was in many ways a blessing, in other ways it could be a burden. For one thing it meant I gave up earlier some of the carefree and irresponsible joys of being young. It wasn't until I was spending some extra time at home during a break between semesters that I realised that I was not only being big brother to my own family but to the world at large".

    John-Boy meets a girl at the bus station and is taken in by her hard-luck story. She tells him her name is Muffin Maloney, but she's actually the grand-daughter of a con-man at present in the local jail. She's already conned the Baldwin sisters out of a couple of dollars with another hard-luck story. She also cons Ike Godsey at the store. Back at the Waltons she is confronted and found out when the Baldwins call. Although taken to jail, she persuades Jim Bob to distract the Sheriff and she and her grandfather excape - and in John-Boy's car, which is subsequently found abandoned near the county border.

    "You would expect that after such an experience I would have given up trying to be a big brother to everyone I met. I did for a while, but it wasn't long until I had lapsed back into the comfortable and familiar role I had learned to play. In fact, I suspect that even today, if I found Muffin Maloney sitting on my running-board, I might say - Hi there, you look like you need a friend.... ".

    Ben: John-Boy?
    John-Boy: Yes, Ben?
    Ben: You know those shelves I put up? They all fell down.
    John-Boy: Is that so?
    Ben: I wish I'd listened to you.
    John-Boy: Wider supports, 8 penny nails.
    Ben: Well they'd probably would have fallen down anyway. At least it would have been your fault!
    John-Boy (chuckles): Goodnight Ben.
    Ben: Goodnight.

    Also appearing -
    the Baldwin sisters (Mary Jackson & Helen Kleeb); Ike Godsey (Joe Conley); Sheriff Bridges (John Crawford); Muffin Maloney (Vicky Schreck).

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  20. THE TEST (5 Feb 1976)
    Writer: Kathleen Hite. Director: Harvey S. Laidman. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "There was one daily reality in our life on Waltons Mountain, and that was the Depression and our constant and continuing need for money. I count it remarkable that we, and others like us, were not totally defeated by hard times. The credit for that of course must go to our parents and their unique strengths, strengths that were tested almost daily".

    Canceled orders and lack of work leave John with no income. Then the Baldwin sisters ask Olivia to fashion some dresses for them from material they have in their attic. When the Baldwins attend a garden party in their new dresses, it prompts the owner of a fashion shop in a nearby town to offer Olivia sewing work. Although this means working away from home five days a week, she accepts, but when it also leads to an opportunity of going to New York, Olivia has to face a difficult decision - to earn money she has to be away from the family. She decides to give up the job, even though the owner of the shop, Stella Lewis, turns out to have been at the same school as Olivia.

    Maude Gormley's son Leonard wants to put his mother into an old folks home, as he's worried at her living alone, even though John Walton says they are living nearby and can keep an eye on her. Maude is not happy in the home, and returns to her own house.

    "There were other peaks and valleys for our family during the remainder of the Depression, but it seems now as if each testing was a strengthening of our regard for each other. Our family unity would not permit us to be defeated. Downed and struggling sometimes but never defeated".

    Elizabeth: John-Boy?
    John-Boy: Yes Elizabeth?
    Elizabeth: Is a Typhoon a rich man?
    Jim Bob: That's dumb, Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth: I'm talking to John-Boy.
    John-Boy: Honey a Tycoon is a rich man a typhoon is a big wind.
    Elizabeth: I guess I'd rather be a Tycoon, a lady Tycoon.
    Jim Bob: I'd rather be Ty Cobb.
    John-Boy: I'd rather be asleep. 'Night Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth: 'Night John-Boy. Goodnight Jim Bob, - or whoever you'd rather be.....
    John-Boy & Jim Bob: Goodnight......

    Also appearing -
    the Baldwin sisters (Mary Jackson & Helen Kleeb); Maude Gormley (Merie Earle); Leonard Gormley (John Wheeler); Stella Lewis (Abby Dalton).

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  21. THE QUILTING (12 Feb 1976)
    Writers: Rod Peterson & Claire Whittaker. Director: Lawrence Dobkin. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "On Waltons Mountain, as our parents had before us, we grew up taking for granted the traditions that shaped our lives. When my sister Mary Ellen took a stand against a solemn mountain custom, it was a rebellion that rattled the complacency of generations. She was 17, but the custom was older than even my grandmother could remember".

    It was a tradition that girls come of age with a "quilting" in which friends and relations each provide a square for a patchwork quilt. Mary Ellen expresses her disapproval but Grandma goes ahead with the occasion in spite of her wishes. It is John-Boy who manages to persuade Mary Ellen to relent.

    "There may not have been true harmony in the singing that evening, but we could feel it once again flowing through our family. The gap between young and old, traditional and modern ways had been bridged by something we all felt for each other, an enduring respect and affection".

    Elizabeth: Tell me about the picture show, Jim Bob.
    Jim Bob: Tomorrow Elizabeth. I saw it three times so I won't forget. Goodnight.
    Erin: When can I have my quilting Mama?
    Mary Ellen: Goodnight Grandma.
    Grandma: Goodnight Mary Ellen.
    Erin: Mama? When can I have my quilting?
    John: We'll talk about it in the morning Erin, goodnight now.
    Jim Bob: Mama I met a girl at the picture show today. Looked a lot like you.
    Olivia: That's nice, goodnight.

    Also appearing -
    Ike & Corabeth Godsey (Joe Conley & Ronnie Claire Edwards); the Baldwin sisters (Mary Jackson & Helen Kleeb); Yancy Tucker (Robert Donner); Maude Gormley (Merie Earle); Mrs Brimmer (Nora Marlowe); GW Haines (David Doremus); the Radio Host (Art Gilmore).

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  22. THE HOUSE (19 Feb 1976)
    Writer: Kirby Timmons. Director: Harvey S. Laidman. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "On Waltons Mountain the changing of the seasons marked the rapid day-to-day growth of the younger members of our family. With all the process of change there were lasting values in our lives, as enduring as the mountain itself. But there came a time when our values were tested by events which came upon us without warning".

    Grandma has just returned from staying with Martha Corinne while she had flu, when a clash of interests causes bitterness between the grandparents as an old house in the town is to be demolished. It holds fond memories for the old folk who petition in vain for its preservation. John gets the contract to pull it down and then Grandpa finds a way to restore peace by fitting its stained glass window in their bedroom.

    Jason and a violin student at the Conservatory are to give a recital of classical duets but the music goes missing, so he uses a favourite piece of Grandma's "The Hills of Virginia" instead and finds that even his music professor is enthralled.

    "The window was just the beginning. My father and grandfather parceled out the doors and mantels and paneling of the old Whitby house to our friends and neighbors. Somehow that bit of history in each of their homes brought us all a little closer together".

    Jim Bob: Grandpa? Is the lightning rod working?
    Grandpa: You go to sleep Jim Bob. I'll wake you up the first sign that the lightning rod is doing it's duty.
    Jim Bob: Goodnight Grandpa.
    Grandpa: Esther? Don't I rate a goodnight kiss? Oom, well!
    Grandma: What;s wrong?
    Grandpa: You kissed me, I'd a sworn the lightning rod run a bull-smack down here in the room with us.
    Grandma: Oh you big talker!
    Grandpa chuckles: Goodnight everybody!

    Also appearing -
    the Baldwin sisters (Mary Jackson & Helen Kleeb); Mr Johnson (Walter Brooke); Professor Thaxton (Jay Robinson); Mr Wheeler (Bill Sorrells).

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  23. THE FLEDGLING (26 Feb 1976)
    Writer: Earl Hamner. Director: Harry Harris. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "The year 1936 was a momentous one in the history of the world. It was the year a king gave up his crown for the woman he loved, it was the year Adolf Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles, and it was the same year that Benito Mussolini, encouraged by Hitler's daring, overran Ethiopia. But none of these historic events was quite so important with our family as the struggle by one of us to attain an impossible dream".

    Just when John-Boy is beginning to think his prospects are poor, an incredible opportunity occurs, but there's an insurmountable obstacle. He is offered an old printing press from the local newspaper proprietor who is closing down. To obtain the money to buy it he gets a job selling tickets at the bus station, but through no fault of his own loses the job. Returning home in despair he finds the press already installed in the shed by the kindness of the owner and his college instructor.

    "I had made a brief journey into the world. I'd known loneliness, desperation and friendship, and it stretched the horizons of my experience and of my life. Like the best of journeys it led to home again, and a whole adventure of my life was turning now in a new direction for I was soon to become the publisher, editor, writer and printer of a small country newspaper".

    Elizabeth: John-Boy?
    John-Boy: Yes Elizabeth?
    Elizabeth: Did you know that Corabeth has a puppy?
    John-Boy: I know. She calls it Clementine.
    Elizabeth: That's not what Ike calls it.
    John-Boy: What does Ike call it?
    Elizabeth: I can't say it.
    John-Boy: Why not?
    Elizabeth: Mamy won't let me say words like that..... I'm glad you're home John-Boy.
    John-Boy: So am I. Goodnight everybody!
    Everybody: Goodnight John-Boy.

    Also appearing -
    Ike & Corabeth Godsey (Joe Conley & Ronnie Claire Edwards); the Baldwin sisters (Mary Jackson & Helen Kleeb); Mr Johnson (Walter Brooke); Mike Paxton (Dennis Redfield); Boyd (Michael McDonough); Professor Parks (Paul Jenkins). Juke Box music by Mayf Nutter.

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  24. THE COLLISION (4 March 1976)
    Writer: John McGreevey. Director: Richard Thomas. Music: Alexander Courage.

    "Though the early years of the Depression were difficult on Waltons Mountain we still felt a sense of security in our isolation from a troubled world. The building turmoil of the times it seemed lay beyond the mountains and across a distant ocean. Then in 1936 we became aware of Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy. A war was being fought in Spain. Historic events yet all of them were overshadowed by my acquisition of an old printing press and the prospect of publishing my own small-town newspaper".

    Selina Linville crashes into John-Boy's life again when she stays with her grandfather the Colonel. She has revolutionary ideas and tries to get John-Boy to go with her to Spain and join the war there. Then she finds that the Colonel has to sell off everything, the big house and its contents. She takes it very hard, but John-Boy tells her she should stay with her grandfather and face up to her reduced circumstances.

    "Selina did stay with her grandfather, did transfer to Boatwright, and as she predicted, there were times I regretted it. But mostly after the collisions when we had picked ourselves up, got our bearings, we found ourselves headed in the same direction, and grateful to have each other's company".

    Elizabeth: John-Boy?
    John-Boy: Yes Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth: Are you going to marry Selina Linville?
    John-Boy: That's a silly question!
    Ben, Jason, Jim Bob make a taunting remark.
    John-Boy: Wait a minute fellas. Fellas it's not that silly.
    Elizabeth: Well John-Boy, you got plenty of time to decide.
    John-Boy: Thank you Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth: Goodnight.
    John-Boy: Goodnight.

    Also appearing -
    Selina Linville (Kathleen Quinlan); the Colonel (Eduard Franz).
    Note: Eduard Franz appeared previously as Cody Nelson in The Courtship (Season 1).

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