lysithea

I always wonder, I think the show would have been able to go on much better if Richard hadn't been leaving just as Will Geer passed. I think if Will had still been alive the 6th and 7th seasons would have probably been much better. But then again I have a special place in my heart for season 7, it was a gift for my 13 birthday after I had become obsessed with the Waltons after watching all the episodes on dvd copies of the 1st - 3rd seasons multiple times and becoming obsessed. I was the same age as Elizabeth in that season and really connected to it. I actually love some of the worst episodes, like the artist one that seems to be reviled. I found the ending image haunting. I think the Waltons tried experimenting in the later seasons and I appreciate the episodes like that, that really tried to push the envelope.

They showed Jim-Bob's interest in airplanes in S2. Ben was already showing his business man side by S2 when he sold bluing to try and make money for Olivia when she had the miscarriage. But the girls were shafted. Erin had little more than being pretty by s3 John-boy even takes her to have her picture taken to prove how pretty she is, and the rest are mostly her acting like a petulant child like in the one with the pet deer. Elizabeth didn't have much but they did give her a sleuthing arc I liked and she was shown to like animals the most but not much to go off of compared to Mary Ellen or Jason's storylines.