The Waltons - General Discussion

[StaceyNotStacie]

It was okay, but just didn’t feel like the Waltons. It felt more like a Hallmark movie made with castoff sets from When Calls the Heart. The cast seemed okay, but didn’t feel like the beloved characters that we’re used to. The personality wasn’t there and it felt like they were different characters who happened to have the same name as the original show. 

[Blergh]

These New Milllenial Waltons seem as though they'd have had custom made shoes made for each of their children as soon as they were born instead of having them be shoeless in informal occasions during temperate climates! Whoever wrote this must think not having a chauffeur and daily caviar omelettes is a sign of destitution!

[barshi50]

I was watching "The Pony Cart" last night on the Hallmark marathon. There is a scene in the graveyard with Martha Corrine and John-Boy where she talks about the family ancestors and she mentions Henry's (and Zeb's)father Samuel Walton came over in 1820. And she remembered him.

What happened to Roan Walton who settled the mountain in the 1700's? all we used to hear was about Roan and the old homestead on the mountain.

[slasherboy]

I thought it was "Rome" Walton? And Rebecca. 

[sATL]

9 hours ago, barshi50 said:

I was watching "The Pony Cart" last night on the Hallmark marathon. There is a scene in the graveyard with Martha Corrine and John-Boy where she talks about the family ancestors and she mentions Henry's (and Zeb's)father Samuel Walton came over in 1820. And she remembered him.

What happened to Roan Walton who settled the mountain in the 1700's? all we used to hear was about Roan and the old homestead on the mountain.

3 hours ago, slasherboy said:

I thought it was "Rome" Walton? And Rebecca. 

https://www.williamarthuratkins.com/wfamily.html

[Blergh]

It's not just changing who which deceased ancestors settled Walton's Mountain and when but what were the writers thinking changing Wade from being the living Boone's grandson to nephew (especially since Boone's only known sibling had died in infancy)?

Of course, one has to wonder how cramped and cozy Martha Corrine's two-room cabin with no running water or electricity had had to have been for three surviving generations and her (then) great-grandson Wade's heavily pregnant bride- especially since that spinning wheel took up a great deal of space in the main room (and there would have also had to have been room for storing raw wool/linen and at least a loom for Martha Corrine and her late daughter-/ granddaughter-in law and living great-granddaughter-in-law to have made the family's entire wardrobe from scratch)!

One would think at least Wade's wife Vera would have been relieved at the thought of living in larger if not more modern living quarters.

[sATL]

2 hours ago, Blergh said:

One would think at least Wade's wife Vera would have been relieved at the thought of living in larger if not more modern living quarters.

I saw Vera  in "the estrangement" that she never felt comfortable living off of the backwoods  country. She was using to living life where it took all day to do things like cook , wash clothes, wait on hubby to return from xxx and didn't know or even want to know how to adjust with being somewhere else.  A case of you can take someone out of the country - but the county couldn't leave her. She really didn't leave on her own accord - they were forced out due to urban development, so she already had a bad taste for the newness the world was changing into.

Also, she struck me as the type who didn't know how to make friends out side of family, or handle issues outside of her husband and baby. Otherwise she wouldn't have bothered to run straight to the Waltons (even though I give her credit for getting a cab there) when she could have went straight to the relatives on her side, that she mentioned. I'm got the idea too that she had limited formal education, which made city living just that more complicated. Just imaging turning the oven on to 350 degees, and no real visible wood fire,  to cook - when you have no idea what that means. 

Long story short - her life was probably a physically demanding and a limited resource hell, but it was the hell she wanted to stay in.

Now as for her hubby still  'shine... yep the city helped him prosper until he put his 9-5 in jeopardy.

Edited November 24, 2022 by sATL

[methodwriter85]

On 11/21/2022 at 1:52 PM, Egg McMuffin said:

The ratings were down 40% from last year’s remake of The Homecoming, so I wouldn’t count on seeing another movie, let alone a new series.

Kind of a shame, because I thought it was a genuine improvement over the first movie. They did a better job with the dialogue, making the kids seem like siblings, and the balance of the story was better.

I do think Hallmark or Great American Family would have been a better place for it over the CW. The CW is trying to re-brand itself and this was probably the step in the direction they were trying to go for, but yeah. If you alienate your audience with the first movie, it makes sense a lot of people didn't show up for the second one. I also didn't see nearly as much promotion, which makes sense, because the CW is winding down.

The girl playing Elizabeth looks way too old for the part. They're playing her like she's 5 or 6 but she looks 9 or 10 years old.

Marcelle LeBlanc is a star and I really hope that if the Waltons doesn't get picked up, she gets something else.

Edited November 25, 2022 by methodwriter85

[slasherboy]

I thought both remakes were terrible, but I still watched.  And if there's a third, I'll watch that too. But they're still terrible.

Logan Shroyer is cute though.

[Blergh]

On 11/24/2022 at 9:52 AM, sATL said:

I saw Vera  in "the estrangement" that she never felt comfortable living off of the backwoods  country. She was using to living life where it took all day to do things like cook , wash clothes, wait on hubby to return from xxx and didn't know or even want to know how to adjust with being somewhere else.  A case of you can take someone out of the country - but the county couldn't leave her. She really didn't leave on her own accord - they were forced out due to urban development, so she already had a bad taste for the newness the world was changing into.

Also, she struck me as the type who didn't know how to make friends out side of family, or handle issues outside of her husband and baby. Otherwise she wouldn't have bothered to run straight to the Waltons (even though I give her credit for getting a cab there) when she could have went straight to the relatives on her side, that she mentioned. I'm got the idea too that she had limited formal education, which made city living just that more complicated. Just imaging turning the oven on to 350 degees, and no real visible wood fire,  to cook - when you have no idea what that means. 

Long story short - her life was probably a physically demanding and a limited resource hell, but it was the hell she wanted to stay in.

Now as for her hubby still  'shine... yep the city helped him prosper until he put his 9-5 in jeopardy.

I  get that Vera had preferred living a more rustic life but it's hard to believe that ANY expectant young wife  wouldn't have jumped at the chance to live with only her husband instead of the two of them staying in a two-room cabin with her boozy,shiftless  grandfather-in-law and her crotchety,bossy great-grandmother-in-law!

Let's not forget that late Henry Walton (as confirmed by the Feds themselves when they served the eviction notice) had willed the title to the land and cabin solely to his widow Martha Corrine rather than to his surviving son Boone with Martha Corrine just having dower rights to live there as per the usual land inheritance in those times. I think Henry must have known that Boone would have been too unreliable to maintain it even though he and his wife had raised Wade's late father to strike out on his own when he married Wade's late mother. Another sad irony is that Wade's parents evidently had found the means to have settled in a flatter area with better farmland but too close to the river which led to their drowning deaths when Wade was a small child.

[sATL]

19 hours ago, Blergh said:

I  get that Vera had preferred living a more rustic life but it's hard to believe that ANY expectant young wife  wouldn't have jumped at the chance to live with only her husband instead of the two of them staying in a two-room cabin with her boozy,shiftless  grandfather-in-law and her crotchety,bossy great-grandmother-in-law!

Let's not forget that late Henry Walton (as confirmed by the Feds themselves when they served the eviction notice) had willed the title to the land and cabin solely to his widow Martha Corrine rather than to his surviving son Boone with Martha Corrine just having dower rights to live there as per the usual land inheritance in those times. I think Henry must have known that Boone would have been too unreliable to maintain it even though he and his wife had raised Wade's late father to strike out on his own when he married Wade's late mother. Another sad irony is that Wade's parents evidently had found the means to have settled in a flatter area with better farmland but too close to the river which led to their drowning deaths when Wade was a small child.

Wade's parents? Where they lived was mentioned in the " the conflict" episode? I missed that detail. I did wonder how/why so many generations were under a single roof  when they had acres of land. understandable whey wade wanted to build his own place.

Too bad we didn't get a chance to meet Henry. Wondering if he was as playful as grandpa. And that it would have been nice to know the courageous chances and backstory of grandpa  as a very young man to move off that part of the mountain closer to the towns. Goes to show it only takes one person to change future generations.

Edited November 27, 2022 by sATL

[Blergh]

12 hours ago, sATL said:

Wade's parents? Where they lived was mentioned in the " the conflict" episode? I missed that detail. I did wonder how/why so many generations were under a single roof  when they had acres of land. understandable whey wade wanted to build his own place.

Too bad we didn't get a chance to meet Henry. Wondering if he was as playful as grandpa. And that it would have been nice to know the courageous chances and backstory of grandpa  as a very young man to move off that part of the mountain closer to the towns. Goes to show it only takes one person to change future generations.

Actually, since Zeb seemed to build his homestead on a lower slope from Rome Walton's peak cabin, it seems it was Henry himself who struck out on his own in a more remote area- despite the fact that he was (by far) the older brother.  Martha Corrine herself said that Henry didn't carry her over the threshold of the then-new cabin after their marriage because he 'was shy with women' yet it seems once they got there and filled it with their bay rum and lilac scents from their wedding ceremony, they made it their honeymoon cabin ASAP.

Henry seemed to have been a somewhat serious and industrious person but somehow his and Martha Corrine's only surviving son Boone wound up being a shiftless moonshiner whose own wife seemed rather resigned .

Even in his twilight years Zeb was by NO means 'shy with women' and Esther herself recalled that he was 'bashful as a buzzsaw' when he courted her as a schoolmate.

As for Wade's parents? It was tricky since it seems their early deaths still seemed a sore spot for Wade as well as his surviving grandfather and great-grandmother. However, he DID say to John-Boy  that he intended to salvage a stove from his parents' house that had been washed away from a flood (and it was inferred that they had drowned in it but somehow their young son had survived and wound up being raised by his paternal grandparents and great-grandmother).

[Shermie]

I never cared for any episodes about the mountain folk Waltons (Martha Corinne, et al). She was typical of most stodgy old people I know who hate any kind of progress that they didn’t have. 

As for the movie, yeah, very Hallmark. New John Boy is way better looking than OG JB, so there’s that. New Mary Ellen is more feminine and artsy, and New Elizabeth seems to have cleared up her sinus problem.

I guess they appeased the viewers of the first movie who wondered why Ben wasn’t in it. I’m watching the carnival kid named Red and I’m thinking, no, they wouldn’t, would they? And they did. 

I do like Bellamy Young, so that’s also a plus for the movie. Didn’t like that the house was smaller and they seemed to be living on a plain rather than a mountain. 

It was corny and hokey as hell, but if they make another one, I’ll watch it.

[JayDub1987]

I made it through 25 minutes of the new movie. I couldn't handle it anymore. It was awful. 

On 11/20/2022 at 10:51 AM, ctlady said:

Was watching The Roots yesterday and was aghast at how often John-Boy (and some of the other children) go barefoot outside - especially the scene where JB is dipping lumber in a metal trash can filled with tar.  Even if it's not hot tar, still - yikes!

My mom grew up in a very poor home in Appalachia. She was born in the 60s and her (as well as her other friends in the community) didn't wear their shoes unless it was school or church. They also didn't have indoor plumbing until my mother was 15. 

[Zella]

26 minutes ago, JayDub1987 said:

My mom grew up in a very poor home in Appalachia. She was born in the 60s and her (as well as her other friends in the community) didn't wear their shoes unless it was school or church. They also didn't have indoor plumbing until my mother was 15. 

Yeah my grandparents grew up in Appalachia in the 40s and 50s. My grandpa actually didn't even wear shoes to school because his parents couldn't afford that, and he still talks about how some of the other kids would stomp his feet. :( He and my grandma still seem to both associate being barefoot with poverty, so my habit of being barefoot by choice has always baffled them. I find the Walton kids being barefoot on the show quite realistic.

[Shermie]

Going barefoot is no big deal. My boys did it all summer when they were kids, and now my grandkids do it. Their soles are tough as leather, they can run on gravel without batting an eye. Makes ‘em tough.

And we can afford shoes; they just chose not to wear them. Makes sense to me that the Walton kids would be barefoot. Gotta save those shoes for as many hand-me-downs as possible!

[Blergh]

What I thought was unrealistic was the kids' 1970's hair! Apart from Richard Thomas himself, all the boys had too long hair for the Depression and the girls' hair was always far too long and straight for that era. Inasmuch as the younger cast were unknowns, how tough would it have been for the producers to tell them that they needed to get it shorter if they wanted to keep their jobs or they'd find other unknowns who'd be willing to look authentic. In the case of the girls from the late 1920's through mid 1930's, they bobbed so it looked closer to Betty Boop and Louise Brooks instead of Cher and Farrah Fawcett. Even Shirley Temple's extra curly locks were rather short. I could see Olivia and Esther having grown up when long hair was fashionable to have kept their long locks even if they put them in buns or under hats. Maybe Zeb could have squeaked by as an untamed senior mountain man of that time. However, Ike's and  John's locks were far too long for  working men who regularly interacted with other professionals  of that era.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Blergh

[Tim McD]

12 hours ago, Blergh said:

What I thought was unrealistic was the kids' 1970's hair!

How about Jason's hair from season 5? Maybe it was a little too realistic!

[jason88cubs]

Regarding the new movie, I thought it wasn't as promoted as the previous one

16 hours ago, Shermie said:

Going barefoot is no big deal. My boys did it all summer when they were kids, and now my grandkids do it. Their soles are tough as leather, they can run on gravel without batting an eye. Makes ‘em tough.

And we can afford shoes; they just chose not to wear them. Makes sense to me that the Walton kids would be barefoot. Gotta save those shoes for as many hand-me-downs as possible!

I often wonder if one of the children got hurt and that's why they went to shoes

[Blergh]

10 hours ago, jason88cubs said:

Regarding the new movie, I thought it wasn't as promoted as the previous one

I often wonder if one of the children got hurt and that's why they went to shoes

Judy Norton 'Mary Ellen' has gone on record saying that that's exactly what happened on the set which got them worried about liability.Hence, from that point on, the minor performers wore shoes except for bedroom,bathroom and swimming scenes.

[jason88cubs]

The one thing I noticed is the early seasons, the first 2 really have a dirty, grimy feel to them which I love. John and Grandpa would come in from the mill sweaty , looking beat, the kids looked like they had been out playing get their hands dirty.

Realistic stuff

[Blergh]

8 hours ago, jason88cubs said:

The one thing I noticed is the early seasons, the first 2 really have a dirty, grimy feel to them which I love. John and Grandpa would come in from the mill sweaty , looking beat, the kids looked like they had been out playing get their hands dirty.

Realistic stuff

True but even then Olivia and Esther never were shown with smudged or dirty aprons, frazzled hair or sweaty despite the two of them having to constantly cook, clean,launder, and tend to their household of eleven from Elizabeth to Zeb! One interesting early touch was seeing Esther cut up Elizabeth's food at the table despite Elizabeth no longer being a toddler but I suppose that since Elizabeth was her youngest grandchild that old habits died hard.

[jason88cubs]

4 hours ago, Blergh said:

True but even then Olivia and Esther never were shown with smudged or dirty aprons, frazzled hair or sweaty despite the two of them having to constantly cook, clean,launder, and tend to their household of eleven from Elizabeth to Zeb! One interesting early touch was seeing Esther cut up Elizabeth's food at the table despite Elizabeth no longer being a toddler but I suppose that since Elizabeth was her youngest grandchild that old habits died hard.

Yes but I do notice Olivia had a sharper side to her in the first couple seasons and even more of a Southern accent

The comparison to her from season 1 to season 7 when she left is astonishing

[Blergh]

On 12/3/2022 at 6:46 AM, jason88cubs said:

Yes but I do notice Olivia had a sharper side to her in the first couple seasons and even more of a Southern accent

The comparison to her from season 1 to season 7 when she left is astonishing

Not to mention how her locks got dyed red- to match all of her offspring. Yet, at least once it was said that red hair was supposed to have come from John's side (despite him, Zeb and Esther seeming to have had brown or black hair in their youths). Of course, the second season onward TPTB relented with only the natural redheads Jason,Ben and Elizabeth keeping that hue!

BTW, it's hard to believe that Miss Learned is now about 20 years older than Miss Corby was when the show debuted in 1972!

Edited December 4, 2022 by Blergh

[Tim McD]

Speaking of liability, it’s remarkable that they had an actual working sawmill on set, and that the actors would actually cut lumber on that huge spinning exposed blade, with no eye protection or anything.

[jason88cubs]

Remake Waltons Christmas movie on tonight 8 Et

[Blergh]

7 hours ago, Tim McD said:

Speaking of liability, it’s remarkable that they had an actual working sawmill on set, and that the actors would actually cut lumber on that huge spinning exposed blade, with no eye protection or anything.

Interestingly, the reason why the 3rd born son Ben (Eric Scott) wound up running the family livelihood was because young Mr. Scott happened to have been taking shop class in school at the time they first showed the cast the sawmill and was fascinated by the whole process while the others weren't so gung-ho. Anyway, since he was eager to learn how to truly make use of it and wasn't intimidated by it, that's how his character got the sawmill!

[barshi50]

Elizabeth was a real pill, wasn't she?

Didn't matter if it was the early seasons, middle seasons late seasons, TV movies or the new reboots, she was always a pain in the neck and making problems.

[Tim McD]

22 hours ago, barshi50 said:

Elizabeth was a real pill, wasn't she?

And not very bright. She asked aloud if chickens could talk and if cats could give birth to rabbits, wondered why a butterfly she trapped in a jar all day didn’t live, got herself, Olivia and Jim-Bob lost in the woods chasing a chicken, and ruined Jim-Bob’s fish business by letting all the fish go because she thought one of them had adopted all the other fish. Oh, and in the very first episode she trapped herself in a trunk and almost died of asphyxiation.

[Zella]

I liked Elizabeth when she was little. 😂 She was my favorite of the girls, but that's probably more a comment on how off-putting Elizabeth and Erin's personalities could be to me versus Elizabeth's own personal charm. I did think, like Laura in Little House on the Prairie, the acting for Elizabeth got much worse as she got older. 

[Egg McMuffin]

Elizabeth can be bratty in the middle years, such as when she spills the beans to those British orphans that they’re being shipped off to Washington. Or when she is gossiping about the new German neighbors. And Livvie never really calls her out on it.

As for the red hair, even Johnboy got a red rinse in the original “Homecoming” pilot. And Andrew Duggan, who played John, was wearing a bad red hairpiece. Livvie became the source of the red hair in the series, and then they pretty much dropped the “red headed brothers and sisters” narrative, as pointed out above.

[SJC]

20 hours ago, Zella said:

She was my favorite of the girls

Mary Ellen was my least favorite.
I did feel sorry for her having Curt for a husband. YUCK !

[Egg McMuffin]

LOL - especially when she had that nice looking soap opera guy as her first fiancé.

[Zella]

7 hours ago, SJC said:

Mary Ellen was my least favorite.
I did feel sorry for her having Curt for a husband. YUCK !

Mine too. I think part of it was the acting for her for me. I think with a better actress, she could have been genuinely feisty, but more often than I not, I found her a shrewish killjoy. 

Curt was bad, though, long before he ran away!

[SJC]

He was. Always frowning. Yuck !

[Zella]

23 minutes ago, SJC said:

He was. Always frowning. Yuck !

I know the actor mainly as Dennis and Dee's Nazi grandpa on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, so I did a real double take when I finally figured out who he was. LOL

[Egg McMuffin]

3 hours ago, Zella said:

Mine too. I think part of it was the acting for her for me. I think with a better actress, she could have been genuinely feisty, but more often than I not, I found her a shrewish killjoy. 

She was especially bad when Elizabeth was paralyzed and Mary Ellen decided to lay a massive guilt trip on Ben and Jimbob. I thought John and Livvie should have stepped in and told her to knock it off.

[SJC]

On 12/9/2022 at 12:32 AM, Egg McMuffin said:

Mary Ellen decided to lay a massive guilt trip on Ben and Jimbob.

She often liked to take charge. 😒

[sATL]

On 12/9/2022 at 1:32 AM, Egg McMuffin said:

She was especially bad when Elizabeth was paralyzed and Mary Ellen decided to lay a massive guilt trip on Ben and Jimbob. I thought John and Livvie should have stepped in and told her to knock it off.

Now this is an episode that could be dissected.

Should we start with the quart (or was it an half-gallon) of perfume Ben gave her, the neighbor lady with all of her potions, how the teens managed to get out of the house without a sound - Elizabeth on crutches,  Amie's screaming when the accident happen (tv dramatized it), Elizabeth who was brought up around wood stacks who should have known better not to go climbing, or yes the guilt Mary Ellen tirade on Ben and Jim Bob.

Kudos to the plan where Ike/Corabeth thought Amiee was at the Waltons on an overnight playdate

PS: not one of my fav eposides.. the potion lady gives me the creeps

Edited December 11, 2022 by sATL
added PS

[Blergh]

Let's not forget that Grandma was STILL offstage recouperating from her stroke which means that they had TWO major sets of medical expenses during the whole of Elizabeth's one-episode paralysis! I'm surprised that they didn't have to sell the Mountain and Home while all squatting in John-Boy's Shed! BTW, why was there no word from him explaining why he was too busy to phone or send a get well card much less visit during that trying time (and did he even bother to attend Grandpa's funeral not too long afterwards)?

[Egg McMuffin]

At that point, Walton family members becoming paralyzed was somewhat of a common occurrence, so Johnboy didn’t think it was necessary to call.

[Zella]

32 minutes ago, Egg McMuffin said:

At that point, Walton family members becoming paralyzed was somewhat of a common occurrence, so Johnboy didn’t think it was necessary to call.

Just another day on the mountain!

[Blergh]

9 hours ago, Zella said:

Just another day on the mountain!

Well, he did show up to have them temporarily re-open an abandoned and (surprise) substandardly constructed coal mine so he could have angstt over others being upset with him when a shaft collapsed on his father and brothers.

[jason88cubs]

Watched the Original Homecoming today. So good

[Egg McMuffin]

Quote

Watched the original Homecoming today. So good

It really is, and I appreciate it more now than I did when I was younger, when I was turned off a bit by the different cast members. I still think Patricia Neal should have been a bit more restrained at times. Bu she also has some great moments, like when she gives John Boy his Christmas gift early - the scarf and mittens she knitted herself, because that’s all Santa would have for the kids that year. You feel the hard times more in this movie than you do in the regular series. You can see how the house was retrofitted for electricity, with the conduits visible.

The location filming in the Grand Tetons was gorgeous; the mountains in Southern California used for the series couldn’t compare. And I liked Cleavon Little (Hawthorne Dooley) an awful lot. Hawthorne showed up in a few early episodes of the series, but he was played by a different actor and it wasn’t the same.

I also like how the movie has the traditional opening narration from Earl Hamner and the goodnights at the end, so it still feels like The Waltons.

[sATL]

two things initially puzzle me about the original homecoming -

1) the turkey thief in handcuffs at Ikes while the sheriff shoots pool.  The sheriff was in that great of a need to shoot a round not to take a prisoner back to a holding cell ? Or was the weather too bad ? Wasn't there other "hot" goods in his truck - that should go back to their rightful owner,  so maybe they have have turkey and gravy on the table? Also - JohnBoy comes across too wise not to gas up at Ikes when that is the only place in town to get gas .

And I prefer the sheriff during the regular series. Marmaduke“ Ep Bridges😁

2) the stop at the Baldwins. Yes - one wants to be cordial to the seniors , but I think that dragged out too long. The Reverend shouldn't have prevented JohnBoy from stating why they were there. JohnBoy already lost time hanging out at the service, which I think the Reverend took his own family home first before going to the Baldwins. I felt so bad when they had to turn around b/c of a fallen tree in the road, JohnBoy is from a logging background - he couldn't unhitch the horses from the sled to pull the tree back out of the way? Or is that a job only for  mules and not Thoroughbreds ?

{more puzzles might come to mind later}

Edited December 14, 2022 by sATL

[Egg McMuffin]

5 hours ago, sATL said:

And I prefer the sheriff during the regular series. Marmaduke“ Ep Bridges😁

Ha - that is Sheriff Bridges, just a different actor: David Huddleston, who later turned up in an episode of the series as John Boy’s writer friend, AJ Covington. Not sure if his name is Ep in this one (for example, Grandpa’s name is Ebenezer in this movie, rather than Zebulon). But I’m with you - I liked John Crawford, who played Sheriff Bridges in the series, better.

But I generally liked most of the series actors better. I found movie Ike to be a little sleazy - like when he tries to get Livvie to buy the doll she can’t afford. The Baldwin sisters have a little more of an edge to them vs the endearing sisters from the series. And I’m not a fan of Andrew Duggan and his cheap red toupee as John, but he was only there for five minutes.

[Blergh]

On 12/13/2022 at 6:41 PM, sATL said:

two things initially puzzle me about the original homecoming -

1) the turkey thief in handcuffs at Ikes while the sheriff shoots pool.  The sheriff was in that great of a need to shoot a round not to take a prisoner back to a holding cell ? Or was the weather too bad ? Wasn't there other "hot" goods in his truck - that should go back to their rightful owner,  so maybe they have have turkey and gravy on the table? Also - JohnBoy comes across too wise not to gas up at Ikes when that is the only place in town to get gas .

And I prefer the sheriff during the regular series. Marmaduke“ Ep Bridges😁

2) the stop at the Baldwins. Yes - one wants to be cordial to the seniors , but I think that dragged out too long. The Reverend shouldn't have prevented JohnBoy from stating why they were there. JohnBoy already lost time hanging out at the service, which I think the Reverend took his own family home first before going to the Baldwins. I felt so bad when they had to turn around b/c of a fallen tree in the road, JohnBoy is from a logging background - he couldn't unhitch the horses from the sled to pull the tree back out of the way? Or is that a job only for  mules and not Thoroughbreds ?

{more puzzles might come to mind later}

I have to admit that I never caught the gaffe of John-Boy not getting gas at Ike's but it seemed that Olivia was considered the patron for the family while her kids were just her kids. IOW, they didn't have the familial,casual bond with him in this movie that they quickly developed in the series (and for the first few episodes, the kids all called him 'Mr. Godsey' before calling him Ike like all the adults did- which would have been somewhat unusual for that time and setting).

As for the Reverend not letting John-Boy spitting out the need for gas to the Baldwins the first thing? Yes, I think it went on longer than it should have. However, let's not forget that he had recently started working for them to get income for his family (and congregation) so it was somewhat in his interest to delay John-Boy from possibly upsetting them by blurting out the urgent request first thing.

The movie hadn't established the family having been in 'a logging background' (and, in fact, seemed to make the case that they had been independent farmers on their land but that the Depression had compelled John,Sr. to take odd jobs to provide what few liquid assets could be obtained for them). I'm not sure John-Boy had had experience with logging or even dealing with horses. However, I'm not sure that the Baldwins or the Reverend had any kind of ropes or tow lines at their disposal so even if the Reverend (or John-Boy) had thought to have the trees dragged out of the path by the horses, they may not have had the means to have done so.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Blergh

[Gharlane]

On 2/16/2022 at 11:06 PM, LadyIrony said:

Not to mention he's in colour but what he's watching is black and white. Quite jarring given he's meant to be there.

I thought they attempted to "colorize" the footage by showing it in sepia, which was in some ways worse than showing the original b&w footage.

[jason88cubs]

I always liked the development of Mary Ellen's character to go form tomboy to nurse/loving wife/mother