Editing The Waltons (section)

==Premise==
{{Main|List of The Waltons episodes}}
{{:List of The Waltons episodes}}

===Setting===
The main story is set in Walton's Mountain, a fictional mountain community in the fictitious Jefferson County, [[Virginia]]. The stories are based upon events in Hamner's childhood home in [[Schuyler, Virginia|Schuyler]] in [[Nelson County, Virginia]].

The time period is from 1933 to 1946, during the [[Great Depression]] and [[World War II]], during the presidencies of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Harry S. Truman]] (who are occasionally mentioned); FDR's picture hangs in the Walton homestead and neighboring Ike Godsey's General Mercantile store. The deepest Depression year of 1933 is suggested by a mentioned reference to the opening of the [[Century of Progress]] exposition ([[World's Fair]]) held in [[Chicago]], a brief shot of an antique automobile registration license plate, and when it is divulged in episode 5 that the date is in the spring of 1933.<ref>"The Typewriter", Season one, episode 5</ref> The last episode of season one, "An Easter Story," is set in February–April 1934. The year 1934 is covered over two seasons, while some successive years are covered over the course of a few months.<ref>A significant [[anachronism]] occurs in the first episode, when the Waltons listen to [[Edgar Bergen|Edgar Bergen and dummy Charlie McCarthy's]] radio program (in tribute to Bergen, who played Grandpa Walton in the December 1971 pilot film); however, Bergen's radio show did not actually begin airing until four years later in 1937.</ref>

The series finale, "The Revel," revolves around a party and the invitation date is given as June 4, 1946. A span of 13 years is therefore covered in nine seasons. There are some chronological inconsistencies, most of which do not hinder the storyline.  The episode depicting the attack on [[Pearl Harbor]] was actually broadcast on December 7, 1978, (a Thursday that year), which coordinated the memorable month and date on which the attack occurred, but not the day of the week  (which was in reality a Sunday early morning), but on which day the series was broadcast.

The first three reunion movies (''A Wedding on Walton's Mountain'', ''Mother's Day on Walton's Mountain'', and ''A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain''), all produced in 1982, and aired several weeks apart are set in the later post-war year of 1947. Of the later reunions TV films, ''A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion'', filmed in 1993, is set in 1963, and revolves around President [[John F. Kennedy]]'s November 22 assassination. ''A Walton Wedding'', made two years later in 1995, is set in 1964, and ''A Walton Easter'', filmed another two years following in 1997, is set in  fictional 1969, with the social / political themes of the turbulent late [[1960s]] intertwined in the updated story of the later generations of the Walton family.

The series began relating stories that occurred 39 years in the past and ended with its last reunion show set 28 years in the past.

A [[continuity (fiction)|continuity]] error exists in the final reunion movie about how many years John and wife / mother Olivia are said to be married, counting back to the first episode. In this reunion movie, John and Olivia are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in 1969, which dates their wedding to 1929. However, in the first episode of the series aired in September 1972, it is supposedly set in 1933 ("The Foundling"), John Boy is 17 years old and he already  has six brothers and sisters.

===Story===
The story is about the family of John Walton Jr. (known as John-Boy): his six siblings, his parents John and Olivia Walton, and paternal grandparents Zebulon "Zeb" and Esther Walton. John-Boy is the first of the seven children (15 years old in ''The Homecoming''; 17 at the beginning of the series),<ref>"The Foundling," season 1, episode 1</ref> who becomes a journalist and novelist. Each episode is narrated at the opening and closing by a middle-aged John Jr. (voiced by author Earl Hamner on whom John-Boy is based). John Sr., who quit his city job after the traumatic events in the pilot episode, manages to eke out a living for his family by operating a [[lumber mill]] with the help of his sons as they grow older. The family income is augmented by some small-scale farming, and John occasionally hunts to put meat on the table. In the simpler days of their country youth, all of the children are rambunctious and curious, but as times grow tough, the children slowly depart from the innocent, carefree days of walking everywhere barefoot while clad in [[overalls]] and hand-sewn [[pinafores]], and into the harsh, demanding world of accountability and responsibility.

The family shares hospitality with relatives and strangers as they are able. The small community named after their property is also home to folk of various income levels, ranging from the well-to-do Baldwin sisters, two [[spinster]]s who distill [[moonshine]] that they call "Papa's recipe;" Ike Godsey, postmaster and owner of the general store with his somewhat snobbish wife Corabeth (a Walton cousin; she calls her husband "Mr. Godsey"); an [[African-American]] couple, Verdie and Harley Foster; Maude Gormley, a presumptuous artist who paints on wood; Flossie Brimmer, a friendly though somewhat gossipy widow who runs a nearby boarding house; and Yancy Tucker, a good-hearted [[handyman]] with big plans but little motivation. Jefferson County sheriff Ep Bridges, who fought alongside John in [[World War I]] and was awarded the [[Medal of Honor]], keeps law and order in Walton's Mountain. The entire family (except for John) attends a [[Baptist]] church, of which Olivia and Grandma Esther are the most regular attendees.

In the signature scene that closes almost every episode, the family house is enveloped in darkness, save for 1, 2 or 3 lights in the upstairs bedroom windows. Through voice-overs, two or more characters make some brief comments related to that episode's events, and then bid each other goodnight, after which the lights go out.

After completing high school, John-Boy attends fictional Boatwright University in the fictional nearby town of Westham. He later goes to New York City to work as a [[journalist]].

[[File:The Waltons 1976.JPG|thumb|Grandma and John-Boy]]
During the latter half of the 1976–77 season, Grandma Esther Walton suffers a [[stroke]] and returns home shortly before the death of her husband, Grandpa Zeb Walton (reflecting Ellen Corby's real-life stroke and the death of Will Geer, the actors who portrayed those characters).

During the series' last few years, Mary Ellen and Ben start their own families; Erin, Jason and John-Boy are married in later television movie sequels. Younger children Jim-Bob and Elizabeth struggle to find and cement true love.

World War II deeply affects the family. All four Walton boys enlist in the military. Mary Ellen's physician husband, Curtis "Curt" Willard, is sent to [[Pearl Harbor]] and is reported to have perished in the [[attack on Pearl Harbor|Japanese attack]] on December 7, 1941. Years later, Mary Ellen hears of sightings of her "late" husband, investigates and finds him alive (played by another actor), but brooding over his war wounds and living under an assumed name. She divorces him and later remarries.

John-Boy's military plane is shot down, while Olivia becomes a volunteer at the [[Veteran's Administration|VA hospital]] and is seen less and less. She eventually develops [[tuberculosis]] and enters an [[Arizona]] [[sanatorium]]. Olivia's cousin, Rose Burton, moves in at the Walton house to look after the family. Two years later, John Sr. moves to Arizona to be with Olivia. Grandma appears in only a handful of episodes during the eighth season. She was usually said to be visiting relatives in nearby [[Buckingham County, Virginia|Buckingham County]]. Consistent with the effects of Ellen Corby's actual stroke, Grandma rarely speaks during the remainder of the series, usually limited to uttering brief one-or two-word lines such as "No!" or "Oh, boy!"

6 movies were made after the series run. Set from 1947 to 1969, they aired between 1982 and 1997.