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The Waltons

Third Season Introduction

(1974 - 1975)

Description

I was a little disappointed in the fall of 1974, as I recall, when I first saw the introduction for the third season of The Waltons.  It wasn't the end of the world or anything like that, and I certainly had more pressing issues to worry about in 9th Grade – like whether Aimee Toussaint, who sat in front of me in Physics class, "liked" me or "liked liked" me.  (As it turned out, she just "liked" me.  Darn it.)

I certainly enjoy looking at old, sepia-tinged photos, being a bit of a family photo nut.  But this introduction, with its montage of photos, never really worked for me.  It was supposed to be reminiscent of looking through an old photo album, turning the pages and seeing yellowed photos of the Walton family, but it lacked the vitality of the introductions used during the first two seasons.  The change made sense, though, since they couldn't continue using the introduction showing John Walton bringing home a new radio indefinitely, since the cast had aged and grown a couple of years since the show had first come out.  And frankly, how many new radios does a family really need?

I was especially disappointed that they removed the sound of the truck honking in the sepia-montage introduction.  I thought that was the best part of the earlier introductions.  At least they matched up the photo of the truck with that part of the song, so you could sort of imagine the truck honking, I guess.

As I said in my Introduction home page, I stopped watching The Waltons after about the sixth season because I was going to college by then.  But as I recall, they continued using this "sepia montage" introduction until the end of the series, for six more seasons, in various incarnations.  However, they removed some of the photos of the lead characters and replaced them with text credits.  They also shortened the introduction a fair bit, down to just 40 seconds for the ninth and final season of The Waltons in 1980, thus allowing the show's executives to fit in more advertisements. 

Ah, the power of gold.

Above left:  Scene #1: Fades in to "The Waltons" title, music begins. (0:01 seconds)

Above center:  Scene #2: Dissolves to house. (0:04)

Above right:  Scene #3: Dissolves to John-Boy (Richard Thomas credit). (0:06)

Above left:  Scene #4: Dissolves to church scene. (0:10)

Above center:  Scene #5: Dissolves to John Walton (Ralph Waite credit). (0:12)

Above right:  Scene #6: Dissolves to truck. (0:15)

Above left:  Scene #7: Dissolves to Olivia Walton (Michael Learned credit). (0:17)

Above center:  Scene #8: Dissolves to Jason and John-Boy. (0:20)

Above right:  Scene #9: Dissolves to Grandma (Ellen Corby credit). (0:23)

Above left:  Scene #10: Dissolves to backyard. (0:27)

Above center:  Scene #11: Dissolves to Grandpa (Will Geer credit). (0:30)

Above right:  Scene #12: Dissolves to Elizabeth and Chance. (0:33)

Above left:  Scene #13: Dissolves to children walking (Lee Rich credit). (0:36)

Above center:  Scene #14: Dissolves to Jim-Bob. (0:38)

Above right:  Scene #15: Dissolves to General Store (Earl Hamner credit). (0:41)

Above left:  Scene #16: Dissolves to family at table. (0:45)

Above center:  Scene #17: Dissolves to winter scene (Robert Jacks credit). (0:48)

Above right:  Scene #18: Dissolves to Elizabeth, fades out. (0:50)

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