We stumbled across these on Great TV and found them to be good easy watching with an occasional quite grown-up storyline - racism (more than once), mistrust of foreigners, drug abuse, the menopause, death. The fact that they're shown out of order is quite puzzling, thus we've had Pearl Harbor and WWII announced, then we're back in mid 1941.
Some of the storylines, especially those involving young John Boy and his struggles in dealing with new college people, have been quite moving; his falling in love with a visiting poet; little black kid wanting John Sr to adopt him.
I have to say though that the writers on Season 7 (1978 vintage) went a little insane. Jim-Bob gets religion, suddenly knows loads of Bible quotations! Corabeth goes mad, turns out is an alcoholic. But in the most insane episode, Elizabeth starts seeing ghostly things - the ending, with her and her mates terrified by the piano playing itself etc is laugh out loud hilarious.
I think we came in around Season 3 of 9 of 24 episodes each.
Have to credit: Michael Learned (Olivia), Ralph Waite (John), Richard Thomas (John Boy), Will Geer (Zebulon), Ellen Corby (Esther; who returned to the show after her stroke), Judy Norton (Mary Ellen), John Walmsley (Jason), Mary Beth McDonough (Erin), Eric Scott (Ben), David W. Harper (Jim Bob), Kami Kotler (Elizabeth). And Joe Conley and Ronnie Claire Edwards (Ike and Corabeth), Mary Jackson and Helen Kleeb (the Baldwin sisters and keepers of 'The Recipe'!), Lynn Hamilton (Verdie).
Learned and Waite were both theatre actors; she won three Emmys on the show, went on to star in early eighties show Nurse. We most recently saw John Boy - sorry, Thomas - in Ozark.
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