The mode [of "The Waltons"] is almost brazenly sentimental.

The narrator is John-Boy, the oldest son, reminiscing from the present. As he puts it, though, the Depression years were harsh, the family was "sustained with gingerbread, laughter and sharing, but, most of all with a wonderful mother and father."

As a special, "The Homecoming" disintegrated into a series of episodes that finally lacked cohesion. The episodic form, however, is precisely what is needed for a weekly series, and "The Waltons" should prove a more satisfactory vehicle for the stories of Mr. Hamner….

The key operating device is a disarming simplicity that carefully avoids becoming simple-minded. John-Boy recalls his father and says, "I remember one morning when his hospitality was put to a challenging test," and the viewer is eased into a story about a deaf girl being left on the Walton family's door-step.

The context is a world...