"The Waltons," CBS's gift to viewers who were hoping for one, just one, different show this season, seems strangely out of place until you realize what makes it different: you're being asked to care…. The wonderful and unusual thing about the Waltons is that they come across as real people.

Add to that a bit. The really unusual thing about the Waltons is that they're poor. All right, let's concede that these aren't the ghettoized victims of today's prosperous poverty…. [The] show can't boast the relevance of … well, what's your favorite relevant TV show? "Bridget Loves Bernie"? No, the Waltons relate to something else, something important….

The Waltons' adventures, if they can be called that, are pretty mild stuff next to some of TV's improbable happenings….

What does this story of yesterday's people say to us, here, now? What indeed? Most of us will never know what it's...