Cast List
John-Boy Walton: Richard Thomas
John Walton: Ralph Waite
Olivia Walton: Michael Learned
Esther Walton (Grandma): Ellen Corby
Zebulon Tyler Walton (Grandpa): Will Geer
Mary Ellen Walton: Judy Norton
Jason Walton: Jon Walmsley
Ben Walton: Eric Scott
Erin Walton: Mary Elizabeth McDonough
Jim-Bob Walton: David Harper
Elizabeth Walton: Kami Cotler

Production Staff
Producer: Robert L. Jacks
Executive Story Consultant: Earl Hamner
Associate Producer/Production Manager: Neil T. Maffeo
Music: Arthur Morton
Theme Song by Jerry Goldsmith
Created by Earl Hamner

"The Foundling"
Original airdate: 09/14/1972
Screenplay: John McGreevey
Director: Vincent Sherman
On his way to milk the cow, John-Boy discovers a small girl who has been left on their doorstep during the night. The child, who has a paper with the name "Holly" on it in one of her pockets, is strangely uncommunicative, and when she is brought to the family doctor, he diagnoses her as being deaf. In the meantime, John-Boy is having his own communications problem in trying to get one of his schoolmates, Marcia Woolery, whom he has a crush on, to appreciate the sonnet he wrote for her. John is about to send Holly to the County Home when the disapproving stares of his family convince him to keep her instead. John-Boy decides to teach Holly the manual alphabet, and at first it is difficult for the child. Holly's mother is also having difficulties: she had hidden Holly from her husband, who believes the little girl is mentally retarded and should be institutionalized like his brother should have been. When Holly sees the family laughing over a radio show but cannot comprehend why the family is amused, John-Boy suddenly senses her isolation and eventually makes Holly understand the meaning of the hand motions he has been trying to teach her. In the excitement of her recognition, Elizabeth feels neglected. John-Boy's romance with feather-headed Marcia improves, and Jim-bob sacrifices his precious birthday quarter to buy a present for Holly, hurting Elizabeth's feelings, so the youngest Walton runs away, with Holly chasing after her. Meanwhile, John-Boy discovers Holly's mother spying on her and takes her home, but Holly's father has already found out his daughter's location. While driving to the Walton home, he finds Holly standing at the side of the road and takes her away, unaware that Elizabeth is locked in a trunk in the abandoned house nearby and Holly is the only witness. Searching for the two little girls, John finds out about Holly's abduction and chases down Anson Collier, who is amazed and perplexed at the sign language his daughter uses. Elizabeth is barely rescued in time and Collier realizes at last that Holly is "all right," and the family is reunited. And a grateful John-Boy is given a plate of gingerbread baked for him by Marcia.
Holly Collier: Erica Hunton. Anson Collier: Richard Kelton. Ruth Collier: Charlotte Stewart. Marcia Woolery: Tami Bula. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Ike Godsey: Joe Conley.
Notes:
The characters of Ep Bridges and Ike Godsey were both introduced in the pilot film, The Homecoming. Crawford's sheriff is a more low-key fellow in than the pilot version, and Ike is less larcenous. Richard Kelton later starred as Ficus in the series Quark, and Charlotte Stewart became familiar to family series fans as Miss Beadle the teacher in Little House on the Prairie.

"The Carnival"
Original airdate: 09/21/1972
Screenplay: Nigel McKeand
Director: Alf Kjellin
When Grandma breaks her glasses, the children sacrifice the money they had saved to go to the carnival to have them fixed, a fact that snooty classmate Martha Rose Coverdale gloats over. Later, four of the carnival folk are stranded in town when their manager runs out on them. They are discovered in a nearby barn after Elizabeth and Jim-Bob see their monkey climbing on the Waltons' roof. Olivia is upset about their presence, having heard about their "questionable morals" and because their stories about faraway places make John-Boy restless, but the children are drawn to them. Olivia is further upset when Mary Ellen tries "tightrope walking" on the roof in imitation of the glamorous tightrope walker Belle Harris. John arranges for the four to get to Chicago to a new booking by riding a freight train, and in gratitude, the four put on a mini-carnival for the family. Grandpa must trick the stiff-necked station master to let them ride on the boxcar, but by the time they leave, Olivia has new respect for the carnival people after finding out Belle likes quilting and flowers. John-Boy also has a farewell gift: a copy of Moby-Dick given to him by Tommy.
Pete Harris: Gino Conforti. Belle Harris: Barbara Davis. Marco: John Harper. Tommy Trimble: Billy Barty. Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Martha Rose Coverdale: Cindy Eilbacher. Sam Holden: Jay Ripley. Homer Ferguson: Arthur Peterson.

"The Calf"
Original airdate: 09/28/1972
Screenplay: Jim Byrnes
Director: Harry Harris
The children are excited by the impending arrival of Chance's calf while John hopes the new offspring will be a heifer that will produce more milk to help pay the bills. However, the calf is a bull and John must sell it to George Anderson raise funds after the truck breaks an axle. The children, as well as Chance, who begins to bellow mournfully, are heartbroken and Grandma and Olivia try to use some savings to buy the calf, Bullet, back, but Anderson demands more money. Next day, Jim-Bob and Elizabeth visit Bullet and in horror find out that the farmer plans to slaughter their pet, so they steal the calf and hide him in a cave. They become lost on the way home, but are finally found by Reckless, John, and John-Boy. After they are scolded, John offers Anderson a proposition that the man accepts: they will keep Bullet, return the money Anderson paid them, and the children will work off the extra money that he requires.
George Anderson: Leonard Stone. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford.

"The Hunt"
Original airdate: 10/05/1972
Screenpay: John McGreevey
Director: Robert Butler
John-Boy is preparing for his first hunt with his father and the older men; he is anxious to make a good impression, but at the same time he wonders if killing is right. In the meantime, tomboy Mary Ellen, who is saving up for a catcher's mitt, is dismayed when her baseball-playing pal G.W. Haines seems to be taking an interest in frilly Martha Rose Coverdale, so when the time comes, she buys a dress instead of the catcher's mitt. On the hunt, John and John-Boy are joined by Hawthorne Dooley and Charlie Sneed, who swap stories at the old Walton cabin about men in pioneer days. The men allow John-Boy to have the first shot at a turkey, but he is unnerved by the thought of killing and doesn't shoot. John manages to convince him this is not the act of a coward, but he decides to go home nevertheless, hampered by a twisted ankle—until he discovers the trail of a wounded bear leading right back to the hunting party. The bear attacks John, who is attending a wounded Reckless, and John-Boy then finds the courage to shoot the beast. At home, after trying to remake herself in Martha Rose's image, Mary Ellen finally realizes it's her own personality that will attract G.W., and sure enough, she's right.
Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Charlie Snead: Tom Peters. Hawthorne Dooley: Theodore Wilson. Jake: James Nusser. Martha Rose Coverdale: Cindy Eilbacher. G.W. Haines: David Doremus.
Notes
Charlie Snead and Hawthorne Dooley were both introduced in The Homecoming with different actors in the roles, and Snead was then quietly dropped after this appearance; Dooley made one more appearance. David Doremus had appeared as the oldest of the three children in the Juliet Mills/Richard Long series Nanny and the Professor.

“The Typewriter”
Original airdate: 10/12/1972
Screenplay: Theodore Apstein
Director: Philip Leacock
After John-Boy shows a story to his teacher, Miss Hunter, she suggests he try to submit it to a magazine. He rewrites the manuscript and, to the excitement of the children and even the Baldwin sisters, mails it to Collier’s; while at the store with him Mary Ellen puts a deposit on a beauty kit. Collier’s returns the story because it is handwritten, leaving John-Boy despondent until Grandpa recalls that the Baldwin sisters must still have their father’s beloved typewriter. John-Boy persuades Miss Mamie and Miss Emily to lend him the instrument after mentioning that their papa’s “Recipe” (really bootleg whiskey, but the innocent old ladies don’t know that) is featured in the story. John-Boy, knowing his mother would not like him borrowing something from the Baldwin ladies, types the story in the shed and then hides the typewriter in a box of old junk, which Mary Ellen then sells to peddler Vernon Rutley to earn money for her beauty kit. John-Boy is horrified, and he and his father give chase after Rutley, who has already sold the junk. A repentant Mary Ellen enlists Sheriff Bridges in helping her search for the typewriter, while John-Boy confesses what happened to the Baldwin ladies, who assure him they don’t hate him. When he returns home, he discovers Mary Ellen has found the typewriter. Unfortunately, his story is rejected-this time.
Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Miss Mamie Baldwin: Mary Jackson. Miss Mamie Baldwin: Helen Kleeb. Vernon Rutley: George Tobias. Rosemary Hunter: Mariclare Costello. Junkyard Owner: Harry Hickox. Clerk: Robert Shayne. Janitor: John Hawker. Office Supervisor: Elizabeth Harrower.
Notes
The Baldwin sisters, played by two different actresses, were also introduced in The Homecoming. Mamie is the level-headed one, while Emily is more romantic and impractical. This is the first appearance of Miss Hunter, who will later become Mrs. Fordwick.

“The Star”
Original airdate: 10/19/1972
Screenplay: John McGreevey
Director: Alf Kjellin
The children are catching fireflies and the adults sitting on the porch at twilight when a shooting star falls. Grandpa, who has been feeling unwell, takes it as a portent of death, but the others are excited and search for it. It has landed in the Baldwin sisters’ “Recipe room,” and the told ladies believe it is a sign from their father. Ben, who wants to win the school spelling bee and add the medal to the family collection, takes the meteorite as a sign also-that he will win the spelldown whether he studies or not. Grandpa takes to his bed, convinced he’s about to die, and the doctor cannot convince him otherwise. Ben loses the spelldown and the Baldwins’ conniving cousin Polonius tries to convince them that “the star” means that they should not make the Recipe any longer (so he and his friend Colonel Henderson can use the machine for themselves). Ben decides to study so he can make his own wishes come true, and John goes to the Baldwin house to borrow “the star” to assuage Grandpa’s fears. Sure enough, Grandpa leaps from his bed to save the Recipe machine, and Ben brings home the spelling medal.
Miss Emily Baldwin: Mary Jackson. Miss Mamie Baldwin: Helen Kleeb. Rosemary Hunter: Mariclare Costello. Colonel Henderson: Jack Collins. Doc Shackleford: Byron Morrow. Nancy: Cindy Fisher. Mark: Peter Haas. Melanie: Jill Girardi.

“The Sinner”
Original airdate: 10/26/1972
Screenplay: John Furia Jr.
Director: Philip Leacock
Dressed in their Sunday best on a warm day, the family awaits Matthew Fordwick, the new young minister; he is late and John entices the children into going swimming, so when Reverend Fordwick and his mentor, the humorless Miss Prissom, arrive, they are scandalized by such frivolous behavior. Fordwick stays at the house for a few days, and infuriates John by preaching damnation to the children and frightening them; later, John and Olivia begin to disagree over his methods. One night, Yancy Tucker, drunk on the Recipe, accidentally starts a fire after sneaking into the Walton barn, which the family puts out quickly. Fordwick is shocked by his drunkenness, but his downfall comes when he visits his mother’s cousins, the Baldwin sisters. He drinks too much of the Recipe and comes to his first prayer meeting tipsy, scandalizing both the townspeople and Miss Prissom. The latter is unforgiving when Fordwick apologizes the next day, and he is about to leave and desert his calling when John and John-Boy force him to go to the prayer meeting, where he confesses his faults and makes the congregation realize that it is love of God that matters most.
Reverend Matthew Fordwick: John Ritter. Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Miss Ethel Prissom: Collin Wilcox-Horne. Miss Mamie Baldwin: Helen Kleeb. Miss Emily Baldwin: Mary Jackson. Yancy Tucker: Robert Donner.
Notes
Both Ritter and Donner later became known for comedy roles, Ritter in Three’s Company, Donner as the crazy neighbor in Mork and Mindy.

"The Boy from the C.C.C.”
Original airdate: 11/02/1972
Screenplay: William Welch
Director: Harry Harris
John-Boy, Mary Ellen, and Elizabeth are on their way to the store for shoes when Reckless chases a raccoon. While trying to keep the dog from hurting it, they find a teenage boy about to kill it. He is stopped by John-Boy and pulls a knife on him, then trips and sprains his ankle. The children take him home, and the boy, Gino, continues acting hostile, but eventually unbends enough to tell John-Boy that he is a runaway from a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp (they unjustly accused him of stealing) and originally from Hell’s Kitchen in New York, where he has had to fight for everything he’s ever needed or wanted. When John brings home $5 from a job, Gino sees where Olivia keeps the family money and attempts to steal it, but is caught by John, who tries to reason with him, but Gino is too bitter to listen. In the meantime a consciences-stricken Jim-Bob confesses to Olivia that he was given 20 cents to buy bluing for the Baldwin sisters, but kept it for himself, but his mother is able to help him out of the difficulty. John gives Gino a chance to run away and the boy angrily asks John-Boy why the family cares about him, and indeed about the raccoon that Elizabeth named Pete and is nursing. John-Boy responds that it is probably because of something Gino doesn’t understand-love. When Pete dies, Elizabeth is heartbroken and blames John for not helping him, but Gino tells Elizabeth she is lucky to have a family. After they hear his life story, they understand, and Gino decides to return to the camp.
Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Gino: Michael Rupert.

“The Ceremony”
Original airdate: 11/09/1972
Screenplay: Nigel McKeand
Director: Vincent Sherman
A family from Germany, Professor David Mann, his wife Eva, and their son Paul, move into a local cottage. They are pleasant, but stiff and formal, and Jim-Bob childishly suspects that they are spies. Olivia scolds him and plans to welcome the family. Meanwhile John-Boy hears about Hitler placing restrictions on Jews and burning books, which makes him furious. He is unaware the Manns are Jews fleeing from Hitler’s terror, and they become more fearful when Jim-Bob accidentally slingshots a rock through their window. The trouble is compounded when Paul invites John-Boy into their house and he accidentally knocks Paul over; a terrified Mann, thinking they will be persecuted there as well, throws John-Boy out of the house. He later apologizes, but tells the family in private that they can no longer practice Judaism until Hitler is gone from power. Paul is depressed since he will be thirteen in two weeks and thus will not have his bar mitzvah, and confesses this to the Walton children, who don’t even know what a Jew is. John-Boy takes Paul to Charlottesville to speak with a rabbi, and when his parents find out and deny they are Jews, Paul tells them he has lost respect for them and runs away. After John-Boy brings him back, Eva tells them about the persecution, and Grandpa takes matters into his own hands: he tells Mann that in denying his heritage, he is killing something in his life. The bar mitzvah is celebrates at the Walton home and Mann sheepishly shows up, to Paul’s delight.
David Mann: Noah Keen. Eva Mann: Ellen Geer. Paul Mann: Radames Pera. Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Rabbi: Saul Silverman.
Notes
Radames Pera was famous for playing “Young Caine” on the Kung-Fu series starring David Carradine. Ellen Geer is Will Geer’s daughter and appeared several times on the series.

“The Legend”
Original airdate: 11/16/1972
Screenplay: John McGreevey
Director: Lee Phillips
Jason is upset after he is not allowed to go on the hunt after a fox who has been stealing the Waltons’ chickens, but his mood is tempered somewhat by the news of the arrival of John’s old war buddy, Theodore Roosevelt “Tip” Harrison. John’s stories of the Great War and his buddy Tip are favorites of the children and they are excited to meet him-all but John-Boy, who has noticed that Tip seems to have changed his first name on his personal items. Tip’s arrival spurs a party, and the family likes him for his stories and genial manner, but it is evident that he is wallowing a little too much in his memories, for all that he seems envious of John. John-Boy wonders why all John’s war stories are funny if war is so horrible; John tells him that the unpleasant experiences must be buried under happier memories or they will haunt him. Meanwhile, Jason, who was burning trash and carefully put the fire out, is blamed for a fire caused by Tip’s cigarette. Before John-Boy and Jason can speak, the fox raids the henhouse again. Tip is nagged into coming on the hunt and John-Boy confides to his father that it seems Tip has never grown up. During the hunt, a drunken Tip accidentally shoots Reckless the dog, but doesn’t want to admit it and leaves without saying anything, but he returns to confess, saying he was desperate for it to be like it was in the war, which was the best time of his life. John tells him he must put the past away and live for now. Without mentioning Tip, John, Grandpa, and the boys search for Reckless and Jason is the one who finds him.
Tip Harrison: Jim Antonio.

“The Literary Man”
Original airdate: 11/30/1972
Screenplay: Colley Cibber
Director: Philip Leacock
A transient man, A.J. Covington, helps John-Boy out as he tries to fix the overheating pickup truck at the side of the road. Covington turns out to be a writer who regales John-Boy with his stories and accepts John-Boy’s invitation to come home with him. When he hears A.J. has had lumbering experience, John-Boy asks him if he will help them fulfill an urgent lumber order, chiefly so he can hear more of the man’s stories. On their way to cut wood, A.J. reflects over a deserted farmhouse and the two waste time correcting John-Boy’s story, arriving home late. John-Boy realizes he has not fulfilled an obligation, which doesn’t sit well with his father, who is worried, as is the rest of the family about Jim-Bob’s severe stomach pain. The little boy is rushed to the hospital with appendicitis. John-Boy castigates himself for not doing his job and decides that A.J was right: he should be a writer if he can’t give it his whole attention. This disturbs A.J., but he says nothing and next morning sells Ike his pocket watch to put a down payment on the old farmhouse before setting out to work. But A.J.’s suggestion to make the work go faster burns out the saw bearing and even the news that Jim-Bob has successfully come through surgery cannot change the fact that they will lose the lumber contract. A.J. finally confesses to John-Boy that he has never written much of anything, just talked his stories out, and that a writer should write what he knows and not wait for the “one big story.” He then leaves with only a note, getting the deposit on the house back and leaving it with the family to pay for the surgery.
Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. A.J. Covington: David Huddleston. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Doctor: Victor Izay.
Notes
Huddleston, who portrayed Sheriff Bridges in The Homecoming, does not return in the role of Covington a few seasons later when the character returns. Victor Izay will later replace Byron Morrow as the local doctor.

"The Dust Bowl Cousins"
Original airdate: 12/07/1972
Screenplay: Paul Savage
Director: Robert Butler
John's cousin Cora, her husband Ham, and their son Job arrive on Waltons Mountain after escaping from their dust-choked Kansas farm. They are barely arrived when Ham and Job shoplift groceries from Ike's store, which they present to the family as a gift for letting them stay awhile. Job befriends an ever-restless Mary Ellen, who is attracted by his worldliness; his attraction is at a different level. Cora is wistfully contemplating settling down, but Ham is trying to get John to give them some land, especially when he finds out about John-Boy's meadow, which Ham considers Cora's inheritance. Then John discovers that the gift of bacon was shoplifted, Olivia catches Job teaching Mary Ellen to smoke, and Erin sees Ham steal tobacco from the store; Erin's confrontation of Ham and Job's propositioning of Mary Ellen cause more problems. John and Olivia begin to believe that there will be no letter from Newport News offering Ham a job as he claims. Ham wants Cora to talk John into giving them John-Boy's meadow, but she refuses. When John-Boy and Job have a fight over the latter's advances on Mary Ellen and what John-Boy wrote about the Denby family in his journal (which Job spied in). Ham's plot to get the land is revealed and Cora finally puts her foot down, telling her family they are through begging and are going to make a new life on their own.
Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Yancy Tucker: Robert Donner. Hamilton Denby: Warren Vanders. Cora Denby: Jay W. MacIntosh. Job Denby: Ken Wolger.

“The Reunion”
Original airdate: 12/14/1972
Screenplay: Earl Hamner
Director: Jack Shea
Mary Ellen is involved in a schoolyard fight with a boy who called Jim-Bob a sissy for wearing girls’ clothes (his shirt is one of Erin’s dresses made over). This makes John-Boy decide to get a job to buy some essentials for the family, like the used washing machine at Ike’s store. He is employed by the Baldwin sisters, who are being visited by their cousin Homer Lee. Since Homer Lee hasn’t seen the family in years, the sisters plan a reunion and stockpile supplies, delivered by John-Boy and Grandpa. Grandpa then insists on taking the sisters and their cousin to the movies, since they can’t get their car started, despite John-Boy’s protests. Homer, however, says he has seen the movie and goes off on an errand instead: selling the Recipe to a lady friend. When John-Boy and Grandpa arrive home, the family is furious; Sheriff Bridges is there and tells them Homer Lee is a con man and asks John-Boy to keep his eye on him, although Olivia doesn’t want him going back. Next day John-Boy does an errand for the Baldwins and Homer Lee steals the truck and all the Recipe. John-Boy reports the theft, using a phone for the first time, and is astonished when John laughs about it. He finally returns to the Baldwin place to find the sisters despondent: all their invitations were returned. To cheer them up, he talks his mother into allowing the family to attend the party instead and Sheriff Bridges shows up to tell John the truck has been found. After all, John-Boy finally pays for the washing machine and takes it home.
Miss Mamie Baldwin: Helen Kleeb. Miss Emily Baldwin: Mary Jackson. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Home Lee Baldwin: Denver Pyle. Daisy Burgess: Adele Clair. Frank Winston: Tyler Rasmussen.

“The Actress”
Original airdate: 12/21/1972
Screenplay: William Best
Director: Vincent Sherman
Stage actress Alvira Drummond’s car breaks down while driving through Waltons Mountain and John-Boy tows the vehicle to Ike’s store, where it is found that it will take some time to repair. John-Boy invites the woman home for supper, scandalizing Grandma, and her flamboyant behavior at dinner doesn’t endear her to the old woman or Olivia. John-Boy checks to see if the car is fixed and finds the repair will take a week, and that Alvira’s chauffeur has skipped town with all her money, so she receives a reluctant invitation to remain with the Waltons. When she calls her agent, he refuses to send her money for train fare, but she is too proud to tell the family and instead deliberately falls and twists an ankle. But Ike tells John-Boy and Mary Ellen what the operator overheard, so the boy seeks out the chauffeur at a nearby roadhouse. Already in trouble for smoking and making up Mary Ellen, Alvira now gets drunk on a gift of the Recipe. John-Boy returns after a brawl with the chauffeur, who told John-Boy he left because he wasn’t being paid. Despite Mary Ellen’s protests, Olivia tells Alvira she needs to leave. Since Alvira still has no money, she is encouraged to give readings to earn the money. Sure enough, the audience is large enough for her to buy a train ticket. To John-Boy’s surprise, she finishes her reading by quoting an excerpt from his book and presents him to the audience before she leaves.
Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Alvira Drummond: Pippa Scott. Miss Emily Baldwin: Mary Jackson. Miss Mamie Baldwin: Helen Kleeb. Fanny Tatum: Dorothy Neuman. Rex McKay: Ray Sutton.
Notes
First appearance of Miss Fanny Tatum, the telephone operator.

“The Minstrel”
Original airdate: 01/04/1973
Screenplay: John Furia Jr.
Director: Philip Leacock
Mary Ellen, who is experiencing a growing wanderlust, meets a handsome young man in the woods; his name is Jamie and he is a traveling minstrel. When John forbids her to go on a trip with two older girls, she cries that she wants to see new things and will run away if given the chance. While Jamie rests a few days at the house, John-Boy suggests he visit Maude Gormley to collect old folk songs. To placate Mary Ellen, John lets her escort Jamie to Maude’s instead of helping with the family’s apple-picking contract that will garner a good bonus for them, but only if it’s finished. Then John-Boy falls and breaks his hand. Later Olivia and Mary Ellen talk; the girl says she loves her parents’ relationship but doesn’t want it for herself. She also vents her frustrations to John-Boy, who tells her it’s important to follow dreams, but there are responsibilities, too. Too tense to listen, she abandons apple-picking next days to join Jamie, who agrees to let her follow him, but warns her it’s not a life for everyone. The family worries at her absence, and John-Boy blames Jamie for her defection, setting after her. But Mary Ellen has already found out Jamie doesn’t want her along, or any ties or responsibility, and runs off in tears to be found by John-Boy. The apples are picked on time and when the time comes to divvy up the bonus, everyone contributes part to send Mary Ellen to Washington, DC, to satisfy her urge to see new things.
Jamie: Peter Hooten. Mr. Pickett: Regis J. Cordic. Maude Gormley: Merie Earle.
Notes
First appearance of Maude Gormley, who will later give the family a goat, Myrtle.

“The Fire”
Original airdate: 01/11/1973
Screenplay: Earl Hamner
Director: Harry Harris
As the schoolchildren study aboriginal man, one girl, Lois May Bascom, otherwise a talented student in science, is having a problem with the curriculum: her fundamentalist father thinks evolution is blasphemous. Her relationship with her father is in sharp contrast to the quiet respect between John and John-Boy. John-Boy is having his own small problem with school when he helps Ike Godsey sell furniture in return for a dictionary. Lois May finally has to tell her father what she is learning in school and, half-drunk, the man storms into the classroom and threatens Miss Hunter with expulsion. Later that night, a burglar in the Recipe room sends Miss Emily and Miss Mamie fleeing to Ike’s store for help. John, John-Boy, and Ike find the lock to the Recipe room broken and the Recipe missing, stolen by Lutie Bascomb who is using it as fuel to burn the “atheist” books and posters. In doing so, he not only sets the schoolhouse afire, but in his drunken state, knocks himself out inside. The fire is discovered too late to save the building; seeking Lutie for the crime, Sheriff Bridges finds Lois May at home, having been beaten up before her father left. John brings her home. Next day, Miss Hunter and John-Boy, sifting through the ruins, find Lutie’s body. After the funeral, Lois May is dazed and it is suggested her mother be sent for. Miss Hunter salvages the rest of the school year by holding classes at the general store, but has less luck persuading Lois May to return to school. When she eventually does attend, at the end of the day her mother is waiting for her: she has been trying to contact her for years but was too afraid of Lutie.
Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Rosemary Hunter: Mariclare Costello. Miss Mamie Baldwin: Helen Kleeb. Miss Emily Baldwin: Mary Jackson. Lois May: Laurie Prange. Lutie Bascomb: Richard Bradford. Hawthorne Dooley: Theodore Wilson. Beaumont: Scott McCarter. Addison: Mark Montgomery. Jeannett: Lisa Eilbacher. Mother: Nancy Jeris.

"The Love Story"
Original airdate: 01/18/1973
Screenplay: Earl Hamner
Director: Lee Philips
John-Boy arrives home after dark to find the children quarrelling over the supper table about the tadpoles Mary Ellen is raising and tells a strange story: he saw a mysterious light in the deserted Pendleton house, supposedly haunted. John investigates, finding Dave Pendleton's teenage daughter Jenny there alone, and takes her home, where the family "adopts" her. John-Boy is especially smitten by her charms, and she is entranced by his writing and his borrowed dulcimer. Dave and his new wife, Eula, who Jenny isn't sure she likes, arrive; Jenny is forgiven and allowed to spend her time with the Waltons while Dave and Eula stay in the old house for a while, and Jenny and Eula adjust to each other. John-Boy takes Jenny up to the old Walton homestead, where their playful fantasy of being Rome and Becky Lee Walton turns out to be a real romance. John-Boy is pleased, but a little embarrassed, when the family finds out. While John-Boy and Jenny are blissfully planning a future of travel and children, Dave and Eula are in a car accident and Dave is killed. Jenny flees when Sheriff Bridges breaks the news to her and John-Boy finds her unresponsive at the homestead. The doctor says she is in shock and they are afraid she will not recover, but the sounds of the family bring her out of it. Jenny finally decides to return to Richmond with Eula, but leaves a dulcimer with John-Boy in farewell. And Mary Ellen's tadpoles turn out to be tree frogs, unsalable to a laboratory, but she is undaunted.
Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Jenny Pendleton: Sian Barbara Allen. Dave Pendleton: Gordon Rigsby. Eula Pendleton: Diane Shalet. Doc Shackleford: Byron Morrow.
Notes
At the time this was filmed Sian Barbara Allen was Richard Thomas' girlfriend.

"The Courtship"
Original airdate: 01/25/1973
Screenplay: Jeb Rosebrook
Director: Harry Harris
Olivia's elderly uncle, Cody Nelson, a brooding, introspective man, arrives at the house for a reunion that he doesn't seem to be enjoying since he is an out-of-work accountant. To cheer him up, Oliva decides to match him up with an eligible woman, but they are reluctant to accept John-Boy's suggestion: vivacious (and four-times married) Cordelia Hunnicutt. While the family invites Cordelia, Grandpa and Cody reminisce while fishing—and barely miss catching the old Granddaddy Catfish. At dinner, Cordelia entertains the family and a rather sheepish Cody, who is presented with his first birthday cake in over thirty years. To Olivia and Grandma's dismay, Cody takes flowers to Cordelia and they go to the movies; it is soon apparent that Cody enjoys her company immensely, and Olivia worries that she will hurt him. She tells Cordelia this, and also that she must tell Cody about her past. Cordelia does, being brutally frank about her widowhood and divorces, but also tells him that she loves him. Disillusioned, Cody leaves her without a words, returns to his brooding (despite the good news that the banks have reopened), and Olivia blames herself. But Cody finally screws up his courage and asks Cordelia to marry him, being brutally frank about his employment situation, and the resulting wedding is held at the Waltons' home. Cody and Cordelia return to Cincinnati to find his job waiting. The postscript ads that when he died in 1953, she followed six months later; "there are people who believe she died of a broken heart."
Cody Nelson: Eduard Franz. Cordelia Hunnicutt: Danna Hansen. Miss Emily Baldwin: Mary Jackson. Miss Mamie Baldwin: Helen Kleeb. Reverend Matthew Fordwick: John Ritter. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford.

"The Gypsies"
Original airdate: 02/01/1973
Screenplay: Paul Savage
Director: Harry Harris
On a stormy night, a family of gypsies whose wagon has broken down break into the deserted Baldwin house for shelter. They are discovered the next day by John-Boy and Jason, who are caring for the property. When they tell Ike and Matt Beckwith, the latter wants to run the gypsies out with a gun. Instead, Sheriff Bridges is called. Matt Beckwith is abusive toward the gypsies, but since they have harmed nothing and since the woman's small baby is ill, John-Boy invites them to camp out in the Waltons' yard. If the family is suspicious of the gypsies' motives and customs, the gypsies are even more so of theirs—they resist all attempts at friendship. At the store, John-Boy is incensed by Beckwith's diatribes about the gypsies and almost tells him off. Volta, the gypsy leader, becomes angry when Franzia takes some vegetable stew from Olivia. Things come to a head when Beckwith accuses the gypsies' dog of killing their chickens and Grandma finally takes charge when the old gypsy-woman's folk medicines don't work and the baby is in danger of choking. Grandma's quick thinking saves the baby and the gypsy dog is instrumental in catching the real chicken-killer, a huge fox. Volta offers John a ring in gratitude, but John repeats Volta's oft-repeated phrase "We ask nothing, we take nothing" and they part friends.
Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Volta: Gregory Sierra. Matt Beckwith: William Bramley. Zena: Celia Lovsky. Croska: Barry Miller. Franzia: Karen Kandan. Zuelie: Victor Argo.
Notes
Gregory Sierra went on to play Chano in Barney Miller.

"The Deed"
Original airdate: 02/08/1973
Screenplay: James Menzies.
Director: Vincent Sherman
On a lumbering expedition, John-Boy and Grandpa find two surveyors planning a road on land Grandpa claims belongs to the Waltons. But the family has no deed and no money to take the case to court to prove the land theirs. John-Boy offers to get a job, but John wants him to finish school, so he sneaks out in the middle of the night to search for a job in the city. After only a few minutes in the city, John-Boy witnesses his ride, Yancy Tucker, delivering illicit liquor, and also a robbery. He finally reaches Mrs. Vanderbergh's boarding house, feeling both independent and homesick, and there befriends a "career girl," Cissy Brubaker. Monty Vandenbergh finds John-Boy a machine shop job while the family struggles along without him; the effort to save money is making them all snappish. John-Boy is just about to send his first paycheck home when he's mugged and beaten in an alley. Cissy, who is a local girl, pays his rent for him, and the next night he takes her to the movies, where he sees the two men who mugged him. He catches them, and between the reward money, their earnings, and an antique teapot Mary Ellen sacrificed to help out, they are able to pay court fees and the deed to the property is finally theirs.
Cissy Brubaker: Jenny Sulivan. Monty Vandenbergh: Randall Carver. Vernon Rutley: George Tobias. Yancy Tucker: Robert Donner. Mrs. Vandenbergh: Shirley O'Hara. Mr. Guffy: Garry Walberg. Sam Tinker: Lew Brown. Moffatt: Robert Karnes. Police Sergeant: Russ Grieves. Robber #1: Bob Stevens. Robber #2: Bob Balaver. Bartender: Seaman Glass. Ringside Announcer: Stan Brown.

"The Townie"
Original airdate: 02/15/1973
Screenplay: Richard Fiedler
Director: Jack Shea
John-Boy takes his strictly-raised classmate, Sarah Jane Simmons, to her first movie, after which Sarah gets romantic notions about getting married and proposes to him on the way home. He knows this is partially because she wants to get away from her straight-laced mother. Sarah then goes out with Ted Claypool, a smart-mouth city boy, and tells John-Boy afterward to make him jealous, but John-Boy is only annoyed because Sarah is using him as an alibi to her mother. Ted and Sarah drive by the Walton house in his fancy LaSalle, infuriating John-Boy when Ted says he admires John Dillinger, the gangster, and taking attention away from the orphan duckling Jim-Bob is successfully raising. Ted gets his comeuppance when he gets a flat tire from running over Elizabeth's toy boat; meanwhile, Sarah vents her frustration against her mother's narrow-minded life to John-Boy. As Ted and Sarah are leaving, her mother storms up in the family buggy to take her home. She is punished, but against John-Boy's protests, she decides to run away with Ted, who can take her away from her mother. John-Boy chases after them, to find that Ted has stolen both the car and some money from his father, who ends up clashing with Mrs. Simmons, accusing each other at the Walton home. Olivia tells them both off. John-Boy finally finds the LaSalle overturned and Ted and Sarah bruised; Ted tries to use a gun to "persuade" John-Boy to let them take the truck. Luckily his father and John find them, Sarah finally realizes her mistake, and Jim-Bob decides that he should let his duck go free.
Sarah Jane Simmons: Sissy Spacek. Ted Claypool, Jr: Nicholas Hammond. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Rosemary Hunter: Mariclare Costello. Widow Simmons: Allyn Ann McLerie. Theodore Claypool: John Myhers. Mr. Purdy: Bill McLean. Amanda: Kelly Yagerman. Homer: Mike McCaughy.

"The Scholar"
Original airdate: 02/15/1973
Screenplay: John McGreevey
Director: Lee Philips
Olivia and Grandma are about to leave for a wedding when Erin becomes very insular and Elizabeth needs a lesson in "the magic of words" when she has trouble with her spelling. Verdie Grant, a proud black widow, sees John-Boy's instruction of the child and her lack of education begins to embarrass her; she won't even go to her daughter Esther's graduation because she's afraid of being asked to read or write something. But when she asked to nurse Erin after a tonsillectomy, John-Boy realizes she is not literate and tactfully begins to teach her as a "game" to help Elizabeth, and soon the lessons continue in earnest, in private. Erin is enjoying her stay in bed, but is furious when she is teased after a boy brings her flowers, and is reluctant to be well and lose all the attention. Then Elizabeth sees Verdie doing lessons from her primer and uses it as an excuse to Miss Hunter for not doing her homework. Verdie thinks it was John-Boy who told the teacher and that he was making fun of her illiteracy. John-Boy is hurt until he finds out what Elizabeth did and tries to explain what happened to Verdie, who eventually swallows her pride when Esther begs her to attend the graduation. And Erin learns her lesson about craving attention when Olivia tells her "beau" Henry she is too sick to go to the church dance!
Verdie Grant: Lynn Hamilton. Rosemary Hunter: Mariclare Costello. Henry Wagner: Kerry McLane. Alice Perry: Royce Wallace.

"The Bicycle"
Original airdate: 03/01/1973
Screenplay: Nigel McKeand
Director: Alf Kjellin
Blacksmith Curtis Norton has been carrying on a written romance with a woman he met once at a school reunion, and, on the basis of his romantic letters, she accepts his marriage proposal. Curtis is nervous, however, because John-Boy actually wrote most of the letters, and Ann Harris is a star-struck woman hoping for a bucolic romantic life in the country. In the meantime, Olivia, bored with household chores, is longing for a little romance herself, so she accepts the position of lead singer in the church choir and gets herself to practice on a bicycle that has brought back carefree memories. When Ann discovers Curtis is set in his ways and not the romantic man of the letters, she wants to leave and John-Boy feels guilty about misleading her, but he writes one more letter for Curtis. Ann, who has told the family that the only warmth and belonging she has ever felt comes from the movies, suddenly realizes that John-Boy was composing the letters and believes he and Curtis were doing it to make fun of her. She makes Olivia realize that it is her family that is important and not the gossip at the kaffeeklatsches following singing practice, although she will always cherish her dreams. She attempts to explain this to Ann, but it is Curtis' frank admittance, in his own words from his heart, that he loves her, that finally makes Ann discard her movie dreams and agree to marry him.
Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Curtis Norton: Ned Beatty. Ann Harris: Ivy Jones. Everett Cooper: Lou Frizell. Marina Sheffield: Ruth Warshawsky. Sarah Tyler: Kathleen O'Malley. Lady: Patsy Garrett.

"The Easter Story" (2 hour episode)
Original airdate: 04/19/1973
Screenplay: John McGreevey, from a story by Earl Hamner
Director: Philip Leacock
One February Sunday, Olivia feels odd after church and her legs seem very weak. They take her directly home, while Mary Ellen goes walking with G.W., who invites her to the eighth grade dance, though neither knows how to dance. Olivia can't even appreciate a friendly visit from the Baldwin sisters and goes to bed. Dr. Vance is sent for when she gets worse; his verdict is stunning: infantile paralysis—polio. When she is finally over the worst of it, Dr. Vance is reluctant to tell her that there is paralysis of her legs. If the feeling doesn't return, he says, they will have to put splints on the legs to keep them from crippling. Olivia discovers what is going on when she can't feel her legs and John must tell the children, who are stunned. Erin takes the news the hardest and refuses to see her when the rest of the children are allowed in, afraid her mother will be "different" in some way. It takes John-Boy's assurances to placate her. Soon Olivia's room because the center of activity: she encourages John-Boy's college plans, Ben's salesmanship, Jason's music, and Mary Ellen's attendance of the dance, while trying to overcome her handicap. John-Boy drives to the college to inquire about classes and talks to a Dr. Miller, a wheelchair-bound polio victim, about the radical new polio treatment by Sister Kenny, an Australian nurse. Miller promises to send the family some pamphlets. Hope arises when, during one of Mary Ellen's dancing lessons, Olivia moves her feet to the music. Olivia claims she will be walking by Easter and, as a surprise gift, John, Elizabeth, and Jim-Bob plant crocuses for her. But after this first positive sign, Olivia gets discouraged when her movements do not improve, and Dr. Miller's arrival with the Sister Kenny pamphlets is cold comfort. John-Boy is incensed by Dr. Vance's defeatist attitude and Olivia demands they start the Kenny treatments immediately. While they proceed with the treatsments (Olivia's first attempt to stand being abortive), Grandma's ironing rhythm inspires Jason's song for an upcoming amateur contest. The Baldwin sisters' thoughtful gift of a wheelchair creates tension only temporarily relieved by Mary Ellen's success at the dance and a special performance for Olivia and Erin by the family to celebrate Jason's victory at the amateur contest with his song "Ironing Board Blues." As Easter grows closer, Olivia's fruitless attempts to walk make her decide to use the wheelchair, but John-Boy is of the opinion she is trying too hard. When Grandma says it's God's will, John-Boy denounces Him and away, pursued by John, who finds him on the mountain and must try to placate his disbelief as the boy suffers a crisis of faith. That night, Olivia resolves to use the wheelchair and get back into her life. But in the early morning hours, Elizabeth has a nightmare and cries out in her sleep, and Olivia automatically rises to help her child and walks. Outside the crocuses have bloomed. A few days later, the entire family attends the Easter sunrise service.
Reverend Matthew Fordwick: John Ritter. G.W. Haines: David Doremus. Miss Mamie Baldwin: Helen Kleeb. Miss Emily Baldwin: Mary Jackson. Dr. Vance: Victor Izay. Dr. Miller: Dan Collier. Admissions Clerk: Ann Carol Pearson. Sheriff Ep Bridges: John Crawford. Ike Godsey: Joe Conley. Snyder: Joseph Berrard. Tom: Joe Frank Carollo.
Notes
Jon Walmsley wrote as well as performed the song "Ironing Board Blues."