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Recession TV: How The Waltons captured the spirit of a nation in financial crisis
The family was a great source of hope for many.
The best media is in constant dialogue with the world around us. Television shows can speak not just to the atmosphere they air in, but also how much life has changed since their original broadcast. While Leave It to Beaver was probably quaint when it aired, the show has only grown more charming as society has progressed away from the show's picket-fenced neighborhoods. The Andy Griffith Show has always been great, but it's made better because it's an emblem of a bygone era.
The Waltons is a perfect example of a show that comments on the real world. While the events in the series occur during The Great Depression, the program aired during a heavy economic downturn. A variety of factors caused the 1973-1975 recession. There was the Oil Crisis. The stock market collapsed. Newly industrialized countries made manufacturing much cheaper elsewhere. The results were disastrous for average Americans: Fewer jobs, less money, and higher prices.
So, while The Waltons may have been historical fiction, the show aired when many were experiencing hardships just like the characters depicted on the show. As it turns out, this wasn't merely a coincidence.
In an August 1975 profile, Knights Newspaper writer Lee Winfrey spoke with many of the show's actors regarding the economy, both on the show and in America. The resulting quotes help highlight how the show connected to audiences during those trying times.
Richard Thomas, who played John-Boy Walton, noted a few upgrades on the Waltons' set.
"If the mill looks better than you expect for the Waltons, it's supposed to be," said Thomas. "It's designed to keep the Waltons in debt, overburdened. The show started in 1932, but it's now 1938 and the banks are making loans again. But if the Waltons suddenly started becoming prosperous, it would change the flavor of the show."
Will Geer, who played Grandpa Walton, also understood the importance of those characters' defiant strength through hardship.
"I addressed 300 graduates at Emory and Henry College this spring," Geer said, "not one of them with a job. They wanted to hear Grandpa Walton instead of a banker or a politician."
