MORALE

Why the land of Modern TV needs a 'Waltons'.

There is so much I’d like to pour out in digital text, but my critically ill and constantly freezing computer won’t allow this. I optimistically look at this as ramble control.

Our family subscription to Sky TV took an economic downsizing last year as we decided to cut out the many movie channels we don’t watch. Regardless, a few of those channels survived the omission and one of them was TEM (True Entertainment Movies).

The best thing about the line-up on TEM is a daily double bill slot of The Waltons. This is a show I had not watched in years so I caught up with the happenings on Walton’s Mountain.

Here’s the relevant stuff:

For those who don’t remember or were born beyond its broadcast time, The Waltons was about a community in rural Virginia pulling together during The Great Depression and World War II with a main focus on The Waltons family. The show lasted a milestone of 9 seasons and spawned 7 TV movies.

So, what was so great about the Walton family themselves?

The Waltons were a large unit consisting of Two Grandparents, Two matriarch/patriarch parents, a lot of kids and a ‘dawg’; and despite that line-up being the recipe for an all out personality clash they were household of work-ethic, unity, respect, faith and good boundaries. The Waltons looked out for one another, prayed for one another and like most families got on each others nerves from time to time. Like everyone else they had problems, but dealt with problems head on. You’d never see any of today’s TV families with the un-whiny optimistic outlook the Waltons had and they got through a very tough-era of history.

The cultural impact of this show and the characters still echoes across time. The Waltons are still reflected on today as the near-perfect family unit and even 20 years on President George Bush’s speech is fondly remembered.

“We’re going to keep trying to strengthen the American family. To make them more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons.”

This comment shows further the recognition of how influential the show had been. As fictional a family The Waltons may be, there are a lot of pages from their book that can reflect well on the real families of today.

Today’s TV shows and especially the soaps only show the negative and ailing side of what a family unit should be. It gives the impression that there is a contest between shows (be it soaps, dramas or animation) of who can project the most obnoxious and pessimistic family out there. I say there needs to be some balance for a change..

I say that Today’s TV needs a ‘Waltons’ again in some form or another to show belief that strong families (because they do exist!) built on good values have a place - no matter the era. And, when the only near-good modern family unit that comes to mind consists of an anthropomorphic rat and his mutated turtle sons I wonder if there’s another show I’ve missed...

The constant moral decline of the TV family (as seen in soaps like Coronation Street and Eastenders) is an indication that maybe the tube is best left turned off. If there is nothing wholesome to ‘escape’ into, why try to escape to start with? There are better things that don’t rely on a screen to 'escape' into.

The Waltons managed without a TV after all.