The Waltons: The Complete Second Season

America warmly embraced The Waltons, which entered its second season (1973-74) with Emmys for Best Drama Series, Best Actor (Richard Thomas), and Best Actress (Michael Learned). The sophomore season, collected in this five-disc set, earned two additional Emmys, for Learned and Joanna Lee, the writer of one of the series' benchmark episodes, "The Thanksgiving Story." In this heartfelt two-hour holiday episode, aspiring writer John-Boy (Thomas in his signature role) severely injures himself just as he is scheduled to take a test that could earn him a college scholarship. Each week, the Depression-era family shares "the fun and excitement of growing up together, the boundless love of our mother and father, and a daily exploration of the wonders that lie in the human heart." If these words make you wince, try the bickering Barone clan on Everybody Loves Raymond instead. As John-Boy remarks to his teacher about his writing in "The Substitute": "Some people are going to like it, and some people are going to be uncomfortable and embarrassed by it." Uncomfortable? More than 30 years later, The Waltons remains quintessential comfort television. Grandpa (Will Geer) and Grandma (Ellen Corby) may part company in "The Separation," but by episode's end, you know they will be reunited over their "own special waltz" at a barn dance. And do you really think that patriarch John Walton (Ralph Waite, who also directed several episodes) will sell Walton's Mountain in "The Heritage"? Sissy Spacek (in "The Odyssey") and John Ritter (as recurring character Rev. Fordwick) put in before-they-were-famous appearances, and Ron Howard guest stars in the tear-jerking episode "The Gift," as a young family friend afflicted with leukemia. Each episode begins and ends with declarations of "extraordinary love" that strengthened family ties in the face of some of life's harshest disappointments (Learned's matriarch, Olivia, loses her baby in "The Cradle") in this superlative season that demonstrates why The Waltons remains one of the landmarks in family entertainment. Highly recommended. (D. Liebenson)