The Waltons

 The last episode of The Waltons series aired on , June 4, 1981. We didn't know it was our last episode when we filmed it. Harry Harris directed and it was written by Earl Hamner's son, Scott. In the last few seasons of the show, we watched our ratings slide and wondered whether CBS would continue to pick us up. I remember folks reviewing the numbers in the makeup room and many discussions about them. Nighttime "soaps" were now popular with Dallas, Falcon Crest and Dynasty in the top 20. CBS shows like The Jeffersons, Alice and MASH were doing well remember, but they were comedies. Someone counting how many CBS hour-long programs were above "The Waltons" in the ratings. Our show wasn't a hit anymore, but they'd renewed us with a 19 share and our ratings weren't that different. It wasn't the first season that we'd wondered if we were coming back.

We were on hiatus, so I would have been in the spring of my sophomore year in high school. When the network decided to pull the plug, there was no formal communication to the cast. Someone saw it in the news and then called around to let others know. It was disorienting to think it was over. Since the age of 6, I'd been attending school on set, returning to a traditional school setting each spring for a few months and then back to work. I wasn't at all certain how it would feel to spend a two full semesters at real school, nor what it would be like to have a summer free.

P.S. The last episode was called, "The Revel," and the summary is, "In New York, John-Boy's publisher rejects his latest novel. Broke, he ends up living on the streets. Back on the mountain, the Baldwins plan an elegant party for their finishing school class."