Goodnight, John Boy. A Celebration of an American Family and the Values That Have Sustained Us Through Good Times and Bad

Editorial Review
For eight wonderful years The Waltons, the story of a family living in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains during the Depression, entertained America and the world. Yet this television show was more than entertaining. Each episode combined wonderful stories and "teachable moments" in which adults and children alike learned the importance of honesty, hard work, respect, responsibility, self-sacrifice, and kindness. As is true in most families, the Waltons faced many challenges, occasionally stumbled along the way, but they struggled to live their lives within the framework of the values they believed and taught. Goodnight, John Boy is a memory book of The Waltons, the number-one television show of its time. Filled with behind-the-scenes anecdotes and profiles of people who appeared on the show, it introduces readers to the Hamner family members who later became characters on The Waltons, suggests events and locales that inspired many of the episodes, and traces Earl Hamner’s life as a writer from Virginia to New York to Hollywood. Included is a description of each episode plus reminiscences, comments, and personal feelings from numerous people connected with the series—writers, actors, directors, producers, family, and fans. Heavily illustrated with publicity shots and personal photographs taken by cast, crew, and others, Goodnight, John Boy will be a welcomed book by millions of loyal fans. When The Waltons first aired in 1972, it was at the bottom of the Neilson ratings—by December it led the list. That dramatic leap came about because fans told their friends about it and wrote the CBS network to praise the show and to plead that the show not be cancelled. Thirty years later, Goodnight, John Boy is sure to touch the hearts of the show’s fans again.
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Customer Reviews

Reliving my favorite episodes

2007-12-31
While reading through this book, the recall to my mind of forgotten episodes took me back in time. I loved seeing the photos of both the TV family, the real-life family, the special guests and others. It brought back many fond memories. It's not a book you have to read from start to finish, You can open it up to any page and read as long as you like.

Good story, John Boy

2007-07-03
This is a genuinely lovely book that explores the life and work of Earl Hamner but, more importantly, this book has a synopsis of each episode and comments from the actors. I would highly recommend "Good Night, John Boy". It was a terrific summer read!

A great companion to the television series.

2007-06-15
This is an excellent companion guide to the television program (now up to its fifth season in DVD). It offers some good general info on how the series came about, as well as a description and some personal commentary on every episode. For anyone who may be interested, I am putting together a Bible study using The Waltons. It can be found online at AC21DOJ.org/AFruitfulBibleStudyWithTheWaltons.html

Oh, well...

2007-03-09
The photos are great, and there was just a little information about the "real-life Waltons", but unfortunately the vast majority of the book is taken up with episode summaries. Not really what I was looking for, but it is valuable for a Waltons fan.

Goodnight, John Boy: A Celebration of an American

2007-01-19
Great book, Tells of Actors and history

Good Night John Boy

2008-05-06
I have always loved the Walton's. I have been enjoying watching the reruns on the Hallmark channel each morning. I bought the book to go along with the shows I have been watching. It is a great little book for anyone interested in this 70s show. I am 61 now and seem to be getting alot more out of the show than I did 30 years ago. The book helps me get a running idea of the development of the show since the reruns jumped from year one to year 7 in a three week period.

Enjoyable supplement to the Walton series

2008-03-27
I didn't realize that the Waltons was "loosely" based on Earl Hamner's young life. I enjoyed reading about his life and how he was able to get jaded Hollywood to see that people liked this kind of family show. I also liked reading about each of the actors and what each tv episode was about. It is an easy and enjoyable read.

Good Night John Boy

2008-01-28
I really think people should read this book. If you are a TRUE Waltons fan like myself; you will enjoy it over and over again. It is what a family did to survive the depression times. I sometimes wish I lived back in that time with the Hamner family because they knew what life was all about and clung to their beliefs as a family. Family is the most important part in life and we shouldn't take them for granted.

I'll take what I can get ... but a little disappointing!

2008-01-21
I have re-established my love of The Waltons after watching the reruns on The Hallmark Channel the past few months - so I decided to geek out completely and buy this book and the Spencer's Mountain and The Homecoming novels and movies [in case you're wondering, Earl Hamner wrote those 2 novels, and Spencer's Mountain was made into a film with Peter (?) Fonda and Maureen O'Hara - then a few years later The Homecoming was made into a Christmas TV special movie. It is The Homecoming that directly inspired the TV series - the original cast of kiddos was in it (so little and cute! it was a few years before the series got started) but the parents and grandparents are different (Patricia Neal was the mom).

Anyway, needless to say if you are a big Waltons fan the book is great, meaning better than not reading it, but as other reviews have alluded to, this book COULD have been really great, and it's just ok. There are a couple of typos and mistakes in the episode synopses, which makes it seem thrown together, and there are hardly any 'behind the scenes' photos of the cast, just a few here and there. How about an 'epilogue' saying what the whole cast has been up to the past 25 years - married, kids, writing, any more acting, etc.? And the big mystery as far as why Michael Learned and Ralph Waite were totally MIA the last episodes is never adressed. They each wrote something tiny for the bok so I would assume they didn't leave the series on a bad note - EVERYONE IS WONDERING! Why didn't they tell us? Also the guy who played Jason called the girl who played Toni, his Walton wife, the 'love of his life.' Does that mean they are married now? He even alluded to the fact that he dated a 'Lisa' during the show (Toni's real name) but never comes out and says it was her - why thy mystery? The best behind the scene stuff is from 'Elizabeth' - funny little nothing stories the fans love to hear. And 'Ben', 'Erin' and 'Jason' make a lot of comments, which is nice. Would really have loved to hear a lot more from the cast, though.

The other nice thing is that Earl talks about his real family, what real facts inspired the series, and for hard-core fans there is info. on the Waltons museum in Virginia.

For more Waltons stuff, you can buy the 2 novels like I said in the beginning, and the movies they made them into (I got all on Amazon). I do believe the also have seasons 1-6 on DVD now, if not all 9. Ye-hoo! :)

Episode guide with great background information.

2008-01-17
This is an episode by episode guide to each season, with some interesting behind the scenes information. For anyone who is (or was) a fan of the Walton's TV series, you'll thoroughly enjoy this book. The show, of course is a nostalgic reminder of an earlier era, and the TV series was new during a less complicated time in all of our lives.