Directors: Gabrielle Beaumont, Nell Cox, Anthony Brand, Walt Gilmore, Fielder Cook
Starring: Michael Learned, Ralph Waite, Judy Norton-Taylor, Ellen Corby, Jon Walmsley, Kami Cotler, David W. Harper, Mary McDonough, Eric Scott, Richard Thomas

- Reviewed by Jennifer

If you still think it's hilarious to say "Goodnight John Boy" at the end of the day, then you'll have no trouble settling in for Season 7 of The Waltons. By this point the kids are all either gangly teenagers or grown up, but there is still plenty of corny fun to be had by all. Each episode is presented as high drama, whether we're remembering The Time Olivia Got TB or The Time Elizabeth Didn't Want To Turn Thirteen. It was all very sincere in its day, but it's hard to watch it with a straight face.

Though John Boy (Richard Thomas) is pretty much out of the picture, Grandma (Ellen Corby) has died, and Olivia (Michael Learned) leaves to stay in a sanitarium, we still manage to squeeze 23 more episodes out of America's most wholesome family. Some are better than others, but the show is still quite entertaining. Check out the amazing special effects when a poltergeist pays Elizabeth a visit: her hair blows back! A Raggedy Ann doll named Katie (?) stands up on its own! A chair tips over! The radio goes kerflooey! It's all quite hair-raising to say the least. You can also spot Rachel Longaker in this particularly awesome episode—you might recognize her as Ginny (the little girl who sold her beautiful hair) on Little House on the Prairie.

Though all sorts of tragedies befall the Waltons, each installment plays like a Country Time Lemonade ad. Even when Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor) gets all whacked out on amphetamines, the show maintains its golly gee sensibility. Drug addiction is probably as old as human history, but it does seem a bit anachronistic in this context, as though the writers were foisting a 1970's issue on a 1940's family. Funny too, how two episodes later, another character is having a bout with the bottle. Who knew substance abuse was such a problem on Walton's Mountain?

Through all of their trials and tribulations, the Waltons remain strongly bonded to one another. Despite John Boy's absence, the family still engages in their lights out conversation at the end of each episode—it's just that now we say goodnight to another kid instead. It always was a cozy old shoe of a show, and even though it's a bit past its peak by Season 7, it's still comforting to throw on the DVDs and hang out with these familiar faces.

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