It's been off the air for over 30 years, but people still point to The Waltons (1972-81) as emblematic of "good tv" about "family values," by which they mean it had no bad words, parental disrespect, or gay people. Remember when President Bush told People magazine that we need fewer families like The Simpsons and more like The Waltons?
So we should all live in rural North Carolina during the Depression, have no money but an enormous house and chicken for dinner every night, have enormous numbers of children, and all go to bed at the same time, shouting "Good night" to each other across the darkened rooms?
I hate to be the bearer of "bad news," but even The Waltons had a gay connection.
1. The central character, aspiring writer John-Boy Walton, was played by Richard Thomas, who starred in Last Summer (1969), about a three-way romance in the gay mecca of Fire Island, and Fifth of July (1982), about a gay paraplegic Vietnam veteran.
2. Will Geer, Grandpa Walton, was gay. His lover, Harry Hay, founded the Mattachine Society, the first gay rights organization in the U.S., in 1950.
3. Ralph Waite, John Walton, is heterosexual, but during the 1980s he ran for Congress, primarily due to the incumbent's lack of support for AIDS research and gay issues.
4. Eric Scott, left (Ben Walton), has starred in two gay-themed movies, Defying Gravity (1997) and Never Again (2001).
5. I've never seen an episode all the way through, but I understand that there was a parade of hunky guys, sometimes shirtless.
6. And frequent buddy-bonding.
7. The John-Boy doll didn't look much like him (it was a blond GI Joe in overalls) but it had a massive chest.
7. The John-Boy doll didn't look much like him (it was a blond GI Joe in overalls) but it had a massive chest.
8. John-Boy had an almost total lack of heterosexual interest (before his wedding in a 1995 movie).
See also: My Crush on Richard Thomas
See also: My Crush on Richard Thomas