The Waltons: Season 4
The Waltons: The Complete Fourth Seasonfinds life on Walton's Mountain changing in some significant ways. The first episode, "The Sermon," sets the tone with a story in which oldest son John-Boy Walton (Richard Thomas) is asked by the local preacher (John Ritter) to substitute for him at one Sunday service. Meanwhile, John-Boy's mother, Olivia (Michael Learned), is asked by the local schoolteacher to fill in for her for a  week. Each of these Waltons has doubts that they're up to the task (Olivia has an especially hard time, since her charges include several of her own children). But they persevere, and Olivia finds herself teaching on and off throughout the season. Meanwhile, patriarch John (Ralph Waite) has a midlife crisis that causes him to leave home for a stretch, a cousin of Olivia's comes to grieve the death of her husband, the family closely follows the abdication of King Edward from the throne in England, and musician Jason Walton (Jon Walmsley) has a crisis of confidence as a performer. Special episodes include "The Fighter," starring Cleavon Little as a boxer who takes a paying job working for the Waltons, and whose presence upsets Olivia and Grandma (Ellen Corby). "The Genius" finds John-Boy being asked by his school to supervise a brilliant but socially cold 16-year-old who has to learn a lot about life.--Tom Keogh