The Waltons: Season 02 (1973)

Season two of The Waltons takes place sometime in the mid-1930s in Jefferson County, VA, home of the large and loving Walton family. As in season one, the stories are told from the viewpoint of oldest son John-Boy Walton (Richard Thomas), who, in the course of this season, graduates from high school and prepares for college -- and, hopefully, a professional writing career somewhere down the line. John-Boy's dad, John (Ralph Waite), continues to keep the wolf from the door with income provided by the family's lumber mill that he runs with patriarch Zeb "Grandpa" Walton (Will Geer). Newcomers to the series include Hal Williams and Erin Blunt as Harley and Jody Foster, two additions to the county's ever-expanding black population. Major story developments include John-Boy's crisis of conscience when he sees family friend Yancey Tucker (Robert Donner) stealing chickens and a more serious dilemma arising from an accident at the sawmill which leaves John-Boy temporarily blind; two blossoming romances, one between Jody Foster and Verdie Grant (Lynn Hamilton), the other between the Rev. Fordwick (John Ritter) and schoolteacher Rosemary Hunter (Mariclare Costello) (both couples would eventually wed); Walton daughter Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor), all of 14 years old, experiencing her first serious romance with an older boy; the belated honeymoon of John Walton and wife Olivia (Michael Learned) at Virginia Beach; and younger Walton son Jason (Jon Walmsley) experiencing his first brush with mortality when his best friend, Seth Turner (Ron Howard), becomes terminally ill. ~ Rovi