Waltons 3.4: “The Runaway”

Airdate: 10/3/74

When Jim-Bob’s pet guinea pig dies, with no one in the Waltons’ household seeming to care, he runs away from home, hitching a ride to the nearest town, Westham. Once the family finds out, they dispatch John-Boy to search for him, causing him to miss a lecture by one of his favorite writers, Bennett Holmby. Once John-Boy finds his younger brother, he explains the circumstances and apologizes for his insensitivity, prompting an eavesdropping stranger to extol the virtues of traveling but lamenting not having a family like the Waltons to come home to. The stranger? None other than Mr. Holmby himself.

Guest stars: Lots of rising sitcom stars here. Elizabeth Kerr, in one scene as the college secretary, would later star as Mindy’s grandma in the first and third seasons of Mork & Mindy. Geoffrey Lewis, playing Elwood Dobbs, the man who gives Jim-Bob a ride, is a prolific film/TV actor whose trademarks are rugged looks and a perpetually sour face. TONS of acting work under his belt, but I remember him best as Earl on the short-lived Alice spin-off, Flo. Ann Noland plays John-Boy’s would-be date to the lecture; she had a brief career in 70s exploitation flicks.

This is the first episode to spotlight Jim-Bob, proving that if you wait long enough, you’ll get your time. Running away from home is of course another tried ad true TV trope, but in this perilous day and age, it seems a lot less innocent – when Dobbs picks Jim-Bob up, we can’t help thinking how the same story now would be decidedly creepier.