Monday, July 9, 2012

Waltons 4.11: "The Abdication"

Airdate: 11/20/75

Amid the historical backdrop of the abdication of King Edward VIII due to his romance of an American commoner, the Walton family is starry-eyed when a Hollywood company comes to the mountain to make a movie. A.J. Covington, who had been to Waltons Mountain earlier and served as a mentor of sorts to John-Boy, is the screenwriter, but his dialogue provokes laughter from the locals for its linguistic inaccuracies. When John-Boy polishes some of it up, he is hired to rewrite the script, and is given a lucrative offer to come to Hollywood to be a full-time screenwriter. Knowing it would mean leaving college and his family, he declines the offer, especially knowing the hurt it would cause Covington.


Another superb episode involving the tragic figure of A.J. Covington, whose debut was featured in my favorite season one episode, “The Literary Man.” Here, the character is played by a different actor, George Dzunda, who doesn’t quite have the same literary flair but matches his predecessor in sad desperation. Subplot involving Mary Ellen’s infatuation with a handsome production assistant is charming, but awkwardly paralleled with that of King Edward (I guess she winds up heartbroken on both levels).

Timeframe: This episode takes place in November and December of 1936, as this is when King Edward announced his marriage, and later, abdication.

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