High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer`s Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television movie entitled The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, broadcast in 1971. The show originally aired on CBS from 1972 to 1981. After the series left the air, three television movie sequels were broadcast in 1982, with three more following in the 1990s.The Waltons was produced by Lorimar Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution in syndication.