APPLES WAY — great show, or the GREATEST show?

Who can forget the compelling episode 11 from season 1:

[quote] Apple's fight to have a traffic signal installed at a dangerous corner turns into a personal crusade after his own son is seriously injured by a speeding car.

Never heard of it.

It was supposed to be a modern era Waltons. I think it might have been made by the same production company.

I actually liked the Waltons somewhat and wanted to like this show but it just seemed boring as hell.

Also, I was a little kid and even this seemed too corny for me.

The 70s were a strange time. We though Nixon was going to be the worst president ever.

We were so wrong.

So many anti-christ presidents since then...all Republican.

Threads like this make anything bad about DL worth it.

Was this about Goop's daughter always having things her way on account of being an entitled, spoilt, uppity brat?

I remember there was a lunchbox.

Wasn't some iteration of Van Patten in this? And pre-Buddy Kristy McNichol.

I was right.

The show was created by Earl Hamner, Jr., who also created and wrote The Waltons.

I remember liking it when it aired and was disappointed when it was cancelled after two seasons. Don’t know how it holds up 45 years later.

[quote]Debate continues to rage as to whether the fish-out-of-water first season or the today’s-issues second season is superior.

No it doesn’t.

If Ronny Cox had played Apple the same way he played his character in RoboCop, this show would still be on the air today.

As a gayling, I thought Vincent Van Patten was so hot.

So did every gayling in 1975.

And Mark Shera and Michael Lembeck and Leigh J. McCloskey...

Ah, Mark Shera....

It was no James at 15

R15 wins this thread.

C'mon, I know we can take this Apple's Way thread to 600! Don't let me down, DL.

R18 ... posted eighteen hours ago.

Amazing to think that someone labored over that little tune from the show opening, probably for weeks, then musicians were brought into a studio to record it. A lot of work and expense just to have it layered over that absurdly wholesome footage.

By the way Farah Fawcett had a guest star role on this show a few years before doing Charlie’s Angels. Then she went on to a semi-regular part on Harry O as a stewardess and Janssen’s much younger neighbor and lover — the sheer idea of which made my mother howl with derision! Then she got CA.

Steve Jobs admitted that the show made a deep impression on him.

I remember watching this show as a child but all I remember about it is their 1973 ('74?) Ford Country Squire station wagon.

The show was ridiculously preachy and sappy. My mom always mocked it. My neighbors had the exact same station wagon. I wanted a water wheel.

How do you go from geeky sweet bespectacled Franny Michaels to dykey sullen Kristy McNichol?

Apple’s Way is a dated, corny dead end.

Fucking hell, you reminiscing fossils will swoon over any old shit from 46 years ago.

I thought you were bad with your pining for Harry "he was a dish!" Hamlin and Jon-Eric ('Lost Prince', no relation to Jon-Benet) Hexum.

The son of one actors on the show lived with my friend's family when he was in college. My friend stayed at their house in Beverly Hills once. We were both amazed because we had no idea character actors got paid so much money. I mean, it made sense that they worked a lot - character actors were rarely out of work from the 1940s - 1970s. Lots of movies coming out of the studios in their heyday & then tv came along with anthologies, westerns, sitcoms, detective shows, family dramas. We just figured being a character actor paid the same as being a day worker in construction or a substitute teacher. We didn’t know that actors we never heard of before made enough money to live in mansions in Beverly Hills. But when you look back on it, mansions in Hollywood weren’t all that special. The built in swimming pool with patio was a big deal back then, as was having someone who landscaped your property’s trees, bushes, flowers, vines, lawn. Those things are pretty common now. I like the way the homes of the stars had a rambling suburban look back then & not the McMegaMansion look of today.

I think I saw this show exactly once. I remember the big conflict was about teaching the grandfather how to eat artichokes. And the ugly girl with glasses was known for her Betty Crocker Snackin Cake commercials.

[quote] The son of one actors on the show lived with my friend's family when he was in college.

It took a minute to unravel that.

I first remember seeing Ronny Cox in "Taps." The movie is best known for launching Sean Penn and Tammy Cruise's careers.

I thought "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" launched Sean Penn.

My star vehicle launched Sean Penn, bitches.

My favorite kid actor photo: Harry Schearer in Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The one with Barry Fitzgerald as a drunk ex-con Santa Claus.

He looks the same except for hair color,

I remember the one with the tornado. It was months after the April 3rd tornado outbreak that hit my city. Everyone was struggling against a wind machine(!) to make to the storm cellar. Mrs. Apple's jam preserves were stored there. Grandpa Apple got hit on the head by a flying weather vane and he barely had a scratch. Patti Cohoon's character was crying that she was separated from her boyfriend and "I need HIS love!' I think Vinne Van Patten was playing baseball when it happened.

It was no “The Family Tree”!!!

I loved Ronny Cox!

No no no — there are TWO Ronnies

Valerie Bertinelli was on the show and wrote in her memoir that Earl Hamner was friendly to her.

Kristy McNichol's failure to get billing in the opening credits is what started her decades-long slide into unmanageable bipolar disorder.

Only one dinky plate of fried chicken for three adults and four kids?

The show had 28 episodes and hasn't surfaced even in reruns since 1975. I wouldn't hold your breath for this thread reaching 600.

Kristy McNichol learned how to make an apple bong while she was on this show.

Damn, R38! That is sizzling! And people say this isn't a gossip board anymore

[quote]I wouldn't hold your breath for this thread reaching 600.

Challenge ... accepted.

Kristy McNichol? I second that emotion.

The Family Tree was actually hot shit, R35!

Martin "Endless Love" Hewitt and James Spader as high school stepbrothers frequently found in their underwear, by the producers of Family!

And, unlike Apple's Way, the whole series is on YouTube:

I watched the show as a kid, at least a few episodes. The only thing I remember about the series now is the water wheel grist mill.

Wikipedia indicates the show aired on TV Land and American Life TV in the late 1990s and early 2000s. So someone somewhere likely has VHS tapes of the show in their collection.

I remember there was a paperback tie-in book for the show.

Post 50

Let's do this! We can easily get to 600 by linking pics of mid-'70s Vince VP.

Promo stills from the show always have the characters laughing hysterically. That means the show was actually desperately unfunny.

"Apple's Way will not be seen tonight, so that we can bring you the following special presentation."

You know there were some tears shed that night...

I don't think I ever watched it, but the thumbnail pic is triggering memories of wedge haircuts, denim leisure suits, and earth shoes.

R22 Griswoldmobile

It was so boring.

Ford was really about marketing their cars through TV shows and movies in the mid-70s. That wagon was in countless TV movies and shows when I was a kid. I wished our family had one but we only got GM cars. I remember it as the car from Burnt Offerings with Karen Black and Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell, as driven by Ms. Yvette Mimeux.

There is more to the Earl Hamner story but I will leave it to the imagination.

Is this some Mandela Effect shit? I consider myself a tv expert and have never heard of this.

Have you heard of The Ken Berry 'Wow' Show, R59?

I remember it R60

It should be against the law to use the word “wow” in the same sentence as “Ken Berry.”

LOL Cheryl Stopplemoor (Ladd) was in that WOW show.

In '74/'75, I found it difficult to make time for Apple's Way. That it had Vincent Van Patten interested me a bit (whom I already knew from the 'Night Gallery' episode, 'Big Surprise'. Later he was hotter than hell in The Six Million Dollar Man episode, 'The Bionic Boy'), but insufficiently to get me to be in one spot at a particular time to watch it.

And then, just like that, it was gone. I never saw it again in syndication. It just dropped off the face of the earth.

LOL... I just moved to put Bootsy Gumdrop on ignore - again - and lo and behold..... OP disappears, R1 disappears and Bootsy's cunty R18 disappears.

Bootsy, you are truly one of the saddest creatures in the sewer parts of this place.

Sorry, cunty R19. In my own defence, I was laughing pretty hard.

Was this what played after R53's sad preemption interstitial?

Are those people in R17 using the red-checked tablecloth as napkins?

I loved this show. Would love to watch it again. The clothes and hairstyles are triggering though.

Hey--does anyone know of a similar 70's family type show set somewhere in the desert. Maybe Arizona? I remember a woman with a blond bob and there were some cute dogs. That's all I got as far as clues.

I was asked to star with Vince in Apple's Way, but held out for my star-making role with his Daddy!!

EXPLOSIVE tell-all interview with superstar Patti Cohoon!

Water wheel porn

[quote]I remember there was a paperback tie-in book for the show.

And a board game!

[quote]I remember watching this show as a child but all I remember about it is their 1973 ('74?) Ford Country Squire station wagon.

The '74 had a hood ornament if that helps, the kind that would just bend over if hit by a baseball.

The youngest son looks terrifyingly similar to the evil Dodie on My Three Sons.

I know I watched Apple's Way, but like R-someone above, the only thing I remember about it is the water Wheel.

I do actually remember watching the Jack Benny tribute that preempted Apple's Way. I don't think I had ever seen Jack Benny before he died (his show ended before I was born). I was fascinated by the tribute and became a Jack Benny fan. True story.

"Apple's Way will not be presented tonight..."

R76 I remember the Jack Benny thing as well. It seemed to be a big deal when he died.

I know we watched Apple’s Way but don’t remember much about it or even how often we watched it.

It was a Waltons rip-off. I guess network executives thought that if people loved the Waltons they'd also love this. WRONG!

Vincent was hot as a Wonder Woman baddie!

FOLK TV should snap this up.

Who was the hottest Van Patten?

[quote] The Family Tree was actually hot shit, [R35]! Martin "Endless Love" Hewitt and James Spader as high school stepbrothers frequently found in their underwear, by the producers of Family! And, unlike Apple's Way, the whole series is on YouTube:

Six 30 minute episodes and zero underwear scenes. Cancelled after those 6 episodes.

I vaguely remember this show from when I was a kid. Don't think I watched more than one or two episodes, since it was more boring than The Waltons. However, I might be open to giving this show another try. Based on the clip shared at R17, it seems the only way to enjoy this show is to watch it ironically ... the ridiculous opening alone is full of country stereotypes and is ripe for mockery.

It was very holier than thou - as if John-Boy grew up to be a Humorless Granola SJW. The show took that 70s “a very special episode” mindset to an absurdist extreme.

[quote] Bootsy, you are truly one of the saddest creatures in the sewer parts of this place.

I like to think so!

Don’t worry, I won’t be ridiculing Bernie in this thread. I designate it a safe space!

JOYCE was the hottest Van Patten.

BULIFANT was the hottest Joyce.

Did anyone notice the name Melora Hardin in The Family Tree credits?

BROTHERS was the hottest JOYCE doctor.

What on earth was Earl Hamner thinking to name the family "Apple"?? Ridiculous.