John-Boy Walton was a hit TV character of the 70's. A household name of a fictional character. But some booed the legendary character by Richard Thomas and said he was uneven as a character. They found greater happiness in the later, far less iconic but steadier characterization of John- Boy by Robert Wightman. In another very recent posting of mine ( see my postings) I mentioned Larry Linville ( Frank Burns on left-wing Mash) had a special way of playing a character hundreds of ways but still recognizable. The Waltons was made the same moment Mash was . Same network. Slight possibility that Richard Thomas was trying to copy Larry Linville's amazing characterization of Frank but for John-Boy! By God's grace it flopped a little. John-Boy just came out a youngster of too many moods.