"Appalachian Autumn" is the first television play episode of the third season of the American television series CBS Playhouse. It is a drama about the poverty of the fictional coal mining town of Harper's Gap in West Virginia, and the attempts of a VISTA worker to assist the people of the town.[1]

"Appalachian Autumn"
CBS Playhouse episode
Episode no.Season 3
Episode 1
Directed byWilliam A. Graham
Written byEarl Hamner, Jr.
Original air dateOctober 7, 1969 (1969-10-07)
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"Appalachian Autumn" was broadcast October 7, 1969, and received technical Emmy awards for lighting.[2] Reviews of the episode were mixed, with Rick Du Brow in the Lexington, NC Dispatch calling it "still worth tuning in" in spite of CBS Playhouse "being on its soapbox."[3] The New York Times critic Jack Gould noted the episode was "not the pillar of dramatic success; nor is it immune to dramatic excess," but praised the broadcast on how it "comes to grips with an issue such as the reality of poor whites in Appalachia."[4]

Writer Earl Hamner, Jr. would later use this episode as the framework for his award-winning television series The Waltons.[5]

Actor Phillip Alford, a child during the filming, recounted his experience filming "Appalachian Autumn" in the book Growing Up on the Set, noting that one scene resulted in his getting a concussion.[6]

References

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  1. ^ TV.com: CBS Playhouse: Appalachian Autumn.
  2. ^ TV.com: CBS Playhouse: Appalachian Autumn.
  3. ^ The Dispatch, October 7, 1969.
  4. ^ Earl Hamner: From Walton's Mountain To Tomorrow. James E. Person, Cumberland House Publishing, 2005, ISBN 9781581824551, p154.
  5. ^ TV.com: CBS Playhouse: Appalachian Autumn.
  6. ^ Growing Up on the Set: Interviews With 39 Former Child Actors of Classic Film and Television. Tom Goldrup and Jim Goldrup, McFarland, 2002, ISBN 9780786412549, p17.
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