User Reviews

i watched this show a couple of times when i was 7 years old. The only scene that sticks in my mind that i remember is i believe it was the Tornado episode where i keep thinking there's a scene where George and the Grandfather were in the station wagon car (i think it was) and somehow , George was driving the car in the storm and somehow it flipped over and landed on its roof and then it went into a commercial.

When this show was out, i remember hanging out with this kid i knew and the song "The Night Chicago Died" was always on the radio. And at that time , my favorite TV series "The Six Million Dollar Man" was in its 1st season. I had memories as a kid. Apples Way was kind of a memory but not as big as some of the big shows that were out in the 1974-75 season.

I suspect that were I to see this show today I'd find it hokey and corny and wonder what I ever liked about it back in the day. I saw an afterschool special w/Kristy McNichol about 5 years ago & I was like "Oh this is so unreal. That would never happen in real life that the divorced dad only sees his kids every other Sun afternoon & doesn't invite his kids to his wedding" I think seeing this would bring on similar comments.

The Apple family, as I recall, left the big city to live in the country (IA or some such). I remember Ronny Cox in the tree and I recall Franny Michael being replaced by Kristy McNichol & preferring Franny.

I remember well Ronny Cox in the tree. Must have been their biggest episode b/c several remember it. I also remember the family in a basement or something and singing corny songs to pass the time. One of the girls was cranky about it and I don't remember if they were locked in or hiding from a tornado. I don't remember the grandpa at all.

I mainly recall the thrill I got when I wrote to complain about the show being canceled and they sent me an autographed photo of the cast. I had the biggest crush on Vincent Van Patten.

BTW, the person above was wrong. Vincent Van Patten was never on "Eight is Enogh" unless it was a one time guest role. They must be thinking of Willie Aames

I was in junior high when this played on TV. I watched the first episode and was hooked. I found the characters believable, the stories involving and watched every single episode that aired. Even the acting was good--Ronny Cox and especially Francis Lee McCain where like the parents I never had (my real parents were OK though:)). The episode I remember vividly was when a hurricane hit and the family had a variety of crisis's to deal with. Also this had a VERY young Kristy McNichol (who replaced Frannie Michel) and hottie Vincent Van Patten. I loved the show but I never want to see it again. I'd probably find it boring and corny now...but I have the nice memories of it to remember.

I was a small child, only four and five years old, when this was on TV. I remember it so vividly and I never forgot the name. My love for this show was right up there with the Waltons and Little House on the Prarie. I was so surprised when I looked it up to find out it had only been on such a short time. It made a much bigger impact on my childhood than that. I remember crying when my mom said it wasn't going to be on any more. Kristy McNichol was wonderful as Patricia! She was such a gifted child. I would love to be able to share this show with my children. If it was ever made available on tape or DVD I would buy it in an instant.

It was great in the first season. Their story lines were warm, touching and showed the closeness of the family. They made the mistake in the second season of making the stories hard edged and the fun went out of the series. The cast replacement of the youngest daughter added to my disappointment. Kristy was good but no match in acting ability for the original cast member.

Remember watching a few episodes, just before it got canceled. Didn't remember that Kristy Mc Nichol had been in this, until I watched her E! THS episode. I had a crush on the older sister/daughter on the show. What ever happened to her? Thought she was cute, and talented as an actor, also. For some reason, I remember it was being advertised as a family drama, with MrCox, as its current patriarch. Hadn't seen Deliverance , at that point. I've always been curious about his latest project after this and his Deliverance role. He's always seemed to portray his characters in subtle yet knowledgible ways, and growing as an actor. Not just sitting on his laurels. What has Mr Van Patten beendoing of late? He was being sold as the 'eye candy,' teenage heart throb, just before Eight is Enough. Was that supposed to be a retread of Apple's Way?

Some interesting recollections about APPLE'S WAY. One comment: Regarding the Sunday-night "deathslot" for this program … as APPLE'S WAY aired on CBS, it would not have been "clobbered" by 60 MINUTES, if only because 60 MINUTES was also a CBS program. Also—per Alex McNeil's TOTAL TELEVISION book (second edition, 1984)—60 MINUTES became a regular Sunday-at-7 p.m. show starting in the fall of 1975, a year _after_ APPLE'S WAY launched (60 MINUTES had various time slots before fall 1975). As for the show itself, I have vague recollections of watching the first few episodes. My family were fans of THE WALTONS, and no doubt that's why we gave APPLE'S WAY a look. But, also no doubt, APPLE'S WAY suffered in our home—and in many others—from airing opposite hour two of THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF Disney on NBC. For what it's worth.

I remember well the evenings back in '74 when my family and I would gather round the television to watch Apple's Way…because it was so riotously awful. I've never laughed harder than we did while "riffing" on this show in the style later perfected by MST3K.

I remember the teenage son's wildly improbable "first kiss" with a roughly 30-year-old Farah Fawcett, during which a duck squawked in the background like somebody was beating it with a baseball bat. I remember the "terrifying thunderstorm" that looked like somebody spraying a garden hose on a car windshield while passersby sunbathed in the California sun in the background. I remember when the family had to "live off the land" on a camping trip, roasting cattails like hot dogs over an open fire. (As natural foods expert Ewell Gibbons used to say about cattails back in those days, "many parts are edible"…just not the parts they were roasting.) It was insipid, clichéd and ridiculous.

On the other hand, Apple's Way was a show meant to bring the family together and nothing brought our family together like sitting down to make fun of this train-wreck.

I'd love to see it again!

I watched Apple's Way devotedly during it's deservedly-brief run. It aired an hour before Kung Fu with David Carradine, as I remember it, which made for a wonderful double-header of inanity. On the surface, the two shows might seem very different, but they were both informed by the same sort of lame Hollywood pseudo-philosophy. George Apple never put the chop-socky on anybody, but otherwise he wasn't much different from Kung Fu's Caine. Some reviewers mention a liberal bent to the this show. It wasn't so much that it was politically liberal. It was just that everyone in the show was what the English call a "wet". If George Apple had been president, he would have been Jimmy Carter, only without the steely resolve. The show was so bad, it was painful to watch sometimes, but it was like eating a habanero pepper -- when it was finally over, you got a rush of endorphins. I got a lot of pleasure from the thought that I wouldn't have to watch it again for another week. One episode in particular stuck in my memory. The little girl in the family had been pretending to be a witch and had cast a spell on her brother in revenge for some insult. As luck or the scriptwriter would have it, the boy was hit by a car while riding his bike and the girl thought it was because of her spell. Stricken with remorse that her brother was in the hospital, the girl tried to undo the spell. George walks into her bedroom to find her tearfully chanting some mumbo-jumbo to speed the boy's recovery. George hugs her to his bosom and explains tenderly that just saying words can't make things happen to anybody. In the very next scene, the whole family gathers in the living room, kneels down on the 70's style shag carpet, and prays to God for the little boy's life. But wait -- just saying words can't make things happen! It was unintentionally hilarious moments like that that made the show worth watching.

I have to admit I only remember little bits and pieces of the show, but they do stand out, and in reading the other comments about the show it is really coming back to mind. I remember that it came on right after "The Wonderful World of Disney" in our area and in those day (being raised by my grandparents) there was only the one TV in our house and you had to watch what everybody else was watching and I remember that show really hitting home. I can sort of remember the entry into the show was something with this house and there was this big huge tree in front of it and then it panned around to the house and the family running out the door out to a picnic table and sitting down to dig into a meal.

I have tried to remember the name of the show for many years as that part of the show has stood out and I remembered it came on after Disney and no one I would ever talk to about it could/or did remember it. I have felt like I was the only one in the world that had ever seen it and then a couple months ago I was talking about it again with some new people at my work and one of them blurted out the name and she said that she loved the show because she was in love with the father in the show.

I think that what initially started me search for the name the past couple of years is that there was this show a couple years back about this family that lived in Florida and they took care of this zoo and it seemed that it reminded me of "Apple's Way". Now, I can't remember the name of that show either, but I remember one of the teen characters was not wanting to participate in caring and taking care of the family zoo and he wanted to play guitar and sing in a band. He is a pretty well known actor - a girls heart-throb. I think his last name is Mathisen or something like that.

Anyway, that show, for some odd reason started me thinking about "Apple's Way" again and now I really wish that I had known that it had played on TVLand. I do understand that a lot of shows from that era don't seem like they were when we originally watched them, but there must have been a reason that they touched our hearts then or we watched them (like a love interest), so we shouldn't be so quick to downplay them now. Example- one of my favorite all-time shows from when I was that age was Land of the Lost. I loved the Sleestacks, so I just recently ran across the first season on DVD and bought it and watching it now makes me wonder why I ever did as the graphics and special effects looks as if a 2 year old did it, and I almost turned it off, but then I kept watching it and I started getting into it again and pretty soon the bad filming wasn't being paid attention to, but rather the lives of the characters and them trying to save themselves and find their way back to the real world. I would love to have a chance to see "Apple's Way" again, and if anyone knows of a way that I can accomplish that, please get a hold of me at: gary2002@comcast.net. Thanks for listening....

Good heavens, I remember this show! Vividly. All too vividly ... (of the three times I saw it this piece of swill, one was a repeat of another, which hammered home the show's true awfulness) If at age 15 I found this show to be a clichéd, treacly waste of film, goodness knows what the average discriminating adult would think.

In the interests of cinematic duty, though, I subsequently saw a couple of eps on TV Land -- alright, I plead insomnia. And what in the hell were they thinking? Look, any show that replaces a key character before a full season's been concluded is in big trouble, and the plots were of the sophomoric quality that plays on Nickelodeon, without Nick's usual production values.

(Yes, that is saying something.)

1/10.

"Apple's Way" was an enjoyable family show. Unfortunately it appeared on Sunday nights, the "Death Slot" and only lasted one season.

It was a trend-defying series that focused on the family relationships of the Apples, who left Big-City life for a slower pace and a better environment for their children in rural Iowa. It struck a chord because the mood in America at that time was "malaise" after Vietnam, Watergate, gas lines, inflation, recession, drugs, and the overall erosion of family values. The parents wanted to give their children a more wholesome life without the peer pressures for sex, drugs, booze, and other temptations so popular at the time.

Overall, I thought the parents succeeded. . The three Apple children made friends with their classmates and managed to have a good time down on the family farm. They grew up with a better attitude. Having the grandfather added another dimension, a frame of reference that the kids would not otherwise have had. In the days of double-digit inflation, they were astonished to hear of 25-cent movies and nickel ice cream cones. As a World War I veteran, he told them about patriotism at a time when our Vietnam misadventure soured nearly everyone on the military.

The cast did a great job. Ronny Cox was perfect as the laid-back, patient father. Vincent van Patten came across very well as the teenage son trying to understand life. In one episode, Paul spends a lot of time playing tennis and falling in love with a young woman a few years older. The ending was sad.

The episode I remember best sums it all up for me. Another family they knew in L.A. spends a week with the Apples and becomes quite fond of the less-stressful way of life. They even think about moving to Kansas to start over. On their last day, however, the father, a corporate VP, is needed back in the office. Although he tries to buy time with the President, the company sends a helicopter to bring him back. As he flies off, the rest of his family realizes that they are, unfortunately, captives of their wealthy urban lifestyle, and drive back home.

I didn't watch it every week, but I enjoyed this sleeper of a show. It wasn't a hilarious comedy or a deep drama. With good scripts and acting, this show made a statement about life in the 1970s.

Hamner basically ripped off his own "The Waltons" creation, for this "contemporary" variation, with a liberal flair. YouTube currently has the opening credits - check out the link provided in the menu for "clips."

So many of the questions arising in these comments are clearly answered by IMDb, such as dates of broadcast, length of series, etc. Obviously, "Apple's Way" was a mid-season replacement series, that started in Feb. of 1974, and ended its run in Jan of 1975.

"The Tree" episode sticks out in my mind, but then again, it was the first episode aired.

I didn't realize that Kristy McNichol replaced another actress, as she is the only person I remember in the role.

Trivia note: Lorimar also produced something called "Second Chances" in the early 90s, and Ronny Cox and Lee McCain once again played spouses for a few episodes.

I remember this show too. I was only 8 when it was on, but at the time I enjoyed it. It would probably give me cavities now.

Now I see it was really jumping on the bandwagon started by "The Waltons" two seasons earlier. "Little House on the Prairie" followed the same trend.

One of the episodes I remember involved the father sitting in a tree to protest its removal. Eventually everyone in town came to join him and sing-along as he played his guitar ("Down by the old mill stream...").

I did find the cantankerous grandfather with a heart of gold a little annoying. And I never really adjusted to the actress change for one of the daughters.

I remember this as a warm and friendly family show. It was a family who had moved back from the big city to the Dad's rural hometown. It had perhaps a little reminiscence of the Walton's although it was set in current times, not long in the past and not narrated that way. The Apples, too, were a family that had a strong family relationship and strong religious beliefs.

In fact, it may have been done by the same producer as the Waltons but I'm not positive. I was young and it's been so many years since it went off the air, but I remember my family being very disappointed when it wasn't renewed after the second year.

Great show..remember from my youth..Ronny Cox was and is a great actor the ability to convey and live a role is paramount. I n this series he was asked to deliver the character's ideal...a recently returned prodigal son who comes home to raise his family as his parents did.This show followed the Waltons..not an easy task in the 70's..it was the highest rated family fare..it delivered..Earl Hamner had a pulse on 70's families..which I still miss..Many tried to copy and maybe did but this show in my heart remains one of the few that displayed ideals all forgotten today.The times were different but the idea of family and loyalty never go out of style..great time capsule of what I hold as family drama

I remember this thing. It was 'Waltons' related. Earl Hamner had a hand in this show some way or he endorsed it, and yes, it came on Sunday nights.

I wanted to watch it then, but couldn't, but I have since seen it on TVland and it was truly dreadful.

Endless liberalistic views that are even worse now than they were then.

Episodes involved the family protesting the tree being cut down by climbing up into it, the father bought a zoo (about a half dozen animals, but he called it a zoo) and the youngest boy, Eric Olsen, learned a valuable lesson about selling candy.

Young Olsen seemed to have the most difficult time looking interested and cute when he often looked bored.

The opening credit would involve the family gathering round a picnic table and Vincent Van Patten turning the crank on the ice cream maker with a big smile on his face.

I've operated many of those hand cranked ice cream makers, and me nor my brothers and sisters were smiling like that!

I would watch one or two episodes and there would be a scene with the husband and wife talking over some issue then the wife would proceed with "I'll tickle you if you don't. I'll tickle you if you don't."

I guess that was supposed to be a happy loving couple.

The notion that life was simpler or easier or freer is ridiculous, which many of those hippy protesters and commune livers soon learned. Gardening and livestock involved work, like pure manual labor. Think that it is anything else, and you are in for a surprise.

The grandfather would only be added because the family wasn't winning ratings, so granpa was brought in to try to give it some life.

The daughter that was replaced went from a Velma Dinkle looking girl to Kristy McNicol. Because the school newspaper wouldnt publish knobby kneed McNIcol's report, she was hollering censorship.

Any time the family felt turned on, it seemed that insensitive fat cigar businessmen were responsible.

This was the show, however, that made me realize that what we saw outside was not necessarily what was inside, as a newspaper article would show what was behind that windmill and it was all boards.

Where was the house?

I was learning that the exterior shots were done who knows how far away from interior shots.

My sister HAD to watch the show every week, and it a misery. I'm so glad my dad could see it the way you did. He riffed the show and made it hilarious.

It was just a terrible, dry, Sears Roebuck attired saltine cracker of a show.

There was nothing redeemable about about any of the characters. Even today, when we come across bland unappealing 'acceptable' in a social way families my brother and I nudge each other and mutter, "Apple's Way People".

The short-lived family drama series "Apple's Way",which ran for one season on CBS-TV from 1974 to 1975,was a very enjoyable show for the duration of several of the episodes until somewhere down the line the show really lost its touch with the audience and from there went into a quick decline sending it to the lost graveyard of family-oriented shows that was never to be heard from again. For one,"Apple's Way" was one those shows that instantly jumped on the bandwagon which was started by "The Waltons",two seasons earlier. Another family-oriented series,"Little House On The Prairie"(which was on another network)not only followed the same trend,but also premiered the same year as this show did. Other shows also followed suit as well since "Apple's Way" was basically related on the same family-oriented formula as "The Waltons",since this series was created by the same person responsible for this show,Earl Hamner(the creator of "The Waltons")who in fact was not only the creator of the show but instead the shows'executive producer and sometimes the writer on this show,along with producers Lee Rich and Edward Denault. Only 24 episodes were produced of this series.

For one,it was Earl Hamner,who had a great deal in the production of the series since he insisted that CBS endorsed this series since it was really a modern day version of "The Waltons". But what killed it so quickly was that the show was on Sunday Nights and it was on the dreaded "Deathslot" of shows,and unfortunately it had some very stiff competition as well,going up against "The Wonderful World Of Disney" and not to mention the newsmagazine "60 Minutes",which clobbered it. I saw an episode only once when TVLand show it a couple of years ago,and to me the episodes were not only pitiful but just plain awful.

It was in some aspects a series that defy the odds especially with family relationships which focused on the misadventures of the Apple Family,who left the Big City life in search of a slower pace and a better environment for their children in rural Iowa,circa,1974. The show struck a chord because at the time "Apple's Way premiered,the mood in America at the time was very "malaise",after the onslaught of the Vietnam War,not to mention,Watergate,Gas Lines,Inflation,Recession, Drugs and Alcohol,the resignation of President Nixon,the loss of faith in the government,and the erosion of family values,let alone the rotting away of family morals and standards. Even some of the liberalistic views that this show had,and I mean there were several that should have been never mentioned during a family-oriented show.

Even some of the political commentary and not to mention liberalistic views that were even worse then are even worst today. Talk about values in a house where everything is a liberalistic debate,and even for a family show,it wasn't perfect. It killed it. Some of the episodes involving the family protesting the removal of a tree;the father buys a zoo,with a half dozen animals,but he called it a zoo; and the episode where the youngest boy learns a lesson or two about selling and giving. Just about every episode on this show was about some family member who gets into a situation,gets his hippy protesting flower child parents to help out in the cause and from there would gather friends and neighbors to debate about the issue in the front of the authorities and would protest about something and of course would brake into song. The husband and wife always talking about some issue,in which this was suppose to be a happy loving couple who basically argue over whatever. Another is where the cantankerous grandfather,who was brought in to boost the show's ratings,was always into something and sometimes was a little annoying and repulsive. And by the way,where was the house?

As far as the acting credits were concern,the show may have sucked but,the main characters,especially the father(Ronny Cox)provided some support for the rest of them,which they were either acting from cue cards to being lost in transition. This can be said with the rest of the cast including Frances McCain,Vincent Van-Patten,and Frannie Michel and Kristy McNichol(Frannie Michel played the character of Patricia Apple for the first 12 episodes,then was replaced by Kristy McNichol who played the second Patricia Apple came on board during mid-season until the end of the series run who portray her in only 13 episodes).Out of this series,only two actors from this show went on to bigger and better things especially in there respective careers when the show left the airwaves. Ronny Cox would go on to greater glory as an Hollywood action-star in which he scored one of the biggest hits of 1984,opposite Eddie Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop" movies and from there would continued in two other sequels to "Beverly Hills Cop",opposite Eddie Murphy and into more films and onward in other shows as well. He also starred in another short-lived TV series. Kristy McNichol went on to star in another family-oriented show from the 1970's,"Family",and went on to star in the 1980's situation comedy "Empty Nest". Vincent Van Patten went on to other opportunities including being one of the guest stars opposite Dick Van Patten(his father)in the highly successful family-oriented show from the 1970's as well,"Eight Is Enough",which was also produced by Lee Rich and Edward Denault. The whereabouts of actresses Frances McCain and Frannie Michel is still a mystery to this day and why was Frances McCain or for that manner actress Frannie Michel were given another series to work with after this show ended is beyond me since both of them was never given the chance to showcase their special talents. However,Earl Hamner,after this show ended in 1975,he continued on with his most winningest show "The Waltons",which ran for nine seasons(1972-1981),and from there make the switch from family dramas to soap operas in prime time during the 1980's,in which Hamner was the creator of soap drama "Falcon Crest",as well that also ran for nine seasons too(1982-1991).