Appalachian Autumn

"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" was broadcast in October 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]