Retro : Family Values : EVERY DAY IS MOTHER’S DAY ON WALTON’S MOUNTAIN.

The Family Channel celebrates Mother’s Day Sunday with six maternal-theme hours of the mother of all family series, “The Waltons.” And not to be outdone, the Disney Channel is presenting the 1982 “Waltons” reunion movie, “Mother’s Day on Walton’s Mountain.”

Audiences were first introduced to the wholesome family from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia in the 1971 CBS TV-movie “The Homecoming--A Christmas Story.” Patricia Neal starred as Olivia Walton, the strong-willed matriarch of seven children; Andrew Duggan was her husband John; Ellen Corby was Grandma Esther, and Richard Thomas, her oldest son, John Boy.

The movie was such a success it was spun off into a one-hour series the following year. Stage actors Michael Learned and Ralph Waite replaced Neal and Duggan. “The Waltons” debuted Sept. 14, 1972, opposite NBC’s top-rated “The Flip Wilson Show.” The series became the surprise success of the season, and “Flip Wilson” was history by 1974.

“The Waltons” was created and narrated by Earl Hamner Jr. and was based on his own childhood during the Depression. Hamner had previously adapted his family story into the 1963 feature “Spenser’s Mountain” with Henry Fonda and Maureen O’Hara.

The Walton family made a meager living from the lumber mill operated by John and Grandpa Zeb (Will Geer). Though the family was poor, it was rich in love, respect and inner strength. The day-to-day events in the lives of the Waltons were seen through the eyes of John Boy, an aspiring novelist.

As the years went by, John Boy graduated from high school, went to college and began operating his own paper, the Blue Ridge Chronicle. When Thomas left the series at the end of the 1977 season, John Boy moved to New York after a publisher accepted his novel. Robert Wightman joined the series two years later as John Boy.

Corby suffered a stroke during the 1977-78 season and didn’t appear until the last episode of the season; Geer died at the end of the season. When Learned left the series after her contract expired in 1980, Olivia became afflicted with tuberculosis and was sent to a sanitarium. The series finale in 1981 found John selling the mill to his son Ben (Eric Scott) and moving to Arizona to be with Olivia, who was recuperating from a relapse of TB.

But the end of the series didn’t mark the end of “The Waltons.” The following year, NBC produced three popular TV movies featuring the cast.

Over the years, the series received numerous Emmys, including best dramatic series, best actor (Richard Thomas) and best supporting actress (Ellen Corby). Several now-popular performers made guest appearances on the series, including Sissy Spacek. A pre-”Three’s Company” John Ritter played the earnest Rev. Matthew Fordwick for five seasons.

“The Waltons” Mother’s Day programming begins at noon Sunday on the Family Channel; “Mother’s Day on Walton’s Mountain” airs Sunday at 4 p.m.; repeats of “The Waltons” air Mondays-Thursdays at 7 p.m. on the Family Channel.