I like 'The Waltons' just as much as the next guy...

but.

I was freezing peppers and watching an episode of The Waltons. A mother leaves her little girl, who can't or won't speak, on the Walton's doorstep. John Boy figures out she can't hear. Using happy and sad faces, he teaches her "happy" and "sad" in American sign-- the sign where words are spelled out in individual letters.  That's all well and good. Happy, sad, cat, dog, proper names, lots of active verbs, ... I'm sure there are a host of words whose sign representations can be taught and learned in just a few days without knowing how to spell. (Turns out all of the Waltons can sign, by the way.)

Elizabeth runs away-- no one is paying her any attention-- and the little girl, Holly, follows after her. Elizabeth gets trapped in a trunk in an abandoned house. Holly naturally saves the day. Seriously? 

b-o-x | i-n | e-m-p-t-y | h-o-u-s-e 

seems like a lot of letters when you can't spell. Seems like a lot of letters when you've never heard a sentence. 

That was just too much for me.