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BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 50th Anniversary September 26th!!


Lucyilove

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"Beverly Hillbillies" was the most surprising mega-hit in TV history, riling the more sophisticated critics who dismissed it as corn. It gained in popularity and remained TV's #1 show for 2 years, and for the next 6 seasons it remained in the top 20 with 3 visits to the top 10 in its 4th, 5th and 7th years. The last season 70-71 it had dropped completely out of the top 30. It was part of CBS's "rural purge" that included Mayberry, Green Acres, Hee Haw, and Jim Nabors. (This was the year the FCC cut the networks back from 3 1/2 hrs. per night to 3). It's been said that these shows were all still highly rated, which is true for Mayberry (#15) Hee Haw (#16) and Nabors (#29), but both BH and GA had slid substantially in their new back-to-back time slots on Tuesday outrated by ABC's "Mod Squad" ("First they got busted....then they got badges..").

Bitterness was expressed by the casts and producers but both of these shows had long overstayed their welcomes. BH ran 9 years, GA 6 (Petticoat Junction had been mercifully canceled the previous year 1970 after 7 seasons and is sometimes included in this rural purge list).

 

Lotus Buddy, if you want to watch some BH's I suggest you start with the first season. Irene Ryan was stupendous in the beginning. Somewhere along the line, they decided to make her character into a cartoon, which I think was a huge mistake. Bea Benedaret as Cousin Pearl Bodine (and mother to Jethro AND Jethrine) is in the pilot but does not make the trek to California with the gang. She's featured in some 'meanwhile back in the hills" scenes. During the Christmas season, the BH gang returns to Bugtussle (which I think is the name of the city) and that's when Bea is prominently featured and IMO the best episodes of the entire series. Bea steals the show. After "Wider" Bodine is spurned by oil man Mr. Brewster (semi-regular Frank Wilcox in what is probably his best TV role), she and Jethrine go back to California. Bea stayed on the rest of the season, joining the cast in their closing credit good-bye waving, but left to star in her own "Petticoat Junction". After hilarious support in Burns and Allen and BH, Bea finally gets her own show and .....it's dull. No fault of Bea's I guess, but her character was given no comedic traits. By the way, the character of Jethrine (Max Baer in drag) was dropped because it was "too broad". To which I say "WHAAAA????"

 

I'm unfamiliar with BH episodes after the first season so I don't know if there are funny ones or not, but two of my must-see favorites from the first season are:

 

"Jed Rescues Pearl" from 1/2/63 The whole town knows Pearl has been throwing herself at Mr. Brewster so in order to save face, Jed arranges it so that Brewster proposes to Pearl publicly as she plays 'pian-y" at the movie theater. Pearl is to turn him down but Brewster decides to ham up his proposal. Pearl trying to stick to her scripted refusal as Brewster gets more and more dramatic is Bea Benedaret at her absolute best.

and

"Jed's Dilemma" from 1/16/63 Back in California, Pearl and Granny trade insults and vie for top dog in the kitchen. There's some great dialogue.

Pearl: Who's closer related to ya, Jed, her or me?

Granny: I is, cause I's a Granny.

Pearl: You're a mother in law. I'VE got CLAMPETT blood in my veins

Granny: Well, if you want ta keep it there, you stay out of my kitchen.

 

and

Jethro: Come back Uncle Jed, there's gonna be a FIGHT!

Pearl: I don't fight nobody twice my age.

Granny: There AIN'T nobody twice your age.

Pearl: I happen to be on the sunny side of 45.

Granny: Well, move into the shade. Your dryin' up something awful

 

BH was a loser at the Emmys but got a Best Comedy nod its first season, losing to Dick Van Dyke Show. Irene was nominated the first two seasons (losing along with Lucy to Shirley Booth and then to Mary Tyler Moore). There were no more acting nominations until Nancy Kulp, a major contributor to the show, got one in the series' 5th season, losing to Aunt Bee, Francis Bavier's only nomination.

 

(As happens, I didn't mean for this one to be this long....This is why I can't "tweet"! I can't say ANYTHING in 80 characters or less!)

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"Beverly Hillbillies" was the most surprising mega-hit in TV history, riling the more sophisticated critics who dismissed it as corn. It gained in popularity and remained TV's #1 show for 2 years, and for the next 6 seasons it remained in the top 20 with 3 visits to the top 10 in its 4th, 5th and 7th years. The last season 70-71 it had dropped completely out of the top 30. It was part of CBS's "rural purge" that included Mayberry, Green Acres, Hee Haw, and Jim Nabors. (This was the year the FCC cut the networks back from 3 1/2 hrs. per night to 3). It's been said that these shows were all still highly rated, which is true for Mayberry (#15) Hee Haw (#16) and Nabors (#29), but both BH and GA had slid substantially in their new back-to-back time slots on Tuesday outrated by ABC's "Mod Squad" ("First they got busted....then they got badges..").

Bitterness was expressed by the casts and producers but both of these shows had long overstayed their welcomes. BH ran 9 years, GA 6 (Petticoat Junction had been mercifully canceled the previous year 1970 after 7 seasons and is sometimes included in this rural purge list).

 

Lotus Buddy, if you want to watch some BH's I suggest you start with the first season. Irene Ryan was stupendous in the beginning. Somewhere along the line, they decided to make her character into a cartoon, which I think was a huge mistake. Bea Benedaret as Cousin Pearl Bodine (and mother to Jethro AND Jethrine) is in the pilot but does not make the trek to California with the gang. She's featured in some 'meanwhile back in the hills" scenes. During the Christmas season, the BH gang returns to Bugtussle (which I think is the name of the city) and that's when Bea is prominently featured and IMO the best episodes of the entire series. Bea steals the show. After "Wider" Bodine is spurned by oil man Mr. Brewster (semi-regular Frank Wilcox in what is probably his best TV role), she and Jethrine go back to California. Bea stayed on the rest of the season, joining the cast in their closing credit good-bye waving, but left to star in her own "Petticoat Junction". After hilarious support in Burns and Allen and BH, Bea finally gets her own show and .....it's dull. No fault of Bea's I guess, but her character was given no comedic traits. By the way, the character of Jethrine (Max Baer in drag) was dropped because it was "too broad". To which I say "WHAAAA????"

 

I'm unfamiliar with BH episodes after the first season so I don't know if there are funny ones or not, but two of my must-see favorites from the first season are:

 

"Jed Rescues Pearl" from 1/2/63 The whole town knows Pearl has been throwing herself at Mr. Brewster so in order to save face, Jed arranges it so that Brewster proposes to Pearl publicly as she plays 'pian-y" at the movie theater. Pearl is to turn him down but Brewster decides to ham up his proposal. Pearl trying to stick to her scripted refusal as Brewster gets more and more dramatic is Bea Benedaret at her absolute best.

and

"Jed's Dilemma" from 1/16/63 Back in California, Pearl and Granny trade insults and vie for top dog in the kitchen. There's some great dialogue.

Pearl: Who's closer related to ya, Jed, her or me?

Granny: I is, cause I's a Granny.

Pearl: You're a mother in law. I'VE got CLAMPETT blood in my veins

Granny: Well, if you want ta keep it there, you stay out of my kitchen.

 

and

Jethro: Come back Uncle Jed, there's gonna be a FIGHT!

Pearl: I don't fight nobody twice my age.

Granny: There AIN'T nobody twice your age.

Pearl: I happen to be on the sunny side of 45.

Granny: Well, move into the shade. Your dryin' up something awful

 

BH was a loser at the Emmys but got a Best Comedy nod its first season, losing to Dick Van Dyke Show. Irene was nominated the first two seasons (losing along with Lucy to Shirley Booth and then to Mary Tyler Moore). There were no more acting nominations until Nancy Kulp, a major contributor to the show, got one in the series' 5th season, losing to Aunt Bee, Francis Bavier's only nomination.

 

(As happens, I didn't mean for this one to be this long....This is why I can't "tweet"! I can't say ANYTHING in 80 characters or less!)

Well, i was there when all of this was happening, and i remember how much we enjoyed that show, of course i was twelve so the humor was thrilling to me, so different and seeing that Hollywood setting, the whole premise of the show, going from the hick hills to the ones in Beverly . . . next to The Lucy show, it was my second favorite show at that time. Irene Ryan SHOULD have won more than one Emmy for her work here, she was stupendous! All the stars of the show were excellent, Irene went to Broadway, Buddy came back years later as Barnaby Jones adn Max Bear produced some movies . . . now, years later we learn that the banker was hated by every other cast member, apparently he was impossible to work with. They lost me in the later years when they ALL became cartoon characters and they had a gorilla living with them, it just became stupid and sophomoric. But like Neil said, it was a ratings powerhouse and some of their records still stand in the Neilsen all time biggest 100 hits. BUT, as i watch it lately, i'm on season three as only those three have come out HERE and i'm sad to say the show has not stood the test of time like Lucy has, it's already getting weaker by season three and the end seasons resemble Roseanne's disastrous and unfunny season nine, where she was allowed to reign over and therefore ruin her own show. The characters are still great at season three on Hillbillies and it's hard to criticize a show that was such a big part of my life as a kid. I still wish someone could tell me which show showed granny getting a replica of her old log cabin on the backyard patio for her birthday or Christmas as i'm finding it hard to rewatch some of these trying to find it. One of the ones i watched yesterday showed an areal view of the mansion and one has to remember that back then, it was the closest any of us had a chance to see actual Beverly Hills mansions and that was a thrill back then but not so much so now that we can see them on the net any time we want.

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Lotus Buddy, if you want to watch some BH's I suggest you start with the first season. Irene Ryan was stupendous in the beginning. Somewhere along the line, they decided to make her character into a cartoon, which I think was a huge mistake. Bea Benedaret as Cousin Pearl Bodine (and mother to Jethro AND Jethrine) is in the pilot but does not make the trek to California with the gang. She's featured in some 'meanwhile back in the hills" scenes. During the Christmas season, the BH gang returns to Bugtussle (which I think is the name of the city) and that's when Bea is prominently featured and IMO the best episodes of the entire series. Bea steals the show. After "Wider" Bodine is spurned by oil man Mr. Brewster (semi-regular Frank Wilcox in what is probably his best TV role), she and Jethrine go back to California. Bea stayed on the rest of the season, joining the cast in their closing credit good-bye waving, but left to star in her own "Petticoat Junction". After hilarious support in Burns and Allen and BH, Bea finally gets her own show and .....it's dull. No fault of Bea's I guess, but her character was given no comedic traits. By the way, the character of Jethrine (Max Baer in drag) was dropped because it was "too broad". To which I say "WHAAAA????"

 

I'm unfamiliar with BH episodes after the first season so I don't know if there are funny ones or not, but two of my must-see favorites from the first season are:

 

"Jed Rescues Pearl" from 1/2/63 The whole town knows Pearl has been throwing herself at Mr. Brewster so in order to save face, Jed arranges it so that Brewster proposes to Pearl publicly as she plays 'pian-y" at the movie theater. Pearl is to turn him down but Brewster decides to ham up his proposal. Pearl trying to stick to her scripted refusal as Brewster gets more and more dramatic is Bea Benedaret at her absolute best.

and

"Jed's Dilemma" from 1/16/63 Back in California, Pearl and Granny trade insults and vie for top dog in the kitchen. There's some great dialogue.

Pearl: Who's closer related to ya, Jed, her or me?

Granny: I is, cause I's a Granny.

Pearl: You're a mother in law. I'VE got CLAMPETT blood in my veins

Granny: Well, if you want ta keep it there, you stay out of my kitchen.

 

and

Jethro: Come back Uncle Jed, there's gonna be a FIGHT!

Pearl: I don't fight nobody twice my age.

Granny: There AIN'T nobody twice your age.

Pearl: I happen to be on the sunny side of 45.

Granny: Well, move into the shade. Your dryin' up something awful

 

I absolutely love those two episodes you mentioned, Irene is always wonderful on the show but in these (and in others) Bea is every bit her equal as the man-hungry "widder woman" Pearl so desperate to sink her claws into that city feller Mr. Brewster. The "picture show proposal" segment is a true classic. Granny and Pearl's bitch fights are a scream and while they were later transferred to Granny and Mrs. Drysdale after Bea left the show, it wasn't quite the same although I do love Harriet MacGibbon and her character.

 

 

Jethrine left the show before Pearl, interestingly we learn she has gone back to see her sweetie Jazzbow Depew yet there is no word that they are married!! Jethrine was a hilarious character though, a delicious parody of a king-sized mountain girl, I suspect the main reason she was dropped it that it was too complicated having "her" appear regularly given Max Baer had to play two characters on each episode (the show never used "double shots" like in movies where actors played twins).

 

Yes, the early years were the best but several of the later episodes are gems too, notably the "wrasslin'" ones with Rebecca of Donnybrook farm, Kathleen Freeman as the new maid next door Granny thinks is a rich neighbor and possible wife for Jed, the Possum Day episodes, Mary Wickes as the "society queen" of the Ozarks Drysdale tricks his wife into thinking is part of international cafe society, the silent movie spoofs (one with Hedda Hopper, one with no less than Gloria Swanson), etc. Although a very family friendly show, it could get racy at times as with the jokes about topless restaurants and on one episode Jed thinks Mrs. Drystale's father is propositioning him in an invitation to Las Vegas.

 

I have to say personally I love my Hillbillies like I love my Lucy and I will defend the season nine awful, awful "Frog man" episodes just as strongly as I will LIFE WITH LUCY - these were awesome performers and I would happily watch them in anything, even bad scripts.

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I've seen very little of this show. Perhaps I should revisit it to refresh my memory.

WHAAAAATTT??? :lucydaze: You've got a Bea Benaderet cartoon as your avatar and you've never seen her at her absolute best on The Hillbillies??? I suspect most of the early episodes are on youtube since they are public domain (they can also be downloaded at archive.org). At it's best it is absolute priceless, a crazy comedy satire unlike any other sitcom. It was the favorite sitcom of everybody from Maureen Stapleton and Mary Pickford to Rosanne Barr.

 

There's also another great sitcom having a 50th anniversary a few days later but I will leave that to the powers that be here to lead that parade.

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I dunno, I loved the BH as a kid but find them hard to sit through now, although I do love Bea Benaderet and would love to see those first ones again...but I refuse to get them in PD form, will look for "official" CBS releases, even though I think they stopped after the 2nd or 3rd Season, which is yet another example why they shouldn't release long-gone classics season-by-season but rather in nice, affordable but complete SERIES and full of goodies (bonus features) box sets -- doesn't that make more sense?? :lucythrill:

 

Can't quite get behind the "second best sitcom ever" or whatever bandwagon as I think there's lots more preferable candidates -- for me, Bewitched is foremost coming to mind -- but hey, to each their own and more power to you! :lucyhaha:

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I dunno, I loved the BH as a kid but find them hard to sit through now, although I do love Bea Benaderet and would love to see those first ones again...but I refuse to get them in PD form, will look for "official" CBS releases, even though I think they stopped after the 2nd or 3rd Season, which is yet another example why they shouldn't release long-gone classics season-by-season but rather in nice, affordable but complete SERIES and full of goodies (bonus features) box sets -- doesn't that make more sense?? :lucythrill:

 

Can't quite get behind the "second best sitcom ever" or whatever bandwagon as I think there's lots more preferable candidates -- for me, Bewitched is foremost coming to mind -- but hey, to each their own and more power to you! :lucyhaha:

Well, there ya go, proof of your "to each his own" theory, i could not care less about reruns of Bewitched, my number two after Lucy would be Everybody Loves Raymond, then Roseanne, Friends, Beverly Hillbillies and others too numerous to mention.

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I dunno, I loved the BH as a kid but find them hard to sit through now, although I do love Bea Benaderet and would love to see those first ones again...but I refuse to get them in PD form, will look for "official" CBS releases, even though I think they stopped after the 2nd or 3rd Season, which is yet another example why they shouldn't release long-gone classics season-by-season but rather in nice, affordable but complete SERIES and full of goodies (bonus features) box sets -- doesn't that make more sense?? :lucythrill:

 

Can't quite get behind the "second best sitcom ever" or whatever bandwagon as I think there's lots more preferable candidates -- for me, Bewitched is foremost coming to mind -- but hey, to each their own and more power to you! :lucyhaha:

 

Fair enough, and I have to admit sincerely (not as "payback" I swear!) my history with Bewitched mirrors yours with the Hillbillies, never missed the show as a kid but somewhere along the way I've pretty much lost interest in it although I still admire the cast.

 

And incidentally your Bewitched banner actually inspired my Hillbillies one! One of the things I love about this site is we can go "off topic" and talk about other favorites unlike at many other celebrity sites where you risk getting your head bit off if you suggest a rival show/star was actually pretty good, too.

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OMG, is it really 50 years? My word. I remember watching The Beverly Hillbillies as a 9 year old and being totally entranced. My favorite character was Granny, of course. Irene Ryan seemed perfectly cast as the rambunctious oldster with a taste for moonshine. Actually, everyone was spot-on, including Mr. and Mrs. Drysdale and "Miss Jane." Wow, I can't believe half a century has passed since then.

 

The black and white episodes are my favorites. Funny, but it seems that most shows transitioning to color lost something in the process. Lost in Space became a cartoon, and even The Wild, Wild West changed. The only show that benefited from color was Dark Shadows, in my opinion.

 

Now, for all your BH fans, I have a trivia question: there was an episode that ended with Granny dolled up in a long, sparkly slinky gown. I've only seen this once, but the memory is indelible. She was performing/singing in some kind of club, and they'd even given her a "glamour girl" wig. Does anyone but me remember this snippet?

 

Thanks - Rod

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OMG, is it really 50 years? My word. I remember watching The Beverly Hillbillies as a 9 year old and being totally entranced. My favorite character was Granny, of course. Irene Ryan seemed perfectly cast as the rambunctious oldster with a taste for moonshine. Actually, everyone was spot-on, including Mr. and Mrs. Drysdale and "Miss Jane." Wow, I can't believe half a century has passed since then.

 

The black and white episodes are my favorites. Funny, but it seems that most shows transitioning to color lost something in the process. Lost in Space became a cartoon, and even The Wild, Wild West changed. The only show that benefited from color was Dark Shadows, in my opinion.

 

Now, for all your BH fans, I have a trivia question: there was an episode that ended with Granny dolled up in a long, sparkly slinky gown. I've only seen this once, but the memory is indelible. She was performing/singing in some kind of club, and they'd even given her a "glamour girl" wig. Does anyone but me remember this snippet?

 

Thanks - Rod

Vaguely, wasn't it one of the shows where Flatts and Scruggs came to them with Joi Lansing playing one of their wives and Granny feels she has to compete by gussying herself up, so she gets this evening gown and all but her hair and face stay the same, LOL! Oh yeah, you're right, she had this long blonde or white wig on, but they never made up her face though, LOL!

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Vaguely, wasn't it one of the shows where Flatts and Scruggs came to them with Joi Lansing playing one of their wives and Granny feels she has to compete by gussying herself up, so she gets this evening gown and all but her hair and face stay the same, LOL! Oh yeah, you're right, she had this long blonde or white wig on, but they never made up her face though, LOL!

 

Is this (around 20:35) the one you're referring to?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seBxMQOSlgo

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I dunno, I loved the BH as a kid but find them hard to sit through now, although I do love Bea Benaderet and would love to see those first ones again...but I refuse to get them in PD form, will look for "official" CBS releases, even though I think they stopped after the 2nd or 3rd Season, which is yet another example why they shouldn't release long-gone classics season-by-season but rather in nice, affordable but complete SERIES and full of goodies (bonus features) box sets -- doesn't that make more sense?? :lucythrill:

 

Can't quite get behind the "second best sitcom ever" or whatever bandwagon as I think there's lots more preferable candidates -- for me, Bewitched is foremost coming to mind -- but hey, to each their own and more power to you! :lucyhaha:

 

I recommend MPI's Beverly Hillbillies DVD sets, volumes 1 & 2. This includes all of season One (which features Bea Benaderet as Pearl), and about 1/3 of season 2. These include some nice extras, including the Winston Cigarette and Kelloggs openings! From what I understand, these episodes came from Paul Hennings estate.

 

Darn, I wish they were honoring the 50th anniversary with more dvd sets! :(

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I will check out some of the early episodes. What I remember seeing on TV Land didn't do a thing for me, not really my cup of tea. But I will see, maybe I'll have a different opinion this time out.

 

I'm not uber-familiar with BH either. I'm sure there were some good episodes in the post-Pearl seasons, but this series had far too many episodes that were variations on "Mooney the Monkey". They strayed away from the original concept which actually had some charm and heart. In an early episode, Jed talks to Elly about her not having a "ma" anymore and gives her a fatherly hug as the scene fades out. You just didn't see that in later seasons. Granny was so unique to television, it's a shame they cartooned the character.

 

BTW, Beverly Hillbillies's CBS daytime run came on at 9:30 right after The Lucy Show at 9 (Pacific time). BH had started its daytime run in 1966, two years before TLS. As they did with TLS, CBS stopped running the b/w episodes by the fall of 1969. TLS started its daytime run with the 2nd season color eps and ran the 1st season at the end of the cycle exactly twice before ditching them. We didn't have any Lucy Show reference material in 1968 so it was very confusing that these episodes we thought were b/w were actually color.

There's some connection between broadcasting in color and RCA, which was owned by NBC (or the other way around). It may have been that RCA got a cut from any color TV sales. CBS's stubborn decision to continue broadcasting b/w rather than encourage people to buy the RCA product was a dumb one. I wonder whether the color versions of TLS were even offered to CBS in 1963.

 

Elly's ma was yet another late and unlamented spouse. I suppose it's possible that Mrs. Clampett, Mrs. Andy Taylor, Mr. Carmichael and Mrs. Steve Douglas were all involved in the same tragic car crash that killed Buffy and Jody's folks when the drunk driver Count Frambois plowed into all of them in his 1928 Porter.

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I recommend MPI's Beverly Hillbillies DVD sets, volumes 1 & 2. This includes all of season One (which features Bea Benaderet as Pearl), and about 1/3 of season 2. These include some nice extras, including the Winston Cigarette and Kelloggs openings! From what I understand, these episodes came from Paul Hennings estate.

 

Darn, I wish they were honoring the 50th anniversary with more dvd sets! :(

I have those as well as the official Season three, but that's where it seems to end, for now. Remember that comment from Lucie that she wished she could wipe out all the smoking in the ILL shows, well, Hillbillies, run the original Winston cigarette commercials but show a sign that says something to the effect that the dangers of smoking weren't evident at that time but that they recommend you not smoke and that the commercials are only shown for historical purposes.

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Elly's ma was yet another late and unlamented spouse. I suppose it's possible that Mrs. Clampett, Mrs. Andy Taylor, Mr. Carmichael and Mrs. Steve Douglas were all involved in the same tragic car crash that killed Buffy and Jody's folks when the drunk driver Count Frambois plowed into all of them in his 1928 Porter.

Oh, you are a friggin R I O T there buddy!

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Having only the first three seasons, i have yet to see any of the shows IN COLOR , BUT, there was a SPECIAL film on season three's last disc and it shows clips IN COLOR of some of the later shows and i have to say, the make up is way overdone, unless it's the shows not being remastered or something.

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"Beverly Hillbillies" was the most surprising mega-hit in TV history, riling the more sophisticated critics who dismissed it as corn. It gained in popularity and remained TV's #1 show for 2 years, and for the next 6 seasons it remained in the top 20 with 3 visits to the top 10 in its 4th, 5th and 7th years. The last season 70-71 it had dropped completely out of the top 30. It was part of CBS's "rural purge" that included Mayberry, Green Acres, Hee Haw, and Jim Nabors. (This was the year the FCC cut the networks back from 3 1/2 hrs. per night to 3). It's been said that these shows were all still highly rated, which is true for Mayberry (#15) Hee Haw (#16) and Nabors (#29), but both BH and GA had slid substantially in their new back-to-back time slots on Tuesday outrated by ABC's "Mod Squad" ("First they got busted....then they got badges..").

Bitterness was expressed by the casts and producers but both of these shows had long overstayed their welcomes. BH ran 9 years, GA 6 (Petticoat Junction had been mercifully canceled the previous year 1970 after 7 seasons and is sometimes included in this rural purge list).

 

I'm unfamiliar with BH episodes after the first season so I don't know if there are funny ones or not, but two of my must-see favorites from the first season are:

 

"Jed Rescues Pearl" from 1/2/63 The whole town knows Pearl has been throwing herself at Mr. Brewster so in order to save face, Jed arranges it so that Brewster proposes to Pearl publicly as she plays 'pian-y" at the movie theater. Pearl is to turn him down but Brewster decides to ham up his proposal. Pearl trying to stick to her scripted refusal as Brewster gets more and more dramatic is Bea Benedaret at her absolute best.

and

"Jed's Dilemma" from 1/16/63 Back in California, Pearl and Granny trade insults and vie for top dog in the kitchen. There's some great dialogue.

Pearl: Who's closer related to ya, Jed, her or me?

Granny: I is, cause I's a Granny.

Pearl: You're a mother in law. I'VE got CLAMPETT blood in my veins

Granny: Well, if you want ta keep it there, you stay out of my kitchen.

 

and

Jethro: Come back Uncle Jed, there's gonna be a FIGHT!

Pearl: I don't fight nobody twice my age.

Granny: There AIN'T nobody twice your age.

Pearl: I happen to be on the sunny side of 45.

Granny: Well, move into the shade. Your dryin' up something awful

 

BH was a loser at the Emmys but got a Best Comedy nod its first season, losing to Dick Van Dyke Show. Irene was nominated the first two seasons (losing along with Lucy to Shirley Booth and then to Mary Tyler Moore). There were no more acting nominations until Nancy Kulp, a major contributor to the show, got one in the series' 5th season, losing to Aunt Bee, Francis Bavier's only nomination.

 

 

Some of my other favorite lines from this period:

 

Granny: When I get my hands on that Pearl Bodine I'm gonna boot her so hard whereever she gets up from sittin' she's gonna leave my footprint!"

 

****

Pearl: Granny, where do you put the firewood in this here stove?

 

Granny: I don't use no firewood! For your information Pearl Bodine, we got gas!

 

Pearl: Well I don't wonder, eatin' uncooked food!

 

Re the last season ratings, it's true BH had fallen out of the top 30 it's last season but one has to remember this was in the era of 80 or so network shows so a series in the back of the top 40 was still fairly safe from cancellation (some shows like I Dream of Jeannie ran for years without ever cracking the top 25!), I'm guessing BH it's last year was in the 30's somewhere, definitely a major drop and on it's last legs but I can see where the cast might have they have been surprised that the axe fell if there was never a suggestion they were on borrowed time with the network before that

 

Your bringing up Aunt Bea from The Andy Griffith Show reminds me of reading Rick Mitz's (?) book on sitcoms from the early 1980's I had as a teenager where he notes the cast called her "Ain't" Bea (like Elly May says "Ain't" Pearl) - being from the South myself, I had no idea anyone pronounced any other way until reading Mitz's comment :lucycoy: !

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Some of my other favorite lines from this period:

 

Granny: When I get my hands on that Pearl Bodine I'm gonna boot her so hard whereever she gets up from sittin' she's gonna leave my footprint!"

 

****

Pearl: Granny, where do you put the firewood in this here stove?

 

Granny: I don't use no firewood! For your information Pearl Bodine, we got gas!

 

Pearl: Well I don't wonder, eatin' uncooked food!

 

Re the last season ratings, it's true BH had fallen out of the top 30 it's last season but one has to remember this was in the era of 80 or so network shows so a series in the back of the top 40 was still fairly safe from cancellation (some shows like I Dream of Jeannie ran for years without ever cracking the top 25!), I'm guessing BH it's last year was in the 30's somewhere, definitely a major drop and on it's last legs but I can see where the cast might have they have been surprised that the axe fell if there was never a suggestion they were on borrowed time with the network before that

 

Your bringing up Aunt Bea from The Andy Griffith Show reminds me of reading Rick Mitz's (?) book on sitcoms from the early 1980's I had as a teenager where he notes the cast called her "Ain't" Bea (like Elly May says "Ain't" Pearl) - being from the South myself, I had no idea anyone pronounced any other way until reading Mitz's comment :lucycoy: !

I didn't remember either of those great lines but they sure are funny! Funny that in the very beginning, granny tried to put wood in those stoves. And she was carrying water from the cement pond not knowing they had access to water in each bathroom and the kitchen too. Some of these "unknowns" were the best part of the series. LIke when they saw their first TV image and it was of Niagara Falls, so they thought it was some kind of washing machine.

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I didn't remember either of those great lines but they sure are funny! Funny that in the very beginning, granny tried to put wood in those stoves. And she was carrying water from the cement pond not knowing they had access to water in each bathroom and the kitchen too. Some of these "unknowns" were the best part of the series. LIke when they saw their first TV image and it was of Niagara Falls, so they thought it was some kind of washing machine.

I watched the latter quoted episode "Back to Californy" the other night and I got the setup line to the gas gag wrong, no doubt misremembering it via Granny's earlier travails. Pearl actually comments she should have brought her coal oil stove which leads to Granny's response and Pearl's conclusion. It is one of the very best episodes in the series and Granny and Pearl could have taught Alexis and Krystal a thing or two about how to bitch fight! Funny though how the Hillbillies were always so backwards even years into the show but here they were just three months or so after the premiere and showing Pearl and Jethrine how everything is done like a veteran and who can forget the sight of Granny returning home in a mink coat, probably the only one she ever wore in the run of the show.

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