Posted on 01/04/2012 6:40:11 AM PST by Mustang Driver
Once upon a time in America, there was good wholesome television. Lawrence Welk. My Three Sons. Red Skelton. Family Affair. And Paul Hening’s trio of sitcoms: Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres.
Then in 1970 or so, advertisers noticed that these highly rated shows were watched by rubes. Advertisers wanted those sophisticated young urban professionals — Yuppies — and the like.
Apparently the rubes were not buying the stuff that was advertised but the sophisticated people were.
So CBS, ABC and NBC dumped them in favor of Yuppie-friendly shows.
Enter relevancy, exit the entertainment. The rural purge was bloodless but Stalinesque as Norman Lear took over the airwaves to preach liberalism to the masses. The caricature of the white conservative as an overstuffed racist who cannot deal with change was embodied in Archie Bunker and lives on today. If you question abortion or wonder why after 10,000 years of civilization men should marry men, you must be a racist and therefore your argument automatically is invalid. Critical thinking, this was not.
Eventually, CBS relented somewhat in its incessant liberalism and threw the rubes a few bones — The Waltons and Dukes of Hazard. But once nuked, Hooterville — home of the Shady Rest and the farm of Oliver Wendell Douglas — would not spawn another series, ever.
That was 1971. The very next year, liberal George McGovern planted the seeds of the revenge of Hooterville — in Iowa. With the aid of the New York Times, George McGovern raised the profile of the Iowa caucuses and voila, Iowa became the starting gate of the quadrennial race to nominate presidential races
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.dailymail.com ...
Green Acres was one of the most hilarious sitcoms ever to grace TV (which admittedly is pretty paltry praise). It lived to puncture the pretensions of the Manhattan elite; it was great role reversal comedy as the so-called hicks made an utter fool of the sophisticated Wall Street lawyer. Oliver’s naivete was matched only by his agricultural ineptitude. He was so far out of his element that he had to ask Eb for directions ...
Pixley meets Pugsly...
I live very close to Iowa and have worked with a number of people from the state. In general, they were intelligent, well-read, very nice people. But the myth that the national media likes to propagate is the one of all midwesterners, not just Iowans, being fat slobs who think mowing their lawn and watching Survivor are the most important things in life. Sometimes the myth is true, but I doubt people from other states are smarter than Iowans. In fact, I don’t even know why the lib media is down on Iowans since many Iowans vote for the crooked er Dem Party.
Mr. Haney, Pat Buttram, was my favorite. I still like to do Mr. Haney impressions.
Interesting TV history. Ya learn something new everyday here on FR.
Green Acres was a show that mocked everyone from NY lawyers to farm hands. Even the “hicks” as you call them were being mocked. It insulted everyone, which certainly made it different.
Hooterville isn’t just about Green Acres. Don’t forget the easy on the eyes cast of Petticoat Junction.
The difference between pigs in Iowa and pigs in NYC, is that Hooterville, Iowa’s hogs poop and pee in the pigpen instead of in a park in the middle of Manhattan.
The old Beverly Hillbilly shows were a hoot!
I especially love the one where Jed buys an old movie studio and goes to help out there. He meets an actor playing Jekyl/Hyde and misunderstands about the makeup...hilarious :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt-gmS9twsA&list=UUboQUEpIdkC0ju44HtZ2ojQ&index=5&feature=plcp
Salute!
To this:
Why do you think they came up with the name “Hooterville”?
the two at the bottom are sure ugly......
Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Mayberry RFD (a continuation of the Andy Griffith show) were all all top 10 shows for the same channel (CBS I believe) in the late 60’s early 70’s.
The head of the network decided he was tired of being in charge of the “hick channel” so he cancelled them all and decreeed there would be not more rural shows. Despite the fact that they were still hugely popular.
It proves the claim “the networks are only responding to customer demand and giving views what they want” is a lie. Otherwise, those show would have gone on for many more years.
Roy Clark - Lawrence Welk-Hee Haw Counter Revolution Polks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV85sDCRGkE
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.