The CBS "rural purge" of 1971

I'm sure that would have been thrilling for belly button fetishists, but beyond that I can't see why anyone would really care either way.

 

I guess I haven't. I stand corrected.

I was a toddler at the time. Reruns often run together in my head.

With Mayberry R.F.D., it's easy to see that it wasn't as strong as the Andy Griffith Show, but when people fall in love with the characters and the setting, they don't want to let it go.

I'm always amused that Gunsmoke is included as being at the tail-end of the rural purge. Executives tried to kill it in 1967, but the CBS president wouldn't allow it. So, they killed Gilligan's Island instead.

 

At this point, I'd be happy with a crime and medical drama purge.

 

I remember Bob Crane saying what finally did "Hogan's Heroes" in was being scheduled opposite "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color". I have fond memories of many of these shows but we often do of things we watched as kids. But a lot of them had reached their sale date. But at the same time I wish they had kept some of them, or found replacements, for fans of that genre. But Bobbi Fleckman is right when she said money talks and "beeswax" walks.

 

Just a case of seeing something that was previously "forbidden". Plus, Barbara Eden was a pure knockout so I would have been all in favor of an even more revealing costume. But if you want to psychoanalyze it, I'm game.

 

I think Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres remained funny (at least off and on) throughout their runs. It isn't like every episode in their later seasons falls flat. Contrast that to The Simpsons today. I have watched perhaps a handful of new episodes over the past several seasons and not one of them has been funny. If it hadn't already reached legendary status and retained at least some of its original audience, I doubt anyone would be tuning in to watch it today.

 

If only.

 

Interesting that these two shows focused on the rural families as opposed to the new gunfighter in town.

 

Also, both of those shows appealed to women more than traditional westerns so they really tapped into a previously under-served audience for historical oriented programs.

 

I loved the episodes with Phil Silvers as "Honest John" Schafer. I don't know how many others did.

 

MAD magazine even did an Edgar Allan Poe takeoff on the Purge, ("The Beverly Hillbillies had to go"), where the last line said the shows had to go because "They stank"! Kind of mean, but it was just a joke.

 

Different strokes, I guess.

I specifically thought of the Phil Silvers/"Honest John" and Shug Fisher/"Shorty Kellems" episodes as the quintessential examples of really bad Beverly Hillbillies. The fact that I even remember any of those broadcasts demonstrates conclusively that I will watch anything.

 

I didn't really care for the Honest John or Shorty episodes but I still loved the ones focusing on Jethro and J.B. Enterprises.

 

This

A visual clue to a bad BH episode = Jethro has really long sideburns

 

Too soon and too bad as there were several jobs Jethro had yet to try. "Heck Uncle Jed, I'm what you call a network programming executive. If them rascals get too big an audience I cancel 'em."

 

At least it never got to the bottom-barrel storyline point of Jethro marrying Miss Jane Hathaway and bringing a baby into the Clampett estate for a ratings boost.

 

Or maybe he could have adopted one of Ellie May's critter monkeys as a son! I'm actually kind of surprised they never did that...

 

Sadly, I think this was generally true for all the shows cited. When you look at some of the shows that came in -- All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Maude, and so on -- it turned into a new golden age of TV. While I think the purge was unfortunate, I think it was totally necessary in terms of business. And personally, I thought most of those other shows were tired, boring, has-beens. There are exceptions like Jack Benny, Jackie Gleason, and Red Skelton, but I think most of those performers should have just been given contracts to do 4 or 5 specials a year along the lines of what Bob Hope was doing.

The reality is that (at least for me) if I see any of these as reruns today, in 2016, they're kind of sad, quaint, not-too-funny shows. No question, they all were terrific and interesting shows in the early 1960s. But by 1971? Nope. Boring and tired.

The Doris Day Show was one of the most bizarre sitcoms in the history of CBS. Every season, Miss Day and the producers basically fired everybody and revamped the show. The farm, the old father, the kids, the office... everything changed season-to-season. I dunno if she was being temperamental or the producers were just crazy. I know the ratings were OK but never spectacular, but the reality was that it was a very mediocre, not-so-funny show. Rose Marie has complained in interviews that she was sandbagged by being fired from that show, among other characters.

 

Only two things stayed the same about that show: Miss Day and "Que Sera Sera." I never understood her appeal, but I was just a kid then.

 

It signalled the rise of Fred Silverman at CBS; after being promoted from Daytime and Saturday morning programming.

Aubrey, conversely, had been the one (a decade *earlier*) whom ok'yd ALL THE "RURAL" SITCOMS...almost all of which were produced by MARTIN RANSOHOFF'S FILMWAYS prod. arm at MGM (and it was via this connection: how, later, Aubrey networked through the system to RUN MGM between '68-'73).

 

A bit off topic - but my theory about 'The Simpsons' is that the audience's (and I confess I don't know what size of an audience the show presently has) long familarity and comfort level with the characters has become the dominant factor in viewership, trumping any issues with the quality of the show. (I think the same thing has occurred with 'The Big Bang Theory', as well - and I think the extensive re-runs and syndication of both shows have contributed to this.)

 

I remember this from my broadcasting classes in college...

The theory of the least objectionable program (LOP) is a mediological theory explaining television audience behavior. It was developed in the 1960s by then executive of audience measurement at NBC, Paul L. Klein, who was greatly influenced by the media theorist Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media.

Least objectionable program - Wikipedia

I think this still holds true today: if you're watching one show and a new show starts, and it's the "least worst" show on the air, you'll keep watching.

 

This explains how Fox greenlit so many terrible shows over the years.

 

Comfort TV.