The CBS "rural purge" of 1971

NBC cancelled THE VIRGINIAN in 1971 after 9 years, as well (and, also, after trying to reformat-it into the "Spaghetti-western"-type MEN FROM SHILOH for its last season).

As an aside; concerning JACKIE GLEASON's variety show: I think CBS took note of when its midsummer replacement -THE PRISONER- got *higher* ratings than it.

 

1970-71 was around the time that networks and ad agencies began to discover the value of demographics. It's been rehashed many times about how NBC would have kept STAR TREK (1966-1969) around longer had they realized the value of the demographics the show WAS attracting. So when CBS got a look at those new demographic reports, they were horrified that all of their audience was skewing older.

 

And Kaiser/Globe Broadcasting made a brilliant move when they decided that the STAR TREK syndicated strip would make great counter-programming against network affiliate's news slots.

 

When I was 11 and 12, I didn't understand how anyone could dislike THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES. It made ME laugh! Actually if one had taken the HILLBILLIES scripts and transliterated them to an English setting, making them into a British film about Cockneys or poor Northerners who got rich and outsmarted "City" gents(or better yet, the same thing in French), the US art-house crowd would have gobbled it up. After all, the earlier "Carry On' films were hits here in the US.

 

Here's a terrific essay on The Glen Campbel Goodtime Hour and why it was cancelled, and how the whole "Rural Purge" went down in the early 1970s:

The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour Story

The article reveals the programming execs' master strategy on how and why they were trying to change their schedules and also whether it was successful. Most revealing to me was the fact that there were 15 variety shows that were cancelled during this period, which shows you how radically TV was changing during those years