What do you prefer? The first 3 years of B&W, or the last 6 years in Color?

Hola!

The color episodes were getting more and more outlandish, while the early B&W episodes concerned a poor mountain family, almost thrusted into this life of opulence. Granny hated California, and Jed wanted a better life for his teenage daughter, and his idiot early 20s nephew.

The early days of TBH were the best, because the concept was the freshest. As the years wore on, the episodes were still excellent, but by 1970 or so has gotten stale with stupid hippee references. Paul Henning wanted to make the Hillbillies as goofy as Green Acres (I don't like Green Acres, sue me).

What helped the Hillbillies was that all the cast members stayed for the entire run. I also believe Southerners were more loyal to the show.

Senor

The first three seasons, definitely. Jethro and Drysdale turned into caricatures of themselves in the later seasons. It's a wonder they didn't join forces with Wile E. Coyote. "Hey,Mr. Coyote, I got a dandy idea how you can catch that Roadrunner!"

-Roy

the first 3 seasons, in black-and-white. Mostly, the early ones. They acctually seemed like a poor mountain family in those.

I like both although I agree it hit its high marks in the early years.

Yup, I like the show better in black in white. It just looks better too?

A note about television series in general here.. For most shows that had a long run, the fans will almost always think the earlier years were better. I think this is because there must be some things in the early episodes to relate to which made it popular enough for a long run in the first place. Then inevitably there will be changes, based on the need for newer plot ideas or cast changes where one or more actors or writers demand more money or more control or they will leave. If there are exceptions to this, they will usually be shows where the concept was fundamentally changed in order to try to save the show; such as Happy Days and Family Matters, where a supporting character who proved popular was elevated to a starring role.