Witch year did The Return to The Beverly Hillbillies air in.

1981. I think in November.

The TV-movie "The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies" (or "the Beverly Hills bomb,'
as author Stephen Cox aptly called it) first aired on the season premiere of
the CBS "Tuesday Night Movies," on Oct. 6, 1981. It received poor ratings,
partly because it happened to air on the evening that every network interrupted their broadcasts to relay the news that Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat had been assassinated. Even a repeat broadcast on the CBS "Saturday
NIght Movie" on July 7, 1984, also brought low ratings. Critic and TV historian
Leonard Maltin rated the film "below average."

Part of the problem was the casting. Irene Ryan had passed away, and
Max Baer wanted nothing to do with it. Without Granny (Imogene Coca was
hired to play Granny's 104-year-old mother) and a new Jethro (Ray Young),
it just didn't work. Plus it had "a bad script" (in creator Paul Henning's words).

"Faithful watchers of the Hillbillies winced at the reunion yet knew it was nice
to set a spell with their friends once again. The hillbillies always said, 'Y'all
come back now, y'hear?' ... and they did--only the viewers didn't."
-- Stephen Cox, "THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES" (Contemporary Books, 1988)

in that same book, (the 1988 version; Stephen Cox updated it and re-realesed it in 2003 as THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES-A FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY WING DING) Paul Henning says about the movie that when he wrote it; he was on medication that would leave him feeling deppresed sometimes. And when they all gathered for the initial read through; they realized after they started that it just wasn't working. But, they had to go through with it, because there was a writers strike on so they couldn't get a rewrite on the script.
Donna Douglas said that part of the problem was; it just wasn't the same without the mansion, the truck, the bank, etc.
And Nancy Kulp said that they had a director who insisted on using a lot of over-the-shoulder shots, which aren't good for comedy.

If only the cast had input it would have turned out better, they should have also used a different actress for granny an unknown who resembled Irene Ryan.