:wave: I understand that Bea Benederet passed away in real life during the run of the show, but how did they explain Kate suddenly being gone and now Doc Craig was a;ways on. I think it was sad to think that they never explained Kate leaving because she was the star. How could such an important character and mother to the girls just suddenly disappear. Was there an episode I missed. PLEASE RESPOND!!!!!!! :) :wave:

My understanding is that, not only did they not deal with the death of Bea Benadaret (Kate Bradley) on the show, they never even acknowledged it!

It would usually be explained on the show that Kate was away "on a trip"...and as I recall, there were a couple of times in which "Kate" appeared on the show after Bea B died, but she would only be shown in a long shot, or with her back to the camera...

There are more detailed explainations of the way the show dealt with Bea's death at www.jumptheshark.com ...just click on "A to Z" and then go to the "P" shows, and click on Petticoat Junction...there are some great comments there that go into greater detail than I'm able to here...

All in all, it was a strange way to deal with the death of a character, especially since Kate herself was a widow, so the show had, in a way, already dealt with death, even though Mr. Bradley was never seen.

I remember there was one later episode when Betty Jo had a problem, and very wistfully said, "I wish Mom were still around." I always took this as a way of acknowledging Kate's death. I suppose it could be interpreted that Kate was still away, but the way Betty Jo said it spoke volumes.

TV Guy - that sounds like an excellent point...it sounds like they actually did acknowledge Kate's death in that scene, even though not in so many words...by saying "I wish Mom were still around" rather than something like "I wish Mom would come back" or "I hope Mom comes back soon" (i.e. from her "trip"), it sounds like Betty Jo was admitting that she would never see Kate again...a very subtle way of implying that Kate was gone for good...

Great catch, TVGuy, I think that acknowledgement from Betty Jo went unnoticed by a lot of people, myself included. Good job!