I'm watching the 1st season on ME TV, and I notice Jethro is not NEAR as dumb as he is later on in the series..... He seems a bit backward in ways, due to living in the Hills his whole life, BUT really doesn't seem any dumber than any of the rest of the family really.

His character totally changed.... In the later episodes he almost becomes TOO over the top being unbelievably dumb.

When did his character change so much?

I also thought it was funny how in the earlier episodes he wanted to return to the Hills with Granny, but in the later episodes he wanted to totally be disassociated with the Hills.

I noticed that too. His hat is tipped back and he seems more like a rube/bumpkin, but not nearly as stupid.

It seems there were maybe planning on making Jethro the "book smart" one of the family, b/c in the early episodes he often could figure things out way before the others could, like with the telephone situation. In ways he was the most normal one of the family. Then by the time he wanted to start double knot spying, he was all but gone lol

Jethro also got sneaky and devious in some later episodes. I'm thinking in particular of the color shows where he forced Mr. Drysdale to stay at the mansion and watch the bear while he went off somewhere. Why Mr. Drysdale went along with this is beyond me. But Jethro schemed to have Drysdale do what he was supposed to be doing.

Jethro also got sneaky and devious in some later episodes. I'm thinking in particular of the color shows where he forced Mr. Drysdale to stay at the mansion and watch the bear while he went off somewhere. Why Mr. Drysdale went along with this is beyond me. But Jethro schemed to have Drysdale do what he was supposed to be doing.


Drysdale went along with about anything the Clampettes wanted, BUT I noticed in much later episodes Drysdale would unleash sometimes on Granny, Jethro and Elly, as long as he was in good-standing with Jed.

Drysdale went along with about anything the Clampettes wanted, BUT I noticed in much later episodes Drysdale would unleash sometimes on Granny, Jethro and Elly, as long as he was in good-standing with Jed.

Agreed. I always got the sense that in later years Drysdale absolutly HATED Jethro. For example when the rich woman wanted to buy the mansion Drysdale threw Jethro into a room in her penthouse while saying not so nicely he would 'ruin everything'.

Jed, Ellie and Miss Jane were the only people to reach the end of the series unchanged. The other bear no resemblence to their season one characters by the time the 'Rural Purge' arrived. They were little more than cartoon characters.

Yes, the character sort of evolved.

He's not really dumb. He builds all kinds of crazy contraptions, even though they backfire. Today they'd probably just label him ADHD and medicate him.

He had to be pretty smart to make the truck fly lol, I mean we can't even get a car off the ground today.

Agreed. I always got the sense that in later years Drysdale absolutly HATED Jethro. For example when the rich woman wanted to buy the mansion Drysdale threw Jethro into a room in her penthouse while saying not so nicely he would 'ruin everything'.

Jed, Ellie and Miss Jane were the only people to reach the end of the series unchanged. The other bear no resemblence to their season one characters by the time the 'Rural Purge' arrived. They were little more than cartoon characters.

Miss Jane did change from being the loyal faithful secretary to being a liberal social justice warrior feminazi.

Miss Jane did change from being the loyal faithful secretary to being a liberal social justice warrior feminazi.

lol indeed Miss Jane was written in to be truly California zed - funny it was evident then in the show but took decades to be obvious to the rest of us +-

Yep but in the early years she wasn't as zed as in the later years.