(A spin-off of this thread: The Rural Purge of 1969-1972 (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=305528).)

The "Rural Purge" was the mass-cancellation of still-popular rural-themed shows with demographically-skewed audiences during the early 1970s. The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Mayberry R.F.D., and Hee Haw were among the shows let go by the CBS network after the 1970-71 season, even though the latter two were still in the Nielsen Top-20. The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle - USMC had both ended their runs while they were the top sitcoms on not just the CBS network, but all of broadcast television. Then Petticoat Junction was cancelled after 1969-70 because of declining ratings after the death of its star, Bea Benaderet.

Under an alternate timeline where the Rural Purge never happens, what would the consequences have been?


The elimination of the 7:30 half-hour from the broadcast-networks' primetime schedules (AKA the "Prime Time Access Rule") being shifted-over to 1972-73 (you know, because not as many shows would be cancelled by CBS after 1970-71).

All in the Family not being as big as it ended up being in real life, and none of its spinoffs existing. The Mary Tyler Moore Show would probably have ranked number-one in the annual Nielsen Ratings for one or two years instead.:)

The rural shows (and a few other CBS veterans, like Hogan's Heroes or The Ed Sullivan Show) would be given advance notice so their exits would be handled better, and do it more gradually. Make it the producers'/cast's/crew's decision to end rather than the just the network's. Which of the shows that CBS cancelled in 1971 would keep their real-life end dates under this scenario? On the other hand, we could maybe extend Mayberry R.F.D. and Family Affair for one more season in 1971-72?

A possible worst-case scenario: The ratings for all three of the broadcast networks would be declining all across the board throughout the 1970s, and maybe one of them would shut down at the end of the decade.:eek:

The Beverly Hillbillies would've had a decent ending CBS would've been doing great with Hee Haw and Mayberry RFD would've had a better ending with possibly the return of Andy and Barney.

Under an alternate timeline where the Rural Purge never happens, what would the consequences have been?


I believe that it is a popular misconception to see "the rural purge" as some form of wolf at the door. When really I think it was more an attempt by the network executives to anticipate "the next big thing" by replacing the old shows with something having a more contemporary slant to it.

They likely wanted to envision themselves as trail blazers, rather than the ones following the elephants with the boom.

Lets not forget what else was going on in America at the time. Shows such as Laugh-in had carved out their own niche, and the unwieldy Smothers Brothers show had managed the unthinkable, it had pulled the mighty Cartwrights out of the top spot. Shows like the Flip Wilson Show were pulling in good ratings so the Kingdom was under attack, it was time to look for a new silver bullet, or risk being left in the ashes.

Follow the ratings of the top 30 shows during the period https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966%E2%80%9367_United_States_network_television_schedule for a few years, and you'll see the ratings of shows like Bonanza and Andy Griffith tapering off before "the rural purge" set in motion. While shows such as Laugh in actually managed a while in the #1 slot after Bonanza was dethroned, and Flip Wilson owned the #2 slot for a couple seasons.

I am not saying that I am happy that the rural purge happened, just that it did not happen in a vacuum. Guys who were paid big money to "see into tomorrow" were not seeing our favorites as part of the future.

I guess what I'm saying is, the late 60s/early 70s were a time when one wanted to be seen as "hip" and the guard was changing. The whole "turn on, tune in, and drop out" thing. And feeding the egos of a nation desiring to see itself as part of that new happening scene appeared to be where the money was headed.

Resting on "yesterday's traditions" likely looked like a death sentence for a country believing itself to be surging forward.

One factor to consider is the replacement of crime shows with westerns. Crime shows were far less expensive than westerns. These shows were fading long before the rural purge.

It was definitely time for the Beverly Hillbillies to end anyway since it had been on nine seasons, but if the purge had not happened, maybe Green Acres could have lasted another two or three seasons.

We still would have been screwed by the FCC family hour act which took away all the 7:30 PM shows (21 half hour slots!) from the networks -- the true family oriented/fantasy/animal/kid/cartoon type shows left the air for good at the same time as the rural purge!

I think a lot of the so called rural shows were in decline anyway. Also, if you look at these shows, you can tell most of them were on the wane. Beverly Hillbillies for example ran out of ideas. One reason for the changes was that many more people were moving from rural areas into the cities, and so the networks needed to reflect that. But crap like Here’s Lucy which was old fashioned back then survived until 1974, because the urban audience liked it.

One show that survived and thrived for another eight years or so was Gunsmoke. Gunsmoke traveled through interesting times. It started in 1955 when I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners was on and ended in 1975 sharing the network slate with Maude, Mary Tyler Moore and MASH. The CEO of CBS (William Paley) wife loved Gunsmoke and wanted to keep it on, do it was moved to Mondays and it was back in the Top 10.

One error CBS made was cancelling Hee Haw. Hee Haw was on the networks a year or two and got cancelled way back in the early 1970’s. However the show went into syndication, was placed in a early evening Saturday night slot (which is a tough place to put a show) and it thrives for over twenty years.

I didn't do a case study of this, but I wonder if the success of plays like Oklahoma etc had something to do with this?

It was definitely time for the Beverly Hillbillies to end anyway since it had been on nine seasons, but if the purge had not happened, maybe Green Acres could have lasted another two or three seasons.

I can't see Green Acres having the same run length as The Beverly Hillbillies, or continuing past 1972, for that matter. Green Acres fell out of the Nielsen Top 30 after its fifth season. The only series cancelled in the "Rural Purge" that looked like it deserved another 2-3 seasons was Mayberry R.F.D. (even though it was a continuation of The Andy Griffith Show), simply for being the youngest of the veteran shows cancelled in the Purge (not counting Hee Haw).

Here's what I would do under an alternate timeline where the "Rural Purge" never happens: The real-life final seasons of The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres would be revised to close all ongoing storylines (if there were any). Their exits would be announced in November of 1970. Then, at the very end of their runs, there would be a one-hour series finale for Green Acres on March 16, 1971 (instead of those two backdoor pilots, Pam and Carol), and then The Beverly Hillbillies will have its own one-hour finale on the 23rd (the day its real-life last episode, "Jethro Returns", aired).

After this, Mayberry R.F.D. and Family Affair would be renewed for the 1971-72 season. Mayberry R.F.D. would get another 26 episodes (in order to cross the 100-episode mark for improved syndication sales), while Family Affair would get another 14-16 episodes for mid-season 1972 (probably the first veteran series to return midseason for a shortened run? Unless you want to have Family Affair return in the fall...). The FA renewal would come after some back-and-forth talks with ABC Network to get FA to join its Friday night lineup alongside two other shows with similar audiences (The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family). In the end, CBS decides to keep FA for a sixth and final season. In the Spring of '72, Mayberry R.F.D. would get a 30-minute farewell episode while Family Affair's would be an hour.

I'm not sure whether Hee Haw would have stayed on the CBS schedule in Fall 1971 as well. I think there would have to be a big falling-out with CBS executives over the network's direction to allow it to move to first-run syndication. And I would have an additional two freshman programs on CBS's Fall 1971 schedule as well (probably some rejected pilots?).