https://www.metv.com/stories/the-cbs-rural-purge-of-1971

"It was the year CBS killed everything with a tree in it."

https://www.metv.com/stories/the-cbs-rural-purge-of-1971

"It was the year CBS killed everything with a tree in it."

A couple of bookkeeping issues, All in the Family began its run in early 71 prior to the so-called "rural purge" (actually a demographic purge).

Gunsmoke was cancelled in 1975 not 1973.

I've made this point before, a case could be made that the Henning shows were not effected by the purge. Let's take a quick look:

Petticoat Junction: With the passing of Bea Benaderet in 1968 the show lost its heart and soul. June Lockhart did a fine job but it was impossible to make up for Benaderet. The show should have been cancelled in 1969 but was given a seventh season so at that point they were playing with house money.

Green Acres: still a very good series in year six, but the rating had fallen off badly after season 4, clearly the series best seasons were in the rearview mirror.

The Beverly Hillbillies: The ratings drop from seasons 7 to 8 was significant, and the audience exodus continued into season 9. There was no real hope the decline could be reversed the show really seemed played out.

Mayberry RFD came close to surviving the purge, it came down to two shows, Herschel Bernardi's Arnie and RFD. At decision time CBS went with the very forgettable Arnie instead of RFD.

One mystery about the purge, why did CBS greenlight the rural series The New Andy Griffith Show as 70-71 midseason replacement for Headmaster with the purge only a few months away? Why not advise Griffith to try and fix Headmaster a series more in line with where the network was heading.

Maybe a "has run its course" purge? My Three Sons has healthy ratings thru season 11, so it was green-lit for the 1971-72 season. The show lost Don Grady that season, and the character has an implausible reassignment to Peru. Add in a move of days, and the 12th season had a huge ratings drop and was cancelled.

Scheduling a sitcom for 10pm was very strange, it looks like CBS decided to throw a legacy line-up against Monday Night Football which kicked off at 9pm. CBS countered with Lucy at 9, Doris Day at 9:30, and Fred MacMurray at 10 hoping the female friendly stars might help CBS hold their own. Sitcoms were almost never scheduled in the 10pm hour, CBS tried with Don Rickles on Friday nights later on in the season (that also failed). With the Monday Night Football ending in December CBS moves My Three Sons out of the Monday slot to 8:30 Thursday, which at that point in TV history was owned by Flip Wilson 8pm-9pm on NBC. Worst still the lead-in show Me and the Chimp had bomb written all over it.

Arnie was scheduled at 10:30 after My Three Sons, the series was moved back to Saturday night for the second half of the 71-72 season where once again it failed to gain an audience.

I remember watching The Flip Wilson Show at that point in time, and pretty much none of the others. My uncle likely watched some ABC Monday Night Football later, after I had to go to bed.

For many years, I was unaware that My Three Sons had gone past 1970 or so. I have no memory of ever seeing a first-run primetime episode.
Mayberry RFD also lasted longer than I'd realized. And most of my Lucy viewing consisted of seeing her series in syndication: ILL, The Lucy Show,, and later Here's Lucy.

Definitely believe "The Beverly Hillbillies" had run its course by 1971. I feel "Mayberry RFD" could have run another season or two. I do wonder if Andy Griffith was still starring in the show, if it would have been cancelled. Of course, it would have still been "The Andy Griffith Show".

One mystery about the purge, why did CBS greenlight the rural series The New Andy Griffith Show as 70-71 midseason replacement for Headmaster with the purge only a few months away? Why not advise Griffith to try and fix Headmaster a series more in line with where the network was heading.

Maybe the new show was being protected by a seasoned executive. AG was a big hit before and they probably banked on him being the man with the Midas touch. At some point, poor ratings will get any show cancelled despite being championed by a top dog executive. Pure speculation, but it's a lot of fun.

I'm also wondering if not all the executives favored the decision to purge previous classics, but were out voted. Unless they wrote about it in a memoir, those private discussions about programming/counter programming are long gone.

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This is how cancellations (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=305528) of popular rural-themed (https://sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=393578) television shows in the early 1970s (https://sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=396722) such as Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Lassie, Hee-Haw, and The Beverly Hillbillies would reshape the small screen forever (https://www.tellytalk.net/threads/how-the-rural-purge-changed-tv.14299/), paving the way for new series like All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, The Flip Wilson Show that would pave the path (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=441366) for the diverse television of today that reflects modern audiences.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mining-the-archive-mondays-episode-06-the-rural-purge/id962872459?i=1000633105693

This week Steve, Andrew and Jonathan discuss the thinking behind CBS's 1960s Rural Purge (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=305528). Why did it happen? What types of content followed it? What does "the great man of history" have to do with it all? Was that the last time rural depictions ever graced the Tiffany network? So, give up your city livin', grab a pitchfork, and don't mind Uncle Joe (he's just movin' kinda slow) and join us down at the junction of 1960s ratings, demographics, and the network's interpretation of Marshall McLuhan.

Within a few years CBS would go from Jed Clampett's "Weeelllll Dogie" and Barney Fife's "Aaannndeeee!!!" to Archie Bunker's "Oh jeez" and Ann Romano's "Oh, My God!".