I'm re-watching Green Acres and forgot that there were so many episodes especially in the first season that had characters from Petticoat Junction were on. Plus there were times that Green Acres cast were on Petticoat Junction.

Are there any two show more connected to each other than Petticoat Junction and Green Acres?

The Beverly Hillbillies was also in the Green Acres/PJ universe.

Mayberry, R.F.D and The Andy Griffith Show

It's an interesting question. It's occurred to me recently that early Petticoat Junction is actually more similar to Green Acres than to the later years of Petticoat Junction. Which is actually the spinoff?

It's an interesting question. It's occurred to me recently that early Petticoat Junction is actually more similar to Green Acres than to the later years of Petticoat Junction. Which is actually the spinoff?

Green Acres was a spinoff of Petticoat Junction.

Green Acres was a spinoff of Petticoat Junction.

This again! Green Acres wasn't a spinoff of anything. Green Acres started life as a radio series created by Jay Sommers in 1950. The show starred Gale Gordon as the city slicker wannabe farmer and Bea Benaderet as his wife. After the success of The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, CBS offered Paul Henning an opportunity to do another series if he had any ideas. He went to Jay Sommers and Sommers suggested suggested a TV adaptation of his old radio series Granby's Green Acres. The Henning series existed in the same TV universe, that is the connection.

Although Granby’s Green Acres existed 15 years earlier, it doesn’t help in the world of classic TV to have the “new” Acres set in Hooterville like Petticoat Junction, and to have Ollie and Lisa have give-n-takes with Kate Bradley and Sam Drucker, who appeared on the small screen two years earlier.

Very and I mean VERY few ppl are aware that there was a radio show in 1950 that was still in the back of Jay Sommers’ mind….

Small wonder folk think it was a PJ spinoff….including yours truly.

cd

The Beverly Hillbillies was also in the Green Acres/PJ universe.

Mayberry, R.F.D and The Andy Griffith Show

Yes the Beverly Hillbillies had some time with Petticoat Junction and to a lesser degree Green Acres. Yet not to the extent that Petticoat Junction and Green Acres being tied together.

As for Mayberry RFD and The Andy Griffith Show. They both were intertwined but in a different way since some of the cast from The Andy Griffith Show moved into Mayberry RFD. Similar to All in the Family and Archie Bunker’s Place.

Green Acres was a spinoff of Petticoat Junction.

I would think to be a spin off the new show would have to have some activity in the older show to be considered a spin off. The characters of Green Acres never appeared in an episode of Petticoat Junction prior to having its pilot/premiere episode except Sam Druker.

Even though Sam Druker was on Petticoat Junction before Green Acres he was not part of a storyline indicating anything about Green Acres while on Petticoat Junction.

Although the Hillbillies may have gotten already long in the tooth by 1968, bringing on the GA & PJ cast was its jump-the-shark moment. It was obvious that the staff was really reaching.

cd

Although the Hillbillies may have gotten already long in the tooth by 1968, bringing on the GA & PJ cast was its jump-the-shark moment. It was obvious that the staff was really reaching.

cd

I agree.

I would think to be a spin off the new show would have to have some activity in the older show to be considered a spin off. The characters of Green Acres never appeared in an episode of Petticoat Junction prior to having its pilot/premiere episode except Sam Druker.

Even though Sam Druker was on Petticoat Junction before Green Acres he was not part of a storyline indicating anything about Green Acres while on Petticoat Junction.

Fred Ziffel with his pig farm appeared early on in a PJ episode. So Drucker was not the only one.

Jay Sommers, the creator of Green Acres, was the executive producer of PJ during its second and third seasons. That’s why those episodes feel more like Green Acres. After he left PJ, Chuck Stewart took over as showrunner and that’s when the show became cornier and less funny, with the old-timey songs.

PJ and GA originally were not in the Beverly Hillibillies universe. A late season two episode of GA has the residents of Hooterville putting on a charity production of “The Beverly Hillbillies” (it’s a great episode, btw). So BH was a TV show in the Hooterville universe at that point.

When Bea Benederet got sick and passed away, they brought BH into the Hooterverse in order to prop up faltering PJ. That’s when the crossovers started with BH.

Oh, and to answer the original question: I think Dynasty and The Colbys had a lot of interplay during the first season of the spinoff. Actors went back and forth quite a bit, and some weren’t even credited as guest stars but as part of the regular cast on both shows.

Jay Sommers, the creator of Green Acres, was the executive producer of PJ during its second and third seasons. That’s why those episodes feel more like Green Acres. After he left PJ, Chuck Stewart took over as showrunner and that’s when the show became cornier and less funny, with the old-timey songs.

PJ and GA originally were not in the Beverly Hillibillies universe. A late season two episode of GA has the residents of Hooterville putting on a charity production of “The Beverly Hillbillies” (it’s a great episode, btw). So BH was a TV show in the Hooterville universe at that point.

When Bea Benederet got sick and passed away, they brought BH into the Hooterverse in order to prop up faltering PJ. That’s when the crossovers started with BH.

I always found it funny when Granny would say that they're going to Petticoat Junction instead of Hooterville.

Fred Ziffel with his pig farm appeared early on in a PJ episode. So Drucker was not the only one.

I forgot about those two, Yet there still was no mention of Green Acres or the Douglasses in Petticoat Junction to suggest Green Acres was a spin off from Petticoat Junction.

The Rookie and Rookie Feds (failed)..

A large portion of The Closer's cast continued with their roles as regulars on Major Crimes. Main difference was Kyra Sedgwick left with Mary McDonell becoming the new lead.

I forgot about those two, Yet there still was no mention of Green Acres or the Douglasses in Petticoat Junction to suggest Green Acres was a spin off from Petticoat Junction.

The Douglases wouldn’t have been mentioned in PJ before Green Acres started, because the show began with their move from NY to Hooterville in the fall of 1965. And the Douglases first appeared on PJ about a week after GA started.

Whether or not you want to classify it as a spinoff depends on how you define a spinoff. Some people classify a spinoff as a show that makes it clear from day one that it is set in the same universe as an existing show (Green Acres, Empty Nest). Others think that the characters of the spinoff series have to appear on the parent series first.

I would think to be a spin off the new show would have to have some activity in the older show to be considered a spin off. The characters of Green Acres never appeared in an episode of Petticoat Junction prior to having its pilot/premiere episode except Sam Druker.

Even though Sam Druker was on Petticoat Junction before Green Acres he was not part of a storyline indicating anything about Green Acres while on Petticoat Junction.

Right, Frank Cady was a character actor who happened to be on both shows, playing the same character.

Now, if the producers had taken his PJ character and developed a new show with Drucker as the central character, about the goings-on in his store--then we'd have a spin-off.

Right, Frank Cady was a character actor who happened to be on both shows, playing the same character.

Now, if the producers had taken his PJ character and developed a new show with Drucker as the central character, about the goings-on in his store--then we'd have a spin-off.

Stevea I think you've answered the spin-off issue. Thanks!