METV Episode Skips

[Duster76]

METV is finishing up the final season of The Beverly Hillbillies and episodes are being skipped. It started last Friday with Season 9 episode 15, "The Grun Incident", skipping to episode 16 "Women's Lib". On Monday episode 17 was skipped, "The Teahouse of Jed Clampett" instead moving to episode 18"The Palace of Clampett San" . Tuesday and Wednesday episodes 19 and 20 were shown, "Lib and Let Lib" and "Elly, the Working Girl". The episode scheduled for tomorrow night is "Elly, the Secretary" episode 21. That's it! The final three episodes of the series (22, 23, 24) "Love Finds Jane Hathaway", The Clampetts Meet Robert Audubon Getty Crockett", and "Jethro Returns" are skipped, Friday it's back to "The Clampetts Strike Oil".

I wonder if it means something, 5 episodes were skipped, there are 36 episodes in season 1, which would be completed on Friday March 1, could METV be thinking about replacing the series (I believe it started running last February)?

[Willbo]

I hope they keep running it.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by Duster76

METV is finishing up the final season of The Beverly Hillbillies and episodes are being skipped. It started last Friday with Season 9 episode 15, "The Grun Incident", skipping to episode 16 "Women's Lib". On Monday episode 17 was skipped, "The Teahouse of Jed Clampett" instead moving to episode 18"The Palace of Clampett San" . Tuesday and Wednesday episodes 19 and 20 were shown, "Lib and Let Lib" and "Elly, the Working Girl". The episode scheduled for tomorrow night is "Elly, the Secretary" episode 21. That's it! The final three episodes of the series (22, 23, 24) "Love Finds Jane Hathaway", The Clampetts Meet Robert Audubon Getty Crockett", and "Jethro Returns" are skipped, Friday it's back to "The Clampetts Strike Oil".

I wonder if it means something, 5 episodes were skipped, there are 36 episodes in season 1, which would be completed on Friday March 1, could METV be thinking about replacing the series (I believe it started running last February)?

The timing would seem to be more than a coincidence.

I would think, since February is a ratings month, they'd want to make sure the b/w episodes (which they may know are more popular [??]) are aired in that month. But this would have nothing to do that--they would anyway.

I guess we'll eventually see if anything changes on March 4.

[forn]

I've noticed they've missed some episodes. Fortunately, I've been able to fill in the gaps with Pluto TV. I know MeTV ran a marathon on New Years Eve showing last episodes of various series, including the Beverly Hillbillies. I thought that might explain some of it, but there were a few other holes. Maybe they just got so bored with season nine they missed a few lol.

[cd637299]

Wow that’s sad—the last 3 not shown?

Ratings/sweeps should mean bupkis amongst diginets. The main viewers, who oughta be true fans, should *expect* to see episodes in order.

cd

[Duster76]

It seems odd, in a sense the final episodes of the Hillbillies have an additional nostalgic feel to them, a farewell to the Henning era. Nancy Kulp becomes a featured player getting recognition for her tremendous contributions to the series. From Petticoat Junction (playing new parts) actors Lori Saunders, Mike Minor and the great Charles Lane make appearances. I don't understand why those episodes were not shown unless METV plans to replace the Hillbillies at some point in the next few weeks.

[forn]

Originally Posted by Duster76

I don't understand why those episodes were not shown unless METV plans to replace the Hillbillies at some point in the next few weeks.

If they have plans to replace the Hillbillies in the next few weeks, I don't know what that would have to do with not showing the final three episodes. As of this point, they've started to run the series over again from episode one.

I don't know why they left those episodes off, it seems like they could run them just as easily as start showing the old ones again (although IIRC the early seasons are in the public domain now, so they're cheaper?). Or, as I said earlier, maybe they ran them on New Year's Eve?

The other episode that was skipped - The Teahouse of Jed Clampett: It suddenly struck me, maybe this episode was considered offensive or politically incorrect somehow? It dealt with three submissive Japanese women who acted as servants to Jed and Jethro. Maybe this was seen as stereotypical and misogynist? I personally think that is a silly reason not to show it, but it's a good possibility.

[forn]

I've been looking through the other seasons to see what else MeTV might have skipped. There were about five or six episodes in season 8 dealing with the Shorty Kellum storyline that they left out (I guess they were trying to be merciful). These may have been cut because they might have been considered politically correct also. A few dealt with a slave auction of the bank secretaries for a bachelor party for Shorty, and this included a black actress named Jean Bell.

The other episodes included attempted humor centering around her brothers (two football players, Lee Gilchrist and Earl Faison) intimidating Mr. Drysdale because they think he has put her into a forced labor situation. You likely wouldn't see these episodes written like this today.

I also noticed they skipped the last episode of season 7, which had Pat Boone interested in buying the Drysdale house. I wondered if they might have skipped that one due to some sort of licensing problem with the song he sang?

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by forn

If they have plans to replace the Hillbillies in the next few weeks, I don't know what that would have to do with not showing the final three episodes. As of this point, they've started to run the series over again from episode one.

I don't know why they left those episodes off, it seems like they could run them just as easily as start showing the old ones again (although IIRC the early seasons are in the public domain now, so they're cheaper?). Or, as I said earlier, maybe they ran them on New Year's Eve?

The other episode that was skipped - The Teahouse of Jed Clampett: It suddenly struck me, maybe this episode was considered offensive or politically incorrect somehow? It dealt with three submissive Japanese women who acted as servants to Jed and Jethro. Maybe this was seen as stereotypical and misogynist? I personally think that is a silly reason not to show it, but it's a good possibility.

I read your two posts, I hadn't realized there were other skipped episodes from prior seasons. A few weeks ago there was speculation on the site about the possibility of METV adding another Norman Lear show so I became concerned the Hillbillies or Green Acres might be targeted. The most common timeslots to be tweaked have been the 6-7pm slot and the 9-10pm slot.

[forn]

Originally Posted by Duster76

I read your two posts, I hadn't realized there were other skipped episodes from prior seasons. A few weeks ago there was speculation on the site about the possibility of METV adding another Norman Lear show so I became concerned the Hillbillies or Green Acres might be targeted. The most common timeslots to be tweaked have been the 6-7pm slot and the 9-10pm slot.

So far they seem to still be running them. I also found another episode they skipped, the Thanksgiving episode from season 7, the only one featuring (briefly) the Douglases from Green Acres. Maybe they ran it on Thanksgiving that I didn't know about.

If anyone wants to see any of the skipped episodes, you can see them for free on Pluto TV.