No Offense, But The "Rural Sitcom Purge" of the Early 70's Was A GOOD Thing! IMO

[Brian Damage]

No offense to comedies like the Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and Mayberry RFD, but the rural purge of the 70's was actually a very good thing for sitcoms. Light hearted 60's fare was replaced with shows like All in the Family, MASH, Bob Newhart Show and variety shows like Sonny & Cher and Donny & Marie. I think that was a good thing. Agree? Disagree?

[Mr. Television]

I think there was room for both of them. It's funny because growing up in the 70's I could watch rural shows anytime I wanted. The Beverly Hillbillies, Andy Griffith and Gomer Pyle were everywhere in syndication and they were huge hits. I remember going to Kindergarten and coming home from school and watching Gomer Pyle. When TBS started as a network , all 3 of those shows were aired on it and a lot. Hee Haw went into first run syndication and it became a big hit. I remember we watched it every Saturday night at 7 before the CBS lineup began. I also think a lot of the people who enjoyed the 60's comedies also enjoyed the 70's comedies. I know I did. I guess I had the best of both worlds. I could watch the first run sitcoms of the 70's and enjoy the reruns of the comedies of the 1960's. What a time to grow up. Very few reality shows and no news on your locals before 6. No court shows ( although I love Judge Judy lol). When you came home from school you could watch classic tv and great game shows like Match Game. I don't think that era will ever be duplicated.

Heck when I first moved to NC in 1973, a local channel was even still airing The Real McCoys 5 days a week.

[old grouch]

I think it was a wise decision on CBS's part, because the rural shows like 'Green Acres' were starting to get old, and if they didn't go along with what the public wanted, they would have lost viewers. What's ironic is that a couple of years later, one of their most popular shows would be 'The Waltons', which was a rural show, but was also an intelligent show, like 'All in the Family.'

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by old grouch

I think it was a wise decision on CBS's part, because the rural shows like 'Green Acres' were starting to get old, and if they didn't go along with what the public wanted, they would have lost viewers. What's ironic is that a couple of years later, one of their most popular shows would be 'The Waltons', which was a rural show, but was also an intelligent show, like 'All in the Family.'

And a few years after that they aired The Dukes of Hazzard which was even more rural and the comedy on that show reminded me of The Beverly Hillbillies. Everything goes in cycles. lol

[jehobden]

Originally Posted by Stuck In The '70's

Heck when I first moved to NC in 1973, a local channel was even still airing The Real McCoys 5 days a week.

When I was a teen watching tv in the Nashville, TN tv market in the late 70s, the NBC affiliate was showing reruns of The Real McCoys, as well as Bewitched and even Please Don't Eat the Daisies. I remember watching a Gomer Pyle rerun w/ friends on the local CBS affiliate when an announcer broke into the program to announce the Elvis Presley had just died.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by jehobden

When I was a teen watching tv in the Nashville, TN tv market in the late 70s, the NBC affiliate was showing reruns of The Real McCoys, as well as Bewitched and even Please Don't Eat the Daisies. I remember watching a Gomer Pyle rerun w/ friends on the local CBS affiliate when an announcer broke into the program to announce the Elvis Presley had just died.

I never saw Please Don't Eat the Daisies but my affiliates were loaded with reruns from the 50's and 60's during the 1970's. I remember watching Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannioe, Family Affair, Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Get Smart....I could go on and on. I was too young to remember most of them when they originally aired in primetime but I became big fans of them during their syndicated heyday. I remember watching The Beverly Hillbillies , Bewitched and The Lucy Show during weekday mornings too. The Monkees were on Saturday morning in the early 70's...I remember watching them. I think it's funny that CBS wanted to get rid of everything that was so great on their network during the 60's, yet many of their affiliates still ran many of those shows. lol I remember the day Elvis died. I didn't see a newsbreak but it was the top story on the news.