"Petticoat Junction" makes a loud statement about life without trying to - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

robmic · 01-21-2014, 09:40 PM

Sitcoms didn't really start trying to make statements until Norman Lear came along in the 1970s. Then they tried to make statements about life, values, politics, etc. However, "Petticoat Junction" makes so many statements without even trying to. It tells us how life should be, how people should be, and gives us a standard to strive for.

I hear people say all the time, when they see shows like "Petticoat Junction" and others, that life was never really like that. But, actually it was in many parts of the country. The community where I grew up used to be a lot like Hooterville. It was an unincorporated community located between two small towns. At one time, it even had a school of its own. My grandparents attended school there for the first several grades before going to high school in town. I never really saw our community when it was like Hooterville because things had changed by the time I was born. Still, I can certainly remember it being different when I was a kid, before a lot of people from the bigger cities started moving there and changing the whole landscape and atmosphere.

When my grandparents and my parents were growing up, it was a place where moral values meant something. Doing the "right thing" and keeping one's word was important. Children respected their parents and and their teachers and all other elders. Everybody knew everybody else and pitched in to help when someone needed something. Most people went to church on Sunday and came home and ate Sunday dinner as a family. People worked hard and earned their way. Life was simple and good.

Places like this *did* really exist. I don't know why people nowadays are so insistent that they didn't. They weren't imagined or dreamed up. Paul Henning didn't just make it all up one day. Sure, life wasn't this way in all parts of the country. There has always been bad things in this world, but life used to be more simple. Right and wrong were more black and white. I know people have never been perfect. However, I think years ago people tried harder to be good. I think they wanted to be good, in contrast to how people today take a more lax attitude. I think society used to have higher standards.

"Petticoat Junction" makes a loud statement that this is how life should be. The people in Hooterville worked hard, they helped their neighbor, and they had good values. Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo respected Kate and Uncle Joe. If Kate told the girls something, it meant something. I don't know why life can't be this way anymore. The life in my childhood community has changed drastically over the last 30 or 40 years. I'm not saying people never had problems. They did. They had sadness and tragedies. In "Petticoat Junction", the girls' father had obviously died young. He either got sick or got killed. Or, he might have even killed himself. We just don't know. They had to grow up without a father which wasn't fair. Life has never been perfect, but it can be good if we want it to be.

That's the statement this show made: life is grand when you keep it simple, respect those around you, and embrace good moral values. Some of the episodes reflect this better than others. Some of the episodes are pretty silly, but others are very heartwarming and telling. Certain episodes could actually be used as teaching tools. The Shady Rest Hotel had no telephone, no televisions, etc., but I would still love to go stay there for a week! It would be so much fun, getting to eat with the family and hanging out and talking to them.

biffbronson · 01-22-2014, 05:35 PM

By the time the series ended, issues were being touched upon that revealed a "nod" to how the world was changing. For example, there was an ep with Alex Karras about a Vietnamese orphan girl who wasn't legally in the country, and also an ep where Uncle Joe and Orrin confront very unsavory bikers.

Even early on, there were times when worldly cynicism crept in -- as in the episode "Bobbie Jo and the Beatnik" where the girls' world is questioned, and also a few seasons later when Betty Jo visits New York City and begins to believe Hooterville is far too backwoods to be of value -- until her new friend turns out to be a horrible snob. Later yet, Billie Jo explores feminism and there's a lot of discord as a result.

Anyway, one of the main themes with Homer Bedlow is how the spur line and Cannonball were out-of-step with the times and threatened to be discontinued. Right from the beginning, the resulting threatening of the Shady Rest's existence (from the potential loss of the rail line) is an acknowledgement of a changing world.

MyMovieRomance · 02-02-2014, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biffbronson

Anyway, one of the main themes with Homer Bedlow is how the spur line and Cannonball were out-of-step with the times and threatened to be discontinued. Right from the beginning, the resulting threatening of the Shady Rest's existence (from the potential loss of the rail line) is an acknowledgement of a changing world.

Well, I say poo poo on the "changing world"! I like it much better before~

tlc38tlc38 · 02-02-2014, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MyMovieRomance

Well, I say poo poo on the "changing world"! I like it much better before~

You and me both!

MyMovieRomance · 02-02-2014, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlc38tlc38

You and me both!

Oh, Iola! Fancy meeting you here!

[hehe! Love your avatar!]

MichaelKeith · 02-03-2014, 01:11 PM

How right you are Robmic. Life was like that even in larger cities. I grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, a city of about 250,000 people in the 1960s and early 1970s and life was a lot like it was in Petticoat Junction in terms of people's manners and actions.

Children were taught to respect their elders and to respect other people's property. Family was very important as well. My guess is that all through out the South during that era, life was much like that. I know people who grew up in Tulsa, OK, in the 1960s and life was also like that in Petticoat Junction.

My guess is that the sexual revolution and drug culture that really took over in the mid-1970s degraded our society. And now we're left with a country that is a mere shadow of its former greatness.

Coffeecup · 02-03-2014, 11:02 PM

THE town I live in, is getting to be like Petticoat Junction. It is very safe but a little dull.

cmulwee001 · 08-05-2014, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biffbronson

By the time the series ended, issues were being touched upon that revealed a "nod" to how the world was changing. For example, there was an ep with Alex Karras about a Vietnamese orphan girl who wasn't legally in the country, and also an ep where Uncle Joe and Orrin confront very unsavory bikers.

Even early on, there were times when worldly cynicism crept in -- as in the episode "Bobbie Jo and the Beatnik" where the girls' world is questioned, and also a few seasons later when Betty Jo visits New York City and begins to believe Hooterville is far too backwoods to be of value -- until her new friend turns out to be a horrible snob. Later yet, Billie Jo explores feminism and there's a lot of discord as a result.

Anyway, one of the main themes with Homer Bedlow is how the spur line and Cannonball were out-of-step with the times and threatened to be discontinued. Right from the beginning, the resulting threatening of the Shady Rest's existence (from the potential loss of the rail line) is an acknowledgement of a changing world.

That was NOT Alex Karras in the Vietnam episode. It was a singer/actor named Glen Ash. And BTW I think that is one of the series' worst episodes, along with THE CHRISTENING, AND LOVE REARS IT'S UGLY HEAD Don't know WHERE you got the notion that it was Alex Karras. Looks and sounds NOTHING like him

TV_on_the_Porch · 08-11-2014, 09:07 AM

Viewed through enlightened 21st century eyes, 'Uncle Joe and the Master Plan' is probably the most thoroughly despicable episode, not just of PJ, but of any sitcom in TV history.

tlc38tlc38 · 09-24-2017, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TV_on_the_Porch

Viewed through enlightened 21st century eyes, 'Uncle Joe and the Master Plan' is probably the most thoroughly despicable episode, not just of PJ, but of any sitcom in TV history.

I just watched this episode...

Ok, what am I missing as to why this episode is so horrible? I don't get it.

RetroGuy2000 · 09-24-2017, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlc38tlc38

I just watched this episode...

Ok, what am I missing as to why this episode is so horrible? I don't get it.

I just watched the episode, after seeing your question, and I don't get it, either.

As far as I can tell, there was nothing wrong with it.

tlc38tlc38 · 09-24-2017, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I just watched the episode, after seeing your question, and I don't get it, either.

As far as I can tell, there was nothing wrong with it.

The ONLY thing I could think of is everyone assumed the person from "Master Plan" was the man and didn't even consider it being the woman. Heck, that still happens today so I don't see how this would make it a horrible episode.

RetroGuy2000 · 09-24-2017, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlc38tlc38

The ONLY thing I could think of is everyone assumed the person from "Master Plan" was the man and didn't even consider it being the woman. Heck, that still happens today so I don't see how this would make it a horrible episode.

That makes it the "most thoroughly despicable episode of any sitcom in TV history"?

That seems like a stretch, but I know what you mean: what else is there?

I thought maybe it was because two of the Jos were dressed as maids. But Uncle Joe was dressed as a butler, so...

I just don't know.

Hazel Anyday · 09-24-2017, 09:03 PM

Same thing happens with me. I’ll see a comment about how horrible such and such was, but when I watched I saw absolutely nothing wrong. Guess, I just ain’t a snowflake with modern day ever so sensitivities. Thank Gosh.

stevea · 09-24-2017, 10:08 PM

Thanks to tlc38 for bringing this thread back to the top. That was a wonderful writeup by Robmic, and several great comments by other posters.

I too grew up in a small town, but I think one major difference between then and now is the term, respect. As kids, we were taught to, and did, respect our elders. Now, they mostly aren't taught to, and don't.

I'll take sitcoms like this vs. a lot of the loudmouth ones of the 70s any day.

01-21-2014, 09:40 PM	#1
robmic Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Nov 21, 2009 Posts: 61	"Petticoat Junction" makes a loud statement about life without trying to Sitcoms didn't really start trying to make statements until Norman Lear came along in the 1970s. Then they tried to make statements about life, values, politics, etc. However, "Petticoat Junction" makes so many statements without even trying to. It tells us how life should be, how people should be, and gives us a standard to strive for. I hear people say all the time, when they see shows like "Petticoat Junction" and others, that life was never really like that. But, actually it was in many parts of the country. The community where I grew up used to be a lot like Hooterville. It was an unincorporated community located between two small towns. At one time, it even had a school of its own. My grandparents attended school there for the first several grades before going to high school in town. I never really saw our community when it was like Hooterville because things had changed by the time I was born. Still, I can certainly remember it being different when I was a kid, before a lot of people from the bigger cities started moving there and changing the whole landscape and atmosphere. When my grandparents and my parents were growing up, it was a place where moral values meant something. Doing the "right thing" and keeping one's word was important. Children respected their parents and and their teachers and all other elders. Everybody knew everybody else and pitched in to help when someone needed something. Most people went to church on Sunday and came home and ate Sunday dinner as a family. People worked hard and earned their way. Life was simple and good. Places like this did really exist. I don't know why people nowadays are so insistent that they didn't. They weren't imagined or dreamed up. Paul Henning didn't just make it all up one day. Sure, life wasn't this way in all parts of the country. There has always been bad things in this world, but life used to be more simple. Right and wrong were more black and white. I know people have never been perfect. However, I think years ago people tried harder to be good. I think they wanted to be good, in contrast to how people today take a more lax attitude. I think society used to have higher standards. "Petticoat Junction" makes a loud statement that this is how life should be. The people in Hooterville worked hard, they helped their neighbor, and they had good values. Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo respected Kate and Uncle Joe. If Kate told the girls something, it meant something. I don't know why life can't be this way anymore. The life in my childhood community has changed drastically over the last 30 or 40 years. I'm not saying people never had problems. They did. They had sadness and tragedies. In "Petticoat Junction", the girls' father had obviously died young. He either got sick or got killed. Or, he might have even killed himself. We just don't know. They had to grow up without a father which wasn't fair. Life has never been perfect, but it can be good if we want it to be. That's the statement this show made: life is grand when you keep it simple, respect those around you, and embrace good moral values. Some of the episodes reflect this better than others. Some of the episodes are pretty silly, but others are very heartwarming and telling. Certain episodes could actually be used as teaching tools. The Shady Rest Hotel had no telephone, no televisions, etc., but I would still love to go stay there for a week! It would be so much fun, getting to eat with the family and hanging out and talking to them.

01-22-2014, 05:35 PM	#2
biffbronson Sentimental Fool Forum Star Join Date: Aug 22, 2009 Location: Near Notre Dame Posts: 10,326	By the time the series ended, issues were being touched upon that revealed a "nod" to how the world was changing. For example, there was an ep with Alex Karras about a Vietnamese orphan girl who wasn't legally in the country, and also an ep where Uncle Joe and Orrin confront very unsavory bikers. Even early on, there were times when worldly cynicism crept in -- as in the episode "Bobbie Jo and the Beatnik" where the girls' world is questioned, and also a few seasons later when Betty Jo visits New York City and begins to believe Hooterville is far too backwoods to be of value -- until her new friend turns out to be a horrible snob. Later yet, Billie Jo explores feminism and there's a lot of discord as a result. Anyway, one of the main themes with Homer Bedlow is how the spur line and Cannonball were out-of-step with the times and threatened to be discontinued. Right from the beginning, the resulting threatening of the Shady Rest's existence (from the potential loss of the rail line) is an acknowledgement of a changing world.
	__________________ In memory of lovely Erin Moran 1960-2017 ~ Missing you "For you are beautiful ~ And I have loved you dearly ~ More dearly than the spoken word can tell..." "What's the word?" (Paul Martin) ~~ "I don't want money for nothing." (Timmy Martin) -- Lassie ROCKS! WORD UP "It's just a dugout that my dad built... In case the reds* decide to push the button down..."*

09-24-2017, 09:03 PM	#14
Hazel Anyday Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 12, 2002 Posts: 2,135	Wha? Same thing happens with me. I’ll see a comment about how horrible such and such was, but when I watched I saw absolutely nothing wrong. Guess, I just ain’t a snowflake with modern day ever so sensitivities. Thank Gosh.
	__________________ Haaazeelll!!

02-03-2014, 01:11 PM	#6
MichaelKeith Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 01, 2007 Posts: 1,139	How right you are Robmic. Life was like that even in larger cities. I grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, a city of about 250,000 people in the 1960s and early 1970s and life was a lot like it was in Petticoat Junction in terms of people's manners and actions. Children were taught to respect their elders and to respect other people's property. Family was very important as well. My guess is that all through out the South during that era, life was much like that. I know people who grew up in Tulsa, OK, in the 1960s and life was also like that in Petticoat Junction. My guess is that the sexual revolution and drug culture that really took over in the mid-1970s degraded our society. And now we're left with a country that is a mere shadow of its former greatness.

02-03-2014, 11:02 PM	#7
Coffeecup coffeecup. Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 17, 2003 Location: snoozeville Posts: 3,179	THE town I live in, is getting to be like Petticoat Junction. It is very safe but a little dull.

08-11-2014, 09:07 AM	#9
TV_on_the_Porch anything good on? Forum Regular Join Date: Oct 18, 2005 Posts: 879	Viewed through enlightened 21st century eyes, 'Uncle Joe and the Master Plan' is probably the most thoroughly despicable episode, not just of PJ, but of any sitcom in TV history.

09-24-2017, 10:08 PM	#15
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,371	Thanks to tlc38 for bringing this thread back to the top. That was a wonderful writeup by Robmic, and several great comments by other posters. I too grew up in a small town, but I think one major difference between then and now is the term, respect. As kids, we were taught to, and did, respect our elders. Now, they mostly aren't taught to, and don't. I'll take sitcoms like this vs. a lot of the loudmouth ones of the 70s any day.