How come Hooterville never had any - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

liane49 · 02-28-2014, 02:00 PM

black people?

MichaelKeith · 02-28-2014, 02:24 PM

Simply put, this show was filmed in the 1960s and back then, prime time tv did not have many blacks on shows. I remember reading that on the show Mannix, during the second season his secretary, Peggy, portrayed by Gail Fisher, was the first black woman featured prominently in a prime time show. She was very good in the role.

Plus, the Shady Rest was out in the country and any blacks that may have lived in Hooterville or Pixley wouldn't have gone to the hotel to stay since they lived there and also remember that in terms of the friends of the girls, schools were then still very segregated at that time so the girls would have associated prominently or exclusively with other white people.

Heck, I was in public school in the 1970s and early 1980s here in the suburbs of north Houston (not in the city limits) and all of our schools were 95% white even then.

installLSC · 02-28-2014, 09:52 PM

Plus, if you buy the idea that Hooterville is in the Ozarks or downstate Illinois, it's totally plausible the area could have little to no black population. (It's a lot harder if you think it was set in Missouri or Tennessee). Or maybe Paul Henning thought racial issues would be too "real" for the often bizarre world of Hooterville.

02-28-2014, 02:00 PM	#1
liane49 Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 20, 2013 Location: Silver Spring, MD Posts: 1,011	How come Hooterville never had any black people?

02-28-2014, 09:52 PM	#3
installLSC Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 19, 2013 Location: United States Posts: 271	Plus, if you buy the idea that Hooterville is in the Ozarks or downstate Illinois, it's totally plausible the area could have little to no black population. (It's a lot harder if you think it was set in Missouri or Tennessee). Or maybe Paul Henning thought racial issues would be too "real" for the often bizarre world of Hooterville.
	Last edited by installLSC; 02-28-2014 at 09:53 PM. Reason: bad sentence break

02-28-2014, 02:24 PM	#2
MichaelKeith Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 01, 2007 Posts: 1,139	Simply put, this show was filmed in the 1960s and back then, prime time tv did not have many blacks on shows. I remember reading that on the show Mannix, during the second season his secretary, Peggy, portrayed by Gail Fisher, was the first black woman featured prominently in a prime time show. She was very good in the role. Plus, the Shady Rest was out in the country and any blacks that may have lived in Hooterville or Pixley wouldn't have gone to the hotel to stay since they lived there and also remember that in terms of the friends of the girls, schools were then still very segregated at that time so the girls would have associated prominently or exclusively with other white people. Heck, I was in public school in the 1970s and early 1980s here in the suburbs of north Houston (not in the city limits) and all of our schools were 95% white even then.