60 Years Ago This Week Idaho TV’s Discovered a New Show
A lot can happen in 60 years! One of the greatest fish out of water stories of all time turned 60 this week. On September 26th, 1962, the Beverly Hillbillies debuted on CBS-TV. A lot of critics weren’t impressed, but the American public adopted the Clampetts. The show ran for a decade and was still successful when network brass canceled its rural comedies in what was called a purge. The 1970s brought edgier shows along the lines of All in the Family and M*A*S*H to American homes.
It’s a shame there wasn’t room in the line-up for another couple of seasons of the Hillbillies. It debuted a couple of weeks before I was born. I grew up on the program. Then it became a staple of daytime reruns, and I would often watch episodes when home sick from school (along with Andy Griffith). Those were great times! I can recall details of individual episodes like it was yesterday. Jethro was probably my favorite. Max Baer, Jr. played Jethro. Baer is the last surviving cast member.
In one episode, he claimed he could fix the telephone because he had watched the repairmen at work. He climbed a pole and in the next scene from the kitchen, you saw him fall past the windows. In another episode, he decided he was going to be a Hollywood producer. He bought a small camping trailer and was living on a beach. He got a little too fresh with the young starlet, and she smacked him. His head popped through the roof.
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