Hee Haw

When Hee Haw first came on the air, it was about the same time that All In The Family came on the air. These were two different shows with different messages. However, they both were incredibly popular despite the fact that the critics didn't like them at first. Who would have ever believed that Hee Haw would have had a longer run then Gunsmoke and still be beloved after so many years? It was a good clean family oriented show that you could let your kids watch without embarassment. Yes, I agree that it was hokey and corny but what of it if it made you laugh and feel good? It showcased some of the most amazing performers of the country and western music world. Sam Louvello the producer said that it was like the tv version of Nashville's legendary Grand Old Opry. You saw all the giants on this show like Buck Owens, Roy Clark, Lulu Roman, Grandpa Jones and Little Jimmy Dickens. Hee Haw was more then just a tv show, it was a cultural phenomenon and an icon. We all remember Grandpa Jones "Hey Grandpa whats for supper?" He always made my mouth water with those recipes he described and we all remember Junior Samples at BR5149. We need more family oriented programming like this for our kids today. They need to have positive reinforcement from this other trash that is poured into their minds. Roy Clark talked in his autobiography about how the cast and crew of Hee Haw were like a family. He talked of how they could not wait to get back to see each other and see how much weight each other had gained and to learn all the baby's names. They had a ball working together and it comes thru on every episode. Thank God for Hee Haw and I wish they would put it back into syndication so a whole new generation could be introduced to this American classic.

First, I haven't seen any Hee Haw in years but I remember watching it every Saturday morning whether in color or black and white as a child in New Jersey. Not exactly, Hee Haw country is it. Well, I liked the show and watched it whenever it was on. Of course, the writing wasn't great but I loved watching Minnie Pearl and gained my first taste of country music. This was all before modern country music which sounds more like pop music of the 1980s. Anyway, Hee Haw appeared to have a family type show where the jokes were silly and stupid but there was always room for one more. The cast was always large and I even miss their stupid humor to this day. I remember Lulu and some of the stupid skits that even SNL would toss out. In real life, the cast and crew were like family and the show was like a reunion for all of them. Sadly, the show's cancellation was an end of an era in television history.

This show was awesome, a lot of things try to be serious comedy or even worse try to be serious and end up being corny. But Hee Haw was a show that not only was it corny, it tired to be corny and it realised in the fact about getting as Corny as you could get. Also, it's seemingly G-rated persona was filled with sexual inuendo. Check out the Hee Haw Honies sweaten it out over the laundry and you'll see what I mean. Not even to mention the Country Music of the day, just where was Conway Twitty, rub in it in, rub it in. This show is a total classic hoot, check it out.

Even though I'm not a big fan of country (the closest I will get to liking country is by listening to The Eagles or the Byrds), I have to hand it to this show. It managed to survive the infamous Rural Purge of 1971 and became a television institution. This show had to be one of the corniest (no pun intended) in the history of television and it in many ways it was a countryfied version of Laugh In. However, this show had a loyal following and it managed to show that Country music was still popular no matter how old Fred felt.

This was the most corniest of all the variety shows of its day and it still holds that title. First off,the series premiered on CBS-TV in the fall of 1969,became the onslaught of the network's all out crusade of eliminating its rural programming in 1971(and this show caught the full frontal blow of cancellation),and then all of a sudden the show was saved from certain ruins,and found a new home---in syndication where it remained for an astounding 22 years before called it quits for good in the spring of 1993. The reruns of this series was showed recently on the TNN(The Nashville Network)before the logo changed two years after it was cancelled.

But was makes "Hee Haw" a classic in the history of television? Well,first off, I remember this show being on every Saturday night at 7:00 since during that time you had a choice between either this show or a combination of other shows in that same time slot back in the day; 1.) You had Lawrence Welk for the older crowd and those folks who were on Geritol; 2.) Dionne Warwick or Marilyn McCoo for Solid Gold; 3.)Charles Nelson Reilly or Danny Terrio for Dance Fever; 4.)Ed McMahon on Star Search.

Secondly,this show had some country humor,and I do mean country humor that was so corny you can tell that is was just that--straight up the chaser hillbilly dialogue of Southern culture. Also,it's cast was corny too including hosts Buck Owens and Roy Clark and regulars Archie Campbell,George Lindsey(could you believe the producers cast him as Goober here),Minnie Pearl,Grandpa Jones,and that dingy blonde girl who comes up at the end of the segments(She reminds of Chrissy Snow on the farm)and not to mention the Hee Haw Honeys(which was a spin off of this series which sucked badly after 7 episodes in which one of the stars was a unknown Kathie Lee Gifford?). Third,some of it was funny,and some of it was horribly awful,and you can tell that whoever wrote the scripts were straight up hillbillies who had no clue to what a variety show goes through.

The music I say was very good and it set the standard to what country music supposed to be including some that made regular appearances on the show including Conway Twitty,George Jones,Waylon Jennings,Merle Haggard,Dolly Parton,Eddie Rabbitt,Tanya Tucker,Loretta Lynn,and so much more. It was also not only to include country artists,buy also the first country series to featured acts done by other minorities like The Pointer Sisters,and sometimes others like Charlie Pride,and Neal McCoy(the first Native American to perform on the show),not to mention musical works by Buck Owens and the Buckaroos,Roy Clark,and Grandpa Jones. You have some very well known guest stars that appear on the show as well including one Christmas episode where Gunsmoke's Amanda Blake lends her voice to some Christmas tunes as well as Beverly Hillbillies' own Donna Douglas and Gomer Pyle's Jim Nabors. In all a great variety series that had country music at its very best.