Petticoat Junction

"Petticoat Junction" was a great, heart-felt show that would stand alongside "The Andy Griffith Show" in all-time popularity, if only some mucky-muck at Viacom (the distributor of the rerun package) hadn't, in the early 1970's, decided to exclude the first two seasons from their syndication package. Not only were those some of the funniest and most genuine episodes of the entire series, but eliminating them from public memory cut out nearly half of star Bea Benaderet's time on the show (she died of lung cancer shortly after the start of the 1968-69 season). If you ever get a chance to view the first two (black & white) seasons of this series, do so...you will see what I mean.

Petticoat Junction will always be revered as one of America's best television sitcoms, home-grown. The characters were so innocent. Who wouldn't fall in love with the Shady Rest Hotel and the Cannonball?

This is a mindless, entertaining series from the 1960's that baby boomers such as myself grew up on. Petitcoat Junction is something of a first cousin to The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres. The series portrays the goings on at the Shady Rest Hotel, which is located on the outskirts of the little village of Hooterville. The hotel is run by the widowed Kate Bradley and her three lovely young daughters, Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo...all without much assistance from their lazy but protective Ol' Uncle Joe. Much of hotel life revolves around the local steam train, the Cannonball, operated by Floyd and Charlie, who make regular stops during their runs to Sam Drucker's little country store.

The two main stars wonderful, with Bea Benadaret playing the widow, Kate, and Edgar Buchanan Uncle Joe, who's mainly seen concocting get rich quick schemes while lazing about on the hotel's porch in his rocking chair. Yes, he's a-movin' kinda slow at the Junction. The three beautiful daughters are adequately cast, though with various actress changes mid way through the series.

The show gets its name from the three daughters at the Shady Rest. Naturally many of the plot lines revolve around the suitors of these lovely young ladies. Betty Jo, the youngest, is the one given the most character portrayal, initially something of a tomboy but eventually growing up to wed sweetheart Steve, the first Bradley sister to marry. Unlike some viewers, I don't recall her two sisters having very distinctive personalities, except for Billie Jo being starstruck. In my opinion, they mainly seem to look pretty, banter a bit with each other & their mom, and attract beaux. Assorted guests come & go from the Shady Rest, and it's all a leisurely, amusing tale of their various misadventures. All in all, it's a cute, fun, and harmless little series.

This show centered around a hotel known as the junction near a small country town called Hooterville. It started very strong as veteran folks Edgar Bucanan & Bea Benedaret (Uncle Joe & Kate Bradley) ran the hotel.

Then there were the 3 Bradley girls. Bobbie-Jo, Billie-Jo & Betty-Jo. I met a lot of kids from the era of this show named after these girls. They were wholesome American teen girls who were every boys dream.

Then there was the Cannonball, the train that served the Hooterville. It was one of the charms of the show with the engineers. One of the charming holiday shows of this involved having the Cannonball all decorated for Christmas.

When Bea, the actress died in real life, they tried to bring on June Lockhart as a replacement. That was OK, but the scripts seemed to lose their comic energy. It still ran until 1970 anyway. The show had its charm.

When this show first premiered its biggest attraction were the three Bradley daughters. However, you really got to see a great comedy and the real stars were the late great Bea Benederet as Kate and the late and equally great Edgar Buchanan as Uncle Joe, who was always looking to get rich quick. The girls themselves were pretty well fleshed out characters themselves. Billie Jo was the ambitious star-struck one, Bobbie Jo was the somewhat dim bulb and Betty Jo was the tomboy. Betty Jo became the most evolved character as you saw her grow up from being a girl who was pretty much pre-occupied with sports into a beautiful young woman who eventually settled down and married the man of her dreams. Too bad Bea Benederet passed away. When that happened the wind seemed to go out of the show and within two years it was gone. Perhaps it was a precursor of things to come becuase within a year after it had gone off the air all the great rural television shows were virtually wiped out in the infamous purge of 1971.