The Beverly Hillbillies

This is a hilarious 1960's comedy that I grew up with and still never tire of every time I chance to encounter it in re runs. It surely stands among the best of its genre. The series revolves around the sidesplitting culture clash that ensues when the country bumpkin Clampett family moves to Beverly Hills after father, Jed Clampett, stumbles upon oil on his land and becomes a multi millionaire. The rest of the family joining him at their new Beverly Hills mansion include Jed's mother-in-law Granny, pretty daughter Elly May, and nephew Jethro Bodine.

The Clampetts are of course...something else...as they enter this alien world, where their mansion has every luxury imaginable including a cement pond. The superstitious & feisty Granny makes certain her kin always have lots of vittles, especially such delicacies as hog jowls and possum belly. She hangs out her shingle for the purpose of imparting her unique brand of down home doctoring & dentistry, and firmly believes that the South won (or at least is winning) the Civil War. Much of her time is spent chasing her great nephew, Jethro, out of her kitchen with a broom, trying to curtail his endless appetite. The dim witted Jethro is a scheming would be playboy, who's all proud that he graduated sixth grade and can cipher. Jed's sweet, innocent, & beautiful daughter, Elly May, has a penchant for critters, including a pet chimpanzee named Bessie. Granny is terrified that Elly's destined to become an old maid, as alas, she's still unwed at the ripe old age of eighteen. Much of Granny's energy is put into seeking out suitable beaux, although any courtin' & sparkin' in the Clampett parlour must be suitably chaperoned (or rather, cheered on) by spying through the closed door's keyhole.

The gem of the series is Jed, around whose unfailing integrity this ongoing saga revolves. He always seems blissfully unaware that he's wealthy, feels and acts no differently than he did back in the hills, and treats everyone the same (whether rich or poor). He gives generously to country folk and city slickers alike, is equally kind to both neighbours and total strangers...all the while dealing with the crazy antics of both Granny and Jethro and seeing to the lovely & rich Elly's various suitors, not all of whom have the most honourable of intentions. As another commented, if only everyone was like Jed Clampett!

In dramatic contrast to these hillbillies are the wealthy and status conscious Beverly Hills citizenry, as personified by Jed's banker, Mr. Drysdale, whose life revolves around maintaining the favour of his bank's main customer, Mr. Clampett, and protecting that thirty million dollars (or whatever the figure). His wife, Mrs. Drysdale, is a superficial & snooty dame who comes into frequent conflict with her neighbour, Granny. Jane Hathaway is Mr. Drysdale's very properly spinsterish but man hunting and bird watching secretary. She is the constant victim of her boss's greedy schemes and actually becomes quite a genuine friend to the Clampetts.

The actors are all stellar in their roles...Irene Ryan (Granny), Donna Douglas (Elly May), Max Baer Jr. (Jethro), Raymond Bailey (Mr. Drysdale), Nancy Kulp (Miss Hathaway), and especially the wonderful Buddy Ebsen (Jed).

It's a hilarious and side splitting romp, each episode funnier than the last. Through it all, Jed's integrity and honesty always shine through. The humble and good hearted neighbourliness of the Clampetts stands in sharp contrast to their affluent environment. It's Jed Clampett's desire for the simple pleasures of home, family, friends, and hard honest work versus Milburn Drysdale's blatant materialism. Every viewer realizes that, despite all the absurdity and the utterly ridiculous scenarios, the Clampetts know exactly what's important in life and that this family of uprooted hillbillies has a real life lesson to teach us all.

If only there were more TV shows like it today! Alas, our society has become far too sophisticated for its own good.

The Hillbillies was the funniest show of the 60's. In fact, I'm in my 20's and I prefer the classics to the sitcom wasteland of today. I catch them atleast twice a day on TV Land and they always make me laugh hard. The best episodes were the ones where somebody (or some critter) drank Granny's moonshine by accident. Then the fun would really begin. I didn't see anyone mention Harriet MacGibbon as Mrs. Drysdale and that's a shame because she was hilarious, always getting into fights with Granny and fainting. The comedy team of Raymond Bailey and Nancy Kulp had some of the best chemistry in TV history. Their reactions as they played off each other (and off the Clampetts) were side-splitting. Drysdale and Hathaway were a major factor in the show's success. I agree with someone else who commented that Irene Ryan should be up there in the same class with Lucille Ball. It's tragic that her name is all but forgotten today. But Granny lives on in the hearts of her fans.

If anyone's mind is pickled on older TV series, it is mine. And I know millions of others as well cherish "The Beverly Hillbillies" among the top of them all. The cast of this show fits so well with each other that they become the real deal. They became a part of our family somehow. Each regular character goes beyond typecast. The Scruggs/Flat music simply adds more of the same quality. I sometimes practice my guitar while watching the show so I can pick up a few licks each time.

I think that one of the most endearing qualities is that most any viewer can find something to identify with. The most obvious things are Uncle Jed's wisdom laden observations and Granny's energy and willingness to take up a cause. Jethro keeps her busy, but she never lacked for time to pick up her doctoring bag and charge full steam ahead to cure whoever might be ailing. From childhood to this day, I never seem to tire from watching this show. I can't say that about many others. Perhaps the Western series, "Bonanza", is one other that comes to mind. In both shows the characters own personalities forge their way into immortality.

In 1971, when "The Beverly Hillbillies" was canceled, "All in the Family" premiered. While "All in the Family" is praised as the first "socially relevant" sitcom, "The Beverly Hillbillies" was the first to satire our society - "The Beverly Hillbillies" did it with screwball comedy. "The Beverly Hillbillies" changed the face of television - to date, it still holds the record for some of the highest-rated single half-hours of television. And, the performance of Irene Ryan in this series is right up there with the likes of Lucille Ball and Mary Tyler Moore on their respective series. It is a shame Ryan never won an Emmy for perhaps one of the most endearing, energetic performances in the history of television. While the first five seasons of the series were undeniably the best, and the writing suffered by the late 1960s, "The Beverly Hillbillies" changed the face of television. It opened the door for creativity, wild plot lines and colorful characters that dominated television in the world of sitcoms of the 1960s. It is the era of the 1960s that produced some of the most beloved sitcoms in history, and all of it was due to a little groundbreaking sitcom about a man named Jed.

The original series THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES was probably the most genuinely funny sitcom ever made with the possible exception of I LOVE LUCY. This endearingly wacky comedy is both audaciously cutting edge and family-friendly wholesome, no mean feat. I would put some of the finest Hillbillies episodes up against the best films of Preston Sturges for sheer pandemonium glee. Most of the episodes are excellent, several are brilliant. The cast is superb, especially Irene Ryan as the hot-tempered yet sentimental Granny, a five-foot elderly spitfire who was afraid of no one - and had no reason to be. Miss Ryan was twice nominated for the Best Actress Emmy award for Granny - she should have WON at least four times! Buddy Ebsen is excellent as Jed but Donna Douglas and Max Baer were equally fine as the "young uns". Donna's free-spirited, tomboy with curves Elly May is a total joy while Max is hilarious as the dim-witted Jethro (and quite wonderful in drag as his twin sister Jetherine, playing the character seriously as an over-sized female, not going for cheap "man-in-a-dress" laughs.) Raymond Bailey and Nancy Kulp are fine as their city friends and I cherish the episodes in which Harriet MacGibbon (as Mr. Drysdale's snooty socially prominent wife) and Bea Benaderet (as Cousin Pearl) appear - Mrs. Drysdale and Pearl often had to go head-on against Granny and both actresses rose to the challenge beautifully.

The Beverly Hillbillies are often closer to the classic comedy shorts of the 1930's and 1940's than a conventional sitcom. Their importance on television history can not be overstated - not only for the "country comedies" that came along after them but for opening the door to an "alternative universe" on television where 'real life' was thrown out the window and fantasy prevailed. THE MUNSTERS, BEWITCHED, I DREAM OF JEANNIE, STAR TREK, GREEN ACRES, WILD WILD WEST, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, etc. - all the shows of the 1960's that pushed the reality envelope owe a debt to the Hillbillies and they probably wouldn't have been around with out the pioneering work done on this series.