The Rural Purge: Why CBS Canceled So Many Hit TV Shows

[00:00:07][music] [music] >> If you guys want to watch some rural comedy facts and trivia, thank you for being here. Today's video is on the rural purge. I've done two or three of these. I'm going to give it a different little twist here.

[00:00:24]Uh a little bit more interesting, a little bit more depth here.

[00:00:27]Uh so, let's dig into that.

[00:00:32]Few television decisions remain as controversial as CBS's rural purge. At the end of the 1970-71 season, the network canceled many of its successful rural-themed shows, including Mayberry R.F.D., The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and several long-running variety programs, even though many were still among television's highest-rated series.

[00:00:52]As Ed Gross wrote for Women's World magazine, CBS launched launched one of the most dramatic shake-ups in television history. Practically overnight, the network canceled a slate of hit programs, shows that still ranked among the most popular in ratings, because executives decided they no longer fit the image they wanted to project.

[00:01:10]One of the biggest casualties was Mayberry R.F.D., a continuation of The Andy Griffith Show.

[00:01:16]Andy Griffith made occasional appearances, while Goober Pyle and Howard Sprague made regular cast members.

[00:01:21]Although it never reached the popularity of the original series, it remained a solid rating success.

[00:01:27]The same was true of The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, which gave viewers a lighthearted escape during a turbulent time in American history.

[00:01:35]So, why cancel hit shows?

[00:01:37]In the 2013 October 2013 issue of Socioeconomist Socioeconomist, I guess I got it right.

[00:01:44]Robert Folsom argued that the rural purge is inevitable because America America's changing social climate made carefree rural comedies seem out of step.

[00:01:53]During a Television Academy Foundation interview, Mayberry R.F.D. star Ken Berry, recalled Pat Buttram's uh a famous joke that 1971 was the year CBS killed everything with a tree in it.

[00:02:04]CBS replaced those shows with socially relevant relevant hits like All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Mary Tyler Moore Show, and eventually MASH, programs that helped redefine television.

[00:02:16]Even so, many fans still wonder why the two styles could not have coexisted.

[00:02:21]Could there have been room for both groundbreaking sitcoms and a few more seasons of Mayberry Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr.?

[00:02:30]It's a question television fans are still debating more than 50 years later.

[00:02:35]There was plenty of room. It was a stupid stupid move. I'm glad we got All in the Family and MASH and all that as great great shows.

[00:02:43]But [clears throat] tell me why you couldn't put both of them together. I'll tell you why.

[00:02:47]Cuz Hollywood, they think they know better than everyone else.

[00:02:52]That's fact.

[00:02:53]And still do.

[00:02:54]We're going to tell you what you like.

[00:02:56]We're going to give you what you what we want you to like. We're going to take away the stuff that you actually like.

[00:03:01]And that's fact.

[00:03:02]And it's it's sad.

[00:03:04]Uh because this is you know, you don't get much choice.

[00:03:08]Hollywood's going to tell you what you got choice now. I mean, you got stuff like PureFlix and Angel and that type stuff, but uh it's just the So, it's sad what Hollywood has really become.

[00:03:20]That's all I got for you guys. Please don't forget to subscribe. Please like this video. Please hype it if you can.

[00:03:24]You have a great day. God bless, and I'm praying for you.

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