TVCU presents: Hooterville

Back in the 60s, a trend occurred in television that would be later revisited in recent years with the Blue Collar Comedy craze.  Back then it was all about hillbillies.  I was a huge fan of these shows as a kid when they were in reruns, and am very glad they are part of the Television Crossover Universe.

World War II--GREEN ACRES--"Wings over Hooterville"--During his time in the military, Oliver is told if he should find himself captured, he should seek out a Colonel Hogan (from HOGAN'S HEROES).

1962 to 1971--THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES--Jed Clampett finds oil on his land and becomes rich, and is convinced to move his family to Beverly Hills.  Hilarity ensues in this fish out of water tale of country bumpkins in the big city.  (Actually, just watch the video.  Back then, the theme songs were pretty good at laying out the whole premise for you.)



1962--BEVERLY HILLBILLIES--I know people hate me for this, but I'm placing the remake film here, taking place at the same time as the first season of the show, with the TV version taking precedent when there are contradictions.  Basically, the film adds extra plotlines to the Clampetts first year in Beverly Hills.  Why even include it?  Because they slyly threw in a BARNABY JONES crossover, where the detective is hired by Granny to investigate a gold digger.  Note President Clinton is referenced as being a kin to the Clampetts, and this may still be true, though obviously he wasn't president yet in 1962.

1963 to 1970--PETTICOAT JUNCTION--The story of a hotel at a train stop in the town of Hooterville.  Petticoat Junction was set in the same fictional universe as the rural television comedy Green Acres, also set in Hooterville. Both shows shared such characters as Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley, and Floyd Smoot. A number of core Green Acres characters, such as Fred and Doris Ziffel (originally Fred's wife was named Ruthie)^[5]), Arnold the Pig, Newt Kiley, and Ben Miller, first appeared onPetticoat Junction in the 1964–1965 season, which saw a number of scripts written by Green Acres creator Jay Sommers. Characters on all of Henning's creations sometimes "crossed over" into one another's programs, especially during the first two seasons of Green Acres. In a 1968 episode ("Granny, the Baby Expert"), Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies comes to Hooterville to tend to Betty Jo and Steve's baby. Granny looks at a picture of Kate and is astonished at her resemblance to Jed's cousin, Pearl Bodine (previously played by Benaderet), and prior to her visit to Hooterville, reminded Jed that he was related to Kate through Pearl. Other crossover shows include one where the Clampetts, Milburn Drysdale, and Miss Jane spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas of 1968 in Hooterville on The Beverly Hillbillies and a 1970 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies in which Mr. Drysdale thought that billionaire Howard Hughes lived in Hooterville (the man turned out to be Howard Hewes, who owned Hooterville real estate, including the field Steve Elliot rented to maintain his crop plane.). A list of episodes featuring characters from Green Acres can be seen on this page.  

Crossovers with Green Acres

The following is a list of Petticoat Junction episodes featuring characters from Green Acres. Only those that debuted on Acres before Junction are counted.

Season Three

• Episode 2: "The Baffling Raffle" - Oliver Wendell Douglas, Lisa Douglas
• Episode 3: "The Dog Turns Playboy" - Oliver Wendell Douglas
• Episode 4: "The Good Luck Ring" - Oliver Wendell Douglas, Lisa Douglas
• Episode 5: "Joe Carson, General Contractor" - Oliver Wendell Douglas, Lisa Douglas
• Episode 6: "Bobbie Jo's Sorority" - Oliver Wendell Douglas, Lisa Douglas
• Episode 7: "A Doctor in the House" - Oliver Wendell Douglas
• Episode 8: "Hooterville-A-Go-Go" - Oliver Wendell Douglas, Lisa Douglas
• Episode 10: "Betty Jo Goes to New York" - Oliver Wendell Douglas, Lisa Douglas
• Episode 13: "Uncle Joe Plays Post Office" - Oliver Wendell Douglas
• Episode 19: "Yogurt, Anyone?" - Oliver Wendell Douglas
• Episode 21: "The County Fair" - Mr. Haney
• Episode 29: "Kate Bradley, Peacemaker" - Oliver Wendell Douglas
• Episode 32: "The Young Matchmakers" - Lisa Douglas

Season Four

• Episode 1: "Young Love" - Eb Dawson
• Episode 5: "The All-Night Party" - Eb Dawson
• Episode 11: "The Runt Strikes Back" - Eb Dawson
• Episode 13: "The Santa Claus Special" - Eb Dawson
• Episode 26: "Author! Author!" - Eb Dawson

Season Five

• Episode 3: "One Dozen Roses" - Eb Dawson

Season Six

• Episode 4: "The Valley Has a Baby" - Oliver Wendell Douglas, Lisa Douglas
• Episode 14: "The Ballad of the Everyday Housewife" - Lisa Douglas

Season Seven

• Episode 3: "The Other Woman" - Mr. Haney
• Episode 9: "A Most Momentous Occasion" - Mr. Haney

Petticoat Junction was the only one of Henning's country trio not to be brought back for an updated reunion movie. The character of Sam Drucker, however, did appear in Return to Green Acres in 1990.

November 1963 to October 1964--DICK VAN DYKE SHOW/BEVERLY HILLBILLIES--"Who and Where was Antonio Stradivarius?/Jed Becomes a Movie Mogul/Clampett City/Clampett City General Store"--A character that starts on one show becomes a recurring character on the other.  Don't believe me?  Check out Toby's 'splaining.



1964 to 1965--BEVERLY HILLBILLIES--Jed temporarily owns Mammoth Studies, a film studio (fictitious to us in our "real" world) that has also appeared in THE LUCY SHOW, THE MONKEES, BOMBSHELL, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD, MERTON OF THE MOVIES, THE WOMAN CHASER, ELEMENTARY MY DEAR GROUCHO, RANG-A-TANG THE WONDER DOG, TOWER OF SHADOWS and IT TAKES A THIEF.

1965 to 1971--GREEN ACRES--The opposite fish out of water story, when New Yorkers move to Hooterville (right near the hills where the Clampetts came from.)  Ironically, Oliver wants to move while his lovely wife wants to stay in the city, but once they get there, she adapts well, while he is driven nuts each week by the locals.  (Again, watch the video.  It sums it all up.)

Crossovers with Petticoat Junction

The following is a list of Green Acres episodes featuring characters from Petticoat Junction. Only those that debuted on Junction before Acres are counted.

Season One

• Episode 1: "Oliver Buys a Farm" - Uncle Joe Carson, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker
• Episode 2: "Lisa's First Day on the Farm" - Kate Bradley, Uncle Joe Carson, Charley Pratt, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker
• Episode 3: "The Decorator" - Kate Bradley, Bobbie Jo Bradley, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker
• Episode 5: "My Husband, the Rooster Renter" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 6: "Furniture, Furniture, Who's Got the Furniture?" - Uncle Joe Carson, Charley Pratt, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker
• Episode 7: "Neighborliness" - Uncle Joe Carson, Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 8: "Lisa the Helpmate" - Kate Bradley, Uncle Joe Carson, Sam Drucker
• Episode 9: "You Can't Plug in a 2 with a 6" - Uncle Joe Carson, Sam Drucker
• Episode 10: "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" - Uncle Joe Carson, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker
• Episode 11: "Parity Begins at Home" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 12: "Lisa Has a Calf" - Kate Bradley, Uncle Joe Carson, Sam Drucker
• Episode 13: "The Wedding Anniversary" - Kate Bradley, Uncle Joe Carson
• Episode 14: "What Happened in Scranton?" - Charley Pratt, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker
• Episode 15: "How to Enlarge a Bedroom" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 17: "I Didn't Raise My Husband to Be a Fireman - Kate Bradley, Uncle Joe Carson, Sam Drucker
• Episode 18: "Lisa Bakes a Cake" - Charley Pratt, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker
• Episode 19: "Sprained Ankle, Country Style" - Bobbie Jo Bradley
• Episode 20: "The Price of Apples" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 21: "What's in a Name?" - Uncle Joe Carson, Sam Drucker
• Episode 22: "The Day of Decision" - Uncle Joe Carson, Charley Pratt, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker
• Episode 23: "A Pig in a Poke" - Newt Kiley (NOTE: Kay E. Kuter was uncredited for his appearance in this episode.)
• Episode 24: "The Deputy" - Uncle Joe Carson, Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 25: "Double Drick" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 26: "The Ballad of Molly Turgiss" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 28: "Send a Boy to College" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 29: "Horse? What Horse?" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 31: "Culture" - Sam Drucker, Selma Plout

Season Two

• Episode 1: "Wings Over Hooterville" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 2: "Water, Water Everywhere" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 4: "How to See South America by Bus" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 6: "One of Our Assemblymen is Missing" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 8: "Eb Discovers the Birds and the Bees" - Bobbie Jo Bradley, Betty Jo Bradley, Sam Drucker
• Episode 9: "The Hooterville Image" - Charley Pratt, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 10: "You Ought to Be in Pictures" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 11: "A Home Isn't Built in a Day" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 12: "A Square is Not Round" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 13: "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 14: "Never Trust a Little Old Lady" - Charley Pratt, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 16: "His Honor" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 17: "It's So Peaceful in the Country" - Charley Pratt, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker (NOTE: Smiley Burnette and Rufe Davis were uncredited for their appearances in this episode.)
• Episode 18: "Exodus to Bleedswell" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 19: "It's Human to Be Humane" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 20: "Never Take Your Wife to a Convention" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 21: "The Computer Age" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 22: "Never Start Talking Unless Your Voice Comes Out" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 23: "The Beverly Hillbillies" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 24: "Lisa's Vegetable Garden" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 25: "The Saucer Season" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 26: "Getting Even with Haney" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 27: "Kimball Gets Fired" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 28: "The Vulgar Ring Story" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 29: "Who's Lisa?" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 30: "Music to Milk By" - Sam Drucker

Season Three

• Episode 1: "The Man for the Job" - Uncle Joe Carson, Floyd Smoot, Sam Drucker
• Episode 2: "Lisa's Jam Session" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 3: "Love Comes to Arnold Ziffel" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 4: "Oliver vs. the Phone Company" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 5: "Oliver Takes Over the Phone Company" - Newt Kiley
• Episode 6: "A Kind Word for the President" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 7: "Don't Count Your Tomatoes Before They're Picked" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 8: "Eb Elopes" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 9: "The Thing" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 10: "Das Lumpen" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 11: "Won't You Come Home, Arnold Ziffel?" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 12: "Jealousy, English Style" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 13: "Haney's New Image" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 14: "Alf and Ralph Break Up" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 15: "No Trespassing" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 16: "Eb Returns" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 17: "Not Guilty" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 18: "Home is Where You Run Away From" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 19: "How to Succeed in Television Without Really Trying" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 21: "Flight to Nowhere - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 22: "My Mother, the Countess" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 23: "The Spring Festival" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 24: "Our Son, the Barber" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 26: "The Hungarian Curse" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 27: "The Rutabaga Story" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 28: "Instant Family" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 29: "A Star Named Arnold is Born (Part 1)" - Sam Drucker

Season Four

• Episode 1: "Guess Who's Not Going to the Luau?" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 5: "The Candidate" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 7: "A Husband for Eleanor" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 8: "Old Mail Day" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 9: "The Agricultural Student" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 10: "How Hooterville Was Floundered" - Uncle Joe Carson, Sam Drucker
• Episode 11: "The Blue Feather" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 12: "How to Get from Hooterville to Pixley Without Moving" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 13: "The Birthday Gift" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 14: "Everywhere a Chick Chick" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 15: "The Marital Vacation" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 16: "A Prize in Every Package" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 17: "Law Partners" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 18: "A Day in the Life of Oliver Wendell Holmes" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 19: "Economy Flight to Washington" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 20: "Retreat from Washington" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 21: "A Hunting We Won't Go" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 22: "Oh, Promise Me" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 23: "Eb Uses His Ingenuity" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 24: "The Old Trunk" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 25: "The Milk Maker" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 26: "The Reincarnation of Eb" - Sam Drucker

Season Five

• Episode 1: "Lisa's Mudder Comes for a Visit - Sam Drucker
• Episode 2: "Everybody Tries to Love a Countess" - Uncle Joe Carson, Sam Drucker
• Episode 3: "Where There's a Will" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 4: "A Tale of a Tail" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 5: "You and Your Big Shrunken Head" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 6: "The Road" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 7: "Four of Spades" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 8: "The Youth Center" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 9: "The Special Delivery Letter" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 11: "Ralph's Nuptials" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 12: "Oliver and the Cornstalk - Sam Drucker
• Episode 13: "Beauty is Skin Deep" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 16: "Trapped" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 17: "Bundle of Joy" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 20: "The Confrontation" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 21: "The Case of the Hooterville Refund Fraud" - Sam Drucker, Newt Kiley
• Episode 22: "The Picnic" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 24: "Uncle Fedor" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 25: "The Wealthy Landowner" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 26: "Happy Birthday" - Sam Drucker

Season Six

• Episode 1: "The City Kids" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 2: "The Coming-Out Party" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 3: "Jealousy" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 4: "A Royal Love Story" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 5: "Oliver Goes Broke" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 6: "The Great Mayoralty Campaign" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 7: "Eb's Double Trouble" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 8: "Apple-Picking Time" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 9: "Enterprising Eb" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 10: "Oliver's Double" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 11: "The High Cost of Loving" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 12: "The Liberation Movement" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 13: "Charlie, Homer and Natasha" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 14: "The Engagement Ring" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 15: "The Free Paint Job" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 16: "Son of Drobny" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 17: "The Wedding Deal" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 18: "Star Witness" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 19: "The Spot Remover" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 20: "King Oliver I" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 21: "A Girl for Drobny" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 22: "The Carpenter's Ball" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 23: "The Hole in the Porch" - Sam Drucker
• Episode 24: "Lisa the Psychologist" - Sam Drucker

October 1965--MISTER ED--"Love and the Single Horse"--When the talking horse, Mister Ed, runs away to a wax museum, he encounters Granny Clampett.

January 1966--RED SKELTON HOUR--Jed Clampett appears.

March 1967--GREEN ACRES--"The Saucer Season"--Mike Jones somehow ends up on Hooterville.



February 1970--BRADY BUNCH--"The Possible Dream"--Hank Thackery, a character from PETTICOAT JUNCTION, appears.

1981--RETURN OF THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES--The film's plot had Jed back in his old homestead in Bugtussle, having divided his massive fortune among Elly May and Jethro, both of whom stayed on the West Coast. Jane Hathaway had become a Department of Energy agent and was seeking Granny's "White Lightnin'" recipe to combat the energy crisis. Since Granny had gone on to "her re-ward", it was up to Granny's centenarian "Maw" (Imogene Coca) to divulge the secret brew's ingredients. Subplots included Jethro playing an egocentric, starlet-starved Hollywood producer, Jane and her boss (Werner Klemperer) having a romance and Elly May owning a large petting zoo. The four main characters finally got together by the end of the story.


October 1989--THE SUPER MARIO BROS. SUPER SHOW!--"Mario Hillbillies"--The Super Mario Bros. meet Ellie May Clampett.  Really.  Same actress, playing same character.  Note the Marios are from the TVCU and migrated to the Looniverse.  However, they still move back and forth freely through portals located in sewer pipes.


1990--RETURN TO GREEN ACRES--In the 1990 reunion TV movie Return to Green Acres, a twenty-something Arnold survived his "parents", and subsequently bunks with his "cousin", the Ziffels' comely niece. (In reality a pig life span averages 12–15 years, similar to a dog). The film was made and set two decades after the series. The Monroe Brothers still have not finished the Douglas' bedroom. In the movie, Oliver and Lisa have moved back to New York, but are miserable there. They are implored by the Hootervillians to return and save the town from a scheme to destroy it, cooked up between Mr. Haney and a wealthy, underhanded developer (Henry Gibson). With a nod to the times, Haney's latest product is a Russian miracle fertilizer called "Gorby Grow".


1993--THE LEGEND OF THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES--"Documentary" about the lives of the Clampetts featuring characters from BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, GREEN ACRES, and PETTICOAT JUNCTION, as well as real life celebrities talking about the very real Clampett clan.


ALTERNATE REALITIES:


OLD TIME RADIO UNIVERSE--The Granby's Green Acres radio show aired from July 3 to August 21, 1950. The show was produced, directed and written by Jay Sommers, who wrote and produced a third of the Green Acresepisodes. In both, a businessman knowing little about farming moves to an impoverished farm. The characters are more conventionally odd, the wife stereotypically talkative and dim, the "Sam Drucker" character senile, the hired hand stoic about the incompetent management.^[3]