The Beverly Hillbillies (tv) . The Boston Phoenix . 12-01-97

The Beverly Hillbillies (tv)

DIRECTED BY: Zsa Zsa Gabor

REVIEWED: 12-01-97

An argument can be made for the premise of The Beverly Hillbillies as satire. There are definite comic possibilities in the collision between the homespun Clampetts and the greedheads who infest Beverly Hills. But it's hard to justify the production of 274 episodes to bang away at the same joke. The Beverly Hillbillies held to the tradition of a sit-com as a collection of interchangeable episodes with no character development. So, during the series's nine-year run, the Clampetts got dumber and dumber -- never figuring out how to work the appliances in their mansion, for example. But TV viewers apparently didn't care about such limitations in the '60s. The Beverly Hillbillies inspired a wave of "high-concept" sit-coms with premises so convoluted that they had to be explained in themesongs every week (Gilligan's Island, Green Acres, etc. -- see "Those Were the Days").

Taken from The Boston Phoenix's "50 Years and Counting," a retrospective of the most influential programs from television's first half-century. Click here for the full article.

--Robert David Sullivan

Film Vault Suggested Links
Ernie Kovacs (tv)
Gilligan's Island (tv)
Beavis and Butt-head (tv)

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