Hutzpah Chicken said:
I'm surprised you didn't mention Mr. Drysdale.
Indeed, the way the show treated Mr. Drysdale strengthens Movie Bob's argument...and also makes me think that some of that critique was intentional (not that it matters that much...intent is not the end all be all, and is unknowable).
I think it also interesting that the Beverly Hillbillies was created by the same man who then went on to create Petticoat Junction and Green Acres: Paul Henning...who crew up on a farm in Missouri. And that, despite the immense popularity of the all the shows, but especially Beverly Hillbilies, CBS became embarrased by having these shows and cancelled them all to replace them with more coastal "sophisticated" representations as we come into the 70s. There is a lot to discuss those those rural comedies as cultural texts.
Oh, and as to that poster who says that analyzing texts ruins the enjoyment of said texts...I respond so: then don't analyze texts, and read the analyses of others. But know this, there are those people for whom analyzing text is what enables them to enjoy a text in the first place.
