The Big Picture: Silly Billy

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brass munkey

The Milkman of Human Kindness
Jun 25, 2009
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Very interesting stuff Bob. Oh, and now I feel like a Hillbilly because my family has eaten off of a pool table before.
 

coppah20HE

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Apr 8, 2011
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I'm a 20 year old Australian, and I knew every word to "The Ballad of Jed Clampett"
But then, I love old TV shows
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
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RT-Medic-with-shotgun said:
I watched this show daily as a ki. Superpowers for granny could count super strength, jed has the eyes of a bird of prey & could apply them to shooting, Ellly could communicate with animals, and all of them were stronger than Jethro.
Redd the Sock said:
Please. Jethro was the weakest of the 4. Elly continuiously beat him up. One episode had her date a weightlifer and she lifted his 200 pound barbells like plastic patio furniture. Granny once beat up the number one kartae champion in the world hired as a bodygurad for their banker. Jed never showed a temper on screen, but it was implied he had the same muscle.

Then of course they all could shoot flies with a shotgun at 300 yards. The joke was that gopher in the opening was the only shot Jed ever missed.
Clearly, it's been too darn long. I need to track down ALL NINE SEASONS and WATCH THEM ALLLL.
 

leviadragon99

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Jun 17, 2010
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Huh... well there you go, I've been aware of the show for some time but never having grown up with it and being turned away by the one-note premise I hadn't given it much thought, it is good to be able to read more into things, sometimes in spite of authorial intent.
 

Comma-Kazie

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Sep 2, 2009
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Huh. I'd never thought about the Beverly Hillbillies quite like that. Thanks Bob, that was a really interesting look at the cultural context.
 

scott91575

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Jun 8, 2009
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Redd the Sock said:
lacktheknack said:
Electromagnet said:
The Grim Ace said:
the fact that the Clampetts basically all had super powers.
And now I'm very interested in this. Could we get a follow-up episode about this?
Meh, I'm not sure what he's on about. Jethro was enormously strong, yes, but Granny, Jed and Ellie May didn't have any "superpowers" to speak of.

OT: I LOVED THIS SHOW AS A KID! :D
Please. Jethro was the weakest of the 4. Elly continuiously beat him up. One episode had her date a weightlifer and she lifted his 200 pound barbells like plastic patio furniture. Granny once beat up the number one kartae champion in the world hired as a bodygurad for their banker. Jed never showed a temper on screen, but it was implied he had the same muscle.

Then of course they all could shoot flies with a shotgun at 300 yards. The joke was that gopher in the opening was the only shot Jed ever missed.
It was sort of a running joke that their manual labor and work ethic made them super strong while the soft, rich people (even the strong man that lifted weights) were all weaklings in comparison. Same thing with their shooting abilities. They made the stuff "hillbillies" would be good at, like being strong from manual labor and great shooting from hunting, into super human abilities simply as a way of creating a joke and further separating the Clampets from the people of Beverly Hills.

BTW...I remember the episode with the weight lifter. Grannie thought barbells was the name of a disease he had that caused him to get all puffed up (his muscles).
 

JaceArveduin

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Mar 14, 2011
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It still shows on... I can't remember the name of the channel xD TVland maybe, but the channel also had Gunsmoke and Bonanza on it.
 

Draconalis

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Sep 11, 2008
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I'd never really noticed this before...

But how is a bullet going to penetrate enough ground to strike oil? That just doesn't make any sense at all...
 

Rad Party God

Party like it's 2010!
Feb 23, 2010
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I never even knew there was a TV show, I only watched the 90's movie and I hated it.

But this was an interesting episode nonetheless.
 

Gilhelmi

The One Who Protects
Oct 22, 2009
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Quiet Stranger said:
Next episode: Hogan's Heroes!

I love Beverly Hillbillies, such a good show.
YES, 1000 times YES.

I say we get an unofficial campaign going for that one.

So many shows, only one a week.

Gomer Pile: USMC
Hogan's Heroes
I Love Lucy
M.A.S.H.

You know what M.A.S.H. that would also make a good show for Bob to do. Starts off more comedy then drama, balances out, then ends more drama then comedy. 11 years of great shows.
 

MB202

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Sep 14, 2008
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THANK you, MovieBob! I LOVE looking too much into things. Even if it means possibly ruining it for other people. But if that's the case, it's really them who should disregard me and not them saying "SHUT UP, you're thinking about this too much." which is basically another way of saying "you're enjoying yourself in the wrong way". And that's lame.
 

vxicepickxv

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Sep 28, 2008
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Draconalis said:
I'd never really noticed this before...

But how is a bullet going to penetrate enough ground to strike oil? That just doesn't make any sense at all...
There were some points in the world, normally closer to the late 1800s early 1900s where there was enough pressure that the oil was floating on top of the land below it. Some areas in the wild weren't always very well traveled by people who looked for the stuff, so it's not impossible to hit a shallow well in an area where nobody's looked for oil.
 

Daniel Morton

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Aug 8, 2012
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I agree that its fun and beneficial to "overthink" fiction, especially if it seems simple and innocent, but that's not really the problem. The problem is that too many people go straight for the negative and/or cynical subtexts, construing the work to make it seem racist or saying the the story is just the dream of someone in a coma. Not everything has to be grimdark.
 

Signa

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Jul 16, 2008
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I remember only the movie from 1993. I was aware of the show, but I don't think I've ever seen it. Loved the movie though.

As far as reading into things, a friend linked me this today:

http://km-515.livejournal.com/1042.html

It's on Lord of the Rings, and it shows how Tom Bombadill might have actually been a supervillain. I never read more than the first 1/3rd of the first book, so I don't know how accurate it is, but this article was a good read.
 

Darth_Payn

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Aug 5, 2009
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This was a well thought-out topic. Usually people who overthink TV shows and movies and stuff who read into it their kind of subtext are the kind of tossers who twist and bend logic to make it fit into their political worldview, like that one South Park episode where the boys write the ultracontroversial "Scrottey McBoogerballs" and set up Butters to take the heat.

And about the theme song: where have I heard those lyrics before? Oh right, from this:
 

Muspelheim

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Apr 7, 2011
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Fascinating! Never heard of that show. It's a very nice idea they had going there.

Now, to follow Proverbial Jon's example and give you a foreign similarity on the same subject for trade... Oh, right!


Mostly back in the 60's, there used to be a (fairly mean) joke on a similar note in Sweden. Basically, a large family from the rural Balkans or some other place like it would move into a modern appartment in a new built housing block. They get themselves installed and everything is fine and well, until a few weeks later when the downstairs neighbour report a leaking ceiling to the landlord. On closer inspection, it's revealed that the new tenants have broken up the floor of one of their rooms, filled it with dirt and begun growing potatoes in it. "Well, where else are we supposed to put them?", they say when asked about it.

It's a rather mean joke, but still... The point is, when you go from this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Albania_pasture.jpg

to this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Tensta_1971b.jpg

all of a sudden, things might become a tad confusing. It's a massive change of lifestyle, after all. Now, it's a (slightly un-PC) urban myth, but honestly, they might be on to something... Why not? I'd love to have some potatoes going in a spare room or something.