Shark Bytes

I just want to say that I disagree with nearly all of you about the 1994 theatrical re-make of BH. That movie is a classic. I love everything directed by the great and under-rated Penelope Spheeris [both WAYNE'S WORLDS, her great '80s punk documentaries, SENSELESS, HOLLYWEIRD, et al] and that flick is no exception. She is hands-down my fave comedic director of all time.

In fact, to be painfully honest with you, if a person's favorite film were judged by how many times he/she has sat through it, this may be my favorite movie... YIKES! lol

I think the casting of Jim Varney as Jed was a stroke of genius... he brings a quiet dignity to the role that in some ways equals Ebsen's original [and yes I consider that a HIGH compliment.] Who ever knew that guy could actually act??

Erika Eleniak is awesome "whistle bait" as eye candy, and she does ok... though her portrayal of Elly May is slightly inferior to Douglass' I think, mainly because Donna was a real bona fide hillbilly... and you just can't fake that!

I also love Dietrich Bader as Jethro. The producers were right on to preserve the character as the nice and well-meaning muscle-head of the early episodes. Although I like the crazy, childish knothead of the color episodes, I have to admit it really did become pretty annoying.

Lily Tomlin rocks as Jane Hathaway. I like her way better than Nancy Kulp, actually. She brings this feminist awareness to the role that was great fun to watch.

Dabney Coleman as Drysdale and Chloris Leachman as Granny are both inferior to the original portrayals [there will NEVER be another Irene Ryan] but you can't have everything.

Add in the great Rockabilly soundtrack... and all the hot women in the "wife-hunting" sequence... and you have one of the great classics of modern cinema.

Yeah... I went there... LOL

My two cents:

1)The Shorty Kellum eps had Shorty becoming a total babe magnet (thanks to Jed's money) so with all the pretty girls around him so much they were just good enough eps!

2)The show jumped just by the time/and because Miss. Jane was becoming too much like actress Nancy Kulp (who to put it gently----had a whole lot of big, big, big, BIG problems in reallife!). Max Baer Jr. had previously insisted that the show's actors be allowed their own input into the BH scripts and the result was Miss. Jane's terrible destruction as a good man-hungry character!

3)This bit about Paul Henning wanting to make the Clampetts black sharecroppers. Well, I didn't see the bio book about him (and I object to the notion that one has to be a true fan of BH by seeing it--or something like that--posted earlier on here as I am a big BH fan and have been one for 20+ years). Well, I know his inspiration for the show was on an ep of My little Margie where Margie and her dad meet a bunch of hillbillies
one of whom is called Granny and the other is called Elly Mae! The ep was I think called Hillbilly Margie. So the black bit of Henning's was almost definitely an idea he just toyed with briefly (and probably only after he had originally conceived of them as white!--
and then he changed them back to white again).

BEVERLY HILLBILLIES jumped the shark when that annoying Shorty Kellums character came to visit the Clampetts and stayed on for months with 1 idiotic plot after another. Suddenly it became The Shorty Kellums Show and was no longer fun to watch.

I never found Jethro funny. When he wanted to be a brain surgeon, international playboy or general, to me it was just dumb. The amount of food he ate was not funny. Very one dimensional.

I am glad that Paul Henning took a long time to cast the roles for the characters. I think they all did a wonderful performance for the 9 years the show was on TV. I think the color episodes started to get very wacky but were the same as The Band W ones. In the color episodes you could tell the computer graphics became a good part like when Granny started yelling for Jethro and the whole world shook!

this show never jumped
i admit it was better when it first started but had some funny episodes through out the whole series and
I think shorty kellums is funny
I didn't like to hear that corny laugh
miss jane and that other woman did over
and over in the women's lib episodes
but those episode had some humor that was funny

I thought the show was best early on when all the new fangled gadgets like the TELEEEPHONE were strange to them, and all of the misunderstandings over their naivate.
Color didn't kill the show, it just los some of its charm after England and Jethro started playing Robin Hood, but it was still somewhat funny.
When the show really JTS in my opinion was when they they started airing episodes that continued from one to the next, for example, the Shorty Kelum episodes were some of the worse, the trip to Silver Dollar City, Honest John(Phil Silvers), The Atack of the (whatever those fish were that came to shore to spawn) and the clampets thought it was an invasion from another country, and Elly's boyfriend, the Frogman, arrrrg. these episodes were so poorly directed, written, and the acting was pathetic, as though all the actors wanted the show to end soon. Please put me out of my misery.
There was only so much a hillbillie family could discover in Beverly Hills to keep it interesting for a couple of years.

Jumped for several reasons: color, singing (Granny), professional wresting, focused on Granny.

I watched the show as a schoolboy on sick days. I don't remember much. Well, in Chicago it came on early in the morning on channel 32. I am currently (as an adult) watching it during my spare time and actually think the same thing Dylan thinks. I have personal problems coming from a three month, highly conservative, high pressure relationship. Many episodes from my recent observation deal with getting married. That was something my Colombian woman wanted from me so she could turn me into her Spanish husband. I often find myself punching the wall or doing Tae Bo during wedding parts. It builds me up but this falls into the "why did I watch that" part.

As a kid, I used to enjoy this show. Now I don't know why. I bought a set of Beverly Hillbillies DVDs and have found most of the episodes excruciatingly boring and labarious to watch. There are a few exceptions from the beginning of the series but as with most shows, going to color ...

To Darrell Moore:

I also agree that it doesn't matter whether a show is in color or black and white as far as quality of the show is concerned. I have voted that some shows (The Andy Griffith Show, Lost in Space, etc) have jumped the shark when they went to color because that seems to be right around the same time as the quality JTS. That's the only valid reason to vote for color as a JTS moment, to me.

I also don't believe a TV show can JTS just because a subsequent movie sucks. Usually, the movie is a completely different project from the television show, with different actors (in most cases), different directors, writers, etc. To me, those movies have nothing to do with the original TV show except the name and therefore cannot be in any way responsible for the TV show jumping the shark.

Just a couple of observations.

Peace.

The Beverly Hillbillies came on television the year I was born 1962,and I grew -up watching it on and off. Recently I rediscovered it on TV Land and been enjoying tremendously. The only problem I have is TVLand. They have not been showing the series in order. They have been showing the early episodes and up until 3 weeks ago went into the color episodes(which are terrific looking and funny the few that I have seen. To me wheter a show goes to Color doesnot make a difference,if the show has terrible writing it can be in Black/White and still be lousy)and gone back to the earlier Black and White shows. Other than that I like the series and think that it makes a stunning commentary on social mores and wealthy people. Buddy Ebsen was fun as Jed and made more sense than people gave Jed credit for. Irene Ryan as 'Granny' has me in stitches I can never get tired of her. Donna Douglas was fine as Elly May she came across as a uneducated naive girl trying to learn the ways of the world and still be herself. Max Baer as Jethro was hiiarious. Jethro was dense that it makes you wonder if Max Baer really has any intelligence in real life. Raymond Bailey was good but trying at times with playing Milburn Drysdale,he seemed to get more tighter and less humourless as the series from what I have been able to see progresses. Nancy Kulp as Jane Hathaway was truly funny and was dressed very attractively throughtout the show thus far. Miss Jane's crush on Jethro in the beginning of the show was hilarious and they came across as cute and appealing together.In one early episode when he called her "Darling" and was so bashful I died of laughter and it made me think of my first crush. I like Harriet Mac Gibbon as Margaret Drysdale,in the early episodes she looked somewhat heavy and older than Raymond Bailey but in the later shows she looked more sevtle and attractive. I marvel over her work and wonder why she only according to IMDB appeared in only 55 of the shows episodes and disappeared from the series after 1969... Pearl Bodine was fast and man crazy and I can see where Jethro got his equally fast and woman hungry ways from. The Fenwicks -Cynthia and her mother were hilarious. Sonny Drysdale came across being too old to be Mrs.Drysdale's son. But he was fun when he popped up on the show. Dash Riprock was cool and funny when he appeared. I have yet to see all the episodes especially the color ones I think I have seen about maybe a dozen or less due to TVLand's abrupt interruption and going back to the Black/White shows. But from what I have seen and enjoyed the show to me is a classic.

Only jumped when the colored episodes aired. Nothing beats black and white.

Jethro Bodine's character never evolved past that of the handsome imbecile. Max Baer once remarked that if he had to live his career over, they could have offered him the f-- moon and he wouldn't have taken this role again. He said he was about to declare bankruptcy if he hadn't succeeded with his self-financed and produced Macon County Line. Although his BH weekly salary was $500(far more than the average working man was earning at the time), it was nowhere near what lead star Buddy Ebsen was garnering($2,000 to $3,000/WK.). In addition, CBS reaped millions in advertising off the show, particularly in its first 2 to 3 seasons when it was number one. Baer said he was angered by Ron Howard's portrayal of his father(Heavyweight boxing champion Max Baer Sr.)in the director's film about pugilist Jim Braddock. Papa Baer was depicted as remorseless and bloodthirsty after he killed an opponent in the ring. In reality, Baer paid the man's medical bills before he died and provided financial assistance to his family. According to Jr.,his father never recovered mentally from the incident(Baer Sr. died of a heart attack in 1959 at the age of 50). It would have been interesting to see a press battle between two 1960's sitcom stars, Mayberry versus Beverly Hills (via the Ozarks).

Long before the Dukes of Hazzard had Boss Hogg there was Mayor Amos Wentworth Hogg from Bugtussle, Tennessee. Now that was funny stuff. In fact the whole 5th season was good and ranks as my favorite of them all. Who can forget granny punching Herby the guerrilla in the face or the look on Mr. Drysdale when Jed told him he was going to work as a garbage collector?