The Great TV "Rural Purge" of the Early 1970s: When 'Mayberry' Was Replaced by 'Maude' and More

Irene Ryan as "Granny" on The Beverly Hillbillies, and Dan Blocker played "Hoss" on "Bonanza."Photo byworldhour.com

The Big Picture

In the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, rural-geared television shows were all the rage. Those included country TV sitcoms like The Real McCoys, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry RFD, Gomer Pyle, USMC, and Petticoat Junction, as well as countless Westerns like Bonanza TV's first show broadcast in color) and Gunsmoke (the longest-running Western).

Then Came the "Rural Purge"

Then came the great "rural purge" when ABC, NBC, and CBS decided it was time for a significant shift in TV programming. CBS particularly mandated that any TV show with a tree, including hits like Mayberry RFD and Petticoat Junction, be canceled to make room for the more realistic-based comedies.

Those included the long list of Norman Lear-geared weekly entries like All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, and The Jeffersons, as well as more sophisticated sitcoms such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show.

It was all about the networks and their eagerness to please advertisers with urban-setting shows. CBS executives Robert Wood and Fred Silverman initiated the trend following research that documented a new shift could attract younger audiences, the key target for advertisers, as opposed to an older demographic.

Other Shows Also Got Caught in the Fall-Out

Other TV shows beyond the more obvious rural comedies, Westerns, and variety shows like Hee Haw, other less obvious shows got caught in the fallout of the early 1970s. Those included music-comedy programs like The Jackie Gleason Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Red Skelton Show, as well as military comedies like Hogan's Heroes Brady Family Affair.

Unique Westerns like the sci-fi/fantasy-based Wild Wild West also got clunked in with the mix, right along with The Virginian and The High Chaparral.

More wholesome family comedies like The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, and the TV adaptation of The Odd Couple were also victims of the "Purge." Even groundbreaking dramedies like Room 222, which was tackling serious-minded issues long before All in the Family, left the air.

It Partially Had To Do With Camera Angles

To some extent, the Rural Purge transpired also due to the way TV shows were produced, filmed, or taped.

Room 222 and shows like That Girl and old-school country-geared programs were filmed like a movie with a single-camera, adding the extra spice of a laugh track.

The new thing became filming in front of a live audience with multiple-camera setups, which earlier sitcoms like The Dick Van Dyke Show had done in the 1960s.

But with the onslaught of the Norman Lear years, and shows like All in the Family, and Maude, that format became the new traditional way to make TV shows.

The Irony

The irony, of course, is that most of today's new TV shows are filmed like a movie with a single-camera format and format. So, go figure.