I can't wait either!

Dave Sundstrom You can get rid of the Kardashians, Basketball Wives, Real Housewives, and Love And Hip Hop all you want, just keep your hands away from Count's Kustoms!!!!!!

....just self-purge that garbage....

From your mouth to God's ears.

I purged them long ago...I just don't watch them.

True and when I watch TV it's either MeTV or TVLand.

They don't make 'em like they used to.

Tenderfoot Prepper All in the Family, The Jeffersons, The Bob Newhart Show, Sanford and Son, M*A*S*H, every spinoff of Mary Tyler Moore, and Carol Burnett - they even brought back the Price is Right. Sorry, I'm going to have to disagree with you that these other shows "faded into oblivion".

According to whom?

All right people Jeez Louise, "other" shows have endured from that era; it was a dig at the idiotic programming that has come along since then, ya bunch of Asperger's cases!

Richard Moorhead I agree!

I miss this show

I like the old shows better .

@@juanshaftpatel7488 no, the shows from 50 years ago showed morals and proper character.

You are 100% correct And the very reason I haven’t watched television at all in over three years

The best American comedy ever IMHO.

Was Arnold turned into pork chops or bacon?

So did I.

It was a beautiful example of surrealist humor....the like of which would not be seen again until night court in 1984

@@eloiseockert6561 From Arnold, "Squeeeeel!!!"

A lot of folks are doing that these days, Michael!

@Daniel Appleton Netflix used to have more classic shows. We watch it for the Hit Movies, but very few of today's shows are any good. There's too much politics. I know shows have always been political, but now they're insulting, (and not funny).

@Daniel Appleton yes... Archie did quite well, telling stories for 50 years without swearing, (in the 1970's it was printed by Christian Comics, and often mentioned Christ). I miss the shows like LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE and HAPPY DAYS, that covered adult themes, but could be watched by the whole family. Those days are over. The kids watch tv in one room and the parents watch it in another...

Watch ME TV

Michael Carter Was that Jesus H. Christ?

And the ironic part of Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley as well as Eight is Enough is that they were all greenlit by Fred Silverman, the same exec who cancelled all of the rural CBS shows.

A funny thing in 1979 almost 8 years after the rural purge, CBS started airing "The Dukes of Hazzard".

disney fan81 I used to love watching The Dukes of Hazzard. The TV show, not the tackied up movie they made with a whole different cast. I guess now it's shunned because of the rebel flag on the General Lee. It's too bad really. I never felt they condoned racism. They were just a family trying to get by with the corrupt local leadership out to get them.

@@rhodawatkins4516 John schneider hated the Theatrical version. Whenever they show the car now, it's from the underside up, so you can't read Gen Lee...

@@jdsundstrom Excellent Video.. I fully agree with your analysis on looking back in the summer of 1971 that a handful of "rural-based" comedies and variety shows i.e Hillbillies, etc. could have stayed on the air for a little while longer. With that said, it was a huge gamble that then CBS Boss Fred Silverman and his staff did in going fully in with showing these then ground breaking sit-coms and dramas such as Archie Bunker, the Jeffersons, Maude, M*A*S* H, etc. 1971 is a landmark year in history of American Entertainment, as the first era of TV programming going back little over 20 years, aka the so called "Golden Era" was coming to a grinding halt. With that said, if you could tweak this video Dave, you forget to add in one other big factor on the cause of the so called "Rural Purge." That is that the rural-comedies did not reflect the other population of America i.e No Black/Afro-Americans, Latino and Asians were even regular cast members on these shows. PS Dave. Just an idea you don't have to do it, but what about doing a video segment on the year 2000 and the start of the reality TV era. 2000 is just an important historic year in TV history as say 1971 was in this case. Thanks.

@John Bold With most of today's music commercials are almost a relief!

@John Bold Same age. Some folks still call me a youngster though lol. 👴

Wow people in the comment trashing classic sitcoms like All In The Family, The Jeffersons and Golden Girls calling them bad, what a bunch of nonsense. We still had great sitcoms after the 80s like Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Fraiser and Seinfeld

@John Bold yeah most of the good current ones are on streaming services now and even those streaming services have their share of duds

@@Elementa2006all in the family is a ripoff of a british sitcom.

Great comment, Bradley. Totally agree!

It was obvious Mr. Drydale was after money and so was Mr. Hannie. So, they made you beware of trusting people and not to be Nieve.

Yep. It took me awhile to like "All In The Family." I sure did miss the "rural" shows though.

Don Nicholas I never liked “All in the Family”. Archie’s character was written to either be hated or cheered. He never seemed human.

5Rounds Rapid He was just an all around bigot. The kind of person you have to laugh AT, and not WITH. I heard it was hard for Carroll O'Conner to have to play Archie, as he was really a nice guy in real life, but he acted the part convincingly.

I agree. I laughed at his stupid bigotry. Yep. Carroll O'Connor was the total opposite of Archie in real life.

@@donnicholas7552Looking back I agree with the Narrator (I think his name is Dave)that TV needed to adapt. However. CBS could have kept a couple of the "rural" shows while at the same time gradually add in "All in the Family" etc as well during this transition period. Honestly in 1971, too bad Cable TV did not exist on a wide scale then. The best solution since Cable TV was not around yet, was that a 4th major Network in America should been created. That 4th Network either could have continued to show these "rural" shows. Or start brand new with shows in the "Archie Bunker" programming format. There was room for both forms of entertainment.

They did not know what a door bell was, so when the music was playing they are all looking around, up and down, and then finally somebody would knock at the door. lol

Reicher Reinhardt Von kesselring Jim Varney’s “Ernest” was very similar. Ironically, he went on to play Jed in the feature film! He was good, too.

Loved the surrealistic humor of "Green Acres".

True, but running on fumes in the last season...

Ernest t was on Andy griffith

Totally agree, Samuel!

TRUTH!!

"You are only as ugly as you look!" ``Lisa Douglas

@@everythingkaye that episode was on last night

FrankiesMarket Norman Lear is a show thief! Almost all of his hit shows were (shrill) knockoffs of better British shows.

You're right, Samuel. The show is timeless.

Thanks Dave

S E ....so very very true. The Hillbillies are a cherished part of my childhood to this day.

I love Granny... Priceless

Absolutely! My 12 year old loves it. That and Gilligan. This type of humor is not bound by its day.

I loved both Barnaby Jones as well as Matlock. I also enjoyed Salvage-1. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jsp6qJCVppu6img.html

They want us to hate each other, and the upper class, its how socialism/communism builds momentum to revolution. Revolution will come unless Jesus comes back.

People airing their dirty laundry and self indulgent lives for all the world to see. Makes me hurl!

@@teresahardy4928 Only a matter of time before they actually show these peole doing laundry! Or waiting in line at the dry cleaner. Way to use technology.......

Despiser Despised What do you mean?

Pat McGraw, you & me both!! In fact, I mostly watch classic films on TCM.

@@brandonpage7087 Oh I love TCM!

Yes the best place forca boobtube is on a shelf. Programmed since birth under the disguise of entertainment. Out of Shadows shows how. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/g79ogcmryNSVoYU.html

m k I posted out of the shadows on F B

@@brandonpage7087 same here! And for classic t.v. you know METV, Antenna and Get Tv are the jam! Also love the classic mystery shows like Magnum, Hart to Hart, Murder she wrote etc on Hallmark mysteries and movies.

politics in shows did not last long, i yearn for writers today to take a stand and write it funny and with substance, now it is all pablum for the masses as not to offend anyone especially advertisers and pundits

@Oma Cool , true but sometimes it is nice to watch someone that does involve politics or Stupidity. Whatever happened to funny just for the sake of it?

it was always political, you were simply oblivious to the sub text

Great rural shows were replaced by toxic Norman Lear abominations.

I love escapist entertainment. For that reason, these shows really resonated with me. Still do.

Urban "Grit"... Mr. Sundstrom...GOOD TIMES!!!...THAT'S "The good stuff"

I am glad that there are a few stations that show the "good ole days ", in reruns .👍

David Ellis I’ve noticed a pattern that almost every decade sitcoms shift themes and focus. Early to mid 50s a lot of “televised vaudeville” lots of song and dancing in front of a live audience Mid 50s into the 60s came the filmed sitcom Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best and Andy Griffith the era of escapism. Late 60s into late 70s the era of social issues All in the Family, Sanford and Son and MASH etc early 80s until about 1992 was more of a throwback to the escapism of the 50s-60s with upperclass families in their two story suburban house. What ever issues they face always works out in the end, whatever problems are always solved with hug. Early 90s to early 2000s it was the young, single adult 20 somethings living in the city Mad About You, Martin, Living Single and Friends type shows.

Randy Rome Exactly. It was done more out of disdain for Middle America than anything else.

Hows the weather there? Going in December to visit my wifes family.

@@HotOneRecordz Rainy lately. If you want to see what it is like, feel free to check out my videos.

Best program ever. I'm with you.

A show that still warms my heart.

Give that Nellie and her mom a sock in the head;)

Great comments, Larry. I'm glad we can still watch these shows as well.

I remember the Hillbillies episodes where Jethro “invented” a smog filter for cars, or when he was a “double-naught” spy!

5Rounds Rapid I remember hearing about Granny trying to cook "golf eggs" when I was little, and it wasn't until I accidentally saw that episode much later in reruns that I realized Mom hadn't been referring to MY Granny doing that!

Larry Geary yes, but BHB made fun of the hippy movement, it didnt embrace it.....

@@insideoutsideupsidedown2218 ...J have to differ with you on that. If I remember correctly, they joined the hippy movement...protesting something. They were dressed up as hippies carrying protest signs.

The price was to cancel Gilligan's Island .

That started when, like 1955? It was a half hour show then went to the full hour format. Gunsmoke ruled. It was my favorite.

Gunsmoke is the one that could have gone on...Kitty was coming back in season 21 , the ratings were still in the top 30, and I think they could have come roaring back. But the noooo, the suits whacked it without telling them. I'm sure the excuse was it was expensive and the audience too geriatric...they could have kept it had they wanted to.

It was the favorite show of CBS honcho William Paley's wife, Babe Paley. It was almost cancelled to make was for Mannix, execs were like Nope. Gunsmoke is Babe's favorite show. But when it was cancelled it was abrupt - the cast found out from the newspaper.

Thanks for sharing...and for your support!

One could easily be entertained with just DVDs and KZfaq. 🙂

Bianca Contreras...Our children were brought up on the old TV shows I watched when I was their age. We still have family nights watching DVD episodes of Gomer Pyle, et. al. It is one of the most important things we have in a common bond.

TCM, MeTV, COMET, DVD's and Youtuby. There are a couple shows like Dr Poll, other animal shows, and auto-restoration shows, and anywhere I can find Star Trek, STTNG, anything Star Trek. I record, MY THREE SONS, BEV. HILLBILLIES, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, ETC, Every morning on MeTV and TTZ, other sci fi on me-tv and perry mason.

@Daniel Appleton night gallery is on MeTV.

@Daniel Appleton I think you may be able to get that and many more channels that show old tv show with either rabbit ears are one of those indoor antenna boxes/tubes. One place has an indoor antenna that the outside is like an inch diameter pvc pipe and about a foot long with all the electronic stuff inside that you just hook up to your tv's cable in connector.

Best quote ever!

Huh-huh-huh...you said..."Butt-ram".

I do believe that he also added, "...including Lassie!".

Grow up.

Except for Gunsmoke.

Hard Luck 🙄

Execs at CBS hated the rural shows for years, but the ratings justified keeping the shows on the air at the time.

Darn city fellers!

Yes, and even then the young, upwardly mobile, whom advertisers most wanted to target were moving aways from rural areas and certainly weren't the ones watching CBS' rural themed programming.

Seed_drill Sadly, too many young people had to move away from rural areas, and home and family, to get a decent job. Then they become "city fellers", even though they have rural roots. That's the cost of doing business profitably now. You have to be in the middle of everything, where your product can be shipped out, and more inventory can be gotten in efficiently. American companies are either sold to foreign corporations, or are just slaves to profit, existing only to keep the CEOs pocket lined, and the shareholders happy. Not a thought is given to hometown people who gave decades in loyal service, or the pride in keeping jobs in America. It's all about the $$$. That's the loss of the American dream.

@@seed_drill7135 ironic that many younger people (hipsters) are moving to rural areas to get away from the big city, these days.

@@lobitome The crime rate has increased in many big cities and the cops are afraid of their own shadow. Perhaps, that's why the hipsters are leaving.

It's spelled Tel-lie -vision

To me all television is a thing of the past.

robert gordon You’re just being kind using the word crap , I have other words that the dictionary purged.

Yeah, but there were still many great shows to come in the 80s & 90s. For me, it was in the early 2000s, when television began to suffer a slow agonizing demise, that is still going on now in 2020. SMH

You're welcome, RuleofFive! I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

The shows may have been winning their time slots, but they weren't necessarily placing in the top 30 in the Nielsens.

And what was sad about the cancellation of a legendary show such as the Sullivan show, is that CBS did not even give it a chance to have a farewell show. Being fair, CBS also did not do it for later legendary shows such as "All in the Family/Archie Bunker Place" and the "Jeffersons" as well.

Also Bewitched and I dream of Jeannie.

@@markcadieux3445 Elizabeth Montgomery didn't want to do Bewitched any longer even though ABC was OK to do it for 2 more years. The Jeannie ratings tanked after they had them get married...they all knew that would kill it.

And Jackie Gleason too.

METV 9:30 PM weeknights

It on" Me TV" I use to get it on antenna, not any more just, they must of weeked the signal. And I live in the city. Or maybe a big tree grew between me a and transponder.

Totally agree. It's been great to revisit many of my old favorites again on MeTV. 🙂

I love dissenting opinions! That said, I will agree with you that the show just wasn't the same after Don left. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/epN1qdCb2s64nHU.html

The best season was with Gomer and Barney together.

My dad was a huge Andy fan. I learned from a young age, if the episode is color, it’s subpar.

Tv Land doesn't even bother showing the Post-Barney episodes.

Like the Boy Scouts and the Catholic Church.

Bullshit! It was past the time that television grew up a little....

@John Bold oy gevalt!

Agree. Shows glorified dependence on govt assistance. Not good.

@John Bold That requires giving people the choice. As far as I know, there's no TV shows that offer anything like those in the rural purge. Maybe TGIF in the 90s was the closest TV has come since then, and a number of those shows were pretty funny and had decent ratings.

I'd be for that!

Final episode of PJ was in 1970. The beginnings of the purge.

Dave Sundstrom The Rural Purge may have been a case of cold- blooded cowardice on the part of CBS, but in 1979, there was no amount of urban sophistication that could stop two good ol' boys and the orange '69 Charger. As a matter of fact, most city folk wouldn't know how to handle all that horsepower. The Dukes Of Hazzard was the first salvo in the Rural Revenge that gave us Evening Shade, Matlock, and In The Heat Of The Night. And after the turn of the millennium, cable and satellite TV gave us Swamp People and Duck Dynasty from my Louisiana. No amount of urban sophistication can match the old fashioned American values.

@@jdsundstrom Then again, the ratings on PJ suffered for some time due to the continued absence of matriarch Kate Bradley (played by Bea Benaderet). It was the beginning of the end for PJ when, after Benaderet's death from lung cancer, Dr. Janet Craig (played by June Lockhart, fresh from her stint on Lost In Space) assumed the matriarch role, although the character was not related to the Bradley girls or Joe Carson.

Cornell Green Carroll O’Connor was almost unrecognizable in “In the Heat of the Night”! Polite, smart, humble, and kind. Not anything like Archie.

Great comments, Brian. I'm glad you are enjoying the videos. 🙂

You're most welcome, Raymond. At this point, I think I pretty much have a love/hate relationship with all of the networks!

Buck Rogers needed to be cancelled, they changed the format to some type of partridge family in space theme. It was horrible. The made Col. Deering from a tough no nonsense commander into some kind of weird flight steward

Anytime, Michael!

Michael Anon rural purge.

Now a "Royal Purge" would be great. No more inbred (by social class that is) British royals soap opera! Reality tv, singer/dancer "talent" shows, cop/fireman/hospital/csi make me nauseous. I could go on. But then I've given up on tv except for news. I like local news for being local, Fox for laughs at their hilarious Trumpism and CNN for their relentless sanctimony. When my group house changed cable packages, I said "great, the History Channel", only to find pawn shops, swamp people, knife making and target practice littering that neighborhood. What a letdown, with so much history out there to be mined. "America's business IS business" has gotten truer every minute. Was it the advent of mass media that really started the snowball rolling? Newspapers, movies, radio, television, internet "with progress and regress for all". And now we have influencers and likes for all the idiots out there. Whew!

I think you're definitely on to something there, Tony!

The same thing is now going on, once again, as this new generation, are the ones who are being catered to, & even my generation of millinenials are seen as old & out of touch!

@@brandonpage7087 Being Gen Z, I am memorized with classic television shows and movies, heck, especially the film scores of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s! *sighs* I like watching programs that viewed a simpler time of our ancestors.

Thanks Edward!

I Read one time that the Gomer Pyle USMC ratings were still very good ( top 10 ) but Jim Nabors wanted to pursue his musical talent. It might have survived a couple more seasons if he hadn't walked away!

Ultimately it was up to the advertisers who decide what shows. But when All in the Family did it, it was smart comedy now a lot is just cheap and lazy writing. Then writers knew how to set up joke to pay off later.

jon wilson He does/did have a wonderful singing voice, much different than Gomer Pyle, as did Ken Curtis, who played Festus Hagin.

@@rhodawatkins4516 Festus could sing??? I didn't know that.

whatsthebigfndeal I just googled him and he's actually listed as a singer, instead of an actor. You should google him singing Tumblin' Tumbleweeds. He's dressed like Festus, but the voice that comes out is totally different. You won't believe it.

Yes!!! Bring it on!

Please!!! 🤞🏼

A homegrown "Hee Haw" show? That does sound like fun!

Great point, Glenn. Fortunately, despite the purge, we still have all these wonderful shows to watch on channels like MeTV, AntennaTV and Cozi as well as DVDs you can purchase.

Thanks for the kind words...and for subscribing, Y G!

If I remember the story correctly, it was either Gilligan's Island or Gunsmoke that was going to get the axe. Gunsmoke was saved because it was the favorite TV show of the wife of a top CBS exec.

What really ended Bonanza's run on NBC, was the passing of Dan Blocker (Hoss Cartwright). Everyone on the show felt that this would be the end of the series.

@@jdsundstrom Babe Paley, wife of CBS head guy William Paley. About as top exec as you can get.

Totally agree, Jerry!

Yep. Thank goodness there are so many different ways to get our "retro TV" fix when it is needed!

Great comment, Faith. And...I think you are right. It is more than just nostalgia. I watch MeTV because the messages contained in the shows that they include on their line-up are in line with what I believe to be right and wrong. Like you said, those programs were "just plain good".

Iridescent Eyez I remember when Mom would have to go outside and turn the antenna to get the channel to come in. We got maybe 3 channels.

Iridescent The first 2-3 seasons of Happy Days were hilarious. It went on for far too long.

@@rhodawatkins4516 Yup fond memories. For like 1.5 yrs our TV couldn't receive Ch 13(NBC in our Des Moines market). Got a new one and thought we were in Heaven. How abt the late night National Anthem and scary(to us 9 yr olds) TEST PATTERN?? Often with fine tuning & proper weather conditions u could receive grainy/snowy TV from hundreds of miles away! Talk abt high-tech ha ha.

I can see why that might have bugged your mother. Thanks for sharing, Laura!

Eddy Albert left a budding acting career and joined the navy in WW2. He saw some pretty hard core stuff too.

Great point, Stefan!

I suppose so, maskedavenger777!

That is a good point. CBS /Norman Lear was offering edgy social justice/commentary programming.

@@v.a.993 Not a good thing.

All in the family was developed by ABC and aired 2 pilots. But as the story goes ABC aired a George Schlatter (Laugh In producer) show called Turn On which was controversial and tasteless and aired once. Almost got abc programmer fired so abc wanted no part of all in the family. But Bob Wood and Fred Silverman saw it as perfect to change the cbs image and brought the show to cbs. The rest is history

That would have been a heck of an episode!

Tom Lester aka Eb Dawson from Green Acres did make a pilot with Charo in 1976, Charo and the Sergeant. “A high-spirited entertainer marries a U.S. Marine sergeant and tries to adapt to life as a military spouse.” www.imdb.com/title/tt1085800/

... and don’t forget “The Mary Tyler Moore” show ...

@John Bold I hated Maude too. Totally sour and negative. It's why I don't have cable t.v. Who needs that kind of negativity?

....Good Times, ,that cinderblock apt!

Love the Blue! I loved Mary in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Her character in her own show was the polar opposite.

Miniver765 Maude was probably the worst character of the bunch, and that’s saying something!

Very welcome!

Great question, Patrick. Well...one show that was saved from the purge on CBS was Gunsmoke which held on until 1975 before the network execs finally gave it the axe.

The thing is I love All in The Family, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Good Times, What's Happening, Barney Miller, Taxi, WKRP, The Bob Newhart Show, The Odd Couple, Mary Tyler Moore etc. and more 70s shows like that but at the same time I think there's no reason why they couldn't have at least given the rural shows last episodes the fans deserved at least that much not to mention the casts and crews of those shows were just as talented and hardworking as the later shows. All I know is that there's no reason both can't co exist, tv should be diverse like real life in content yet it's still so singular. Hell, they seem to co exist on nostalgic channels like METV, Get Tv, Tv Land etc.

@@kendallrivers1119 Are you talking about the rural comedies having a series finale? So the audiences could say goodbye to the beloved characters? Sitcoms back then NEVER had big final episodes. That came later.

The shows you seek are on an OTA (over the air) network called MeTV. If you are 30 or so miles near a big city, you should be able to pick it up on one of the local sub-channels with something like a Mohu Leaf antenna. Best part...after you pay for the antenna, your TV is free. Woo hoo!

Shawn Hatton

They did well but they weren't the same type of rural show as TBH or GA.

Agreed. Paul Henning was brilliant!

He was a success at CBS and ABC, not so much at NBC. What's that Meat Loaf song? Oh yah...I guess Two Out of Three Ain't Bad!

Totally agree, Rick! And the best part is, if you have an over the air antenna, you can get a ton of great retro programming for free!

Why, Eddie? Why?

@@jdsundstrom Why? Because CBS has always hated working-class Americans. You can see it in the angry satirical comedy of the 1970's, and you can see it in their programming today. They see us as inferior garbage to be purged.

Great comments, Rob M! Thanks for sharing.

It is a curiosity indeed. And, on NBC, Little House on the Prairie debuted a couple of years after that. My thinking is that the purge was directed at comedies and variety shows. For whatever reason, the dramas seemed to be okay.

LadyDuck106 Maybe there were just too many of the same type at the same time. Like everything today seems to be a "reality" show, or a competition of some sort, although I have noticed a number of military themed new shows lately. (I still prefer MASH.)

Yah. Those cartoons were great. Only semi-related, did you see that someone has decided to turn "The Banana Splits" into a horror movie? Not sure how I feel about that one...

@@jdsundstrom A horror movie version of The Banana Splits? I just had a look at the trailer... sigh... And even though I can't say I'm surprised, it looks like yet another Hollywood compost fire I'll be avoiding.