INEXPLICABLE! (OT)

Dan Shane danshane at bellsouth.net
Thu Nov 14 21:19:58 CET 2002


GARY WROTE:

> "Pizen" with a long "i" is in the patois of what is known in the U.S.
> as "hillbilly". It is meant to reflect an unsophisticated, poorly
> educated, rural character. You can pick this up in its most extreme
> stereotypical form in such inexplicably long-running TV series' as "The
> Beverly Hillbillies", "The Real McCoys", and "Hee Haw". Even quality TV
> such as "The Andy Griffith Show" frequently featured hillbilly
> characters rattling on in the best Dogpatch fashion.

AND I REPLY:

Inexplicable?!!!

Well, I'll try to explain it for ya.  In the case of BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and
REAL McCOYS, they're just plain funny.  I have no more trouble defending my
enjoyment of those 2 series than I do my love for "funny animal" comic
books.  BH in particular was an exercise in pure stereotypical nonsense
genius.  Many lines in the first 2 seasons of that series are timeless gems.
("You're a nice fella Mr. Brewster, but I've heard better jokes.")  Yes, it
got silly later on, but try to tell me that the color ANDY GRIFFITH episodes
are of the same caliber as the black-and-white era shows.

As for HEE-HAW, I don't have the same fondness for that show as many do, but
I understand its appeal.  It was not the least bit topical in its humor, and
the laughs were often forced (to say the least).  But it reached out to two
different audiences.  One just liked the cornpone jokes, blacked out teeth,
freckles, and absence of anything that made them think too hard.

The other, probably smaller audience tuned in to see all that and realize
that the show was lampooning itself.  Yes, it presented hicks as hicks, and
hicks wrote (or stole) the jokes that made them look so goofy.  Half the
performers couldn't act a lick, and that added to the charm.  Watching
HEE-HAW was like viewing a train wreck or a GODZILLA movie -- you knew it
was awful, but you couldn't look away.

HEE-HAW isn't necessary to see in reruns, as all the jokes were already old.
But I am cannot look back on my TV youth without fondly remembering, even
reciting, scenes from GRIFFITH, HILLBILLIES, or McCOYS.

("That boy Jethro has invented a new kind of math.  Why, 2 plus 2 come out 5
for him!")

Dan, the Unashamed




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