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Bea Benaderet look

Interesting that someone should mention Frank Nelson. He appeared in a 1966-1967 episode of "Petticoat Junction" playing the owner of a night spot.

Now, let me comment on other nice opinions shared here. First of all, one of the two reasons I watch the show is to look at "the daughters". I think that in 1966 Meredith McRae was the hottest. Lori Sanders catches up to her in Season #7, (1969-1970) partially because Lori is a better comic actress then the other two. When "Bobbie-Jo" is out in a little boat with "Orrin Pike", the guy who she wants as a boyfriend, she trys to sieze a chance to give him a great big kiss. Instead, he gets sidetracked by his fishing gear, and the comical look of disappointment on Bobbie-Jo's face is priceless. Both realistic and funny.

The other reason I watch is that I'm fascinated by how the series dealt with cast changes, particularly Bea Benaderet's illness. I want to see the transition from "Kate" to "Dr. Janet Craig" which was screwed up the last time around by MeTV. They showed the episode that introduces June Lockhart's "Dr. Craig" character, but then jumped back to random episodes from the previous 3 seasons. By the time they got around to showing the "Dr. Craig" episodes, I may have missed one or two. I know there are two opening theme song changes that drop the mention of Kate running the hotel. One whose lyrics mention no one else by name except for "Uncle Joe" running the hotel, and one that adds "the lady M.D."


I think that "Petticoat Junction" was meant to be mild from the start as Henning's other show "The Beverly Hillbillies" was on the wild side.
 
BD Sullivan said:
cd637299 said:
Bea sure was a hard worker in radio, TV, and also cartoons---she did a bit of work on WB cartoons and of course was Betty Rubble on The Flintstones, until she was replaced in 1964. I think I read it was because she was committed to Petticoat Junction, but that couldn't be the reason---she already had Season 1 of PJ under her belt while still working as Betty. I am not sure why she was replaced by Gerry Johnson.

cd
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She may have thought during that first season that she could handle both jobs, but then realized that it was impossible and relinquished the Flintstones gig.

According to Linda Henning, her father specifically created PJ for Benaderet.
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Speaking of Gerry Johnson... is she still with us?

ixnay
 
Ultimajock said:
Phil Harris, who found himself working at CBS on Benny's Lucky Strike Program from 1949 to 1952, but could only appear on the first half of the show so that he could dash down Vine Street to make it to his own NBC Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, which started a minute after the Benny program ended...
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Not to split hairs, but didn't the Harris Show start almost immediately after "Benny"? Like after the station ID, which would be 5 seconds? Just a thought.

Joe
 
...nope. By 1948, both NBC and CBS were allowing local affiliates the availability of a local commercial between half-hour programs in addition to 10-second station IDs...
 
Ultimajock said:
...nope. By 1948, both NBC and CBS were allowing local affiliates the availability of a local commercial between half-hour programs in addition to 10-second station IDs...
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I miss those days. :(

ixnay
 
johnbasalla said:
The other reason I watch is that I'm fascinated by how the series dealt with cast changes, particularly Bea Benaderet's illness. I want to see the transition from "Kate" to "Dr. Janet Craig" which was screwed up the last time around by MeTV. They showed the episode that introduces June Lockhart's "Dr. Craig" character, but then jumped back to random episodes from the previous 3 seasons. By the time they got around to showing the "Dr. Craig" episodes, I may have missed one or two.
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Lockhart's first appearance as the character came just over a month after Benaderet's death, so the producers must have known in late summer 1968 that Benaderet was dying and moved quickly to explain the absence. The consensus seems to be that her death was the beginning of the end for the show, since she was seen as the anchor, something Lockhart was unable to sustain.
 
BD Sullivan said:
Lockhart's first appearance as the character came just over a month after Benaderet's death, so the producers must have known in late summer 1968 that Benaderet was dying and moved quickly to explain the absence. The consensus seems to be that her death was the beginning of the end for the show, since she was seen as the anchor, something Lockhart was unable to sustain.
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Did they ever really say anything about Bea Benaderet's absence from the show in it's final two years? I seem to remember the cast refering to Kate as "being out of town", or other some such silliness. Actually iirc, the writer's went out of their way not to mention Kate Bradley at all. In the two years after her death was there ever a resolution to the storyline as to Kate's whereabouts?

Joe
 
joeybabe25 said:
BD Sullivan said:
Lockhart's first appearance as the character came just over a month after Benaderet's death, so the producers must have known in late summer 1968 that Benaderet was dying and moved quickly to explain the absence. The consensus seems to be that her death was the beginning of the end for the show, since she was seen as the anchor, something Lockhart was unable to sustain.
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Did they ever really say anything about Bea Benaderet's absence from the show in it's final two years? I seem to remember the cast refering to Kate as "being out of town", or other some such silliness. Actually iirc, the writer's went out of their way not to mention Kate Bradley at all. In the two years after her death was there ever a resolution to the storyline as to Kate's whereabouts?

Joe
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From Wikipedia:

Sickness kept Bea Benaderet away for the last portion of the sitcom's fifth season. She missed two episodes (ep. 159, 160), was back for one (ep. 161), then missed eight more after that before she finally returned for the last episode of the season (ep. 170). Storylines had her away on a trip, as everyone's hopes were that the actress would recover. Paul Henning brought in Rosemary DeCamp as Kate's sister Helen and Shirley Mitchell as Kate's cousin Mae, as a temporary replacement motherly figure. These actresses appeared mainly in the episodes during Kate's absence.

Benaderet returned for the sixth season but her return proved short-lived as she only made three appearances (ep. 171, 172, 173) before becoming ill again. In the fourth episode when Betty Jo gives birth to Kathy Jo, Bea provided only her voice. She's heard at the beginning when Betty Jo and Steve read the letter Kate has sent them and when Wendell answers the phone at "Drucker's Store" (she's on the other end). Bea's stand-in (actress Edna Laird) then plays Kate "full back" to the camera, with Bea again providing only her voice. She's heard when Kate is on the hand car helping Wendell and at the end when Kate is at Betty Jo's bedside. The episode aired 13 days after Benaderet's death (October 13, 1968) from lung cancer. Choosing not to recast the Kate role, or to sign Rosemary DeCamp on full-time (she was also playing Ann Marie's mother on That Girl), the producers introduced the new character of hotel resident Dr. Janet Craig, played by June Lockhart, as a counsel of sorts for the girls.
The long absence of Kate was only mentioned in passing during the final season's premiere episode: In episode 197, the Bradley sisters, and baby Kathy Jo, return from dipping in the water tower. Steve has paternal qualms about his daughter's safety, to which Billie Jo/Bobbie Jo reply wistfully, "Mom taught us to swim in that very same water tower."

************
Supposedly, the only reason that CBS okayed the final season was that it would give the show five seasons of color episodes for syndication--since they rarely (if ever) show the first two B & W years.
 
I'm also wondering if the opening credits to the crossover (from "Kate" to "Janet") episodes that are in syndication/played on MeTV are the same as when the show ran in first run. I seem to recall seeing "Starring Bea Benaderet" even on the episode that introduces Dr. Janet Craig. I know that there was a version of the opening that ran for a one or two, maybe three weeks that replaces Bea with a long shot of the hotel and appropriately changed lyrics. June Lockhart is credited at the end. Then they move June up to the opening credits with the line... "There's a lady M.D., she's as pretty as can be at the Junction. Petticoat Junction".
 
BD Sullivan said:
cd637299 said:
Does/Did MeTV run the B&W episodes?

cd
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I believe there are about 16 B & W eps available on YouTube.
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Well yes, these must be the public domain ones. But I was wondering if Me had the rights to the better-looking non-PD B&W episodes; I have fairly pristine video of Ep 1 from TV Land's debut in the mid 90s (which I think the announcer said "first time seen in over 30 years")---no comment on that channel now.

cd
 
johnbasalla said:
I'm also wondering if the opening credits to the crossover (from "Kate" to "Janet") episodes that are in syndication/played on MeTV are the same as when the show ran in first run. I seem to recall seeing "Starring Bea Benaderet" even on the episode that introduces Dr. Janet Craig. I know that there was a version of the opening that ran for a one or two, maybe three weeks that replaces Bea with a long shot of the hotel and appropriately changed lyrics. June Lockhart is credited at the end. Then they move June up to the opening credits with the line... "There's a lady M.D., she's as pretty as can be at the Junction. Petticoat Junction".
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Here are the four different opening credits, along with the TV "version":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA6kbSEmNU4
 
johnbasalla said:
MeTV has only been showing the color episodes. The B&W episodes are available on DVD.
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I have never seen the black and white episodes of "Petticoat Junction" other thna the first episode on YouTube. It explains why Homer Bledsoe wanted to shutdown the Hooterville Cannonball. Before seeing that one episode on Youtube, I never knew the reason why Homer Bledsoe was so determined to shut down the Cannonball.
 
Outside of DVD & YouTube, I could not understand why the B&W's are so secretive.

cd
 
cd637299 said:
Outside of DVD & YouTube, I could not understand why the B&W's are so secretive.

cd
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For whatever reason, color is a better seller in syndication. That explains why a few decades ago (during the colorization push), the first seasons of Gilligan's Island and Bewitched were colorized.
 
^ Not to start anything, believe me, but the whole colorization thing IMO is/was overrated.

In 1989 or so, "McHale's Navy" colorized reruns started showing up, and it sure didn't last long. I think Ted Turner was behind the Season 1 Gilligan's Island colorization.

I understand that it may have been a way to get younger viewers on to these series.....but with the wardrobes, possibly dated jokes (see that other thread), and actors that many young'uns don't recognize, it's a recipe for disaster.

I feel it's best to leave these things as they were, and let us ol' codgers enjoy them for what they were. *We* knew what was in B&W and what was color. If it was good, it didn't matter to me.

cd
 
BD Sullivan said:
For whatever reason, color is a better seller in syndication. That explains why a few decades ago (during the colorization push), the first seasons of Gilligan's Island and Bewitched were colorized.
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Which is, of course, why The Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy, and The Honeymooners have done so poorly for the last 50+ years. My God - not only are they not in color, they're not in Hi-Def! ;D

[/sarcasm]
 
KeithE4 said:
BD Sullivan said:
For whatever reason, color is a better seller in syndication. That explains why a few decades ago (during the colorization push), the first seasons of Gilligan's Island and Bewitched were colorized.
Click to expand...

Which is, of course, why The Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy, and The Honeymooners have done so poorly for the last 50+ years. My God - not only are they not in color, they're not in Hi-Def! ;D

[/sarcasm]
Click to expand...

The colorization craze was not well received for theatrical films, either. many ciritics felt that colorizing old B&W films was tantamount to mutilation of art work. I watched a couple examples (Casablanca, perhaps? can't recall), and was not impressed.
 
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