10 POPULAR TV SHOWS CANCELED IN THE RURAL PURGE

[@DYR]

Which of these TV shows was your favorite? 🤔

[@nicktaylor2657]

I never rains in Hooterville😉

[@laurac8659]

Bonanza 😍

[@chicovoylez3216]

@@nicktaylor2657 Or any crime!

[@pegasusgalaxy68]

Get your facts right ..bonanza was cancelled due to dan blocker "hoss" died and other cast died so thats why was cancelled...DO YOUR RESEARCH TWATT.

[@laurac8659]

Chill Pegasus I only mentioned Bonanza because Hoss’s picture is on the thumbnail. So for that I’m a twat 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@onnieduvall2565]

A part of the purge included Hee Haw which is often overlooked because of its long term success as a syndicated production.

[@barryallenflash1]

Ah, yes! LOTS of guests you thought you'd NEVER see on that show, but there they were!

[@tltatt]

Hee Haw was definitely part of the "rural purge" of 1971 by CBS. It lived on for over 20 more new seasons in syndication.

[@cpcva724]

Lawrence welk went the same route and left the air when Welk retired

[@Farrah300]

CBS indeed canceled Hee Haw, but thanks to syndication, it would go on to have a more the twenty year long life on television. I'm so thankful it did. Hee Haw was one of the funniest shows other than Red Skelton , to have been on television.

[@michaelodonnell9756]

@@tltatt The Lawrence Welk Show is another example. That's still in reruns on PBS to this day.

[@paulmilsaps4476]

I watched every one of these shows, and was mad, each time one of them got cancelled. My favorite was Gunsmoke.

[@karlsmith2570]

I'll admit that I was actually Pretty surprised that "Gunsmoke" ran as long as it did before getting canceled

[@paulmilsaps4476]

@@karlsmith2570 After Amanda Blake left (Miss Kitty) the show just was it the same. I still watched it, but I always felt like there was something missing.

[@lauriescott6275]

Gung smoke is on me 📺 and tv land it's on these chanles today.

[@michaelodonnell9756]

They didn't even mention Mister Ed.

[@raymondhopwood9393]

​@@michaelodonnell9756 Mr. Ed was cancelled in the mid 60s. You knew they were running out of ideas when they had Ed and Wilbur working as secret agents!

[@toddmccreary4579]

The rural purge was by CBS. The new network president wanted urban shows. Bonanza was on NBC in living color all the way through and was cancelled because Dan Blocker died. Just didn't work without Hoss.

[@elwoodblues9613]

"CBS canceled every show with a tree in it, including Lassie." (Pat Buttram, aka Mr. Haney from "Green Acres")

[@mcmax571]

Lorne Greene after being told of Blocker's death told his wife that Bonanza just died with him.

[@jadeblues357]

The show didn’t work without Dan Blocker because he was the best character in the show! He was my favorite one anyway

[@Mokkari77]

So if Dan Blocker hasn't died we wouldn't have had LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. At least not with Michael Landon as Charles Ingalls.

[@thomasjefferson6]

The purge wasn't limited to rural shows. Family Affair, Get Smart, Bewitched, Ed Sullivan, and I Dream of Jeannie all went off the air at the same time. None of them were rural shows. It can be argued that at least some of these shows had just aged, victims of their own success (Ed Sullivan had been in TV since 1948). It more likely the case that the more wholesome moral atmosphere of those shows made them increasingly unpopular with Madison Avenue advertisers. They wanted the sort of stuff that ultra-liberal Normal Lear and his sort were offering. Little House on the Prairie got on the chiefly because of Michael Landon himself, who liked the wholesome family friendly sort of show, was able to persuade NBC to try a pilot film. As the most popular star of Bonanza, the network agreed. What was stunning about "the purge" is that so many popular shows went off the air at the same time, and what replaced them were so morally different that they looked like they came from a completely different country.

[@shyman99]

The Waltons disagrees with both you and the poster.

[@Nicks_Pix]

@@shyman99 The exception doesn't prove the rule

[@shyman99]

@@Nicks_Pix - A universal purge of shows (both rural and non-rural, both drama and comedy) also doesn't make a rule of a rural purge.

[@alanvallazza9781]

​@@shyman99The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, Alice and the Dukes of Hazzard came after the purge. They were either Western or set in the south.

[@joeblaumer2085]

Bonanza was done after Dan Blocker died. Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies were my favorites.

[@tomfrazier1103]

Little House on the Prairie? Gen-X has a thing for that show, an intact nuclear family with good parenting.

[@Ninnjette-]

Because they want what they’re missing. The nuclear family is under attack.

[@yooneeque1]

Also, the Waltons. IIRC the surprise success of The Waltons paved the way for other family shows like Little House on the Prairie.

[@neoasura]

As a Gen-Xer who didnt have that nuclear family, I love Little House on the Prairie.

[@tomfrazier1103]

We were partly raised by Grandparents and lived under their G.I. generation T.V. rules, and got one channel. It was a fun show, but Diff'rent Strokes was funnier. RIP Arnold Coleman.

[@Robert08010]

The Waltons is still very popular as well. Prety sure that was a CBS show and it only started in 1970 or so.

[@ArchstantonsMTgrave]

Green Acres was a riot....still makes me laugh 🤣🤣🤣

[@elwoodblues9613]

"Green Acres": the precursor to "The Far Side." Or maybe it's . . . well, not that. Well, I think you can say that . . . well, maybe not . . . or maybe it's like . . . what was I saying? (that's Hank Kimball, not Joe Biden)

[@mackermaldrill2656]

Me too, especially Arnold the pig.

[@tomryan914]

"Shoosting up toward the sun and the sky!"

[@dangreene9846]

Think they had a saying about this purge anything with a tree got canceled. A lot of these shows were on CBS and they wanted a more urban lineup . So here came "all of the family" and the "Mary Tyler Moore." Shows.

[@mikell5087]

And I would argue that the CBS Saturday night line-up in the early to mid '70's of All In the Family, MASH, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Bob Newhart Show and The Carol Burnett Show was the greatest line-up of TV in my lifetime. I missed a lot of the rural shows, but you can't beat that CBS Saturday night.

[@johnmorgan692]

@Dan".. again CANCEL CULTURE " . We know What " irban" Means.. Gillette/ coke cola" DONT BE TOO ******?

[@kenjett2434]

I grew up watching these shows they are engraved into me and in a way shaped who I am.

[@barryallenflash1]

Me too! My younger son watches stuff like this too, because of me! I can tell it's affected him the same way.

[@antifactoid]

That may be part of the problem as well. Like they said, the demographics were skewing higher. Much of the audience was aging with the shows, not attracting anyone younger.

[@kenjett2434]

@@antifactoid not sure that is true as alot of these shows do attract younger generations which is why many of these shows still have successful airing in syndication all these 50 or 60 plus years after they were first aired.

[@karlsmith2570]

As I recall, there was a 4th Cartwright son who was played by Purnell Roberts AKA: Trapper John M.D.

[@toddmccreary4579]

Yes Adam was on the first five or six seasons

[@samanthab1923]

Only three sons. All different moms. Same dad, Ben Cartwright. Adam, played by Pernell Roberts. Hoss by Dan Blocker & Lil Joe by Michael Landon.

[@toddmccreary4579]

@@samanthab1923 Later Ben adopted Jamie who was the son of a rainmaker that helped Virginia City get rain. After he died Jamie came back to the Ponderosa for a visit and was eventually adopted. Played by Mitch Vogel

[@samanthab1923]

Todd McCreary That's right, the young red head.

[@laurac8659]

Adam was Ellen’s son, Hoss,

[@patrickbarber8187]

I remember all of these shows! Why can't we have programming like that today! Fortunately a few of them still live on cable stations.

[@barryallenflash1]

Well, I think you already know the answer. They're too UNpolitically correct. They tackle the real issues in society and that's NOT something the networks wanna see. Instead let's have a bunch of gay, transgender, black, etc. people run around and act like idiots....this is ANY reality show by the way, so the libtards can watch it. We can't have ANYTHING that's wholesome OR has good family values anymore!!!!

[@JohnLee-pt5jz]

Yeah, thank God for cable!

[@josephalfonsoamantia7028]

All you need is one of those flat antennas and you can pick up MeTv Network. They play all of these shows, plus many others not mentioned on this video.

[@robertshawiv1513]

Can’t forget The Real McCoys. Great show

[@ronaldpoole3273]

It went down several years earlier

[@mikeelmira]

while recovering from an illness I binge watched every episode of the Real McCoys, after Kate left there was a noticeable decline in the storyline. IMO.

[@robertshawiv1513]

@@mikeelmira Hope you’re doing better 👍🏻

[@mikeelmira]

@@robertshawiv1513 Thank You, I doing much better,

[@catsofsherman1316]

I love the Beverly Hillbillies, but by the last couple of seasons it was creatively spent. The early black and white seasons were best. Towards the end they were relying on absurd situations and over the top slapstick.

[@wvpirate]

I agree that The Beverly Hillbillies were past thier prime. In fact I dont think they put the 9th season in syndication.

[@JohnLee-pt5jz]

Well at least you can see them in reruns!my favourite was the Beverly hillbillies, Greenacres and petticoat junction, they don't make shows like that anymore!

[@barryallenflash1]

They aren't in this video, but how 'bout Wild, Wild West, F Troop and all the rest? The good stuff!

[@JohnLee-pt5jz]

@@barryallenflash1 F Toop great show.

[@mikeelmira]

No show last forever, most listed aired quite a long time

[@CraigSmith]

If advertisers were so opposed to rural shows, how do you explain Little House on the Prairie or The Waltons?

[@samanthab1923]

Came later & more nostolgic.

[@rodh1404]

Ways to fix a mistake without admitting you made one.

[@yooneeque1]

@@samanthab1923 Like I said in another comment, The Waltons was a surprise success and paved the way for other family-oriented shows like Little House on the Prairie.

[@toastnjam7384]

00:35 That's what happen to the History Channel. The demographics skewed to old for the advertisers.

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

I've often wondered how well "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "The Andy Griffith Show" (though the latter wasn't on this list), did in places like NYC and Boston. They must have been like a house on fire nationally to have had the ratings they did, but I can't see rural-oriented shows doing well in those two cities, to name JUST two northern cities. I'll be 58 in about 3 weeks, but when I was a kid, I lived for Wednesday night, when "Hillbillies" was on.

[@serSER369]

Thank goodness for MeTV where many of these shows can still be seen.

[@robm3074]

This humor portrayed 50 years ago, almost 60 shows that creative writing, if pursued can succeed on our television screens.

[@dangreene9846]

We were not so sensitive back then . You took it as something to laugh at not be offended by.

[@elwoodblues9613]

And Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw. Both shows got even with the Rural Purge by going into syndication, and running for at least 15 years longer, ending up with more stations running the show than before the Purge.

[@disneyfan8178]

Let's not forget (God forbid!) "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Virginian".

[@nickhill8612]

@@disneyfan8178 Really? Ed Sullivan?

[@disneyfan8178]

@@nickhill8612 Sadly, yes due to, as they said, the show's audience being too old (like my grandparents). They did try to compensate during the last years by booking more rock 'n roll acts (in particular, after the Beatles appeared), but it wasn't enough.

[@michaelodonnell9756]

Lawrence Welk Show is still in reruns on PBS to this day, last I heard.

[@larrygriffith5291]

You can have your urban areas, I have lived in a rural area all my life and there is nothing to compare with rural living. I still watch most of these shows, and I don't watch anything made past 1995, its all trash after that.

[@lastguyminn2324]

Not true at all. The past 15 years or so has been a Renaissance for great TV. From The Wire to The Sopranos to Mad Men to Breaking Bad to The Office to Boardwalk Empire to Game of Thrones to The Handmaid's Tale...there has been some incredible episodic TV you have missed.

[@cwdotson9930]

Good report$!? There is no longer anything on tv or radio for me and I'm 76$$! However; I now get my entertainment off my phone$!😳😘😁

[@xray86delta]

Green Acres was one of the funniest comedy shows ever, in my opinion! And to answer the question, I watched ALL of them except 'Gunsmoke' .

[@kirkmorrison6131]

I was shocked and watched them all until Dan Blocker passed away

[@samanthab1923]

Rob Zombie bought Hoss' LA manse. Did a tour on MTV Cribs.

[@kirkmorrison6131]

@@samanthab1923 I liked the character and the show wasn't the same after he passed. Thanks I'll see if I can find that episode on line

[@andyiswonderful]

All, after a while, the writers really struggle with coming up with something new and good. How may possum jokes can you write?

[@markdaniel8740]

But fart jokes are always funny and there is an endless supply.

[@sorshiaemms5959]

WE ALL NEED TO GET BACK TO OUR RURAL ROOTS

[@robertbarnum1485]

I watched those shows when I was young. I liked them, I was 5 or 6 years old. 🙂🙂

[@emanuellawton7942]

I remember when this happened. CBS began canceling any tv show that smacked of being country or rural. For years CBS had been known as the Tiffany network because of their older demographics and high class programs but they stilled relied on successful tv shows and ratings to make money. These rural/country set shows helped CBS pay the bills for years but CBS was starting to get a reputation for being the Country Broadcast System instead of the Columbia Broadcast System . With the added pressure from advertisers to make shows that appeal to a younger audience and because young people had more expendable income to buy their products, CBS decided that they had to make a change with their programming so out went the many shows that had a rural setting or theme. That included many shows that were still top-rated like "The Beverley Hillbillies ","Green Acres", "Petticoat Junction " "Mayberry, RFD","The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" and even "Hee-Haw" which found a second life through syndication. Image is sometimes just as important as the bottom line.

[@damrhy]

Bonanza was my favorite. I still rewatch from time to time.

[@bobb6313]

Hogan’s Heroes was part of the “purge” as well

[@rocktober1327]

The critics never liked the Beverly Hillbillies, because of the Confederate flag and the Shotguns, it was of course the audience that kept them on, one of my favorites.

[@commentbellow8185]

I Miss you _Daisy Duke_ . Love from urban London.

[@joycependleton589]

I watched and Loved them all!

[@benaiahburns4046]

A lot of the reasons was also because they wanted to indoctrinate people into certain beliefs, and these shows made that much harder to accomplish.

[@dmnemaine]

Nobody wanted to "indoctrinate" anybody. It was strictly about money, and the demographic that spends it the most.

[@benaiahburns4046]

dmnemain, stated by someone who has NO idea what they are talking about? Have you actually sat in on the conversations of these network shows? Do you not understand that everything we believe in life influences us? Do you REALLY think a Christian would NOT try to push Christian type themes or ideas in a show or movie? Thus, it is the same way for all, regardless of what they believe. If you can't see varying ideas and opinions throughout the years shoved down your throat on TV, then maybe you either don't watch TV much, or aren't very bright!!!

[@dmnemaine]

@@benaiahburns4046 LOL TV executives care about one thing. Making money. They don't care about "messages" or "indoctrinating". Not everything in the world works the same as the fundamentalist Christian cult does.

[@benaiahburns4046]

@@dmnemaine Wow, you must know them all, and know....everything...

[@dmnemaine]

@@benaiahburns4046 I know that there's no evidence for any "indoctrination" conspiracy theory, and that there's plenty of evidence for TV executives catering everything to the young male demographic that spends the most money.

[@shannonfrench6893]

Watched all of them. They made me a better person. I grew up in Northwest Arkansas and could identity with the country humor. This was a golden era for television as I remember these and more since I was born in 1961. I watched them mostly in syndication and still enjoy them on various networks today. They just don't write 'em like that anymore to borrow a lyric by Greg Kihn. My very favorite is Gunsmoke. My parents met and married in Dodge City and my brother was born there. The show was great except everyone who has been to Western Kansas knows it's flat as a pancake. Lol... Love the channel!!! ❤️☮️🎵

[@tyrannosaurusburke]

"Hogan's Heroes" also got axed in 1971. Some lists include that show in the Rural Purge, but I don't think it counts.

[@wandaborowy9400]

I am surprised how long Lassie lasted. How many dogs did they go though? Also Lassie was played by a male .

[@neilforbes416]

*Lassie* was revived in the late 1970s with Aussie teenage singer/actor Sally Boyden as the pooches owner. Sally came out of one of Australian TV's biggest hit shows, *Young Talent Time.*

[@ferociousgumby]

This is the SECOND video where this guy pronounces the name "BONE-an-za".😣

[@hydrolito]

They were doing reruns of Bonanza five days a week as The Pondersa before Bonanza was cancelled. Once they no longer did new episodes, they went back to call reruns Bonanza which was still being shown.

[@krazyj1957]

Dan Blocker's death ended Bonanza, they tried a season without him but didn't fly.

[@pamelamays4186]

CBS cancelled everything with a tree. Including Lassie.- Pat Buttram, Mr. Haney on Green Acres.

[@markschroeder2578]

Pat Buttram made a guest appearance as a bartender at the Boer's Nest in an episode of "The Dukes Of Hazzard."

[@lauriescott6275]

Some of these shows are on me 📺 Antenna vt and tv land today

[@jamesholman2346]

Just curious, how does Little House on the Prairie fare into the purge equation? Just curious since my parents watched all these shows and I as well, though some of them in re-runs since I was born in 1971.

[@yooneeque1]

IIRC The Waltons, a family-oriented drama, was a true surprise success and paved the way for other family series like Little House on the Prairie. Shows like LHotP and the Waltons were hour-long dramas, as opposed to sitcoms, with multi-generational casts that appealed to the family demographic. Maybe that was a factor?

[@hydrolito]

Gunsmoke started on the Radio in 1952 and ran on radio until 1961. So was still running on radio while also on TV.

[@MsTimothyswan]

it seems to me that these high and mighty television execs just couldn't leave well enough alone. with the exception of Bonanza which was on NBC, all of these great CBS programs did not deserve to be cancelled before their time

[@karlsmith2570]

The only member of the cast of "The Beverly Hillbillies" which are still living is Max Baer AKA: Jethro Bodine

[@karlsmith2570]

@Hubert Harmon yup, and he's actually said in an episode of "E!:True Hollywood Story" where he'd said that whenever he died, that he'd be best known for his role as Jethro on "The Beverly Hillbillies" and he'd said the same thing with regards to Donna Douglas and Buddy Ebsen (and he'd acutely predicted that too)

[@timmy-the-ute2725]

There were country and western shows that made it in the 70's. The Waltons, Little house in the Prairie, The Dukes of Hazzard, and Hee Haw. You can even add McCloud.

[@jeffreymliss]

Many of these shows simply ran out of gas. They went to the proverbial well once too often.

[@jjtt7408]

I CAN REMEMBER WHEN MY CITY WAS A TOWN IN THE 50S AND 60S AND IT WAS LIKE ANDY'S GRIFFIN MAY-BERRY NOW IT'S LIKE A SHIT HOLE

[@paulbegley1464]

Well the older folks do buy refrigerators also. Just as needed. Besides maybe they bought a Maytag and aren't they supposed to last. I mean don't they advertise the most lonely repairman.

[@williampalenik7306]

I watched all these shows back then and and in reruns they are better shows than the garbage that is on TV today

[@louf7178]

Just yesterday I was trying to remember the name "rural purge" - thanks.

[@buck546]

We remember when tv was worth watching. I watch this crap today and ask myself what happen? In the old there were writers and actors today I'm not sure what you have.

[@SPak-rt2gb]

I watched everyone of them growing up but the older I got the less I watched I think Lassie was the first to get the axe and Bonanza was the last.

[@mikeelmira]

I lost interest in Lassie when he went to live with the ranger

[@susanhundley1347]

I liked them all my favorite was lassie gunsmoke was the last to get purged I hated it these shows produced good family values their only three brothers on bonanza pernell Roberts little Joe and hossCartwright later candy took Adam's place loved that show I wouldn't give you two cents for shows today

[@komerwest3748]

Loved them all and still do

[@deepwater2652]

Thank goodness for reruns!

[@paulfournier6509]

Bonanza was going to end anyway after Dan Blocker passed away

[@mikestefka6668]

That's OK we will just reenact them in our big beautiful backyards.

[@michaelbaker9415]

I still watch the Beverly Hillbillies on KZbin. I used to watch Bonanza get forced to watch Andy Griffith show the sheriff that didn't carry a gun and Don Knots as deputy Barney Fifth. Always enjoyed I Dream of Genie and Bewitched and for cartoons the Flintstones with Fred and Wilma and Barney and Betty a good thing that people don't realize cousin Pearl Jethro and Max Baer other part his sister Jethrine mother Pearl did the sound voice for the Flintstones Betty Rebal. The thing that the Beverly Hillbillies did from time to time have people like a young Roy Clark and a few others on their and going over to Petticoat junction for a couple of shows. Miss Drysdale and what was supposed to be her fine Boston gulible back ground. Nobody was trying to hurt anyone like a bunch of the modern violence shows.

[@Ninnjette-]

I’m 37 and I watch Gunsmoke religiously.

[@woxyroxme]

I can remember when they called CBS the Country Bumpkin Station.

[@jerrygillespie1214]

I watched all except for Bonanza. I believe these shows ran past their prime and more modern shows like All in the Family, Maude and The Mary Tyler Moore show were fantastic replacements that got as good or even better ratings than those rural shows they replaced

[@bestofcaltv]

I got to work with Jim Aubrey in later years, he was the champion of these shows as Pres. of CBS.

[@sorshiaemms5959]

I STILL WATCH THEM YOU FORGOT GILLIGANS ISLAND

[@Farrah300]

Please forgive me if I've already made the comment I'm about to make, but I can't find it, so I'll say it once more. Hee Haw got canceled in 1971 by CBS, but thank Heavens, that would not be the last we would ever see first run episodes. Thanks to syndication, Hee Haw would go on to have a long life of over 20 years!!! Loved that show, and still do as I have DVD's of some of the episodes.

[@nrnoble]

Although there was a specific purge by CBS, there was nothing preventing the other networks from picking up these cancelled shows, which had been done many times before, such as My Three son (ABC-->CBS), Leave To Beaver (NBC-->ABC), Disney (ABC-->NBC) and over a dozen more. I beleive that all the rural shows were dropping in the rating for at least 2-3 years, thus they likely would have been cancelled in 2-3 years; CBS took a huge gamble that viewers wouldn't really miss the cancelled shows and other networks wouldn't pick them up and then beat them in the ratings with their own discarded shows. I'll split hairs on including Gunsmoke and Bonanza as part of the purge. The rural purge happen between 1970-71. Bonanza had really fallen in the ratings, plus the death of Dan Blocker, was the cause of its cancellation on NBC. Gunsmoke had almost been cancelled several times over years, but managed to survive until 1975 well past the rural purge.

[@wvpirate]

Gunsmoke was going to be canceled earlier. But the wife of William Paley loved Gunsmoke. So they canceled Gilligan's Island instead

[@kurttoy5035]

LITB never aired on NBC, CBS had it initially before ABC picked it up.

[@robertwalker4788]

Tv went down hill and. still is.

[@kc4cvh]

Most of these series were old and deteriorating, in their sixth season and beyond. There's a reason why series television was named "the glass furnace", they consume creative material so quickly that by the third or fourth season the writers are facing increasing difficulty in coming up with good story ideas. This was certainly evident in Beverly Hillbillies episode S6E29, with Raymond Bailey as "Superbanker".

[@karhday2520]

I love Green Acres and still watch it today

[@ddhappy1]

I watched all of the shows you mentioned and loved them. Sadly, TV is just not the same anymore with shows of much lesser caliber these days.

[@njacobdekelaita6198]

Most ran their course. You cant do 200 episodes with basically the same idea and not get stale. Movin on

[@bradmad8346]

You said what I was going to point out, even after these were gone there was the Walton's and others, the shows that came out to replace the country themed were All in the family, Maude and Sanford and son, ect some thought ok, were boring in creative content ... just my opinion.

[@gpierce22]

Everyone loves talking about the THE RURAL PURGE, in realty, most of these shows had already run there course by 1970, I love the Beverly Hillbillies, I still watch the reruns, but I really have a hard time watching season 9, it was awful. Petticoat Junction suffered the loss of Bea Benaderet, and Green Acers was starting to show age, true television was changing, but most all these shows enjoyed a long run, and we can still enjoy the reruns today.

[@mikeelmira]

I agree, loved the shows for years but they got boring toward the end. No shows last forever and when they were canceled I assumed that was the reason

[@louisjriversjr9093]

I saw them all but one or two shows when I was younger.

[@raymondhopwood9393]

The deaths of Bea Benaderrette and Dan Blocker had a lot to do with their shows getting cancelled. You forgot "Hee Haw", which was cancelled by CBS in 1971. Fortunately, it was picked up by a syndicate, and it lasted for another 20+ years.

[@mikewrasman5103]

I watched all of these shows. My family was shocked by the show's cancellations.

[@jeffreybokhari7348]

You Forgot About The Western Wanted Dead Or Alive And The Lone Ranger

[@wvpirate]

Both of those shows were long gone before 1970

[@forfluf]

Because I dislike all those then and now videos on this channel. Or the "untold truth" videos. This divergence was very welcomed. May I suggest a part 2, "What did they replace the rural purge with"

[@patrickholland6848]

Sometimes Network exec's make stupid decisions and this was one of them.

[@hydrolito]

Mitch Vogel played adopted son Jamie Hunter Cartwright on Bonanza before canceled.

[@kali3665]

As Pat Buttram (Mr Haney on Green Acres) said, they cancelled every show with a tree ... including LASSIE!

[@kevinbergin9971]

Thanks, I mention the Rural Purge in my advertising & marketing classes that I teach. I'm thinking about showing this (although I might cut it in half).

[@lorishiversdogmom]

To heck with the purge! They didn't know what they were doing. The Purge didn't do no good. People between the ages of 25-35 still liked and promoted shows like Little house on the prairie and The Walton's which were both in rural country settings. They both ran their complete course and made tons of money. So they were wrong with that early purge. They should have left those shows alone and let them run their course. Plus all those early shows are still beloved today by people of all ages! Including The Andy Griffith show and The Beverly Hillbillies. On vhs and DVD and on cable. What were they thinking?! They were crazy! That was just stupid thinking. I and many other fans of these shows would rather watch them than any of the garbage they put out on TV today.

[@elwoodblues9613]

How many people watch "Good Times" and "Maude" anymore? Yet it's easy to find someone who likes "Andy Griffith" and "Green Acres." And guess what: the kids of the "Lawrence Welk" audience are now watching reruns of that show on PBS.

[@lorishiversdogmom]

@@elwoodblues9613 Yep. I believe it.

[@EnligUlv]

That’s back when the big three had a monopoly on programming, but later cable diluted their share…now the wwweb has blown up the control of our collective minds with streaming. Now, every individual seems to have their very own thing they’re into. The only commonality is that it is, and was, driven by “advertisers”, a nebulous term which ultimately means “us” by agency of creative managers trying to impress the bossman to get that golden ring, along with the CEO’s who are beholden to the Board of Directors who are beholden to the “stakeholders” meaning “Us” who are represented by various forms of “those concerned”, e.g., Activist investors, Anita Bryant & the moral majority, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, The Silent Majority, The Rainbow Coalition, and at late, the way-left-leaning Cancel Culture… Aside from my rant, I was a huge fan of all of the late 60s thru early 70’s westerns, especially The Big Valley because it was supposed to be near Stockton, one of the urban centers closest to our cattle ranch.

[@ginayoung421]

Watch shows when I was a teenager.

[@Imaminimonstertruck]

The salary of these actors as well can cause cancellation of a show that they don't want to pay them. Also some of the actors want to move on from the show pursue something different then continuing playing the same character for 20+ plus years.

[@glennso47]

Hatred against older people.

[@donbest5024]

At 3:42 Mayberry rfd house is also Waltons house

[@thefranchise4698]

Bonanza's ratings had dropped the season before it was cancelled. The stories were getting old and repetitive. But it was Dan Blocker's death that really signaled the end of Bonanza

[@jparsons3163]

Watched all of them and several others

[@SPak-rt2gb]

Was Grizzly Adams around at that time?

[@Turkeyinthehay]

What about Maverick?

[@andyjay9346]

I used to work at a TV station in Australia in the early 1970's as a film and program editor. The Beverley Hillbillies was on film of course and always pulled in the ratings. Telecast daily and on weekends as a standby show in case there was problems withe the football or cricket live broadcasts.

[@ColKorn1965]

The Beverly Hillbillies was my favorite. My grandmother was just like her, except for the clodhoppers. I'm still trying to find a photo of my grandmother drinking a beer in my cousin's photo albums.

[@jedidrummerjake]

Watched all of them except Petticoat Junction. Mom wouldn't let me.

[@mooveeluver]

Most of these shows had pretty much run there course. While Petticoat Junction may have been inspired by The Beverly Hillbillies, they were separate and distinct shows. When they did crossover episodes, it was the equivalent of what later would be called "jumping the shark".

[@markdaniel8740]

The Waltons, little house on the prarie, dukes of Hazzard and a few others survived a bit longer. Then Dallas and other soap operas took over. I was mid twenties and didn't know anybody except old people who watched them.

[@sheilaholmes8455]

I watched all these shows!

[@stevekirsch6803]

Sure lots of popular shows were taken off the air, but they were replaced by other shows that were popular for many years.

[@dmnemaine]

I think Green Acres was the oddball of the "rural" shows. It had a weird surreal element, and it made no bones about making fun of rural life and making fun of being nostalgic about rural life. There is a theory that Green Acres is all Oliver Douglass's strange dream.