Archive through September 01, 2002
TV ClubHouse: Archive: New Hillbilly Reality Series on CBS:
Archive through September 01, 2002
Hillbilly | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 09:59 am     Hey everybody....lookee here...they's gonna do a tv show bout some of my's kin!!!!.... *************************************************** CBS hopes hicks click in "Hillbillies" reality TV Wed Aug 28, 2:45 AM ET By Josef Adalian HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - CBS is resurrecting "The Beverly Hillbillies" as a reality series. The network will soon begin casting for a weekly half-hour series that will follow the adventures of a rural, lower-middle class family -- yes, there will be a granny -- as they are transplanted from their humble digs to a Beverly Hills mansion. The project is tentatively titled "Real Beverly Hillbillies." During their one-year stay in California, they'll be afforded a wide variety of luxuries they'd normally be unable to afford, from maid service to personal assistants. They'll also have a chance to earn a substantial income each week, either via a stipend or through some other means. Cameras will watch their every move as the rural clan attempts to fit in with folks who eat at the Grill rather than use a grill, or who shop at Harry Winston instead of Wal-Mart. And while the series will focus on a group of five or six, it's expected their extended family will also stop by for a visit sometime during their stay in the mansion. CBS vice president of alternative programming Ghen Maynard said the series will have a humorous tone, though with a respect for the family and some elements of drama. "It's a great fish-out-of-water story," he told Daily Variety. "A lot of it will be funny, but a lot of it will be real. We want to fnd a family that's different from what most people know but still relatable, a family that loves each other a lot." The concept was pitched by producers Gary Auerbach and James Jones and veteran documentarian Dub Cornett, and CBS bought it almost immediately. "It's rare that you hear an idea and in the first 30 seconds, you instantly get it," Maynard said. It helped that CBS still owns the right to the "Beverly Hillbillies" title. Maynard said that while there will be "some structure" to the show, most plots will come naturally -- a la MTV's "The Osbournes" or E!'s "The Anna Nicole Show." "Imagine the episode where they have to interview maids," he said. Maynard said the show is not designed to mock the rural family, unlike scripted entertainment that often takes a dim view of hick culture. "The intent is to be respective but at the same time enjoy the humor that comes from the fish-out-of-water scenario of the show," he said. "We want a family who has a sense of humor about themselves." Maynard expects to have several episodes of "Hillbillies" in the can before the show launches, but it's possible some future episodes will focus on how the fame of the Eye TV show further changes the clan. While the family will be afforded numerous luxuries, they won't truly live like millionaires. "It will be lavish, but not to the point of absurdity," Maynard said. And while the new "Hillbillies" will borrow the overall structure of the original comedy, many elements of the first show will not be repeated. It's not a given, for example, that the family will get their own Miss Jane Hathaway. A hotline is expected to be opened within days allowing potential families to audition for the show. CBS aired the first "Beverly Hillbillies" from 1962 until 1971, producing 274 episodes. The series was one of the linchpins of the network's one-time dominance of rural communities, who tuned in for "Hillbillies," "Green Acres," "The Andy Griffith Show" and other countrified fare. At one point, the show was TV's No. 1 program, attracting up to 60 million viewers weekly. Buddy Ebsen starred as Jed Clampett in the first "Beverly Hillbillies," while Irene Ryan played Granny. Reuters/Variety |
Nutsy | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 10:18 am     I suspect Hillbilly was a plant from CBS this whole time, just primin' the TVCH'ers for this type of show! He was even drugging us with that moonshine! CONSPIRACY! CONSPIRACY!
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Reader234 | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 10:40 am     LOL!! I knew it!! (omg, just heard a song in my head, "Dem Bones Gonna Rise Again") Good One nutsy, in my spare time, I'll search the smoking gun for assitance in this!!
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Ark | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 11:06 am     I just saw the article and was coming here to post it. Leave it to Hillbilly to beat me to it. This is a reality show that I might be able to do. |
Twiggyish | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 11:08 am     I'd love to see the opposite. Take an upscale, wealthy family and plant them in a rural, obscure place for a year. |
Costacat | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 11:08 am     Hillbilly's little announcement didn't mention whether or not he'd be the star of the show! <snicker> I think this would be a KICK! I love the first season of most reality shows. Before the "contestants" figure out how to play the game! |
Reader234 | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 11:23 am     Twiggy didnt you see the PBS special, it was a short one, a sorta sequal to the 1900 House, but they picked a few families to go back in covered wagons (ok, I admit, I didnt see it, my mom was hooked on it, and I have no idea why I didnt watch it, maybe because it was on opposite survivor? It lasted a very short time!) ANYWAY!! They picked a wealthy, upscale, Calif family, and I think they ended up divorced over it!! The kids had a horrible time, the wife couldnt get over the chores women had to do etc... the pieces I did watch were hysterical! I think one guys luxery item (I'm NOT making this up!!) was a still, he became the wealthiest!! |
Hillbilly | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 11:29 am     i jest want everyone to remember that i'm the ORIGINAL TVCH hillbilly.... <hillbilly grumbles thinkin of all them thar hillbilly wannabe's that's gonna be ashowin up> |
Car54 | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 11:33 am     That was Frontier House, and actually the California people and Boston people did fine, it was the Tennessee couple who got a divorce. In the end it was the couple from Boston who the judges felt might have been able to survive the winter, not the two families with children. |
Twiggyish | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 11:57 am     Yes, I am a big fan of Frontier House. Oh yeah, the wicked TN woman. You know I always thought the California family would have been fine, because they would have been able to hunt. (If they lived back then) I would like to see more of that. |
Deeya | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 01:36 pm     hb.. you will always be our original hillbilly...  |
Ketchuplover | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 02:36 pm     I think its important for families to get along,however I think I'd like it if the family chosen didn't get along famously. People want to see some conflict too. This sounds intriguing. Will there be live feeds? |
Car54 | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 02:51 pm     Twiggy, I totally agree! The Tn family was trying to do it by the book, but I think that California couple were such wheeler-dealers, they would have found a way to survive...they might not have grown it themselves, but they would have finagled something! LOL! |
Sia | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 04:09 pm     I LOVE this show idea! Sign me up with my family ASAP. How will the adults in the family be employed? The reason I ask is that I don't think if we moved to CA that my hubby could find a job in the field in which he is currently employed. Boy, would he HATE the cameras. (Me, too; I don't let anyone take my photo, much less capture me on video!) Nah, come to think of it, we'd better not even try to audition for it. Now, my parents would be a real riot. It would just be a hoot to send in an audition tape on their behalf; their yard looks like Fred Sanford's junkyard--and they both have a WONDERFUL sense of humor, not to mention a couple of calves they're hand-feeding, three horses, a goat, a dog, five cats, and a rabbit in the house. (I mean the rabbit is in the house, along with two of the cats, four grandchildren, my younger sister and her husband; the other animals are housed outdoors.) |
Cjr | Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 06:49 pm     Sign up your family Sia! What a hoot. Then you could just "pop" in occasionally. Wouldn't have to be on camera all the time. |
Sia | Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 01:21 pm     LOL, Cjr. It would be a ton of fun! I would get a kick out of it. You would not believe what it's like at my folks' house: someone is awake there 24/7. My husband laughs that every time he passes Mom's at night, no matter what shift he's working, the whole place is lit up like a Christmas tree. Their electric bill is astronomical. I think the actual problem is that they have three refrigerators and nobody turns off lights--and that the electric fencer runs up the bill more than anyone wants to admit. |
Marysafan | Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 07:42 pm     This is the most disgusting horrible idea I have ever heard of for a reality tv series. These are real people with real lives who will be changed forever by this experience. You don't miss what you don't know...or never had. To have this experience...then what are they supposed to do...go back to the hills where they came from? They are going to be brought out into a place where they will be ridiculed and laughed at....humiliated for our amusement? This is just cruel...and sick. I remember one time in the hospital we had an patient...an elderly gentlemen who had fallen and broken his hip. He was in the hospital for quite a long time. He had come from the woods where he lived in a cabin with no plumbing. He was so dirty it took us two whole days to get him clean enough so that they could do surgery on his hip. His feet were the most disgusting things and I won't even mention his nails. But we got him cleaned up finally, and over the course of the many weeks he was hospitalized, we were able to teach him about hygiene. One day, I walked in and he had tears in his eyes. The doctor had just told him he was going home...and he didnt want to go. He liked living in the clean hospital, sleeping in clean bedding, and bathing daily. He was changed forever...and could not go back to living the way he had before. This isn't something you play with. There are very serious consequences when you do something like this. We have organizations that prevent cruelty to animals ...yet people seem to be fair game. This is just wrong...IMHO. |
Moondance | Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 08:02 pm     I don't know, I think it is all about perception. It could also be a springboard for doing something different with your life and give you goals to work toward ... if that is what you want. I grew up in Tennessee and Arkansas and I live in LA (work in Beverly Hills & Hollywood) now and often miss my old life ... so it's all in how you look at it. I think this will be interesting |
Moondance | Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 08:03 pm     P.S.... we have Animal cruelity because there are humans so I see it as fair play! |
Hillbilly | Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 08:04 pm     Marysafan...i think you have some valid points and concerns. I saw an article in the Washington Post that expressed this view as well. We'll have to wait to see what the full plans for this are. Hopefully, it will be done with a totally different attitude than BB and with some respect for any family who decides to participate. I don't want to see good people ridiculed and hurt either. |
Cyn | Friday, August 30, 2002 - 05:15 pm     i saw this promo for the "new reality based beverly hillbillies" and thought, too, about the scout/agent who went out and found and manipulated (?) this family into dong it. the one's that i think will suffer the most are the kids. i saw frontier house. every episode of the series and i really enjoyed it. but, the family from cali at the end were sort of disqualified. they cheated. they used a box spring under their bedding. they claimed to find it out in the woods where it was discarded. but, i read somewhere else that the guy had a helicopter bring it in. they also went into the local neighborhood and bartered for food. it was deer meat, but that wasn't aloud. because they wouldn't have been able to get deer meat at that time of year. the only reason the family in town had it was due to them having a freezer, and freezers weren't invented yet. this was the same reason that the box springs was such a big deal. you can still buy the series through pbs on video. but, they'll replay it soon, i'm sure. try to watch it. it's really good, clean fun. there was another show that i started watching and then it was pulled after only a few episodes. i wonder if it was ratings or that one family's father involved the kids, his and the other families, in some really mean spirited prank on another family that almost caused someone getting hurt physically and definitely did emotionally. plus, he lied and let the kids take the blame. this was the last episode aired. they were playing for a house. anyone reading can you help me out with the name and what happened to this show? and, back to the subject of the hillbillies, i'll watch. fox is actually working on a channel that will be 100% devoted to reality based programmed television. their goal is 2004 for it to begin. |
Bigsister | Sunday, September 01, 2002 - 09:22 am     I don't know so much about Hillbilly being the original TVCH Hillbilly. I may not have the name Hillbilly, but I certainly am one, and I have been a member here since BB1. I have great hillbilly credentials - raised in the hills of northern Arkansas. Still live in Arkansas, although I have finally made it to the big city, Little Rock. See my post in the goat thread where I wrote about milking goats as a child. This took place in Van Buren County, Arkansas. So, Hillbilly, how long have you been a Hillbilly? And how long have you been a TVCH Hillbilly? We will see who is original. LOL |
Hillbilly | Sunday, September 01, 2002 - 09:42 am     lol...bigsister...i was talking more about the 'name' hillbilly. I can just see a ton of folks showing up and soon there's hillbilly1, hillbilly2, hillbilly3. I'm wondering if I can register the namespace. As far as who has been a hillbilly the longest...I don't mind letting you have that one at all. I'm very young for my age! |
Bigsister | Sunday, September 01, 2002 - 12:09 pm     Okay, Hillbilly. You can have the name, but we both know who REALLY is the first. LOL |
Hillbilly | Sunday, September 01, 2002 - 12:48 pm     Hey bigsister...anyone who had to milk 15 goats...well,its no contest there....yu's the oldest hillbilly here! ..... I think i'll call ya 'hillbilly granny'! |
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