I read a book on liberal Hollywwod recently
That era of purging TV of rural or faux rural family values programming is called just the The Rural Purge or something about cancelling any show with a tree in it
It wasn’t due to ratings...it was demographics....the rural shows attracted fewer under 30 viewers on the 3 networks
And it was in step ideologically with a further leftward Norman Lear style pool of TV creativity
The country elected Nixon twice
Freddie Silverman went the opposite way and cancelled all the folksy stuff
Even Lassie....
In a few years TV resembled pretty much where it is today
Tawdry
Leftist progressive and not funny
And very very homosexual agit prop.
Moments of greatness on occasion but mostly a reflection of the angry and alienated
But...an ever dumbing down populace take it as gospel
The Rural Purge is famous. All in the Family was great but the rest of the Lear stuff was worse the more political it became. No one cares about Maude anymore. Sanford and Son and The Jeffersons were funny BECAUSE they were not overtly political.