Back around 1971, some City Slicker named Fred Silverman conducted the "Rural Purge" and none of us were the better for it.

Out in the Hinterlands | June 12, 2021 | Big Fan of Emmylou Harris

[SamAdams76]

I have mosquito bites all over my arms and legs. I'm thinking because I've been out camping, sitting by the campfire and doing a lot of cast iron based cooking over said fire. Which is some of the best kind of cooking if you are to be camping.

Then I go into my tent and roll myself into a "sleeping bag" but even then, I'm thinking mosquitoes are still able to get through.

So a lot of mosquito bites and it's only mid June. Lot of camping left to go this season.

Nothing better though then sleeping under a tent and hearing all the noises of nature, especially pit-pattering rain and crickets and tree frogs. Then you get the birds in the morning waking you up as the sun gains strength in the east.

Then you get the campfire going again in put some "cowboy coffee" on as you prepare the eggs and bacon to get your next camping day off to an acceptable start.

But I digress.

I'm old enough to remember back when "rural" themed TV shows ruled the day. You had "Hee Haw" which was such an incredible institution that I might need several posts to fully describe it. You had "Beverly Hillbillies", "Green Acres", "Petticoat Junction", "Mr Ed", "Andy Griffith", "Jim Nabors Show", and "Lassie" just to name a few.

Oh yeah, and "Gunsmoke" and "F Troop" just to name a couple more.

All these shows (and more!) had respectable to great ratings on TV and presented good American values to the general public.

But along came this douchebag named Fred Silverman who took over CBS around 1970 and felt that rural values were not conducive to how he felt America should be and the "rural purge" was on.

In came more "urban" based shows like "Mary Tyler Moore", "All In The Family", "The Jeffersons", "What's Happening", "James at 15", and "Sanford & Son."

Certainly not all Fred Silverman creations but Fred did kill the rural-based TV shows in order to cater to more urban and suburban audiences (though those audiences did appreciate the rural shows as even "Hee Haw" got decent ratings in NYC and Boston.)

Fact is, rural shows basically disappeared in the early 1970s with the notable exceptions of "The Waltons" and "Little House On The Prairie."

Basically from then on, you had the urban-suburban TV shows with their loud voices, their canned laughtracks and their more liberal values dominating the airwaves.

[PhineasSpear]

Always Important, that this gets remembered and written about!!!!

[PhineasSpear]

“Come and listen to mah story ‘bout a “man” named Fred,
A Jew from New York who hated White Men....”

[Fledermaus]

I watched Good Neighbors

[Fledermaus]

“Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” spin off.

[IrishBrigade]

‘John Boy seemed awfully liberal despite his rural upbringing.’

I thought it was obvious that John Boy hated the show,and was not shy about flaunting his superiority over the other children, none of whom could act a lick...