Posted on 05/18/2004 12:27:45 PM PDT by GSWarrior
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Saaa-lute! The straw hats and braying cartoon donkey of ``Hee Haw'' are back. Time-Life is releasing full ``Hee Haw'' shows for the first time on VHS and DVD on Tuesday, the 35th anniversary of the show's first season.
With its pickin', grinnin' and hayseed humor, ``Hee Haw'' was an American TV institution, on the air almost continuously from 1969 to 1997. The hourlong program started on CBS for two years, then went into syndication until 1993 and finally wound up on cable's old Nashville Network.
``'Hee Haw' won't go away,'' said Roy Clark, host or co-host of the show for its entire run. ``It brings a smile to too many faces.''
The format was folksy comic skits interspersed with performances by country music stars like Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson and Alan Jackson. There were no serious issues debated, no cliffhangers, no drama and no wardrobe malfunctions--just down-home silliness accompanied by grins and guitars.
``Everywhere I go, people talk about it,'' Clark said.
The show's most memorable prop was the cornfield where guests and the show's regulars told jokes.
Example:
Grandpa Jones to Junior Samples: ``I saw you riding on a mule and your wife was walking behind you. Why was that?''
Samples: ``My wife ain't GOT no mule.''
There were 24 years' worth of original ``Hee Haw'' shows--14 years more than ``Friends'' and 15 more than ``Seinfeld.'' All the shows were taped in Nashville, home of country music and the Grand Ole Opry.
Critics mostly hated the show because of its Dogpatch look, simple humor and twangy country music. And sometimes the show still gets criticized for perpetuating stereotypes.
There was a bevy of curvy Southern belles such as Barbi Benton, Gunilla Hutton (who played Nurse Good Body) and Misty Rowe. The men were most often harmless rubes in straw hats and overalls.
But TV viewers embraced it, and even non-country stars such as Sammy Davis Jr. and Regis Philbin were among the celebrities eager to appear on the show.
``They just wanted to be part of the fun,'' Clark said.
Clark, who played the hapless clerk at the show's Empty Arms Hotel, was joined by singer Buck Owens as co-host for 17 seasons. There were about 600 original episodes.
The show even had an impact on the national lexicon. The phrase ``pickin' and grinnin''' became popular after a segment with Clark and Owens playing guitar while smiling and telling jokes.
A video based on the show has been on the home market for 10 years, but it featured just parts of the program and no music. The new product, costing $14.95, has full ``Hee Haw'' shows including music performances. There will be at least four one-hour programs.
``The viewers were sort of part-owners of the show,'' Clark said. ``They identified with these clowns, and we had good music.
Well of course Andy. What do you take me for, a yankee? ;) But I can't find it season by season. Have you seen it yet?
Think of the V in DVD as a thong....
Hee Haw was scoffed many times by Maude, but, I understand Bea Aurther was also a marine, so it said on one website.
Population 142 and 150 hogs. Salute!
Patient: "Doc, it hurts when I do this."
Doc: "Well then don't do that!"
Hee Haw. Gawd,does that bring back memories...I was no more then 5 or 6,my step-sister and I would watch it every Friday,while my stepmother gave Grandma her weekly wash & set with the blue rinse.
some body please explain the "My wife ain't got no mule joke to me."
Was Buck wasted on a lot of those shows???
and about the pop. 142, 150 hogs, Oklahoma has a little over 3 million people, and over 5 million head of cattle.
BTTT!!!!!!
He's one of my top 10 all-time guitarists.
How do you feel about the dog shows? ;)
My father would sit down and watch this show every Saturday night at 7:00. He never missed it. No matter what I wanted to watch--some sporting event running late, say--he'd turn it over on Hee Haw and get really annoyed if it was pre-empted. I DESPISED it as a kid.
Of course, this was before I realized the, uh, finer points of Misty Rowe and Barbi Benton, and all the rest of the girls.
Now I look back on it fondly, not just for the discreet country T&A, but because it's a link to a simpler time. And also, it's politically incorrect enough that it could never be made today.
}:-)4
My dad was the same way with the Lawrence Welk Show. I hated it. Now I kind of like it for the same reasons--a link to a simpler time.
I saw Grandpa at a couple of bluegrass festivals in VA and WVA. In person he tended to do a little more pickin'.
"a link to a simpler time."
You can say that again my friend.
I would give it all up to go back there...
Didn't cotton to the dog shows much either. I also couldn't abide their third favorite show, which was whatever golf tournament was on. Ugh.
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