***for over forty years, the television industry has operated from the assumption that young urban viewers are worth more than older rural viewers –****
How true. tht is why rural people were always shown as inbred hicks as opposed to the suave and sophisticated urban viewer.
Back about 1969, CBS put on a Prime Time country and Western show called HEE HAW. It was a hit in Texas and other rural states but bombed in NY and Los Angeles, the only places that mattered to the TV executives.
So it was cancelled. The production of HEE HAW then went independent and was on TV for many years, not affiliated with any of the alphabet networks.
Yeah...I remember as a kid, they were all whacked out because they couldn’t figure out why Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, et al...was doing great in the ratings. Plus the subject matter wasn’t “posh” enough for them. They forget they were selling ads...but they want to sell culture.
Screw ‘em—let the perverts crash and burn.
That’s why they canceled Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, etc. They didn’t want to be seen as the hick station.