Posted 4:24 PM by Gene

Today I was in one of the few surviving rattletrap used book shops in the South Street neighborhood watching an old PD VHS tape of episodes from The Beverly Hillbillies, a relic I hadn't seen in ages, nor would want to; and aside from its relentless unfunnyness (natch, one of the first words to pop up on AMAZON.COM's IMDB site is "HILARIOUS", which is fast becoming my least favorite) I was struck by its primitiveness -- the grand foyer that would fit in a McMansion's bathroom, everybody posing rigidly before the camera as though it were the Vitaphone, the drab chintzy-looking film, the klutzy animal tricks, which made me question their staging, although I'd presume Frank Inn knew and did better. Incredible how Bill Paley, surrounded by riches and fawners and Impressionist paintings and a trophy wife, was said to have thought it hilarious too, but given his copiously ghosted autobiography* we may suspect otherwise. The only thing to emerge unscathed was an appearance (I presume the first) by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, whose music, however ineptly presented, was the sole thing that didn't date it, as their bluegrass will live forever, unlike cheesy, corny sitcoms devised with the most malevolent condescension.

*Note the comments.