CBS plans reality version of ”Beverly Hillbillies.” The network plans to find some real-life Clampetts and put them in a mansion for a year
Move over, Anna Nicole Smith. CBS wants to give some other hicks-gone-Hollywood their own reality show. Variety reports that the network is planning a reality version of one of the network’s cornerstones, ”The Beverly Hillbillies.” Tentatively titled ”The Real Beverly Hillbillies,” it would take a real-life rural family of modest means and transplant them into a Beverly Hills mansion for a year.
The show will be edited to play like a comedy, emphasizing the gap between the clan’s homegrown ways and the state-conscious culture of Beverly Hills. In other words, just like the classic Clampett family sitcom. Or like ”The Osbournes,” without the professionalism.
CBS insists it’s not out to mock the yokels. ”The intention is to be respectively but at the same time enjoy the humor that comes from the fish-out-of-water scenarios of the show,” CBS vice president of alternative programming Ghen Maynard told Variety. ”We want a family who has a sense of humor about themselves.” In other words, auditioning families, be prepared to be made fun of. ”Imagine the episode where they have to interview maids,” Maynard said. And imagine all the critters making themselves at home around the cee-ment pond. Can’t wait for ”The Real Green Acres,” where they flip the concept and strand some city slickers out in the sticks for a year with Arnold the pig.
Legacy – Buddy Epsen
Buddy Ebsen, best known as Jed Clampett on TV’s Beverly Hillbillies, died on July 6 at age 95 of undisclosed causes in Torrance, Calif. Born in Belleville, Ill., Ebsen was a song-and-dance man before making his film debut in 1935. He subsequently shared the screen with such stars as Shirley Temple, Gregory Peck, and Audrey Hepburn. (One role, however, eluded him: the Tin Man in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. Ebsen had to bow out due to a reaction to the makeup.) But it was in the intimate medium of TV that Ebsen’s genial manner shone brightest, whether as the best friend in Disney’s Davy Crockett or the geriatric sleuth in CBS’ Barnaby Jones. ”He certainly leaves a great legacyhis films, his TV shows,” says Lee Meriwether, who played Jones’ daughter-in-law, ”is a testament to his talent.”
