was an
American Situation Comedy that was produced by
Filmways, Inc. and originally aired on the
CBS network from 1963 to 1970. The rights to the show are held by
CBS Paramount Domestic Television .
The "
Petticoat s" of the otherwise obscure title referred to the many women of the Shady Rest
Hotel ; in the opening sequence, it was implied that Kate Bradley's three daughters swam
Nude in a water tower, with their petticoats hung over the side. The "junction" in the title refers to the fact it was situated on a
Train line in the country.
Set in the the first two seasons, then by
Gunilla Hutton for one year with the role going to
Meredith MacRae for the show's remaining seasons.
Pat Woodell was the original Bobbie Jo for two years,
Lori Saunders played the part subsequently. Buffs generally consider MacRae and Saunders the "real" Billie Jo and Bobbie Jo, given they played the roles the longest and the shows' early years with Riley and Woodall were not rerun in syndication. Betty Jo was consistently portrayed by
Linda Kaye (Henning), daughter of series creator
Paul Henning .
Much of the original focus of the show was on the ''
Hooterville Cannonball '', a steam-driven train (serviced by the above-mentioned water tower) run more like a
Taxi service by its engineer, Charley Pratt (
Smiley Burnette ) and conductor, Floyd Smoot (
Rufe Davis ). It was not uncommon for the Cannonball to make an unscheduled stop in order to go fishing or pick fruit for Kate Bradley's menu at the Shady Rest Hotel. Occasionally, Betty Jo Bradley could be found with her hand on the Cannonball's throttle, as driving the train home from trips into town was one of her favorite pastimes. Those trips usually consisted of a stop at "Drucker's Store," proprietized by Sam Drucker (
Frank Cady ).
Another important character was the unnamed canine companion of the sisters, referred to simply as "the
Dog ". It was portrayed by "
Higgins ", who later went on to even greater fame as ''
Benji ''.
.]]
J. Homer Bedloe , played by actor
Charles Lane , was
Vice President of the C&FW Railroad. Bedloe was a mean-spirited railroad executive who visited the Shady Rest Hotel periodically attempting to find justification for ending the train service of the Hooterville Cannonball (and never succeeding).
The show benefitted greatly in its first four seasons from the very strong lead-in of ''
The Red Skelton Show '', which immediately preceded it on Tuesday nights on CBS. In its first season it even exceeded Skelton's ratings, finishing at #4 overall for the season. The rest of its time on Tuesday nights, it remained in the
Nielsen top 25.
In 1968, Bea Benaderet died of
Lung Cancer , and in the story, Joe became the proprietor of the Shady Rest. A new role was created of a female
Doctor in Hooterville, and
June Lockhart joined the cast in the role of Janet Craig to serve as a replacement of sorts for Benaderet. The ratings began to fall (it had also been moved to Saturday night, traditionally American television's lowest-rated night, the previous year) and the show was canceled in 1970.
The show was set in the same fictional universe as the rural television comedies ''
Green Acres '', also set in Hooterville, and ''
The Beverly Hillbillies ''. The shows even shared characters, and sometimes "crossed over" into each other's episodes, especially so during the shows' earlier years.
The color (1965-70) episodes were shown in syndication for many years after the shows' cancellation. However the rights to the black and white (1963-65) episodes have never been resolved and they were not included in the syndication package.
24 of the black and white episodes held by the
Paul Henning estate were released to DVD in 2005. There have also been numerous releases on low quality discount DVDs of a group of episodes for which the copyright had apparently lapsed.
