| thefilmarchive.org DVD: www.amazon.com November 12, 1963 Kate is determined to get her book-loving daughter, Bobbie Jo, to go out on a date. For the first three seasons, Petticoat Junction focused mostly on broad humor and slapstick comedy. There was a lot of physical comedy and other types of wild humor that was characteristic of the series, much like its sister show, The Beverly Hillbillies, and its own later spinoff show Green Acres. There were many crossover appearances in season 3 alone between the casts of both shows. The Douglases (Lisa and Oliver) make frequent appearances on Petticoat Junction, and likewise Kate, Joe, Charley and Floyd, and even Betty Jo and Bobbie Jo show up on Green Acres. But as the series progressed beginning with season 4, with the addition of Mike Minor as Steve Elliot and Meredith MacRae as the third Billie Jo, the show took on an entirely different feel. Although singing had been in a small handful of the earlier episodes, most notably "The Ladybugs" and a few other episodes in which Bobbie Jo, then played by Pat Woodell, did a brief solo, musical numbers and singing became prominent from season 4 onward, and slapstick comedy took a back seat. Many numbers featured the girls singing as a trio, Billie Jo solo, Steve solo, or Steve and Betty Jo as a duet. There were sometimes as much as two or three songs per episode, and physical comedy was less emphasized. The show from this point on often switched gears going back and forth between ... |
