Customer Reviews

Petticoat Junction - Ultimate Collection

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

These episodes are the early black and white shows not broadcast since original airdates (approx. 26 mins each). Each of the 20 episodes are preceded by a new introduction by actress Linda Kaye Henning. There is a great 45 minute "Making Of" documentary that will have you saying "He's still alive!" and "So that's why she left!". The surviving cast's memories of working on the show are still sharp, and you will learn a few new things. There is also about 20 minutes of CAST COMMERCIALS where the stars do the sponsor's commercials in their Hooterville roles. This set will remind you of an innocent time gone by.

My only complaint is that the picture quality of the shows is grainier that other TV shows from major DVD distributors. The transfers were made from film prints rather than the original negatives. The audio is a little muffed at times and could have been cleaned up.

DISC ONE -
1-1 09/24/63 Spur Line To Shady Rest
1-2 10/01/63 Quick, Hide The Railroad
1-3 10/08/63 The President Who Came To Dinner
1-4 10/15/63 Is There A Doctor In The Roundhouse?
1-5 10/22/63 The Courtship Of Floyd Smoot
1-6 10/29/63 Please Buy My Violets
1-7 11/05/63 The Ringer

DISC TWO -
1-8 11/12/63 Kate's Recipe For Hot Rhubarb
1-9 11/19/63 The Little Train Robbery
1-10 11/26/63 Bedloe Strikes Again
1-11 12/03/63 Uncle Joe's Replacement
1-12 12/10/63 Honeymoon Hotel
1-13 12/17/63 A Night At The Hooterville Hilton
1-15 12/31/63 Herby Gets Drafted

DISC THREE -
1-16 01/07/64 Bobbie Jo And The Beatnik
1-17 01/14/64 My Daughter, The Doctor
1-18 01/21/64 Hooterville Vs. Hollywood
1-19 01/28/64 Visit From A Big Star
1-20 02/04/64 Last Chance Farm
1-21 02/11/64 The Very Old Antique.

The Christmas episode was skipped over (just like the Beverly Hillbillies DVD set), I guess MPI is going to do a Christmas DVD.
Season one had 38 episodes! So this is just over half of the first season.

This is a great set. It contains 20 episodes from the first season (a 21st is on a companion Xmas DVD) which have never been seen in syndication. The introductions to each episode by cast member Linda Kaye Henning are informative and the 45 minute documentary on the series is very well done. Commericals with the cast in character are also included as well as original network promos.

It would be great to see more released, but the rights to this series are a bit messy and I believe the rest of the episodes are owned by Paramount, so we'll have to campaign to them for release of the rest of the series, not MPI. That's the reason this is not a "complete season" set, but don't let that stop you, as what is included here is well worth the price.

Kudos to the poster below who ackowledges Linda Kaye Henning! I also hope she reads these reviews as well. I grew up with "Petticoat Junction", "Beverly Hillbillies" and "Green Acres". But "Junction" was my favorite.....maybe it was the girls.....
Anyhow, the show works brilliantly on all counts. I had never seen these early episodes. I didn't start watching until 1965 or 1966 when I was five. And I only knew Lori Saunders and Meredith MacRae as Bobbie Jo and Billie Jo. To see Jeaninne Riley and Pat Woodell as the original "Bradley Girls" is interesting. But I would like MPI to release the rest of the seasons in their entirety. Linda Kaye Henning does do a superb job introducing each episode! Her charm and beauty are still evident today and it is indeed obvious that she is proud of the show!! With good reason; the chemistry between all the characters is unbelievable. There are also some great bonus features as well (maybe to compensate for the "missing" episodes that were not included in the collection). There are original "commercials" that that cast did for their sponsors.."Ivory Soap" and "Tide" detergent. They are fun to watch. There is also an interview with Bea Benaderet on the Art Linkletter show. What a funny lady!! Most importantly in these features is a documentary called "Back to Hooterville" where Paul Henning's legacy to television is chronicled and includes interviews with Henning, Gunilla Hutton (the second Billie Jo), Frank Cady (Sam Drucker), CHarles Lane (Homer Bedloe), Mike Minor (Steve Elliot) and Lori Saunders (the beautiful Bobbie Jo). Lori Saunders has also lost nothing of her charm and beauty. It is evident that she too is proud to have been a part of this wonderful program. They all talk about Bea Benaderet fondly and it is evident she was quite a lady!! I wish they had mentioned Meredith MacRae more. She was a class act too, taken from us much too young and she is my favorite of all the Billie Jos. All in all a wonderful program to cherish and escape from the "trash" of today's television!! So, please, Linda Kaye Henning, if you read this, we thank you and ask you to do whatever is possible to have MPI release the rest of the seasons!

Many of these episodes from the early black-and-white broadcasts of Petticoat Junction have not been seen since the 1960's in any form. It does seem a little odd that they would release the first twenty episodes from the first season in order, but skip the Christmas episode - "Cannonball Christmas". Columbia House did release a handful of these rare b&w episodes, but then quickly skipped over to the color episodes, which were also being aired at about the same time on Nick-At-Nite's TV Land. It is great to finally get these rare gems on DVD, especially with the original and unforgettable music that was so much a part of the show. I personally can't wait to "ride that little train to the Junction" and visit with Kate Bradley and her three lovely daughters again!! I hope there will be many more episodes of Petticoat Junction to come on DVD in the very near future, too!!

Linda Kaye Henning - if you read this - Thank you. Thank you very much!!!

I tear up thinking about what an incredible entertainment program Petticoat Junction is. It has charm (throughout), drama (Homer Bedlow -boo, hiss), high production values (exterior shots), sentimentality (who can forget Kate and Floyd's touching good-bye to Charley), grief (Bea Benaderet's illness and subsequent passing), touching moments (Kate pulling up the blanket after Bobbie Jo's all-night party), and, of course, humor.

I will also have to add Petticoat Junction boasts a cast who CAN ACT. Paul Henning was brilliant in developing and writing this show. I am thankful the comedy is was not as broad as the comedy on the Hillbillies or Green Acres.

I can not say enough about Bea Benaderet. She is simply one of those actresses who mesmerize me when she is on-screen. I can not take my eyes off of her. She is superb is every scene! I still mourn her passing every October 13. She deserves recognition for her work.

Naturally, we wonder what would have happened had Kate not passed away. I wonder if Bobbie Jo's statement to Dr. Craig that she was "the only one left" was the tribute to Kate. I wonder what would have happened if Rosemary DeCamp had stayed on. I wonder what would have happened had the delightful Shirley Mitchell had stayed around longer. I wonder what eventually became of the girls.

I am overjoyed to see the beautiful and poised Linda Kaye Henning introducing each episode. It is wonderful to see Linda again. (She is also in the 1963 version of Bye Bye Birdie). I get the feeling that she understands how special this series is to so many of us. You are a testament to your dad's vision.

And these intros!!!!!!!! What a blessing!!! These intros are extremely informative and well written. One wonders why other programs do not have the same format.

I want to add one bit of trivia. I was raised in east Tennessee. I remember in the 1960's the March of Dimes Teleramas were an annual event in our area. Linda Kaye Henning came to Knoxville. Lori Saunders and Meredith MacCrae came to Kingsport-Bristol (Tri-Cities) for the Telerama. They were poised and did a wonderful job. Even when they did not know the camera was on them and we saw an unexpected shot of them, they all seemed to be genuinely nice, respectful, and well-mannered people.

Please, Please Let's have more of the Petticoat Junction set. I will be one of the first in line to buy them.

Some like Mayberry, but for me, put me up at the Shady Rest anyday!

Bless you, Linda Kaye Henning and Thank you
Dave

There is no vintage TV classic that better represents the good old days more than "Petticoat Junction." Creator Paul Henning, who had been with George Burns & Gracie Allen for a decade on radio and TV and then created the wonderful "Bob Cummings Show" (aka "Love That Bob"), started his rural comedy success with "The Beverly Hillbillies" and followed with "Petticoat." The stars Bea Benaderet and Edgar Buchanan are top-notch character actors and stellar comics. These long-lost 20 episodes from the show's first (of seven) seasons are treasures. Plus the all-new "History of Hooterville" 45 minute documentary is worth the price alone to see interviews with original cast members and rare outtakes. Also, the cast doing sponsor commercials is a lot of fun and series star Benaderet on a talk show is endearing. This is a must-have collection for classic TV fans and hopefully the rest of the series will follow on DVD. This is also the only "Petticoat" DVD release to date to receive an official endoresement from the creator's estate and to feature the beloved theme song over the opening credits...'Come ride the little train that is rolling down the track to the junction..."

It's about time someone got wise to put this Ultimate Collection out. I heard on TVShowsonDVD.com that there is going to be 30 episodes on three dvd's. So you know it won't be like those little cheap dvd's you buy everywhere!

To hear the theme song and to see the familiar characters again is a thrill, hearing the theme song brings tears to my eyes each time and the episodes are enduring for their charm. I remember them from my childhood and I grew up in an area wiyh people remarkably similar to those in Hooterville and also enjoyed the Hooterville documentary and the other added interviews. I can watch them over and over again,
I hope they bring the rest of the seasons episodes out on dvd SOON!!!

When my daughter, now 17, was growing up, she loved watching the adventures of the Bradey girls, Uncle Joe's shenaningans and the gentle humor and wonderful characters of everyone associated with the Shady Rest. My wife and I loved the show, too, when we were growing up in the 1960s. This DVD was wonderful -- and for all the complaints about the Christmas episode missing -- well, someone's just trying to make an extra buck. (Order the inexpensive Petticoat Junction/Beverly Hillbillies Christmas DVD, and you'll be just fine.)

MY QUESTION: When is the second season of Petticoat coming out on DVD? I'd love to be able to watch the ENTIRE series, through the years. Can we get a campaign going? Linda Kaye Henning, can you help???? Surely we're not the only people who want more than just the initial season!

When a show this old can make a 14 year old (my son) laugh harder than a contemporary television show, well, that's got to tell you something.
Yes, the comedy is quaint compared to today's 'in-your-face' style. There is nothing controversial: no alternative lifestyle, no political pontificating, no strong sexual content or "colorful" language. Just the traditional homespun pro American Values that seem to be missing in our society (and TV shows) today.
Although I grew up on this show, I was a bit too young when these original black & white episodes came out, so all I remember are the shows that were in color.
The cast is simply perfect. My son cracks up every time Uncle Joe shows his face, and how could he not? Edgar Buchanan was the most under-rated comedian of his time! My favorite Bradley girl in these earlier shows (up until she got married) was Betty Jo. After that time it became Bobbie Jo. But by that time, the show had lost it for me. Once Steve joined the cast (and especially after the replacing of Kate when Bea Benaderet passed away) the show lost that charm that it always had.
But, I'm getting way ahead of myself here. I am just enjoying every minute that I have with the original Petticoat Junction family. And the intros by Linda Kay Henning are very well done and informative.
Thank you, Powers That Be, for allowing these wonderful gems to be released!
My hope is that the rest of the first season will be out soon, followed by the subsequent seasons. I'll buy them all (at least the first few seasons!)!
(By the way, if you are wondering about the title of this review, watch the first episode.)
Now, can someone please give me directions to the Shady Rest so I can sample some of Kate Bradley's home-cooking? I can't seem to locate it on Mapquest!