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The Beverly Hillbillies: Season 09 (1970)

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The opening story arc of The Beverly Hillbillies' ninth and final season finds the Clampett family briefly leaving Beverly Hills for a location-filmed jaunt to Washington D.C, there to help the president fight the scourge of air pollution. Upon arriving in the nation's capital, hillbilly millionaire Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) once again falls into the clutches of glib con artist Shifty Shafer (Phil Silvers), who proceeds to "sell" the Clampetts all of the famous Washington landmarks! After returning to the California, the family is enmeshed in the series' longest and most labyrinthine story arc to date, in which Elly May Clampett (Donna Douglas) becomes engaged to Naval officer Mark Templeton (Roger Torrey). Much of the humor of this situation arises from the fact that Mark is a "frogman," leading Granny (Irene Ryan) to conclude that her favorite granddaughter is about to become hitched to a six-foot amphibian. Later plotlines involve the Clampett's brief foray into grunion fishing (they are convinced that grunions are actually invading space aliens!), Elly May and Granny's involvement in the Women's Lib movement at the behest of born-again feminist Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp), and a two-parter in which the Clampett mansion is transformed into a geisha house. Arguably the most intriguing of the season's episodes is "Elly, the Secretary," featuring Louellen Aden, a nonprofessional who landed this guest-star spot as the result of a nationwide contest. Although the ratings for The Beverly Hillbillies had been declining during the past two seasons, the series' cancellation at the end of season nine was due not to diminishing viewership, but because CBS was endeavoring to "de-ruralize" its audience demographic in hopes of appealing to the more affluent urban viewers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi