Petticoat Junction: Season 07 (1969)

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Synopsis of Petticoat Junction: Season 07

Although Petticoat Junction's already sagging ratings had dropped precipitously upon the death of star Bea Benaderet in the fall of 1968, the series still maintained enough of a viewership to warrant a seventh and final season, which commenced in September of 1969. Edgar Buchanan is now top-billed as Uncle Joe Carson, the delightfully shiftless owner of Hooterville's Shady Rest Hotel. June Lockhart, introduced in season six as Dr. Janet Craig, is now afforded second billing in the series' opening credits; alas, talented though Lockhart may be, she was unable to replace the late Bea Benaderet in the hearts of the series' staunchest fans. With Uncle Joe's niece Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning)'s recent marriage to crop duster Steve Elliott (Mike Minor) and the birth of little Kathy Jo Elliott (now played by Elna Hubbell), Betty Jo's sisters Billie Jo (Meredith Mac Rae) and Bobbie Jo (Lori Saunders) are seriously contemplating matrimony -- which is not only the logical course of events, but also a blatant bid by the series' producers to generate audience interest by holding out the promise of two more onscreen weddings. Billie Jo's erstwhile beau Jerry is played by Greg Mullavey, who later became the real-life husband of Meredith Mac Rae (just as Linda Kaye Henning and Mike Minor were husband and wife offscreen). As for Bobbie Jo, she is courted by the terminally shy game warden Orrin Pike (Jonathan Daly). And in another domestic development, Petticoat Junction this season serves up the obligatory (in 1970) "women's lib" episode, "Susan B. Anthony, I Love You," which though lightly amusing, seems deliberately calculated to enrage contemporary feminists! Even though the romantic entanglements of the Bradley girls did not significantly improve the ratings of Petticoat Junction, the series might have survived for another season had it not been cut short by CBS as part of the network's ongoing efforts to "de-ruralize" its target audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Complete Cast of Petticoat Junction: Season 07

Producer(s):

Al Simon

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