Charles Stewart Movies

After fighting with Steve (Mike Minor) over bathroom privileges, Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) faces the possibility that Steve and Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning) will move out for keeps. To prevent this, Joe offers to install a second bathroom in the Shady Rest. Unfortunately, this requires him to deal with that redoubtable realtor Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram), who is no more honest on Petticoat Junction than he is on Green Acres! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It should not be surprising that all three Bradley girls are contestants in a local beauty pageant. It should also surprise no one that there's plenty of sibling rivalry in the air. Things get even dicier when the three sisters meet their competition--none other than Dr. Janet Craig (June Lockhart). (One wonders if anyone saw this episode when it was originally telecast opposite the network premiere of the Oscar-winning film Tom Jones!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Upset that baby daughter Kathy Jo is taking up so much of Steve's time, Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning) insists that Steve (Mike Minor) take her on a second honeymoon. The couple returns to their own cottage, where they must not only put up with a lack of utilities but also the crafty duplicity of local realtor Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram in his familiar Green Acres) role. Worse still, the cottage is invaded by a pair of annoying newlyweds and a couple of bums named--now get this--Stanley and Oliver. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Singer Rudy Vallee guests in this episode as H.A. Smith, a powerful industrialist who has journeyed from Erie, Pennsylvania to repay his long-ago benefactor--none other than Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan). Smith has come Hooterville to offer Joe the opportunity to become a millionaire many times over. But Joe is both confused and suspicious: He has never been in Erie in his life--and he certainly has never met anyone named H.A. Smith! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Feeling that husband Steve (Mike Minor) is taking her for granted, Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning) seeks out advice from her sister Bobbie Jo (Lori Saunders) and her neighbor Lisa Douglas (Eva Gabor). As a result, Betty works overtime to make herself a vital part of her husband's life--and nearly ruins the marriage in the process. Ultimately, Steve realizes that he's been in the wrong, acknowledging this with a heartfelt rendition of the popular 1960s ballad "Dreams of an Everyday Housewife". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Steve (Mike Minor) is given a lucrative job offer that will require him to move to New York. Will Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning) be willing to bring herself and baby Kathy Jo along? The episode spends most of its running time watching Betty weigh the options--and also observing Betty's friends and family members trying to make up her mind for her! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It looks as though the government will put Sam Drucker's (Frank Cady) post office out of commission. With uncharacteristic zeal, Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) organizes a delegation to march upon the Washington DC offices of his congressman to avert this disaster. Somehow or other, the delegation ends up at the door of the White House (but alas, Richard Nixon does not make a Laugh-In-style cameo appearance!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

After missing several episodes due to illness, Bea Benaderet returns to her familiar Petticoat Junction role as Kate Bradley, owner of Hooterville's Shady Rest Hotel. The entire town gears up for a gala homecoming party in Kate's honor, but there are a few hitches along the way--including a fireworks display which ends up destroying the depot in nearby Pixley! Rufe Davis makes his last regular appearance as railroad engineer Floyd Smoot in this, the final episode of the series' fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Six of Petticoat Junction begins as Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning, now billed under her full given name) and her husband Steve (Mike Minor) eagerly await the birth of their first baby. Unfortunately, a pall is cast over the proceedings when Steve insists that the baby be born in a fancy Baltimore hospital, thus inadvertently insulting Hooterville's resident medico Doc Stuart (Regis Toomey). Byron Foulger makes the first of several recurring appearances as Wendell Gibbs, the new engineer of the Hooterville Cannonball; curiously, the original TV Guide listings billed somebody named "Jack Jamieson" as Gibbs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

All of the excitement lavished upon expectant mother Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning) does considerable collateral damage on her marriage. The problem is husband Steve (Mike Minor), who, shoved out of the spotlight, now feels unimportant and neglected. The crisis is solved, more or less, by an impromptu fishing trip. Originally scheduled to air on October 12, 1968, this is the final Petticoat Junction episode to feature series star Bea Benaderet, who died on October 13 of the same year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen, who costarred in the very first Oscar-winning movie Wings, are reunited in this episode. The two veteran actors show up in Hooterville Valley to save the Pixley Bijou Theater from demolition, agreeing to appear at the theater's premiere screening of Wings. . .some four decades after the film was originally released. Along the way, Arlen and Rogers agree to immortalize their footprints in cement--which dries a bit too soon! Several high-quality excerpts from Wings are shown, including the brief appearance of up-and-coming Gary Cooper as a doomed pilot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide