Petticoat Junction - Cancellation

Cancellation

Due to declining ratings on a weak Saturday night timeslot, CBS considered cancelling Petticoat Junction in the spring of 1969. During the 1968–1969 television season, the sitcom was ranking at #35 in the ratings. And although this was still respectable, the show's ratings could no longer compare to the success of its sister shows. Both The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres were in the Nielsen top twenty: Hillbillies at #10 and Acres at #19. Some sitcoms during this time stayed on the air for years with mild ratings: both I Dream of Jeannie (1965–1970) and That Girl (1966–1971) lasted for five seasons, however, both shows' ratings hardly ever broke the top thirty.

CBS renewed Petticoat Junction for the 1969–1970 season, reasoning that the network would have five years of color episodes to air of the sitcom in syndication, which would be very profitable for the network. However, in the spring of 1970, CBS cancelled Petticoat Junction as a forerunner to CBS's now famous "rural purge", despite the show's somewhat leap forward in the ratings. This part of television history saw the cancellation of Junction's sister shows: The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres, along with other rural shows, including: Hee-Haw, Mayberry R.F.D., Lassie, The Jim Nabors Hour, etc. Some of the cancelled shows, however, were still bringing in high ratings, but were cancelled nevertheless and replaced with new urban shows.