Paul Henning - Most Popular Television Series

Most Popular Television Series

In 1962, Henning created the CBS series, The Beverly Hillbillies; a sitcom based on his past experiences while camping in the Ozarks near Branson, Missouri. He also wrote the music and lyrics for the popular theme song, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett".

The Beverly Hillbillies was one of the highest-rated series of all time, even becoming a feature film about three decades later. After the major success of Hillbillies, CBS gave Henning another half-hour timeslot on their schedule. In 1963, Petticoat Junction debuted on CBS and was a great success as well. This series had a starring role for Henning's daughter (who shared a September 16 birthday with her father), Linda Kaye Henning, who was simply billed as "Linda Kaye". In 1965, Henning and his colleague, Jay Sommers, created Green Acres, and once again found a hit.

All three programs were popular, achieving major ratings success during most of their runs. However, changing times led their parent network, CBS to look down on the so-called "ruralcoms" and move in a more "adult", sophisticated direction with series such as All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Thus in 1971, The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres were canceled as a result of the "rural purge", joining Petticoat Junction (which ended the year before) in syndicated reruns.