MovieChat Forums > Petticoat Junction (1963) Discussion > dullest sitcom to ever achieve any fame

dullest sitcom to ever achieve any fame


I watch this show because it's on between two other shows, and I don't get it. I imagine the appeal is supposed to be the beautiful young women, and indeed they are beautiful, but that is not nearly enough to carry the show. It's like watching the skin form on a bowl of pudding.

The only way I've found to enjoy the show is to sing along with the theme song as: "Tittywank Junction!" Now THAT would be a thing.

reply

Ouch! Personally I loved the show. Although it did lose steam in the last year or so.

reply

The show was not the least bit edgy and that probably appealed to an audience that most likely was retirement age at the time. Also, many had moved to the city for a career or employment and disliked it. So PJ was a way to tune out the city life for a number of viewers. I don't dislike PJ but it would get my vote for the least likely 1960's show to be rebooted today.

reply

You see, this is the problem with trying to analyze other people from the past. My parents loved this show and they were in their lower 40's at the time, no where near retirement age. My siblings and I thought it was very funny and we were kids.

reply

I whole heartedly believe what you are telling me. But I am being truthful from what I saw. It seemed like the viewers I knew were in their 60's with the kids putting their noses up at it. I was very young when the show was in first run and in school while it ran in syndication during the 1970's. For me it was bearable and the Homer Bedloe episodes were probably the best in my mind. Even as a kid Uncle Joe rubbed me the wrong way and I was probably too young to know just how much of a scoundrel he was. I would still put PJ at the top of the list in terms of 1960's escapist fare. I don't know where else you would find the characters break out into vaudeville or Broadway tunes in an instant.

reply

If rebooted it would have to be done as an obvious period piece maybe circa 1980. I don't know how you could put it in 2021 and generate any appeal for it.

reply

Good points. Maybe it's blandness was actually part of its appeal. Like you said, it let them escape for a half hour back to a quieter, simpler way of life that they had to leave behind. People who watched it weren't looking for anything thought provoking or even all that funny.

reply

I would give Family Affair that title.

reply