The beginning of the end...

I wouldn't say the color filming was the beginning of the end, they had a few good seasons after that. I'd agree 1969 was the beginning of the end with Jethro's talent agency, Mr. Drysdale becoming a caricature of an evil banker, and the drawn-out stories involving Silver Dollar City, New York, and Shorty Kellems. I liked the Clampetts going off to fight the grunions in the last season, but after eight years in southern California, you'd think they'd have heard of grunions and surfing.

I don't color TV was the beginning of the end.

I thought the Silver Dollar City episodes were a load of fun(especially since I go there myself frequently). The New York episodes are great too, as are the Frog Man episodes. In my opinion, the show lost its touch with the grunion invasion.

<<<In fact you can say when the TV show became colorized was the beginning of the end.

The show was never colorized. Those episodes were actually filmed in color.

It's true that much of the footage had a tacked-on quality which detracts from the already strained credibility of some stories, especially any scene where the cast worked on a flat sound stage in front of a very obvious rear-projection screen.

Still, I have a fondness and appreciation for the outdoor location scenes where the cast was very clearly "on location", even if it was only in a long shot - the Clampetts walking through New York City is a good example. It was fun to watch, even if it only lasted a few seconds.

I didn't hate any of the storylines in the last couple of seasons; but the story arcs did drag on and on for way too long.

I like Shorty and Shad, and even like the Templeton/frogman episodes, but they could have each wrapped up in no more than three episodes each. One redeeming factor of the frogman story arc lasting as long as it did is the focus on the burgeoning ecology and oceanic preservation movements, sentiments which seem very much in line with the "back to nature" Clampetts.

I thought the "Women's Lib" episodes were funny, loved that viewers finally got a glimpse of how Jane Hathaway lived outside of the office, and even enjoyed seeing roles included for "Petticoat Junction's" Lori Saunders, Mike Minor, and Charles Lane, fresh off the cancellation of their show.

I also loved the gentle culture shock of the episodes with the Japanese visitors, and even the bit about Elly becoming a secretary, if only because Donna Douglas was unexpectedly gorgeous in her non-Elly wigs and wardrobe, both as Geisha, and as brunette silent film goddess "Clara Bow". It's hilarious seeing Douglas the actress get to stretch her comedic range beyond the parameters of normal role when, as Elly the secretary who has been coached by Granny, she vamps it up in the exaggerated manner and costume of a silent film star. Shimmying madly, she whips the fringe on her dress around while she rolls and flutters her heavily made up eyes like they are a pair of spastic butterflies under a strobe light.

Taken as a whole, I'm glad the show went as long as it did, rounding out characters and situations in a manner which was satisfying 90% of the time. It makes the occasional stumbles and slow bits evident in the last couple of seasons forgivable. I think ultimately, the much-hated "rural purge" at CBS happened at the right time, though; it's hard to think that any of Paul Henning's three shows could have successfully gone any further into the 1970s without straying further from their origins, or without sustaining further changes, or without running out of steam and compromising each show's quality.

I sort of liked the Silver Dollar City shows, but as I recorded the episodes, I found almost nothing worth keeping after those. This was long after the series switched to color.

My beef with the New York/Washington shows and the Phil Silvers character--loved him in his two series earlier--was the way he kept getting conscience, deciding he couldn't keep the 1-2% of the family's money he had accepted checks for and that he just had to give it back because they were so nice. Then he'd try to swindle them again.

A real con man likely tries to swindle more than a tiny percent of a given wealthy person's money. As a man who did this for his living, Shifty Schaeffer just would not have felt so guilty, especially knowing that the family had no need for that money--they would never miss it.

I also thought that Jed, who was normally fairly perceptive, was stretched to be too dumb in not realizing that there was something wrong in that every big park/building mentioned was suddenly owned by Mr. Schaeffer or the "Indian" he knew.

The whole business with Shorty running around with all the women and being treated like a teenager by the Clampetts was surely far from the series best. He was a middle-aged man and they were locking him up like a runaway teen, almost forcing him to marry Elverna against his will.

The frogman episodes were SO STRETCHED out, and so unbelievable, even if we forget that Granny saw Jethro in a frogman suit years earlier.

But the ongoing thing that ruined much of the last two years was the way Drysdale changed from a penny-pinching, bank president who cared about keeping his largest depositors happy, to a cheating, lying, scheming jerk who truly mistreated his employees.

The on-going plot was a fine idea, but they needed ongoing FUNNY plots.

I agree, that's why I only bought the black & white episodes on DVD.

On reading this topic, I looked through the episode list and have concluded:

The show was still excellent in 1965-67, the first two seasons they were in color. You had, among others, Jethro's spy office in the bank, where they caught some bank robbers; Granny's race for Possum Queen vs. Mrs. Drysdale; Military School; Jethro the Magnificent--where he got a magician to come to the house to teach him the trade; Jethro Goes to College; The 2-part Badger Game where con artists tried to blackmail Jed; The Martian Invasion; the Mayor of Bug Tussel; and Computer Dating.

The third color season, 1967-68 had the first trip to England; then the episodes in Griffith Park with Jethro as Robin Hood; the Plot for Granny; Topless Restaurant; and the fabulous 2-parter involving the family being involved with TV "Rasslers." Now that season did have some other drawn-out plots that weren't nearly as good.

It was the 4th color season, Season 7 for the series, where the quality overall was significantly less with many, not a few, episodes not worth watching.

The Silver Dollar City episodes and the other poor plots you mentioned, came at the beginning of the 8th season, in fall 1969. There were only a few episodes after that that were worth watching, in my opinion.

My point: Not only did the change to color have nothing to do with the drop in quality of this series, the big dropoff in quality did not at all correspond in time with the change to color. I think you could say it began in the latter part of the third color season, increased in the 4th, and took over in the 5th color season.