MovieChat Forums > Petticoat Junction (1963) Discussion > Hard to watch

Hard to watch

posted 9 years ago by nycruise-1
3 replies | jump to latest

Today ME TV showed the episode where Betty Jo has her baby and the producers use Bea Benaderet's recorded voice along with a stand-in to make it seem like Kate Bradley is back in the picture.

I remember seeing the episode when it was first broadcast and everyone knew Bea was really ill, if not dead (by the time the episode aired). It was weird then, but it was also sort of "neat" to see how a comedy show back then handled the death of its original star.

Today I watched it for the first time since then (almost 50 years ago) and I could not get over how all the sentimental notes that "Kate Bradley" sends to Betty Jo were so full of touching words while being read in Bea's actual voice. Her voice - even in just its recording - sounded broken in some ways, a result of her weakness as her body was giving out. I can't imagine having been the director or the crew who were there at the care facility where Bea was obviously bed-ridden and having her record those lines. I'm sure she was happy to be "working" but at the same time I can't help but think how she must have felt wondered if that was the last time she would be "Kate Bradley". Likewise for the crew. I never heard how the actors handled the filming of the last episode (were they holding out for at least a brief personal appearance from Bea, maybe even with her sitting down to conserve her energy?).

Just awful and hard to watch.

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

[–] eveningstarz 9 years ago

I watched it too in the original broadcast on CBS and noticed everything you said about knowing about the stand in and then watching Kate just start to disappear from the series. The very next episode, when they bring the baby home to the hotel, Kate was elsewhere. TV shows back then never discussed a cast members death at all until Dan Blocker died suddenly in the Bonanza series in the early 70's.

Look at Marion Lorne's character Aunt Clara on Bewitched, her absence was never addressed and Alice Pierce's Gladys Kravitz was replaced by another actress. Of course they were supporting players to the series, so maybe the writers didn't feel it was necessary to remember them.

While The Adventures of Superman was on hiatus, George Reeves died. The show just ended and lived on reruns..

TV was funny back then, the shows had no problem killing off characters in a show, but they had no knowledge on how to address a star's death, so they just avoided it until Bonanza paid tribute to Dan blocker and his character Hoss. Do you remember when Freddie Prinze died while Chico and The Man was on the air? He was replaced with a child, and in the early 2000's, John Ritter died in 8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter, They changed the title of the show to just 6 Simple Rules, and they did address his passing and added new family members to fill in for loss.

Petticoat Junction did not address Bea Benaderet's passing at all. She deserved more.

[–] pfanderson5 9 years ago

Yes, she did indeed deserve more. If they HAD acknowledged her death (even an episode in which she suddenly died in her sleep,) or, the credits, "In Loving Memory of Bea Benederet," it would have shown more respect. "Mom" having to suddenly leave after her daughter has a baby? Really? We all knew she wouldn't be coming back. I'm sure the writers did the best they could though. Such a huge loss for the show. Bea Benederet was irreplaceable. (I do think, however, Rosemary De Camp was great as Aunt Helen, and June Lockhart was wonderful as Dr. Janet Craig.)

[–] eveningstarz 9 years ago

As they do now in many shows....This episode was dedicated to _____________, either in the beginning or end of the show/

Cheers did it nicely when Nicholas Colasanto, "Coach" died. He was replaced by Woody, but with an explanation of Coach's passing and the symbol of the Cigar Indian at the end of the series.