Petticoat Junction Ultimate Co

These episodes are the early black and white shows not broadcast since original airdates (approx. 26 mins each). Each of the 20 episodes are preceded by a new introduction by actress Linda Kaye Henning. There is a great 45 minute "Making Of" documentary that will have you saying "He's still alive!" and "So that's why she left!". The surviving cast's memories of working on the show are still sharp, and you will learn a few new things. There is also about 20 minutes of CAST COMMERCIALS where the stars do the sponsor's commercials in their Hooterville roles. This set will remind you of an innocent time gone by.

My only complaint is that the picture quality of the shows is grainier that other TV shows from major DVD distributors. The transfers were made from film prints rather than the original negatives. The audio is a little muffed at times and could have been cleaned up.

DISC ONE -
1-1 09/24/63 Spur Line To Shady Rest
1-2 10/01/63 Quick, Hide The Railroad
1-3 10/08/63 The President Who Came To Dinner
1-4 10/15/63 Is There A Doctor In The Roundhouse?
1-5 10/22/63 The Courtship Of Floyd Smoot
1-6 10/29/63 Please Buy My Violets
1-7 11/05/63 The Ringer

DISC TWO -
1-8 11/12/63 Kate's Recipe For Hot Rhubarb
1-9 11/19/63 The Little Train Robbery
1-10 11/26/63 Bedloe Strikes Again
1-11 12/03/63 Uncle Joe's Replacement
1-12 12/10/63 Honeymoon Hotel
1-13 12/17/63 A Night At The Hooterville Hilton
1-15 12/31/63 Herby Gets Drafted

DISC THREE -
1-16 01/07/64 Bobbie Jo And The Beatnik
1-17 01/14/64 My Daughter, The Doctor
1-18 01/21/64 Hooterville Vs. Hollywood
1-19 01/28/64 Visit From A Big Star
1-20 02/04/64 Last Chance Farm
1-21 02/11/64 The Very Old Antique.

The Christmas episode was skipped over (just like the Beverly Hillbillies DVD set), I guess MPI is going to do a Christmas DVD.
Season one had 38 episodes! So this is just over half of the first season.

This is a great set. It contains 20 episodes from the first season (a 21st is on a companion Xmas DVD) which have never been seen in syndication. The introductions to each episode by cast member Linda Kaye Henning are informative and the 45 minute documentary on the series is very well done. Commericals with the cast in character are also included as well as original network promos.

It would be great to see more released, but the rights to this series are a bit messy and I believe the rest of the episodes are owned by Paramount, so we'll have to campaign to them for release of the rest of the series, not MPI. That's the reason this is not a "complete season" set, but don't let that stop you, as what is included here is well worth the price.

Kudos to the poster below who ackowledges Linda Kaye Henning! I also hope she reads these reviews as well. I grew up with "Petticoat Junction", "Beverly Hillbillies" and "Green Acres". But "Junction" was my favorite.....maybe it was the girls.....

Anyhow, the show works brilliantly on all counts. I had never seen these early episodes. I didn't start watching until 1965 or 1966 when I was five. And I only knew Lori Saunders and Meredith MacRae as Bobbie Jo and Billie Jo. To see Jeaninne Riley and Pat Woodell as the original "Bradley Girls" is interesting. But I would like MPI to release the rest of the seasons in their entirety. Linda Kaye Henning does do a superb job introducing each episode! Her charm and beauty are still evident today and it is indeed obvious that she is proud of the show!! With good reason; the chemistry between all the characters is unbelievable. There are also some great bonus features as well (maybe to compensate for the "missing" episodes that were not included in the collection). There are original "commercials" that that cast did for their sponsors.."Ivory Soap" and "Tide" detergent. They are fun to watch. There is also an interview with Bea Benaderet on the Art Linkletter show. What a funny lady!! Most importantly in these features is a documentary called "Back to Hooterville" where Paul Henning's legacy to television is chronicled and includes interviews with Henning, Gunilla Hutton (the second Billie Jo), Frank Cady (Sam Drucker), CHarles Lane (Homer Bedloe), Mike Minor (Steve Elliot) and Lori Saunders (the beautiful Bobbie Jo). Lori Saunders has also lost nothing of her charm and beauty. It is evident that she too is proud to have been a part of this wonderful program. They all talk about Bea Benaderet fondly and it is evident she was quite a lady!! I wish they had mentioned Meredith MacRae more. She was a class act too, taken from us much too young and she is my favorite of all the Billie Jos. All in all a wonderful program to cherish and escape from the "trash" of today's television!! So, please, Linda Kaye Henning, if you read this, we thank you and ask you to do whatever is possible to have MPI release the rest of the seasons!

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