*Petticoat Junction* experienced those shifting commercial pressures firsthand as sponsors and scheduling decisions influenced the show’s future.
And eventually, an even larger change swept through television.
At the beginning of the 1970s, networks began moving aggressively away from the rural comedies that had dominated schedules throughout the previous decade.
The phenomenon became famously known as television’s “rural purge.”
Shows centered around small towns, farms and country life suddenly found themselves disappearing, sometimes despite continuing popularity.
*Green Acres*, *Mayberry R.F.D.* and other rural favorites were swept up in the transformation.
*Petticoat Junction* became part of that disappearing television era as well.
After seven seasons and 222 episodes, the doors of the Shady Rest finally closed.
But more than half a century later, Hooterville hasn’t completely disappeared.
Fans still remember the Cannonball pulling into the station.
They remember Uncle Joe’s schemes.
They remember Betty Jo, Bobbie Jo and Billie Jo.
