How Did The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour Survive the Rural Purge?

The 1970-1971 American television season will always be remembered as the season of the Rural Purge. The Rural Purge was a mass cancellation of shows whose audiences were considered too rural, too old, or both. All three networks cancelled shows that appealed to rural or older audiences, but by far CBS cancelled the most. In fact, two of the shows they cancelled (Mayberry R.F.D. and Hee Haw) still number among the highest rated shows ever cancelled. Among the shows that would have seemed to have appealed to rural audiences that somehow survived was The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. In fact, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour was lower rated than some of the rural shows that CBS did cancel. It only came in at no. 35 in  the Nielsen ratings for the year. The question is then, "How did The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour survive the Rural Purge when higher rated shows did not?"

The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour was essentially a spin-off of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The Summer Brothers Smothers Show was a summer replacement series for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour that aired during the summer of 1968. It was hosted by rising pop country star Glen Campbell, whose hits "Witchita Lineman" and "Galveston" had a great deal of crossover appeal. Both songs had hit the Billboard Hot 100 ("Witchita Lineman" making it all the way to no. 3 on the chart). The Summer Brothers Smothers Show proved successful enough that Glen Campbell was given his own variety show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, which debuted on January 29 1969. The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour proved successful in its first two seasons. It ranked no. 15 in its first season and no. 20 in its second season. For its third season, the 1970-1971 season, its ratings dropped. As mentioned above, it only came in at no. 35 for the season.

Of course, it was during the 1970-1971 season that the Rural Purge took place. The Rural Purge largely emerged from two events. The first was the institution of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation known as the Prime Time Access Rule, which would take effect starting with the 1971-1972 season. The rule came about because the FCC thought that the American broadcast networks controlled too much programming on television and was meant to increase competition on local TV stations. Among other things, the Prime Time Access Rule decreased how much the networks could program each night. As a result, the networks had to cancel many more shows than they ever had before.

The second event was a change in programming strategy on the part of CBS. Since the 1950s ABC had sought viewers in the key demographic of 18-49 years old. Starting in the early Sixties, NBC also started seeking viewers in the key demographic of 18-49 years old. Throughout the Sixties, CBS had continued to focus on the over-all number of viewers of any given show. It was in 1969 that Robert Wood became the new president of CBS. It was Robert Wood and his Vice President in Charge of Programming, Fred Silverman, who shifted CBS's programming strategy from capturing the largest total audience to capturing viewers who were between 18 and 49 and living in urban areas. For the 1970-1971 season CBS then decided to cancel shows not based on how many viewers were watching those shows, but who was watching those shows. As a result, shows that appealed to rural viewers, older viewers, or both were cancelled. Long-running and sometimes even high-rated shows were cancelled, including The Beverly Hillbillies, The Ed Sullivan Show, Green Acres, Hee Haw, Lassie, and Mayberry R.F.D.

Curiously, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour was not among the shows that was cancelled. On the surface, at least, it would seem that The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour would largely appeal to a rural audience. After all, its host was a country music star and the show had featured its share of country singers as guests, including Johnny Cash, Roy Clark, Waylon Jennings, Buck Owens, and Mel Tillis. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the Nielsen ratings for The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour for the 1970-1971 season, let alone a breakdown of its demographics during the season. That having been said, it seems possible that The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour appealed to a younger and less rural audience than Hee Haw or Mayberry R.F.D.

That this could have been possible is borne out by an article on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour in the October 10 1970 issue of Billboard. The article states, "The Campbell audience is broad. They range from young adults to middle-aged and older." If The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour did appeal to younger viewers, much of it might have been due to the musical guests on the show. While Hee Haw exclusively featured country music singers as guests, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour featured rock and pop artists who would appeal to younger viewers. During its first season alone Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, The Vogues, Nancy Sinatra, The Righteous Brothers, and The Association appeared on the show. In addition to these musical guests, The Glen Campbell Hour also featured the promotional films for The Beatles' songs "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down." Among the guests on the third season of The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (the 1970-1971 season) were The 5th Dimension, The Osmonds, The Supremes, Jackie DeShannon, Sunday's Child, Sonny & Cher, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It is possible that in featuring rock and pop artists, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour may have appealed to a younger, more urban audience than other shows with rural appeal.

Of course, some might point out that The Johnny Cash Show, which also featured rock and pop artists, was cancelled during the 1970-1971 season by ABC. Indeed, if anything, The Johnny Cash Show featured bigger rock and pop artists than The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. Among the guests on The Johnny Cash Show throughout its run were The Cowsills, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, The Guess Who, Lulu, Joni Mitchell, Linda Rondstandt, Dusty Springfield, and others. It can also be pointed out that The Ed Sullivan Show also featured rock and pop acts clear into its final season, and yet it was among the first victims of the Rural Purge. While the rock and pop acts on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour probably helped the show get a younger audience than other shows with rural appeal (or other variety shows, for that matter), it may not have been the only reason its audience may have been slightly younger.

Indeed, much of the reason for the survival of The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour may have been its star. Glen Campbell was a country music star, but he was one with a good deal of crossover appeal. In 1967 his single "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" peaked at no. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. As mentioned earlier, "Wichita Lineman" hit no. 3 on the chart. "Galveston" went to no. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. What is more, Glen Campbell had several other singles that would reach the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100 in the years 1967 to 1970.  Much of the reason Glen Campbell's appeal went beyond country music listeners is that he was not a traditional country music singer. His music has often been described as "pop country," and even counted as "easy listening."

Beyond Glen Campbell and the music guests on his show, another reason The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour may have appealed to a young audience is the show's comedy sketches. Among the writers on the show were ones who had written for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, including Cecil Tuck, Steve Martin, and Rob Reiner. While the humour on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour tended to be apolitical, unlike The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, it may well have appealed to a younger crowd than the comedy routines on other variety shows, much less the countryfied humour on Hee Haw or Mayberry R.F.D.

Regardless, while The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour survived the Rural Purge, it lasted only one more season. For its fourth season CBS moved The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour from Sunday night to Tuesday night. While the show came in at no. 37 for the season, it was ultimately cancelled. Although sometimes counted as a victim of the Rural Purge, it was cancelled well after the Rural Purge had unfolded during the 1970-1971 season. While it is possible that the The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour had lost whatever young people in its audience it had, it also seems possible that the cancellation was due to the fact that Glen Campbell was no longer the hot commodity in 1972 that he had been in 1969. While the show was on the air, his last single to hit the Billboard Hot 100 was a cover of Dionne Warwick's "I Say a Little Prayer" in 1971, which only went to no. 81 on the chart. This, coupled with a new time slot, may have resulted in its slight drop in the ratings for its fourth season. The lone survivor of the Rural Purge at CBS, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, aired its last episode on June 13 1972.