Load Up the Truck – ‘Beverly Hillbillies’ Coming to Reality TV

While watching The Anna Nicole Show a couple weeks ago (I’m not proud of it), my wife looked at me and said that if we had camera crews filming our lives it would be more interesting than this dreck.

While I am not sure how many viewers really want to see me go to an office day in and day out and then watch reality TV shows when I get home – not to mention the exciting-to-see writing on the computer and posting it to a website – it looks like reality TV is going more and more in that direction. In the newest wave of following specific people around, we began with Ozzy Osbourne & Family, moved on to Anna Nicole Smith, and now we will be going to hicks transplanted into a Beverly Hills mansion.

Yes, that’s right, CBS is working on a reality TV version of “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Just when you thought reality TV couldn’t get any stranger…

According to Variety, the project is currently titled, “Real Beverly Hillbillies.” It will be a half-hour series that follows what Reuters describes as “a rural, lower-middle class family” who has been put up for a year in a mansion featuring maid service, personal assistants, a weekly income, and more. In case there was any doubt, it is intended to be a comedy – but then, so is The Anna Nicole Show, er, I think.

But the CBS vice president of alternative programming said that the show will still respect the family and not mock them. This leaves me scratching my head, since at least half the humor involved in the sitcom version of The Beverly Hillbillies was derived at the family’s expense. “Ha! Look at those hicks!” Isn’t most of the point of a story like this to laugh not just with them, but at them? How will they make the show funny while at the same time not making the family the butt of all the jokes?

In any event, if you and your family want to be transplanted to Beverly Hills and you fit the description here, CBS will supposedly be opening up the phone lines for auditions within the next few days. Just make sure you bring “Granny” along with you. It wouldn’t be the same without her.

As for me, I don’t think I’m “rural” enough, and I’m not entirely sure what “lower middle class” consists of. So despite my wife’s suggestion, I think I’ll just stay home and watch the show – and, of course, publish the reviews here on RealityNewsOnline.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline, and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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