First, I haven't seen any Hee Haw in years but I remember watching it every Saturday morning whether in color or black and white as a child in New Jersey. Not exactly, Hee Haw country is it. Well, I liked the show and watched it whenever it was on. Of course, the writing wasn't great but I loved watching Minnie Pearl and gained my first taste of country music. This was all before modern country music which sounds more like pop music of the 1980s. Anyway, Hee Haw appeared to have a family type show where the jokes were silly and stupid but there was always room for one more. The cast was always large and I even miss their stupid humor to this day. I remember Lulu and some of the stupid skits that even SNL would toss out. In real life, the cast and crew were like family and the show was like a reunion for all of them. Sadly, the show's cancellation was an end of an era in television history.
22 Reviews
Can't go wrong
SanteeFats13 January 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Yes the humor is campy and country, as is the music of course. The skits are pretty good, the girls are pretty and dressed to show it. A lot of the guest stars are very well known now if not then. Roy Clark does not get the accolades he deserves for his picking, he can really bring it. There are a lot of semi big time, at least then if not now, country personality's that appear on this series. There are several country legends that are regulars and they really don't have very large parts as the time is spread over the skits, jokes, and music. I find it refreshing to see that as no one seems to be bigger than anyone else, except for Buck Owens and Roy Clark, but even they don't hog the screen.
The name is the laugh
haildevilman10 December 2008
I NEVER liked country music.
But I COULDN'T miss this show.
Laugh-in was the 60's hippie version and Sha Na Na was the 50's greaser version. Now we have you goober/redneck version of sketch comedy. And they looked like the were having a blast.
Lots of music of course and stereotypes everywhere. But you could always see the wink at the fans.
Buck Owens (RIP) and Roy Clark were great hosts. Roy was not only a great "picker" but a swell guy as well. You had to like him.
Every country-boy scenario got a run through the joke factory. Laughs a plenty.
But I COULDN'T miss this show.
Laugh-in was the 60's hippie version and Sha Na Na was the 50's greaser version. Now we have you goober/redneck version of sketch comedy. And they looked like the were having a blast.
Lots of music of course and stereotypes everywhere. But you could always see the wink at the fans.
Buck Owens (RIP) and Roy Clark were great hosts. Roy was not only a great "picker" but a swell guy as well. You had to like him.
Every country-boy scenario got a run through the joke factory. Laughs a plenty.
Nothing like it
Calstanhope5 February 2003
This show proved you should never underestimate cornball. Sure, a lot of hicks watched the show (I come from a long line of ridge-runners myself), but they alone didn't keep "Hee-Haw" on the air for all those years. Many people with otherwise sophisticated tastes have low-brow senses of humor. This is why people are still watching "The Three Stooges" and "Benny Hill" after all these years. "Hee-Haw" was ALL cornball, slapstick, T-and-A and great country music, and people ate it up. Much of the show's appeal also came from its fair amount of satire (remember Charlie's radio show on KORN?) and the cast members' unerring ability to laugh at themselves, though viewers never got the impression that anyone felt demeaned by it all. Which is a hell of a lot more than you can say for TV these days.
You never realize how great something really is until it's gone!
gilligan19651 August 2015
I remember watching this show all through my childhood, my teens, and, into my twenties...and, loving it.
This was one of those 'ultimate' variety shows that had something for everyone - good music; funny skits; pretty women; a talented cast; top guest stars; and, a friendly atmosphere.
Although I haven't seen "Hee-Haw" in ages, I remember a lot that I saw and heard here as if it were only yesterday...such as Roy Clark's banjo playing along with Buck Owens and the entire cast having those wonderful sing-a-longs; the song "Where Oh Where Are You Tonight;" Grandpa Jones; Minnie Pearl; 'Junior;' Lulu; George Lindsey ("The Andy Griffith Show"); and, those country-lovelies Lisa Todd, Misty Rowe, Cathy Baker, Marianne Gordon, and, Barbi Benton.
I'll never understand why iconic shows like this aren't being shown on television nowadays so that younger generations can see that music and humor, entertainment in general, can be good without vulgarity and raunchy behavior. INSP, TV Land, and/or CMT should air this.
This is one of those family-friendly shows that everyone can enjoy, which is probably why it lasted twenty-eight years. I give it a solid 10...easily! :)
This was one of those 'ultimate' variety shows that had something for everyone - good music; funny skits; pretty women; a talented cast; top guest stars; and, a friendly atmosphere.
Although I haven't seen "Hee-Haw" in ages, I remember a lot that I saw and heard here as if it were only yesterday...such as Roy Clark's banjo playing along with Buck Owens and the entire cast having those wonderful sing-a-longs; the song "Where Oh Where Are You Tonight;" Grandpa Jones; Minnie Pearl; 'Junior;' Lulu; George Lindsey ("The Andy Griffith Show"); and, those country-lovelies Lisa Todd, Misty Rowe, Cathy Baker, Marianne Gordon, and, Barbi Benton.
I'll never understand why iconic shows like this aren't being shown on television nowadays so that younger generations can see that music and humor, entertainment in general, can be good without vulgarity and raunchy behavior. INSP, TV Land, and/or CMT should air this.
This is one of those family-friendly shows that everyone can enjoy, which is probably why it lasted twenty-eight years. I give it a solid 10...easily! :)
BEVERLY HILLBILLIES meet LAUGH IN. Cotton Pickin', Dad Blum, Good Old Boy, Down Home answer to "Sophisticated" Stuff like THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS
redryan6421 November 2008
APPEARING as a guest on the TONIGHT SHOW about 30 or so years ago was then Critic of TV GUIDE, the late Cleveland Emory. Sitting in as substitute was guest host and former (and original) Emcee, Steve Allen. Other than the expected business of asking the very outspoken Mr. Amory about his likes and dislikes of the current video medium offerings, the discussion turned toward creativity. Without hesitation, Cleveland Amory named his three top creative men in television; one being the multi-faceted talent of Steve, with the second being Dave Garroway. The trio was rounded out by the fast living, cigar chomping former Disc Jockey and manic comedy producer, Mr. Ernie Kovacs.
ASSEMBLING one's honor roll consisting of these three should come as no surprise; as they surely rose above the crowd in those early TV days, having few near competitors to enumerate. (Although, excuse me, 'Cleve'; but I would add Soupy Sales to the roster. Honest, Schultz!) All had some peculiarity of their own; placing their own inimitable brands on the volumes of works left behind. Each has also left his own indelible print on their own genres and hence has been inspiration and true role models to those who followed.
MR. GARROWAY brought sincerity and a natural, one to one conversational style to his Emcee & Starring positions on GARROWAY AT LARGE as well as his long run as the first host of NBC's TODAY SHOW. Steve Allen's energy and off-the-wall, usually non-sequitor comic style has been an obvious inspiration to many an upstart funny man; with David Letterman's great following and longevity coming immediately to mind.
THE third member of this artistic triumvirate, Ernie Kovacs, with the shortest life of all and the often most outlandish and truly "deep", meaningful routines, perhaps had the most long-lasting affect on posterity.
SIMPLY stated as the reason we go through this rather intricate opening simply because of Mr. Ernie Kovacs. He was the first one to make use of video tape (circa 1958) in much the same way that Mack Sennett, Hal Roach and other silent film producers used film. Any examination of Kovacs' the sketches in his specials or the 'clues' in his Comedy-Game Show, TAKE A GOOD LOOK, will render this point very obvious.
LONG about 1968, following closely on the success of THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR (CBS), NBC brought us ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN; which combined a lot of contemporary music, quick one liners, non-sequitor sketches with the OP-Art/Pop-Art sets, Carnaby Street Fashion and full-blooded, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass-type music.
EARLY on, both Dan Rowan & (the lovely) Dick Martin admitted their debt to Ernie and even reprised the famous sight-gag sketch that combines the girl taking the bubble bath with the old multitude of Circus Clown emerging from the little car gag.
IMITATION being the sincerest form of flattery, an old adage which holds up even more so in Hollywood and in Show Business generally, the idea came along to writer Frank Peppiatt to do a sort of LAUGH-IN knock off; albeit one with a decidedly rural, Southern, "Good-Old-Boy " setting, Veteran performers from the Country & Western Circuits would be culled and pressed into service to amuse and entertain a TV audience composed of many a new found fan; to whom the "Hillbilly Music" and Kountry Korn humor was new.
USING the name recognition and talents of the great C & W Singer, Buck Owens as Master of Ceremonies, HEE HAW stocked its Orchestra with local, "home grown" veteran Nashville Musicians from Grand Ole Opry service. Added to this we had generous servings of Country Humor; as provided by many a master Country stage comedian.
HEE-HAW's role of honor read like a Who's Who of Nashville, and all long before we heard of any CMA (That's Country Music Association and its CMA Awards. Got it, Schultz?) Either as regular cast members or as guest Stars, the Show boasted of names like: Emcee Buck Owens, Junior Samples, Minnie Pearl, Loretta Lynn, Roy Clark, David 'Stringbean'Akeman, Jeannie C. Riley, Tammy Wynette, Grandpa Jones, Dennis Weaver, Roy Acuff, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Larry Gatlin, Barbara Mandrell, Reba McIntire, George Jones, Charley Pride, George "Goober" Lindsey, Waylon Jennings, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sheb Wooley, Dolly Parton, Patti Page, the Sons of the Pioneers, the Oak Ridge Boys, etc., etc. Well, you get the picture.
FREE WHEELING fun was the order of the day for a typical HEE HAW. There was great music served up by the Original Artists. Always there was a plentiful supply of quick, rapid fire, one liners. And, although there was a lot of innuendo and sexual titillation involved with a lot of well endowed ladies decked out in wardrobe like Lil Abner's girlfriend, Daisy May, they always managed to balance things out in the end.
YOU see, they would always have a Gospel Song or an American Standard Spiritual included; being presented in a most serious and solemn a moment, a real departure from the rest of the proceedings. This was their way of providing content containing the "Sociably redeeming content".
WELL, overalls, hay bales, corn fields and barnyards not withstanding; they sure must have been doing something right! After all, this weekly dose of hour-long Kountry Korn far out-lasted most any and all series on TV; being on the tube, network and in syndication, from 1969-93! POODLE SCHNITZ!!
ASSEMBLING one's honor roll consisting of these three should come as no surprise; as they surely rose above the crowd in those early TV days, having few near competitors to enumerate. (Although, excuse me, 'Cleve'; but I would add Soupy Sales to the roster. Honest, Schultz!) All had some peculiarity of their own; placing their own inimitable brands on the volumes of works left behind. Each has also left his own indelible print on their own genres and hence has been inspiration and true role models to those who followed.
MR. GARROWAY brought sincerity and a natural, one to one conversational style to his Emcee & Starring positions on GARROWAY AT LARGE as well as his long run as the first host of NBC's TODAY SHOW. Steve Allen's energy and off-the-wall, usually non-sequitor comic style has been an obvious inspiration to many an upstart funny man; with David Letterman's great following and longevity coming immediately to mind.
THE third member of this artistic triumvirate, Ernie Kovacs, with the shortest life of all and the often most outlandish and truly "deep", meaningful routines, perhaps had the most long-lasting affect on posterity.
SIMPLY stated as the reason we go through this rather intricate opening simply because of Mr. Ernie Kovacs. He was the first one to make use of video tape (circa 1958) in much the same way that Mack Sennett, Hal Roach and other silent film producers used film. Any examination of Kovacs' the sketches in his specials or the 'clues' in his Comedy-Game Show, TAKE A GOOD LOOK, will render this point very obvious.
LONG about 1968, following closely on the success of THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR (CBS), NBC brought us ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN; which combined a lot of contemporary music, quick one liners, non-sequitor sketches with the OP-Art/Pop-Art sets, Carnaby Street Fashion and full-blooded, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass-type music.
EARLY on, both Dan Rowan & (the lovely) Dick Martin admitted their debt to Ernie and even reprised the famous sight-gag sketch that combines the girl taking the bubble bath with the old multitude of Circus Clown emerging from the little car gag.
IMITATION being the sincerest form of flattery, an old adage which holds up even more so in Hollywood and in Show Business generally, the idea came along to writer Frank Peppiatt to do a sort of LAUGH-IN knock off; albeit one with a decidedly rural, Southern, "Good-Old-Boy " setting, Veteran performers from the Country & Western Circuits would be culled and pressed into service to amuse and entertain a TV audience composed of many a new found fan; to whom the "Hillbilly Music" and Kountry Korn humor was new.
USING the name recognition and talents of the great C & W Singer, Buck Owens as Master of Ceremonies, HEE HAW stocked its Orchestra with local, "home grown" veteran Nashville Musicians from Grand Ole Opry service. Added to this we had generous servings of Country Humor; as provided by many a master Country stage comedian.
HEE-HAW's role of honor read like a Who's Who of Nashville, and all long before we heard of any CMA (That's Country Music Association and its CMA Awards. Got it, Schultz?) Either as regular cast members or as guest Stars, the Show boasted of names like: Emcee Buck Owens, Junior Samples, Minnie Pearl, Loretta Lynn, Roy Clark, David 'Stringbean'Akeman, Jeannie C. Riley, Tammy Wynette, Grandpa Jones, Dennis Weaver, Roy Acuff, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Larry Gatlin, Barbara Mandrell, Reba McIntire, George Jones, Charley Pride, George "Goober" Lindsey, Waylon Jennings, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sheb Wooley, Dolly Parton, Patti Page, the Sons of the Pioneers, the Oak Ridge Boys, etc., etc. Well, you get the picture.
FREE WHEELING fun was the order of the day for a typical HEE HAW. There was great music served up by the Original Artists. Always there was a plentiful supply of quick, rapid fire, one liners. And, although there was a lot of innuendo and sexual titillation involved with a lot of well endowed ladies decked out in wardrobe like Lil Abner's girlfriend, Daisy May, they always managed to balance things out in the end.
YOU see, they would always have a Gospel Song or an American Standard Spiritual included; being presented in a most serious and solemn a moment, a real departure from the rest of the proceedings. This was their way of providing content containing the "Sociably redeeming content".
WELL, overalls, hay bales, corn fields and barnyards not withstanding; they sure must have been doing something right! After all, this weekly dose of hour-long Kountry Korn far out-lasted most any and all series on TV; being on the tube, network and in syndication, from 1969-93! POODLE SCHNITZ!!
Everyone I knew liked HeeHaw!
wadebednarick14 March 2020
Whenever this show came on everyone that was over came to the living room to watch. If there were family, grandparents, the youngest, any neighbors all gathered around to watch when it was on. The total ridiculous nature of it was the charm. When I hear so many of the songs that I learned about on Hee Haw I get all kinds of memory spikes and I still laugh out loud when I see the re-runs playing on Circle Tv. I was five years old when it first started up. My grandparents owned a tavern in Wisconsin and my Uncle and Aunt owned a tavern too so often times I was watching it with a bunch of locals sittin' in the bar along with a bunch of my own family. I sure do like those ol' memories and yes I loved this show too. "That's all"
Fun feel good carefree country rural comedy delight!
blanbrn16 March 2020
Remember growing up and on Saturday nights in the 80's watching reruns of this on my local "CBS" station at grandpa and grandma's house. "Hee Haw" was feel good fun as the jokes were funny with laughs and really corny and the skits were parodies of country life and rural living at it's good old best! Also the music guest were always top of the line which helped move the show along so well and the staples and main players were the now late greats Roy Clark, Buck Owens, Minnie Pearl, and Grandpa Jones! Always they put on good performances with their country talent! Overall this was syndication classic, in some areas even today from time to time you might catch reruns on digital cable TV.
Good Ol' country humor and music...HEE-HAW!!!
jmak_20026 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I love the Hee-Haw program and I own 11 of the DVD's that were issued by Time-Life back in the early 2000's. I think 2004-2006, somewhere in that time frame. Anyway...I was practically raised on this show. Yes, I know now that the show was not necessarily aimed at my age bracket...I was born in 1976 and so I was not even a teenager when I first saw this show...but I liked the show nonetheless. Every Saturday the show would air and it would also air repeats at various times on Sunday afternoon. I'd catch the shows whenever I could. For a period of years I'd watch it with my grandparent's on Saturday evenings when I'd spend the weekend with them. I currently watch Hee-Haw on the RFD-TV channel...it airs every Sunday night at 8pm Eastern time and the episode repeats Monday mornings at 10am Eastern. Those who have digital or satellite cable should check your line-up's to see if you get the channel...if so you'll be able to watch Hee-Haw each week again. Currently they're airing 1972 episodes.
Hee-Haw, as it's been commented on, was inspired by Laugh-In. The humor on Hee-Haw was purposely corny. The quick edit style of jumping from one scene to the next in rapid-fire succession, according to the show's producer, was one of the elements of the show that gave it appeal. Before one could groan at a bad joke something else was up on the screen. When I see commentary that insults the show's writers I often take up for them. The jokes were purposely bad and corny...but some jokes and one-liners were actually hilarious...depending on who delivered them. Don Harron's KORN radio character, Charlie Farqhueson, was laugh out loud funny. His mangled English, alliteration, and puns were clever...and if one carefully listens to a lot of his routines you're bound to hear some more R-rated jokes slip in. Sometimes the crew off-stage could be heard howling with laughter...but Harron always managed to stay in character and not break-up.
I could go on and on about the beloved sketches and cast-members of this program but so could any number of other Hee-Haw fans.
The show aired on CBS-TV from 1969 through 1971. It became a syndicated program...airing in the same time-slot on local CBS affiliates...starting in the fall of 1971. It would remain in syndication through the summer of 1992.
Vicki Lawrence saluted the program in May of 1994 on her short-lived daytime talk-show. The Nashville Network aired selected repeats of the show during the early and mid '90s. The show's producer, Sam Lovullo, issued a look-back on the show in the form of LIFE IN THE KORNFIELD, a book that was released in 1996. The show would later rerun on CMT but on very limited air-dates. CMT, in my opinion, insulted the show's audience and everyone involved with the program when they played around with their line-up and basically teased the Hee-Haw fans with infrequent airings of the program. Time-Life issued several DVD collections of the program which went on to become top-sellers on-line.
RFD-TV is currently airing repeats of the program on Sunday nights and they've promised to air the show in chronological order. So far they're up to January 1972.
There were typically 26 episodes of Hee-Haw produced per season...26 first-run episodes and the 26 repeats make up a 52 week calendar year.
Hee-Haw, as it's been commented on, was inspired by Laugh-In. The humor on Hee-Haw was purposely corny. The quick edit style of jumping from one scene to the next in rapid-fire succession, according to the show's producer, was one of the elements of the show that gave it appeal. Before one could groan at a bad joke something else was up on the screen. When I see commentary that insults the show's writers I often take up for them. The jokes were purposely bad and corny...but some jokes and one-liners were actually hilarious...depending on who delivered them. Don Harron's KORN radio character, Charlie Farqhueson, was laugh out loud funny. His mangled English, alliteration, and puns were clever...and if one carefully listens to a lot of his routines you're bound to hear some more R-rated jokes slip in. Sometimes the crew off-stage could be heard howling with laughter...but Harron always managed to stay in character and not break-up.
I could go on and on about the beloved sketches and cast-members of this program but so could any number of other Hee-Haw fans.
The show aired on CBS-TV from 1969 through 1971. It became a syndicated program...airing in the same time-slot on local CBS affiliates...starting in the fall of 1971. It would remain in syndication through the summer of 1992.
Vicki Lawrence saluted the program in May of 1994 on her short-lived daytime talk-show. The Nashville Network aired selected repeats of the show during the early and mid '90s. The show's producer, Sam Lovullo, issued a look-back on the show in the form of LIFE IN THE KORNFIELD, a book that was released in 1996. The show would later rerun on CMT but on very limited air-dates. CMT, in my opinion, insulted the show's audience and everyone involved with the program when they played around with their line-up and basically teased the Hee-Haw fans with infrequent airings of the program. Time-Life issued several DVD collections of the program which went on to become top-sellers on-line.
RFD-TV is currently airing repeats of the program on Sunday nights and they've promised to air the show in chronological order. So far they're up to January 1972.
There were typically 26 episodes of Hee-Haw produced per season...26 first-run episodes and the 26 repeats make up a 52 week calendar year.
Pop's favorite show, and favorite punishment for me
dcoydcoy30 November 2019
I was forced to watch this as it was my old man's favorite. We were a rodeo family and although I love the old school country, such as Jones, Cash, Owens, and Haggard, this show made me sick. It was a show for people who had lost the will to live. If I wasn't such a masochist for pain, the show would've probably killed me! For recovery from the show, after its ending I head to my bedroom and put on the Richard Pryor or George Carlin. Records the old man didn't know I owned .
Yes, I gave it a 6 for all the guest greats that performed.
Yes, I gave it a 6 for all the guest greats that performed.
Trash
chiguy1720 April 2019
I have to admit, I really don't remember much of anything about this show - I was a kid when it was on; however, I remember even as a kid thinking it was just stupid and "hillbilly-ish". I only caught it because my one set of grandparents (admittedly less than Ivy League) apparently watched it.
That being said, I'm astonished it ever made it to air, and am more than a little embarrassed to admit anyone in my family tree watched and enjoyed this show. Thankfully my paternal genes are apparently dominant.
That being said, I'm astonished it ever made it to air, and am more than a little embarrassed to admit anyone in my family tree watched and enjoyed this show. Thankfully my paternal genes are apparently dominant.
Corny but hilarious!!
bringmehossenfeffer24 April 2022
As a child, if we are at grandma and grandpas for supper on a Saturday night, they had HEE HAW on... as a youngster I can't say I loved it but as a 50 yr old now, I appreciate it so much more. Besides it gives me amazing memories of my family and the laughter , it is just a really funny show. I don't love or maybe like country music and the only singer I love who is country is Johnny cash but this show will tickle your funny bone for sure. Best part is any age can watch it... just sit back, enjoy the corn and just laugh. It's easy.
a wonderful show!
dtucker864 October 2003
When Hee Haw first came on the air, it was about the same time that All In The Family came on the air. These were two different shows with different messages. However, they both were incredibly popular despite the fact that the critics didn't like them at first. Who would have ever believed that Hee Haw would have had a longer run then Gunsmoke and still be beloved after so many years? It was a good clean family oriented show that you could let your kids watch without embarassment. Yes, I agree that it was hokey and corny but what of it if it made you laugh and feel good? It showcased some of the most amazing performers of the country and western music world. Sam Louvello the producer said that it was like the tv version of Nashville's legendary Grand Old Opry. You saw all the giants on this show like Buck Owens, Roy Clark, Lulu Roman, Grandpa Jones and Little Jimmy Dickens. Hee Haw was more then just a tv show, it was a cultural phenomenon and an icon. We all remember Grandpa Jones "Hey Grandpa whats for supper?" He always made my mouth water with those recipes he described and we all remember Junior Samples at BR5149. We need more family oriented programming like this for our kids today. They need to have positive reinforcement from this other trash that is poured into their minds. Roy Clark talked in his autobiography about how the cast and crew of Hee Haw were like a family. He talked of how they could not wait to get back to see each other and see how much weight each other had gained and to learn all the baby's names. They had a ball working together and it comes thru on every episode. Thank God for Hee Haw and I wish they would put it back into syndication so a whole new generation could be introduced to this American classic.
Great music and bad jokes
captarne9 May 2022
Yes the jokes are extremely corny and the acting in spots is bad, but it is the music that is the gem. Hee Haw introduced many to great country music and that is it's strength. Just re- watching Roy Clark sing "Peace in the Valley" is very emotional.
Laugh In Country Style
shelbythuylinh19 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
If you watched the show "Laugh In" You would love this as it may be corny to a new generation but used to watch it as a kid there. And that Roy Clark and Buck Owens led the comedy/variety show.
And that they were the perfect straight men to a cast of characters like the late Minnie Pearl, Lulu Roman, etc.
And that it was canceled by CBS after one or two seasons but became a hit in syndication.
And that they were the perfect straight men to a cast of characters like the late Minnie Pearl, Lulu Roman, etc.
And that it was canceled by CBS after one or two seasons but became a hit in syndication.
A Survivor
Sargebri28 April 2003
Even though I'm not a big fan of country (the closest I will get to liking country is by listening to The Eagles or the Byrds), I have to hand it to this show. It managed to survive the infamous Rural Purge of 1971 and became a television institution. This show had to be one of the corniest (no pun intended) in the history of television and it in many ways it was a countryfied version of Laugh In. However, this show had a loyal following and it managed to show that Country music was still popular no matter how old Fred felt.
A wonderful show...
Thonolan310 June 2004
This show lasted nearly a quarter century, but even that hardly seems enough. I'm not that big a fan of the stuff that currently passes for country music, but I love the older stuff. Many of country music's biggest legends guest starred on this show, and several others were regulars at one point or another. This was the last of the successful variety shows on tv and by far the most successful country music show on television. It's doubtful that we'll ever see anything like it again. It's a shame that this show is currently off the air- I don't think you can even catch reruns nowadays. Hopefully, Hee Haw (or at least the early seasons) will eventually become available on DVD. I certainly hope so.
Country meets Corny as you can get
raysond30 October 2002
This was the most corniest of all the variety shows of its day and it still holds that title. First off,the series premiered on CBS-TV in the fall of 1969,became the onslaught of the network's all out crusade of eliminating its rural programming in 1971(and this show caught the full frontal blow of cancellation),and then all of a sudden the show was saved from certain ruins,and found a new home---in syndication where it remained for an astounding 22 years before called it quits for good in the spring of 1993. The reruns of this series was showed recently on the TNN(The Nashville Network)before the logo changed two years after it was cancelled.
But was makes "Hee Haw" a classic in the history of television? Well,first off, I remember this show being on every Saturday night at 7:00 since during that time you had a choice between either this show or a combination of other shows in that same time slot back in the day; 1.) You had Lawrence Welk for the older crowd and those folks who were on Geritol; 2.) Dionne Warwick or Marilyn McCoo for Solid Gold; 3.)Charles Nelson Reilly or Danny Terrio for Dance Fever; 4.)Ed McMahon on Star Search.
Secondly,this show had some country humor,and I do mean country humor that was so corny you can tell that is was just that--straight up the chaser hillbilly dialogue of Southern culture. Also,it's cast was corny too including hosts Buck Owens and Roy Clark and regulars Archie Campbell,George Lindsey(could you believe the producers cast him as Goober here),Minnie Pearl,Grandpa Jones,and that dingy blonde girl who comes up at the end of the segments(She reminds of Chrissy Snow on the farm)and not to mention the Hee Haw Honeys(which was a spin off of this series which sucked badly after 7 episodes in which one of the stars was a unknown Kathie Lee Gifford?). Third,some of it was funny,and some of it was horribly awful,and you can tell that whoever wrote the scripts were straight up hillbillies who had no clue to what a variety show goes through.
The music I say was very good and it set the standard to what country music supposed to be including some that made regular appearances on the show including Conway Twitty,George Jones,Waylon Jennings,Merle Haggard,Dolly Parton,Eddie Rabbitt,Tanya Tucker,Loretta Lynn,and so much more. It was also not only to include country artists,buy also the first country series to featured acts done by other minorities like The Pointer Sisters,and sometimes others like Charlie Pride,and Neal McCoy(the first Native American to perform on the show),not to mention musical works by Buck Owens and the Buckaroos,Roy Clark,and Grandpa Jones. You have some very well known guest stars that appear on the show as well including one Christmas episode where Gunsmoke's Amanda Blake lends her voice to some Christmas tunes as well as Beverly Hillbillies' own Donna Douglas and Gomer Pyle's Jim Nabors. In all a great variety series that had country music at its very best.
But was makes "Hee Haw" a classic in the history of television? Well,first off, I remember this show being on every Saturday night at 7:00 since during that time you had a choice between either this show or a combination of other shows in that same time slot back in the day; 1.) You had Lawrence Welk for the older crowd and those folks who were on Geritol; 2.) Dionne Warwick or Marilyn McCoo for Solid Gold; 3.)Charles Nelson Reilly or Danny Terrio for Dance Fever; 4.)Ed McMahon on Star Search.
Secondly,this show had some country humor,and I do mean country humor that was so corny you can tell that is was just that--straight up the chaser hillbilly dialogue of Southern culture. Also,it's cast was corny too including hosts Buck Owens and Roy Clark and regulars Archie Campbell,George Lindsey(could you believe the producers cast him as Goober here),Minnie Pearl,Grandpa Jones,and that dingy blonde girl who comes up at the end of the segments(She reminds of Chrissy Snow on the farm)and not to mention the Hee Haw Honeys(which was a spin off of this series which sucked badly after 7 episodes in which one of the stars was a unknown Kathie Lee Gifford?). Third,some of it was funny,and some of it was horribly awful,and you can tell that whoever wrote the scripts were straight up hillbillies who had no clue to what a variety show goes through.
The music I say was very good and it set the standard to what country music supposed to be including some that made regular appearances on the show including Conway Twitty,George Jones,Waylon Jennings,Merle Haggard,Dolly Parton,Eddie Rabbitt,Tanya Tucker,Loretta Lynn,and so much more. It was also not only to include country artists,buy also the first country series to featured acts done by other minorities like The Pointer Sisters,and sometimes others like Charlie Pride,and Neal McCoy(the first Native American to perform on the show),not to mention musical works by Buck Owens and the Buckaroos,Roy Clark,and Grandpa Jones. You have some very well known guest stars that appear on the show as well including one Christmas episode where Gunsmoke's Amanda Blake lends her voice to some Christmas tunes as well as Beverly Hillbillies' own Donna Douglas and Gomer Pyle's Jim Nabors. In all a great variety series that had country music at its very best.
Corniest Show ever on Television
zaur-225 October 2000
This show was awesome, a lot of things try to be serious comedy or even worse try to be serious and end up being corny. But Hee Haw was a show that not only was it corny, it tired to be corny and it realised in the fact about getting as Corny as you could get. Also, it's seemingly G-rated persona was filled with sexual inuendo. Check out the Hee Haw Honies sweaten it out over the laundry and you'll see what I mean. Not even to mention the Country Music of the day, just where was Conway Twitty, rub in it in, rub it in. This show is a total classic hoot, check it out.
Anyone remember blond girl on Hee Haw
metafora-117 March 2013
Anyone remember the blond girl on Hee Haw, the one who started out apple cheeked, decked out in bib-front overalls, cute as hell? She wasn't a lead player but started out young, in what seemed to be her early twenties. Then after time she put on weight. It was torment. With which I fully empathized. Anybody know who this is in real life? I've often wondered what was going on with her during those years.
There was another young woman on the show who was always quite overweight and probably better remembered, with a post-show career. She isn't the one I'm thinking of. Instead, this was a somewhat marginal player - she was on-stage but not featured with her own shot in some of the Youtube footage I've see of the cast.
I can't ever forget Roy Clark's supposed Peak Guitar Moment. He carried himself magnificently well most of the time, an all-star performer, clearly. He comes up with this blistering, virtuoso performance of Malaguena or something similarly flamenco. He does a world-class job but while he played, the camera panned bank and forth from his hands to his face. So, a shot of flashy fingering followed by Roy's face looming big as a pumpkin with his chin jammed down to his chest, huffing and puffing with his eyes bugged out. He didn't make it look easy. And, absolutely, it was a notoriously difficult tune to play. I've seen musicians performing with their eyebrows arched or looking off in the distance in some dream-state like they're possessed by some Art Spirit but here's brother Roy, working hard, no pretending.
There was another young woman on the show who was always quite overweight and probably better remembered, with a post-show career. She isn't the one I'm thinking of. Instead, this was a somewhat marginal player - she was on-stage but not featured with her own shot in some of the Youtube footage I've see of the cast.
I can't ever forget Roy Clark's supposed Peak Guitar Moment. He carried himself magnificently well most of the time, an all-star performer, clearly. He comes up with this blistering, virtuoso performance of Malaguena or something similarly flamenco. He does a world-class job but while he played, the camera panned bank and forth from his hands to his face. So, a shot of flashy fingering followed by Roy's face looming big as a pumpkin with his chin jammed down to his chest, huffing and puffing with his eyes bugged out. He didn't make it look easy. And, absolutely, it was a notoriously difficult tune to play. I've seen musicians performing with their eyebrows arched or looking off in the distance in some dream-state like they're possessed by some Art Spirit but here's brother Roy, working hard, no pretending.
Country Music's best Variety show
mbrand2002200214 July 2005
Back in the seventies I used to watch Hee Haw every Saturday afternoon before Lawrence Welk on CHCH which was station in Hamilton that syndicated both shows. I didn't care much about the comedy but the music was the only thing that made that show great. It's unfortunate you don't see shows of this magnitude unless you have the right people that can make a good show successful. Hee Haw was on for a very longtime which it's run ended in the early nineties which marked an end of an era that lasted over 20 years. It's great the got some DVD's that are now re-leasing the Hee Haw shows from the late 60's to the early seventies. A show like Hee Haw can revive itself by hiring some WWE Diva wannabe's that like to show their assets for television.
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