Carter Country

To say that Carter Country was based on the show "In The Heat of the Night" is pretty much stretching the imagination. Granted it has a college-educated black man working as a Sergeant in a Sheriff's department full of red-necks but that is as about as far as you can go with the similarities. If I remember right this was an ABC sitcom. It was put on the air to capitalize on then President Jimmy Carter's name (after all he was from Georgia and I believe the setting was in Georgia). But if you actually watched the show you recognized that they were taking liberties with ABC hit police comedy "Barney Miller". Like Barney Miller the show dealt with the workings of the small Sheriff's department and the type of crime, criminals and other things that they had to deal with. Almost all of the action took place in the sheriff's office (Barney Miller was in the 12th precinct)and occasionally you saw the home of the Sheriff or the deputies.

I suppose other similarities can drawn looking at shows like "Beverly Hillbillies", "Petticoat Junction", "Green Acres", even "The Andy Griffith Show" as these shows also were about rural people, some from the South.

Carter Country was an extremely funny, well-written show that just never got off the ground and that was too bad. I mean when idiotic stereotyping shows like "Dukes of Hazzard" can last as long as it did you would think Carter Country should have had a better chance.

This is one of those quickie sitcoms developed in reaction to current events. In this case, it's a takeoff on "In the Heat of the Night", with a decidedly farcical twist. Because Jimmy Carter had just been elected, Hollywood gave us this badly-titled waste of time that featured stupid rednecks getting their comeuppance on a weekly basis. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, I guess.) Think "She's the Sheriff" without Suzanne Somers but with fake Georgian accents. Everyone acts like they're ten years old because that's the target market.

Melanie Griffith is the only one of the cast who went on to anything spectacular, but most of the rest are recognizable as good character actors. Aside from Griffith, the most recognizable would probably be Victor French, who created many memorable characters in productions like Highway to Heaven, Little House on the Prairie, and did several turns as heavies in movies like Flap and An Officer and a Gentleman. Here he is the world-weary but (mostly) fair sheriff. Richard Paul played the mayor, and he was the one who came up with the witless phrase that everyone repeated on playgrounds and by water coolers -- "Handle it" repeated three or four times, rapidly, while dropping the 'd'. Kene Holliday plays an educated black man who for some reason decided to live in Deliverance territory. Most of the cast has passed away.

In order to understand how this ludicrous series was ever created, you could take a look at David Garber's filmography. His work includes such luminary events as The Love Boat, The Fall Guy, Saved by the Bell, among others. I see his latest project is "Butt-Ugly Martians", another potential Hallmark Hall of Fame production ....

Yes it is a silly show. But at the same time it challenged a lot of stereotypes in a very positive and constructive way. It was a show that modern reviewers will consider offensive and stereotypical, but that was the whole point. Carter county did a wonderful job of showing that people can learn to get along and can still have value even if we disagree.

There are of course '70s situations that are very stupid, things that the producers were required to do, but through all of it, there is a built-in belief that people are good at heart and with dialogue and exposure, everyone can grow. I would compare the show in many ways to a pg version of blazing saddles, in the sense that it tried to reveal the idiocy of stereotypes.

This was one of those quickie sitcoms that came around in development that was in reaction to the current events of that era. In this case,when this sitcom "Carter Country" premiered on ABC-TV in September of 1977,and stayed on the air until its demise in the April of 1979,after 43 episodes,this sitcom was around when the current events were happening:Jimmy Carter was the 39th President Of The United States,the crisis in Iran was about to explode,and not to mention the films "Star Wars",and "Smokey and the Bandit",were box office powerhouses at the theaters,The Bee Gees ruled the pop charts,and the top three television networks at the time,ABC,NBC,and CBS were fighting from supremacy and power at the top of the Nielsen ratings,not to mention to "CB" trucking country craze that was sweeping the United States. This was also at the Hollywood gave us that not-so-good badly titled waste of time that basically featured incoherent and incompetent rednecks getting their comeuppance on a weekly basis.

It wasn't as pathetic as "She's The Sheriff" with Suzanne Somers but with some of the fakest Southern accents ever depicted. Let's face it: this was a sitcom that went by the original book by John Ball and also took some cues from Norman Jewison's Oscar winning classic 1967 film "In The Heat Of The Night" that starred Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier,but with a unexpected twist. This was in fact,the reversal of this where the character was an educated African-American male whom for some reason ends up becoming the town's Police Sergeant,and then from there toward the end of the series becomes the town's Police Chief in a small Southern town. But why for some reason decided to live in Deliverance territory where bigotry and racism are still rampant is very strange. The character of Curtis Baker played by Kene Holliday has to live by and goes through the motions of trying to adjust to the new conditions of the townsfolk he has to deal with under the watchful eye of the Police Chief Roy Mobey,played by Victor French, and the town Mayor,played by Richard Paul.

However,out of all the actors in this series,actress Melanie Griffith went on to become anything but spectacular in Hollywood,and still is to this day,but most of the cast are very recognizable especially with actress Vernee Watson(who plays Holliday's love interest,Lucille)who was basically throughout the 1970's and 1980's in every black-oriented show there was including appearances of such shows as "Sanford and Son","That's My Mama","Good Times","What's Happening!","The Jeffersons","Amen","227","Martin","The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air",and so forth. Before this series,Vernee Watson was a regular on another ABC show "Welcome Back Kotter". Aside from Griffith and Watson,the most recognizable character on the show would be Victor French,who created many memorable characters in productions like "Gunsmoke","Little House On The Prairie", "The Waltons","Highway To Heaven",Father Murphy",and did several turns as heavies in movies like "Flap","Savannah Smiles","Hooper",and "An Officer And A Gentlemen". Victor French's character on the series was the world-weary,but sometimes(mostly)fair sheriff. But his assistant deputies? They're were just as incompetent and dumb as they can be. The deputies on this show were no where near the intelligence of Deputy Fife.

Was this series stereotyping Southerners and country folk? This series had plenty of that and more,and this is why ABC ran it for two seasons.

In order to understand exactly how this series was ever created,and this was from the brainchild of David Gerber. Gerber was responsible for some of the most luminary events ever displayed for television.... "Policewoman","The Love Boat","The Fall Guy","Buck Rogers","Saved By The Bell",among others while the other brainchild behind this series too Bud Yorkin,was responsible for the shows "Sanford and Son","Maude", "All In The Family","Good Times","What's Happening!","Hello,Larry", "Different Strokes",among others,but "Carter Country" and "Hello,Larry" were some of the biggest flops ever conceived under his tutelage. By the way,take a good look at the filmographies of both David Gerber and Bud Yorkin and you'll see why that this series hasn't been seen since.

After 25 years.

I remember this show well from the late 1970's. It was a fairly lightweight sitcom, but as I recall, it was above average in both the quality of acting and writing. The interaction between Richard Paul as the Mayor and the great Victor French was the highlight of the series. Unfortunately, as President Carter's popularity started to wane by 1978, so did viewers' interest in this show and it ended after 2 seasons. Vernee Watson and Keene Holliday were believable as love interests and Guick Kook was also good for comic relief. The late 1970's was a period when ABC television specialized in "jiggle shows" like Charlie's Angels and Three's Company, among others, but "Carter Country" is good family fare without a jiggle in sight. If it comes up on TV Land, its worth watching, if for no reason other than nostalgia.