Barnaby Jones
A Short Happy Life
TV Flash files “A Short Happy Life” as hour 152 of 178 in the TV Flash guide — Barnaby Jones (1973–1980) on CBS, season 7, episode 21, aired 1979-03-01, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S07E21: listed hour 152 of 178 in the Barnaby Jones guide, hour 21 of 25 in season 7. It aired 1979-03-01 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Master of Deception” (S07E20). Next is “Child of Love, Child of Vengeance Part I” (S07E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Betty's cousin sets her up for a night out on the town with a man she just met. She discovers he's been involved with some bad men.
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Short Happy Life sit in the Barnaby Jones guide?
S07E21 is listed hour 152 of 178 — hour 21 of 25 in season 7, season 7 episode 21.
When did Barnaby Jones S07E21 air?
A Short Happy Life aired 1979-03-01 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need The Beverly Hillbillies first?
No. Ebsen's Clampett fame is the career footnote. This is a Quinn Martin PI hour with a home lab, not a rural-comedy reunion.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Buddy Ebsen clocks out of Jed Clampett overalls and into a PI trench with a home lab. An older lead in a youth-drunk decade, solving murders with patience instead of karate. Second-act star power: gray hair owning a Quinn Martin hour without pretending to be thirty.
Requiem for a Son names the origin as grief: a retired private investigator returns to the game after his son's murder, and Buddy Ebsen clocks out of Jed Clampett overalls into a Quinn Martin trench with a home lab. CBS's Barnaby Jones (1973–1980), from Edward Hume, ran eight seasons, 178 episodes of steady crime. Lee Meriwether's Betty Jones, Mark Shera's J.R., and John Carter's Lt. Biddle filled the office. Ebsen was in his sixties as a leading man — rare in a youth-obsessed decade — and often crossed over with…
Filed against
- Buddy Ebsen as Barnaby Jones
Buddy Ebsen’s Jed Clampett struck oil and moved The Beverly Hillbillies into a ratings weapon — 1960s catalog rube-versus-elites, then Barnaby Jones clocking out of overalls into a PI trench with a home lab. TV Flash files him as the…
- Lee Meriwether as Betty Jones
Lee Meriwether's Betty Jones kept Barnaby Jones in the lab and the living room — Buddy Ebsen clocking out of overalls into a PI trench, an older lead in a youth-drunk decade, murders solved with patience instead of karate. TV Flash files…
- Mark Shera as J.R. Jones
Mark Shera’s J.R. Jones partnered Buddy Ebsen’s second-act PI trench on Barnaby Jones — home lab, patience instead of karate — then hit S.W.A.T.’s helmet-and-van gloss. An older-lead Quinn Martin hour; disco-era tactical acronym…
- John Carter as Lt. John Biddle
John Carter’s Lt. John Biddle backed Barnaby Jones as Quinn Martin hour muscle — Buddy Ebsen clocking out of Jed Clampett overalls into a PI trench with a home lab. An older lead in a youth-drunk decade, murders solved with patience…