Petticoat Junction
Kate and the Manpower Problem
TV Flash files “Kate and the Manpower Problem” as hour 26 of 222 in the TV Flash guide — Petticoat Junction (1963–1970) on CBS, season 1, episode 26, aired 1964-03-17, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E26: listed hour 26 of 222 in the Petticoat Junction guide, hour 26 of 38 in season 1. It aired 1964-03-17 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Talent Contest” (S01E25). Next is “The Ladybugs” (S01E27).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
An old school chum named Emily Mapes thinks it's time Kate was married again. She tells the girls to round up some prospects to go to the Shady Rest to court Kate. The girls do this by offering special rates to single men. However, Uncle Joe thinks that if Kate finds a man, he will lose his job. Joe even pretends to be the house detective and tells guest Grover Woodstock to leave Kate alone. Kate finds out from Grover what her daughters have been up to. She comes up with a plan with all the men to teach her girls a lesson.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Kate and the Manpower Problem sit in the Petticoat Junction guide?
S01E26 is listed hour 26 of 222 — hour 26 of 38 in season 1, season 1 episode 26.
When did Petticoat Junction S01E26 air?
Kate and the Manpower Problem aired 1964-03-17 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Kate, the Shady Rest, and the Cannonball in a Benaderet-era hour is the porch contract. Uncle Joe is the layabout comic engine.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Petticoat Junction is the porch at the center of Paul Henning's rural map: Bea Benaderet's Kate running the Shady Rest, three daughters, Uncle Joe, and the Hooterville Cannonball. Less fish-out-of-water than hometown sitcom — a hotel as social club. Benaderet's warmth is the connective tissue that made Hillbillies and Green Acres feel like one county.
The porch is the network night. Paul Henning's *Petticoat Junction* (CBS, 1963–1970) sits at the center of the rural map: Bea Benaderet's Kate running the Shady Rest, three daughters, Uncle Joe, and the Hooterville Cannonball. Seven seasons of hometown sitcom rather than fish-out-of-water — a hotel as social club. Edgar Buchanan's Uncle Joe and Linda Kaye Henning's Betty Jo kept the Cannonball on schedule. Gunilla Hutton's Billie Jo among the daughters. Soft rural farce with crossover DNA. On the palate: porch,…
Filed against
- Bea Benaderet as Kate Bradley
Bea Benaderet’s Blanche Morton needled The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show as next-door vaudeville, then The Flintstones’ Wilma and Petticoat Junction’s Kate Bradley made her 1950s–60s catalog warmth a three-stop map. TV Flash files…
- Edgar Buchanan as Uncle Joe Carson
Edgar Buchanan’s Red Connors kept Hopalong Cassidy in tobacco-and-advice weather — 1950s catalog kids’-western merch machine, then Petticoat Junction stretching the drawl into Uncle Joe on a hotel porch. TV Flash files him as the sidekick…
- Linda Kaye Henning as Betty Jo Bradley
Linda Kaye Henning kept the Shady Rest humming as Betty Jo Bradley on Petticoat Junction — one of three daughters on Paul Henning’s rural porch map, Hooterville Cannonball included. Hometown sitcom, not fish-out-of-water panic. TV Flash…
- Gunilla Hutton as Billie Jo Bradley
Gunilla Hutton played Billie Jo Bradley on Petticoat Junction — Paul Henning's rural porch, Bea Benaderet's Kate at the Shady Rest, three daughters, Uncle Joe, the Hooterville Cannonball. Hometown sitcom, hotel as social club. TV Flash…