The Beverly Hillbillies
Jed Buys the Freeway
TV Flash files “Jed Buys the Freeway” as hour 23 of 274 in the TV Flash guide — The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) on CBS, season 1, episode 23, aired 1963-02-27, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E23: listed hour 23 of 274 in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide, hour 23 of 36 in season 1. It aired 1963-02-27 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Duke Steals a Wife” (S01E22). Next is “Jed Becomes a Banker” (S01E24).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Harry Jones arrives at the mansion and pretends to be an old family friend. Meanwhile, Miss Jane tells Drysdale about a conman named Harry Jones who is in the area. Harry suggests to Jed that he buy the Hollywood Bowl from him because Pearl could do her yodeling there and sell tickets. Harry and the family drive there to take a look. They get out onto the stage of the Bowl and are very impressed. Harry tells Jed that if he likes hunting, there's no better place than Griffith Park. Pearl is distracted by fantasizing the Bowl is full of people chanting her name. While driving to the Park, Harry tells Elly that if Jed buys the park, he'll throw in all the animals in Griffith Park Zoo. Drysdale and Miss Jane go to the Clampett mansion and find no one there. At first Drysdale doesn't think that Harry could've singled out the Clampetts for his con game. But then they head to the Hollywood Bowl. The Clampetts are impressed by all the animals at the zoo, but Elly thinks they should be set free. On the drive home, the other drivers are honking and yelling at the Clampetts. Harry offers to sell Jed the freeway so he could make the people drive the way he wants. The others drop off Jed and Harry at the mansion. Granny, Jethro and Elly go back to the freeway with their guns to teach the drivers some manners. Miss Jane and Drysdale tell Jed that Harry is a crook. Jed said he found out that Harry is no mountain man because he couldn't hold his liquor.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Jed Buys the Freeway sit in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide?
S01E23 is listed hour 23 of 274 — hour 23 of 36 in season 1, season 1 episode 23.
When did The Beverly Hillbillies S01E23 air?
Jed Buys the Freeway aired 1963-02-27 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
The oil-strike-and-move premise is the whole engine, so early episodes that put the Clampetts in Beverly Hills show the joke at full strength. Buddy Ebsen's Jed is the calm center; Granny and Jethro do the folklore.
In the series
Why this series still plays
The Clampetts struck oil, moved to Beverly Hills, and turned culture clash into CBS's most ruthless ratings weapon. Buddy Ebsen's Jed, Irene Ryan's Granny, and Jethro's glorious denseness made rube-versus-elites comedy a national habit. Watch it to see how a high-concept rural sitcom can own a decade of Nielsens while critics sneer.
The joke is architectural. A poor Ozark family strikes oil, relocates to a Beverly Hills mansion, and the sitcom never needs another premise. Paul Henning's *The Beverly Hillbillies* (CBS, 1962–1971) ran nine seasons and 274 episodes on Buddy Ebsen's Jed Clampett, Irene Ryan's Granny, Donna Douglas's Elly May, and Max Baer Jr.'s Jethro — plain wisdom, mountain medicine, critters, and glorious denseness as four clean hooks. Critics sneered. Audiences did not. That split is the text.
Filed against
- Buddy Ebsen as Jed Clampett
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…
- Irene Ryan as Daisy 'Granny' Moses
Irene Ryan's Daisy 'Granny' Moses was The Beverly Hillbillies' homemade artillery — Clampetts striking oil, moving to Beverly Hills, Buddy Ebsen's Jed, Jethro's denseness, rube-versus-elites comedy as CBS's most ruthless ratings weapon.…
- Donna Douglas as Elly May Clampett
Donna Douglas made Elly May Clampett the sunniest weapon on The Beverly Hillbillies — critters, a rope, and Hill-to-Hills culture clash that CBS ran like a ratings oil strike. Jed had the drawl; Douglas had the voltage that turned…
- Max Baer Jr. as Jethro Bodine
Max Baer Jr. played Jethro Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies like denseness was a contact sport — the Clampett nephew whose glorious thickness made rube-versus-elites comedy a CBS ratings weapon in the 1960s. Oil money, Beverly Hills…