The Beverly Hillbillies
The Family Tree
TV Flash files “The Family Tree” as hour 25 of 274 in the TV Flash guide — The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) on CBS, season 1, episode 25, aired 1963-03-13, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E25: listed hour 25 of 274 in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide, hour 25 of 36 in season 1. It aired 1963-03-13 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Jed Becomes a Banker” (S01E24). Next is “Jed Cuts the Family Tree” (S01E26).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Pearl and Jethro think that Jed should get a new fancy car, but he's happy with the truck. Pearl would also like to get the family into high society. Margaret tells Milburn that Mrs. Priscilla Smith-Standish, the head of a 'first family' historical society, will be staying at their house. Drysdale is not impressed. Margaret wants to get rid of the Clampett's before her arrival. She goes to the Clampetts, insults Granny and is chased away by Granny and Pearl. Smith-Standish goes to the Clampett's first and becomes enchanted with their antiques and way of life. Margaret goes to the bank and tells Drysdale what the Clampett's did to her. She insists that he get rid of them. Miss Jane tells Margaret that the chauffeur dropped Priscilla off at the Clampett's because he thought Margaret was there. Miss Jane drives the Drysdale's to the Clampett's. Priscilla tells Margaret that she found evidence that Jed's ancestors came to America prior to the arrival of the Mayflower. She ropes Margaret into helping Granny with the chores done the old fashioned way, much to Margaret's horror. Drysdale is enjoying seeing Margaret have to work that way.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Family Tree sit in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide?
S01E25 is listed hour 25 of 274 — hour 25 of 36 in season 1, season 1 episode 25.
When did The Beverly Hillbillies S01E25 air?
The Family Tree aired 1963-03-13 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…