The Beverly Hillbillies
Granny's Spring Tonic
TV Flash files “Granny's Spring Tonic” as hour 27 of 274 in the TV Flash guide — The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) on CBS, season 1, episode 27, aired 1963-03-27, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E27: listed hour 27 of 274 in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide, hour 27 of 36 in season 1. It aired 1963-03-27 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Jed Cuts the Family Tree” (S01E26). Next is “Jed Pays His Income Tax” (S01E28).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Granny has made a batch of her annual spring tonic. The family is reluctant to take any. Miss Jane introduces Drysdale to her brilliant-but-frumpy bank protegee, Gloria Buckles. Gloria volunteers to take Jed some papers that need to be signed. What Miss Jane doesn't know is that Gloria is really a sultry gold-digger with eyes for Jed's $34 million. Granny mentions to Pearl that she gave Jed a double dose of her tonic. Pearl and Granny meet beautiful Gloria and are a little suspicious of her. They keep talking up to Gloria how old Jed is. Gloria takes Jed for a drive. Gloria claims that she has to marry a mountain man. Jed says he hates to see her be alone and that he'll think about it. Back at the mansion, Pearl tries to tell Gloria that Jed has no money. Jed says gather up the family because he might have an announcement. Pearl calls Drysdale, and he and Miss Jane come right over. Jed says marriage is a good idea. Jed must have seen through her scheme because he says she'll have to wait 3 or 4 years until Jethro is old enough.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Granny's Spring Tonic sit in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide?
S01E27 is listed hour 27 of 274 — hour 27 of 36 in season 1, season 1 episode 27.
When did The Beverly Hillbillies S01E27 air?
Granny's Spring Tonic aired 1963-03-27 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…