The Beverly Hillbillies
Son of Lafe Returns
TV Flash files “Son of Lafe Returns” as hour 57 of 274 in the TV Flash guide — The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) on CBS, season 2, episode 21, aired 1964-02-19, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E21: listed hour 57 of 274 in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide, hour 21 of 36 in season 2. It aired 1964-02-19 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Lafe Returns” (S02E20). Next is “The Clampetts Go Fishing” (S02E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Elly is getting ready for a date with Fred Penrod. Granny has Elly dress up the way Granny used to when she was younger. Jed thinks the clothes are a bit out of date. Fred comes by and Jed and Jethro still are confused about his name. Fred is a little surprised by Elly's outfit. Jethro drives the two away in the truck. Lafe arrives at the mansion with his son Dub. Dub is not too bright. Lafe wants Dub to court Elly and marry her. Jed is not thrilled about them being there. But he'll let them spend the night if they don't bother Granny. So Granny doesn't see it, Jed has Jethro move Lafe's car. Jethro winds up pushing it down a hill and it gets destroyed. Drysdale learns from Lafe about his son Dub. Thinking Dub is as hard working as Lafe, Drysdale would like to get him a job at the bank. Drysdale gives Lafe some money to fly the boy over, not knowing Dub's already here. Granny sees Dub and gets mad that there's a Crick in the house. Jed tries to make her think she imagined it. Granny then sees Lafe but Jed tells her he's not there. Granny sets a trap for the Crick's using food, but she catches Jethro instead.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Son of Lafe Returns sit in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide?
S02E21 is listed hour 57 of 274 — hour 21 of 36 in season 2, season 2 episode 21.
When did The Beverly Hillbillies S02E21 air?
Son of Lafe Returns aired 1964-02-19 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…