The Beverly Hillbillies
Sonny Drysdale Returns
TV Flash files “Sonny Drysdale Returns” as hour 127 of 274 in the TV Flash guide — The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) on CBS, season 4, episode 21, aired 1966-02-09, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E21: listed hour 127 of 274 in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide, hour 21 of 32 in season 4. It aired 1966-02-09 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Big Chicken” (S04E20). Next is “Brewster's Baby” (S04E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The Clampetts believe resuming his courtship of Elly is why Sonny Drysdale returns. His stepfather arranges a job as a beauty product salesman and his sixth stop at the Clampetts is where his merchandise is mistaken as courting gifts.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Sonny Drysdale Returns sit in the The Beverly Hillbillies guide?
S04E21 is listed hour 127 of 274 — hour 21 of 32 in season 4, season 4 episode 21.
When did The Beverly Hillbillies S04E21 air?
Sonny Drysdale Returns aired 1966-02-09 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…