The Real McCoys
You Can't Always Be a Hero
TV Flash files “You Can't Always Be a Hero” as hour 36 of 224 in the TV Flash guide — The Real McCoys (1957–1963) on ABC/CBS, season 1, episode 36, aired 1958-05-29, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E36: listed hour 36 of 224 in the The Real McCoys guide, hour 36 of 39 in season 1. It aired 1958-05-29 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The New Look” (S01E35). Next is “The Homely Boy” (S01E37).
Viewer FAQ
Where does You Can't Always Be a Hero sit in the The Real McCoys guide?
S01E36 is listed hour 36 of 224 — hour 36 of 39 in season 1, season 1 episode 36.
When did The Real McCoys S01E36 air?
You Can't Always Be a Hero aired 1958-05-29 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Brennan's Grandpa Amos on the California farm — Crenna and the clan around him. The West-Virginia-to-Valley pitch is the joke.
In the series
Why this series still plays
The Real McCoys moved a West Virginia clan onto a California farm years before rural sitcoms became a punchline. Walter Brennan's Oscar-heavy grandpa act sold country-family comedy as prime-time muscle. Watch it now to see the rustic formula that later powered The Beverly Hillbillies, without the oil-gush gag.
The look is Oscar-heavy grandpa on a California acreage — West Virginia manners dressed as farm comedy, rustic formula in original working order. The McCoy family relocates from the hills of West Virginia to a ranch in California's San Fernando Valley, led by cantankerous Grandpa Amos. ABC then CBS carried *The Real McCoys* from 1957 to 1963, 224 episodes across six seasons. Walter Brennan's three-Oscar gravitas doing sitcom grandpa duty; Richard Crenna as Luke; Kathleen Nolan as Kate; Lydia Reed as Hassie. Rural…
Filed against
- Walter Brennan as Grandpa Amos McCoy
Walter Brennan’s Grandpa Amos McCoy moved The Real McCoys onto a California farm — a West Virginia clan years before rural sitcoms became a punchline, country-family comedy as prime-time muscle. Oscar-heavy grandpa act selling rustic…
- Richard Crenna as Luke McCoy
Richard Crenna’s Luke McCoy farmed California as the young blood of The Real McCoys — Walter Brennan’s grandpa act, rustic sitcom muscle years before the punchline — after Our Miss Brooks’s faculty-lounge sarcasm. Country-family comedy as…
- Kathleen Nolan as Kate McCoy
Kathleen Nolan's Kate McCoy helped The Real McCoys plant a West Virginia clan on a California farm — 1950s country-family comedy as prime-time muscle, rustic formula before rural sitcoms became a punchline. TV Flash marks her as…
- Lydia Reed as Hassie McCoy
Lydia Reed kept the farmhouse young as Hassie McCoy on The Real McCoys — a West Virginia clan on a California farm, Walter Brennan’s Oscar-heavy grandpa act, country-family comedy as prime-time muscle years before rural sitcoms became a…
- Michael Winkelman as Little Luke
Michael Winkelman’s Little Luke put a kid on The Real McCoys’ California farm years before rural sitcoms became a punchline — 1950s West Virginia clan, Walter Brennan’s grandpa act as prime-time muscle. TV Flash files him as rustic…