I’ve been feeling extra nostalgic lately. Could be that I’m turning the big 4-0 this year, or that things often seem better in retrospect than when you’re experiencing them the first time. In any event, I used to love watching Hee Haw when I was a little lad. Every Saturday night around 6 p.m. (I believe Lawrence Welk was scheduled opposite it on another channel, and he was good too, but Hee Haw was always more fun), my mom, dad, and I would tune in to watch Roy Clark, Buck Owens, Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones, and the rest of the gang. For a (mostly) family-friendly hour we were guaranteed some great music and knee-slappin’ laughs.
I know this probably sounds crazy to some of you. You may be wondering, What was a black family doing watching a hillbilly show like Hee Haw? I wonder the same thing sometimes, even as I reflect fondly on that old program. The easy answer is, there wasn’t as much to watch on TV back then; I believe we only had three channels during that era when Hee Haw was appointment television for us. But, frankly, it also was great entertainment. And things didn’t seem as complicated race-wise back then–at least not to my young, prepubescent mind. In fact, Hee Haw was one of those ways that my family and I actually felt a kinship with the white community.
Ironically, programs like Hee Haw, The Andy Griffith Show, The Waltons, and The Dukes of Hazzard–shows that endearingly played on the redneck/good-ole-boy theme and rarely acknowledged the existence of black folk–were often the shows that helped me feel closest to white people. Without the experience of having grown up on some of those shows, I believe I might’ve been less patient (and probably more cynical) in my real-life relationships with white friends and acquaintances.
Conversely, I must confess, those shows in some ways misled me into believing that relations between blacks and whites were warmer and more honest than reality allowed. Thanks to television, I thought I knew white people better than I really did. But that’s another post.
Nevertheless, I wouldn’t trade my Hee Haw memories. Seems strange to say that a cheesy TV show helped prepare me to embrace racial reconciliation, but it’s the truth. And, by golly, the music and jokes weren’t half bad either.
That’s funny! Happy Birthday, Ed! It seems that Hee Haw had a lock on the 6 p.m. Sunday time slot. I remember when it was the only choice of something good to watch at that time. And our parents didn’t seem to limit us to one hour of TV a day back then, either. We were just happy when something good was on!
I’m facing 40 in a few weeks, and I find myself looking back at odd memories, too. Time for that red convertible? =]
emily
Ah, Hee Haw. I remember it well. Okay, I’m past the 4-0 mark (I won’t tell you how far) but I too have fond memories of the show. Frankly I didn’t care much for the humor. I liked the music more (I was trying to teach myself to play acoustic guitar).
Even as a young kid I felt the humor made rural, poor Southerners look too stupid and too simple. Southern life was (and still is) simple but it wasn’t that simple. I saw and felt the racism around me as a kid so maybe it was harder for me to laugh.
As with many Southern tales (ex. Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby) I believe there was an underlying message with Hee Haw. To me, it went something like ‘come on y’all we ain’t that bad no more.’
I hated that show. I’d probably like it more today if I chose to watch it again. I couldn’t stand country music back then (still can’t) and my dad forced me to listen to it.
Maybe it was because I was a white kid from Ohio who couldn’t relate to the “hillbilly” southern stuff. I’ve only spent a week and a half of my adult life in The South.
This kind of post could really drive the point home to whites not to assume we know too much about blacks judging from what we see on TV. If white people knew that blacks got an impression of what white people are like from Hee Haw… Oh my goodness. 🙂
Thanks, Emily. Just to be clear: I’ve got another few weeks myself before the big 4-0. Still hanging on to those 30s as long as I can. 🙂
Judy, yeah, I realize “Hee Haw” was full of crazy stereotypes. But I think even back in the day I was able to separate the wacky characters from the sense of joyful fellowship and community that the “Hee Haw” gang seemed to embody. And, more than anything else, there was some excellent art happening there with the music. Roy Clark and Buck Owens, among others, were phenomenal musicians.
Linda, I hear you. I guess my memories of “Hee Haw” fall into the same category as my fondness for that Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers song that I blogged about back in August. In other words, it’s complicated. 😉
I left my 30s several years ago (I’ll be 46 in a few months), but I grew up in Chicagoland and also watched Hee Haw (and Andy Griffith, the Waltons and the Dukes of Hazard) regularly.
My folks (my great-grandparents who raised me) and I enjoyed watching Hee Haw every Sunday evening (I think it was Sunday) when I was a boy. I believe they identified with the Southern humor and music. You see, my great-grandparents migrated from Alabama in the 1920s. In fact, most all the people in my all-Black neighborhood, over a certain age, were born in the South (mostly Alabama and Mississippi). I think I gained an appreciation for certain aspects of Southern culture from these older folks who were still very much Southerners at heart. I still have a certain affinity for the South.
However, I don’t know that shows like these helped me deal with racial reconciliation.
Hee Haw? What is that? Just kidding.
I am barely in my mid-twenties so I will get back to understanding what it means to be 40 in about 15 years.
Popular media has such an impact on our thoughts an beliefs. We would ideally like to say that it doesn’t, but racially and socially pop culture is sometimes the most intimate relationship we have with someone that is different. This is a sad reality, but important to recognize. Segregated environments lead to a lack of understanding and whether we are conscious of it or not our minds seeks to remedy that void.
Oh man do I remember Hee Haw and Emergency also The Lawrence Welk Show (Now that was pure white)
Good seeing you around Ed. We have to get in touch.
Cute post. 🙂 Some of those old shows were great fun, and I like your take on them. I’ve never really been that into “Hee Haw,” but my dad, a big bluegrass fan (who recently took up the banjo!) loves the music.
[…] time reflecting on the music, movies, and TV programs of bygone eras. Some of you might remember my Hee Haw post from last year as a prime example. Lately, I’ve been flashing back to that iconic Generation-X […]
Dear Ed:
Hi there. I just found this post because I was researching the theme of race in The Waltons. I’m not finding much but your post mentioned you watching the show. My husband Jose and I write a blog that touches a lot on race and life in a very small, very white town in Virginia, not far from Walton’s Mountain.
My husband is Filipino-American and I am white. I really identified with John Boy because I was the oldest kid in a large poor family and I wanted to be a writer.
Anyway, I’m wondering how you felt about that show and its treatment of minorities. I don’t think minority characters had prominent roles in many episodes. But I always got this feeling that the Walton family were being portrayed as decent people who were somehow beyond prejudice–maybe the show was sugar-coated in that way.
What is your take on it? Do you mind my asking?
Thanks,
Heather
Hi Heather,
Thanks for your comment and question. Honestly, when “The Waltons” was first on TV back in the 70s, I was too young to really look for or care about the cultural aspects of the show. It simply resonated with me as a series about a loving and hardworking family. It gave me a glimpse (however sugar-coated) into a world beyond my own, and I guess that’s what I liked about it.
Years later, looking back on many of those old shows, it seems strange to think that the existence of blacks and other non-white people was not a given in those days—at least not in the lives of those TV characters. As a kid, I knew I existed, so I just assumed that the white people in those shows knew about black people too. In retrospect, I realized that wasn’t necessarily the case.
Still, it’s enlightening to look for the cultural pulse of those times through the old TV shows, whether they acknowledged race or not. Watching “All in the Family,” “Sanford and Son,” and “Good Times” now is like taking a class in late-20th Century race relations.
Thanks again for writing. -edg.
Thanks, Ed. Maybe some nostalgia about those shows is OK. I think the Waltons did not tackle some of the biggest social issues of the era but it always delivered on simple human drama. And something about Earl Hamner’s opening and closing monologues really got me.
Of course Sanford and Son and Good Times were some of my favorites too.
Cheers,
Heather
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As I’m sitting here watching Hee Haw ‘s DVD sales pitch, I’m realizing why I didn’t tell my extended family how inappropriate my step father treated me. He was constantly making jokes about how we would get married once he got tired of my mother. I was 11 years old. I think back and remember how I wanted to die. I didn’t see an escape. He was controlling and manipulative but always seemed to be “joking” about how I would be next. I hated him. I’m 50 yrs old today and still carry embarrassment and guilt about his sexual overtures. He never crossed the line but I was always on guard, knowing that my mother would never choose to see what was in front of her face. It wouldn’t mesh with her vision of the life that she had chosen for us. I hated her sometimes more than him because I didn’t understand a mother’s decision to look the other way. Thank God I wasn’t a child who felt she had to search for love from a man. My parents divorced when I was 4 and I never saw my father again until college when I sought him out. The jokes that I’ve been sitting here listening to as I watch this DVD sales pitch speaks volumes as to why I felt like I was being too sensitive. “Grandpa” just made a joke about how his 18 yr. old lover might die from having sex with him rather than the other way around. That’s sick; especially to an 11 yr. old girl who regularly fights off her stepfather’s advances when he’s “joking”. I, too, have nostalgic moments about the music, however, I came to hate country music because of what it stood for in my mind….a bunch of old filthy men who sang about cheating on their wives and how good the sex was. Most women on this show had their boobs sticking out, were wearing super short skirts and playing dumb blondes. It made me sick and I didn’t even realize why. I’ve grown up in the south and am very used to the stereotypes that are attached to us just because we live south of the Mason -Dixon line. None of that really bothered me before, or now. What bothers me is the fact that I was so influenced by the lack of respect for women and the misogyny of this show. I’m conservative and don’t think I’ve ever used the word “misogyny” verbally or in written form. I believe that women are strong and I don’t play into the liberal attitude that there’s so much prejudice against us that we can’t get ahead in life. I think that’s a very handicapped way to view life and it can be a self fulfilling prophecy. All I know is that I sit here with tears in my eyes, I finally understand why I didn’t feel like I could bring the darkness that followed me through my prepubescent and teen years to light. It was all just a big, funny joke, right?
Iam so sorry I put you through that I was not strong enough to handle all that was before you I feel very guilty and my prayer is you will find it in your heat to forgive me Gail I would die for you I have tears in my eyes just reading that now he is gone we have to go forward I Love you Mother