Amazing that no-one called the producers for this obvious sexual come on. I was six when the first advertisements for the show were shown and I immediately recognized the bait and switch. Everything about the show was suggestively sexual and it never delivered.
In the opening we have three gorgeous girls swimming nude in a water tower. The water tower is used to service a 100-year-old steam locomotive. Why, in heaven's name would any intelligent woman get into a 100-year-old filthy, unfiltered water tower? And why be (apparently) nude with your sisters? Why because the producers are telling you this is a sexy show.
The theme song invites you to ride the train that goes along the tracks to the junction. Petticoat Junction! The question I have is why would anyone want to do that? The Shady Rest is a run-down hotel in the middle of the sticks. Do you have to ride a train to get there? Isn't there a modern hotel off the interstate? Obviously, the hotel has no pool. Why else would the girls get in that rancid water tower. Maybe they had to bathe in the tower, because this hotel has no plumbing. Ewww.
Then there is the hotel name. It's the Shady Rest. Shady as in "suspicious, suspect, questionable, disreputable, dishonest, illegal, dishonorable, unscrupulous or unethical." Oh sure, throw in the word "Rest" so the owners can claim innocence, but really would you board a 100-year-old train to go to a run-down dump hotel, that offers the opportunity to get out of direct sunlight?
Then there are the other cast members. Edgar Buchanan, Bea Benadaret, Smiley Burnette and Rufe Davis. Benadaret was a classic whore house madam. She was there to collect the cash and keep the girls in line. The other old men would be chosen because they were no longer a threat to the girls and would not corrupt the "merchandise". They were sort of octogenarian Eunuchs. Even though I was six I saw through this bait and switch. The show itself was as asexual as possible. The plots were always about the has-been old comedians. After the suggestive opening, he girls were no where to be seen. This was in the age of strict censorship. Barbara Eden couldn't even show her navel in her Jeanie costume. If you were lured in to see an adult sexy program, you were taken for a ride on a 100 year-old train. As a comedy, the shows weren't funny. It was as bland as any show has ever been. I think people tuned in to see something happen. It never did.
Then there are the other cast members. Edgar Buchanan, Bea Benadaret, Smiley Burnette and Rufe Davis. Benadaret was a classic whore house madam. She was there to collect the cash and keep the girls in line. The other old men would be chosen because they were no longer a threat to the girls and would not corrupt the "merchandise". They were sort of octogenarian Eunuchs. Even though I was six I saw through this bait and switch. The show itself was as asexual as possible. The plots were always about the has-been old comedians. After the suggestive opening, he girls were no where to be seen. This was in the age of strict censorship. Barbara Eden couldn't even show her navel in her Jeanie costume. If you were lured in to see an adult sexy program, you were taken for a ride on a 100 year-old train. As a comedy, the shows weren't funny. It was as bland as any show has ever been. I think people tuned in to see something happen. It never did.