Though it hardly seemed possible to those grouchy TV critics who had long ago dismissed
The Beverly Hillbillies as a one-joke pony, the series was still coming up with infinite variations on that one joke (millionaire mountaineers transplanted to Beverly Hills) as it entered its seventh season on CBS. The season begins with a virtual replay of the story arc that had opened season six, with the Clampett clan taking up residence in the English castle that Jed Clampett (
Buddy Ebsen) has inherited -- all for the purpose of donating their fortune to the Royal Family, whom the Clampetts believe are broke! This is also the season in which the classic "holiday crossover" occurs, wherein the casts of
Beverly Hillbillies,
Petticoat Junction and
Green Acres -- all produced by Paul Henning -- converge in Hooterville for Thanksgiving dinner. It is not the first such crossover, and it will certainly not be the last, as indicated by such subsequent
Beverly Hillbillies episodes as "Christmas in Hooterville" and "Sam Drucker's Visit." But the most enjoyable of the season's numerous story arcs concerns the misadventures of Jed, Granny (
Irene Ryan), Elly May (
Donna Douglas), and Jethro (Max Baer Jr.) as they open up "Jed Clampett Enterprises" in the same building housing Mr. Drysdale's (
Raymond Bailey) bank. Season seven winds up as
The Beverly Hillbillies luxuriates in its best ratings in years, as America's 10th most popular program. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide