A Little bit of Country Makes Sense to TV
Janice Brooks
By Chrissie Dickinson
Special to the Tribune
Country artists on TV sitcoms and dramas aim straight for the heartland, but
they ain't playing hicks anymore.
On the WB network's "Reba," Reba McEntire stars as a divorced mom who cracks
jokes to keep her stress at bay and her dysfunctional family together. On Pax
TV's "Doc," Billy Ray Cyrus is in his fourth season as Dr. Clint Cassidy, a
small-town Montana doctor relocated to a New York clinic.
The 1994-2003 drama series "Touched By An Angel" -- now in reruns on the
Hallmark Channel -- routinely cast country artists, including Wynonna and Naomi
Judd, Jo Dee Messina, Kenny Rogers and Randy Travis. Country star Clint Black
recently turned up on an episode of the ABC sitcom "Hope & Faith." And Monday
night, country stars Trace Adkins and Travis Tritt guest-star in an episode of
the CBS sitcom "Yes, Dear."
Those performances in mainstream comedies and dramas are a far cry from
yesteryear, when country artists on TV were largely relegated to the roles of
unreconstructed hillbillies.
"In over half a century, the way country performers appear on TV sitcoms and
dramas changed as much as TV itself," says country historian Rich Kienzle.
"Early producers and sponsors wrote country audiences off as a rural niche
market. Only after that audience expanded and matured did they finally
recognize that the audience was larger, more diverse and worthy of respect.
After that, the `yeee-hah!' aspects faded, and guests were billed as `country
singers.'"
Kienzle points to such earlier examples of TV rubes as Tennessee Ernie Ford as
"Cousin Ernie" on "I Love Lucy" and Red Foley as "Uncle Cooter" on the
short-lived sitcom "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." The Country Boys (later the
Kentucky Colonels) appeared on the "Andy Griffith Show." When producers deemed
their appearance not sufficiently backwoodsy, they were replaced by the
Dillards as the Darling Family.
No.1 on country charts
In 1962, the legendary bluegrassers Flatt & Scruggs took their version of "The
Ballad of Jed Clampett" -- the theme for the TV sitcom "The Beverly
Hillbillies" -- to No. 1 on the Billboard country charts. (The sitcom itself
used a version with vocalist Jerry Scroggins.) Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs
went on to perform on the show as well.
Louise Scruggs, Earl Scruggs' wife and longtime manager, recalls her initial
misgivings about her husband's involvement with "The Beverly Hillbillies."
"I, in fact, turned it down when I first heard [the title of the show]," she
recalls. "We didn't know how the connotation of the word `hillbillies' would
sit with the general public."
The show's creator assuaged Louise Scruggs' fears. "He said, `The Beverly
hillbillies are very intelligent people as far as common sense is concerned, so
it's not offensive in any way to Southern people.' So he sent his music person
out here with the pilot and we saw it. We thought, `That looks OK.' So Flatt &
Scruggs recorded the soundtrack."
In the '70s and '80s, country stars cropped up on various TV shows, usually
ones with a southern or blue-collar setting: Jerry Reed appeared on the police
show "Nashville 99" and guest-starred on the sitcom "Alice"; Dolly Parton and
Gary Morris appeared in different episodes of "Designing Women"; and Tammy
Wynette and K.T. Oslin turned out for the Burt Reynolds vehicle "Evening
Shade." On "The Dukes of Hazzard," Waylon Jennings sang the theme, Wynette and
Loretta Lynn appeared in episodes, and both of the show's stars, Tom Wopat and
John Schneider, went on to record music themselves.
In the '90s, Garth Brooks appeared on the sitcom "Empty Nest," while Lynn
guest-starred on "Roseanne." Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash -- who both acted
in various roles over time -- appeared on "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman."
Over the decades, country has gone from being perceived as a mostly rural,
backwater music to a high-stakes commercial genre with a sprawling, Middle
American fan base. Today, country artists such as Alan Jackson, the Dixie
Chicks, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Kenny Chesney regularly land on the
Billboard top 200 among the likes of Eminem and Linkin Park.
Avoid edgy shows
Although country stars are rubbing elbows on the charts with controversial
rappers and scruffy rockers, country artists on TV today aren't appearing on
edgy dramas or provocative sitcoms. "Producers aim these shows at a demographic
of heartland values, independent thinking but with a religious bent --
especially in the case of `Touched By An Angel' -- that echoes that of country
and NASCAR fans," Kienzle says.
Greg Garcia, co-creator and executive producer of "Yes, Dear," makes no bones
about the fact that his sitcom isn't exactly a cutting-edge comedy.
"`Yes, Dear' isn't really the hippest, hottest buzz show," Garcia says. "We've
always been much bigger in the middle of the country than the sides, so to
speak. The red states, the George W. Bush states, I call it. That's the country
music fans. I consider myself one of those people, and that's who we do this
show for, for the most part."
Garcia thought casting Adkins and Tritt in guest-starring roles on his show was
a perfect fit for his audience.
"Although I think we're one of the youngest-skewing shows on CBS, we have an
older audience," he says. "So I'm not going to put on the White Stripes. I
don't think most people who watch `Yes, Dear' are going to have any idea, they
may not know what that is."
TV is also a place for country singers to test the waters for a second career
in acting when their recording success begins to fade. As Kienzle points out,
"Hit streaks don't last forever."
Cyrus' success on "Doc" proves there can be a second life on the small screen
for a country artist who finds himself off the radio.
A mullet-haired Cyrus first hit it big on the country charts in 1992 with the
novelty line-dance anthem "Achy Breaky Heart." But the mammoth success of that
song proved a double-edged sword, overshadowing the fact that he was indeed a
credible country artist. He took a pounding in the press, became a critical
whipping-boy for all that was deemed wrong with mainstream country and
eventually faded on the charts.
Director's encouragement
He continued to play and record music and began experimenting with acting,
appearing notably in David Lynch's 2001 film "Mulholland Drive." It was Lynch
who encouraged the Kentucky-born singer to make a go of it as an actor.
"On the set, David Lynch came up to me, unsolicited, and just said, `You know,
this is none of my business, but I'm just curious why you don't do this for a
living,'" recalls Cyrus. "He said, `Just from a director's standpoint, if you
want to be an actor, you are an actor, and you can do this.' So I kind of took
that word of encouragement, kind of prayed about it. I said, `God, if you want
me to be an actor, then send me the type of show you'd want me to do.' And a
day or two later the script for `Doc' showed up."
Gary Johnson, co-creator and one of the executive producers of "Doc," says he
was initially skeptical about Cyrus in the role.
"Our casting director said, `Billy Ray Cyrus has read the script and he's very
interested in doing it, are you guys interested in him?' At the time, we
thought, `Is he the "Achy Breaky" guy with the long ponytail?'"
The producers were won over when the singer flew in for his first meeting.
Cyrus had long jettisoned his mudflap locks and had aged into seasoned
handsomeness and acting credibility. His new rugged look fit the part of a
heartthrob country doctor, and the producers signed him on.
They knew Cyrus still maintained a large and loyal base of country fans. His
name was also still infamous among his fiercest detractors. The producers felt
they could exploit both camps to the show's benefit.
"Besides the fact we thought Billy Ray was the right guy, we thought, This guy
is gonna get Pax publicity that Pax has not ever been able to get before,"
Johnson says. "And part of it is going to be because a lot of people like him,
and part of it is going to be because people don't like him. But they dislike
him with an intensity so great that they still want to see what he's doing."
Cyrus continues to perform music and recently released a new gospel album.
Although he says he'll never give up music, he plans to continue acting.
"On one hand, you search your whole life to have a song like [`Achy Breaky
Heart'], and on the other hand, you spend the rest of your life trying to come
out of the shadows of it," Cyrus says. "Although I had other No. 1 records, and
done other things in my career, `Doc' is the first thing that's been able to
come out of that shadow. Now people come up and the first thing they say is, `I
love your show,' or they call me `Doc' instead of Billy Ray or `Achy Breaky.'"
BUS Janice
There's one less Philidelphia lawyer in old Philidelphia tonight---Woody
Guthrie
Reno Blues Merle Haggard
Scott
> And Monday
> night, country stars Trace Adkins and Travis Tritt guest-star in an episode of
> the CBS sitcom "Yes, Dear."
Hey Jan thanks! I actually turned on the TV for that. It was great!