Petticoat Junction

- Season 7

(1969)

With the birth of Kathy Jo, Betty Jo and Steve and Kathy Jo move back into the Shady Rest, where everyone's new focus of attention is Kathy Jo. Dog begins to feel left out, especially as he tries to partake in the same activities as Kathy Jo or tries to help in her care, which results in him being chastised for getting in Kathy Jo's way. Now feeling unloved at the Shady Rest, Dog decides to run away. Dog is wrong about being unloved as when the gang at the Shady Rest realize that he is missing, they are frantic in their search for him, especially as a thunderstorm ...

Uncle Joe's sense of justice and Bobbie Jo's budding love life are at odds with each other. On a technicality, Orrin Pike, the new game warden in the area, has issued a ticket to Uncle Joe for being over the catch limit (despite being over the limit only since he had Sam's fish as well). Orrin also happens to be who Bobbie Jo sees as her potential new boyfriend. Uncle Joe tries to figure out a way to get out of the ticket and the resulting court appearance through killing Orrin with kindness, however to no avail. To win, Joe even asks many of his friends to vouch for ...

Since Steve has been away for three weeks on a job, Betty Jo makes herself and Kathy Jo up for a special homecoming for him. Upon his return, Steve only seems to pay attention to one of his girls: Kathy Jo. Betty Jo as a result feels jealous. Janet, seeing what is happening, suggests to Steve that he and Betty Jo take a romantic weekend getaway without Kathy Jo so that they can rekindle their marriage. As such getaways take money which they don't have, they decide to go back to their cottage, which has yet to be sold. Getting into a romantic mood becomes a difficult ...

There have been a series of poachings in the valley, and Orrin, for a week, has been trying to find and arrest the poachers, not only without success but without any tangible leads. Even the Shady Rest has lost Martha, one of its prized chickens. Orrin is under a lot of pressure to solve the case. But without results, Orrin is demoted since he came across the poachers, knew they were the poachers but let them get away. His demotion is also partly due to an anonymous telephone call (from Uncle Joe) to Orrin's boss stating that Orrin couldn't find a bear trapped in a ...

Jack King, the new local car dealer, is holding a contest as advertising to find "Jack King's Queen", the prettiest girl in the valley. As incentive, the grand prize is a trip to Los Angeles. Steve encourages Orrin to earn brownie points with Bobbie Jo by entering her in the contest. Betty Jo is angry that Steve didn't think of her for the contest. And originally unknown to Steve and Orrin, Uncle Jo enters Billie Jo in the contest, she who is a little embarrassed by being entered by her uncle instead of a beau but who is nonetheless grateful. Steve sees that having ...

Glen Tinker had a very modest country music recording career before being drafted. His biggest fan, Bobbie Jo, is excited that he, now out of the military, is coming to Hooterville to perform and is staying at the Shady Rest. Other than Bobbie Jo, one other person in Hooterville that actually knows of Glen is Janet. She is a member of the International Adoption Agency, which suspects that someone in his army unit that was recently discharged abducted a little four year old orphaned girl named Tami Kwong from the adoption center in Da Nang, Vietnam. Glen states that he...

The beautiful and sexy Jacqueline Moran, famed author of "Sex Is Here to Stay", is staying at the Shady Rest to complete her latest novel. The reason for her choosing the Shady Rest gets Steve into some trouble. He met her the previous year when she visited the air force base where he was doing some reserve training. He, who acted as her base escort, recommended the hotel to her. To the Bradleys, Jackie seems like the type of woman who would have done whatever Steve wanted and more. Despite Steve vowing that he did nothing to encourage Jackie, she still fawns over him...

With nurses Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo and Betty Jo by her side, Janet mounts an influenza vaccination campaign. To prevent a flu outbreak, she plans on providing a free shot to every single person in the valley. Beyond getting her novice nurses accustomed to poking a needle into real human flesh, Janet may have some problems from needle phobic patients, such as Uncle Joe. But they manage to inoculate every single person in the valley except the back woods Tweedy family, led by the family patriarch Jasper Tweedy, who speaks less with his mouth and more with his shotgun. ...

Based on a misunderstanding with Uncle Joe specifically about the use of the bathroom they share, Steve thinks that it's time for him and Betty Jo to move out of the hotel to preserve Bradley family harmony. Although Mr. Haney hasn't been too successful in selling their cottage, they speak to him about other his other listings they may be interested in buying. They come to understand why he isn't such a successful real estate agent. Meanwhile back at the hotel, everyone, including Uncle Joe, are sorry that Steve and Betty Jo want to move. While Billie Jo and Janet ...

The entire family is heading off on their annual weekend camping trip. Bobbie Jo talks Orrin into coming along this year much to Uncle Joe's dismay, not only because he still sees Orrin as a bumbling fool and nemesis but because he learns that Bobbie Jo, using this camping trip as a ploy to "work on" Orrin, wants to eventually marry him. Janet thinks this trip will end up being a good opportunity for Orrin to get on Uncle Joe's good side by demonstrating his abilities in his element, the great outdoors. Despite Orrin's best attempts to win over Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe ...

It's Kathy Jo's first birthday. The lead-up to the birthday party doesn't come off quite as planned. Billie Jo, who is out of town on a singing engagement, was planning on making it back in time for the party, but she may have to decide if the party or her career is more important when her singing engagement is held over. Janet and her nursing assistant Bobbie Jo are called off on a medical emergency which ends up being a little more plentiful than they first thought. Sam has a last minute court case where he has to perform his justice of the peace duties which ...

Despite Uncle Joe having trained the chimpanzee he bought Kathy Jo as her first birthday present to run errands for him, the chimp nonetheless is wreaking havoc everywhere else in the hotel. The girls and Janet agree that the chimp has to go, and the person who needs to get rid of it is Uncle Joe, as the chimp has become his best friend more than Kathy Jo's new plaything. They also volunteer Steve to be the bearer of the bad news to Uncle Joe. When Uncle Joe gets the news, he agrees only on the condition that they find him a good home. Although Uncle Joe is true to ...

In relaying the story of room 7 of the hotel - the Mallard P. Bradley Memorial Suite, he who was the girls' great-great-grandfather and founder of the Shady Rest - Uncle Joe comes to the realization that in one week's time it will be the seventy-fifth anniversary of the completion by said Mallard P. Bradley of the railroad between Hooterville and Pixley. He feels there should be a special community ceremony marking the anniversary. The problem ends up being that although he invites representatives from both Pixley and Hooterville to be present at the ceremony, Uncle ...

Sam is excited that the first ever registered letter has come through his post office, in this case for Joe. Joe is nervous when he learns that it is from a law firm, and even more nervous when he reads the letter: that their client, a Mr. Herbert A. Smith - who Joe doesn't know - has been looking for him, and will know that Joe is indeed that person if the registered letter gets to him. When Smith arrives, Joe still doesn't know who he is or remember ever meeting him. But Smith tells Joe a story of a kind favor he did for him twenty years earlier in Erie, ...

Billie Jo is bringing her new boyfriend, Jerry Roberts, to Hooterville. Based on a discussion Bobbie Jo had with Billie Jo on the telephone, she's sure that Billie Jo thinks that Jerry may be the one, and as such everyone wants to make a good impression on Jerry, showing him that they are all friendly and loving and thus would be a good family in to which to marry. Additionally, Billie Jo tells Jerry before their arrival in Hooterville that everyone is down to earth, and that they all get along. By the time Billie Jo and Jerry arrive, Uncle Joe and Sam are fighting, ...

Using a medical appointment with Janet as a pretense, Selma stops by the Shady Rest. The real reason for her visit is to spread the news that Henrietta has a potential husband. Those at the Shady Rest later learn that he is Ronnie Coleman, a helicopter pilot who Selma brought to the valley to set up a rival crop dusting business to Steve's, all in an effort to nab him as a husband for Henrietta. Despite knowing that he can't compete with Ronnie on a technological level, Steve harbors no ill will against Ronnie, but Uncle Joe does. Uncle Joe, with a little help from ...

While shopping in Pixley, Betty Jo and Steve spy Orrin in a jewelry store buying what looks to be an engagement ring. They are surprised as Orrin had told Bobbie Jo that he couldn't even contemplate getting married until he got at least one more pay raise. They can't wait to get back to the hotel to tell Billie Jo and Uncle Joe, the latter who has a less than enthusiastic response to Bobbie Jo possibly marrying Orrin. Keeping the secret from Bobbie Jo may be an issue. Later, Orrin comes by the hotel with news of his own: he got the raise that he wanted, and wants to ...

Uncle Joe's latest rant against Orrin is enough for Orrin to make the decision to leave Bobbie Jo and the valley for good, which devastates Bobbie Jo. Among the family heirlooms that Orrin gives to the Bradley family as farewell gifts, Janet finds a document - a deed - which makes Orrin the owner of the entire valley. With explanations from Mayor Potts and Sam, Uncle Joe has a new appreciation of Orrin who can control what happens in the valley. It takes some time for Orrin to get accustomed to his new-found status of king of the valley - with Bobbie Jo as his ...

Steve's Uncle George stops by the Shady Rest to visit with Steve and his family. Everyone at the hotel is excited about his visit except Steve, who says that his Uncle George is a great, charming fellow but who ends up always causing trouble by something he says or does, or just the fact of him being around. What's worse in Steve's mind is that Uncle George has no idea he is the cause of any of the commotion. Betty Jo initially has no idea to what Steve is referring as she sees nothing in Uncle George but a charming, suave man. True to Steve's word, everyone starts ...

Billie Jo has been away in Chicago with Jerry for six weeks, the longest she's ever been away. She returns home with a new attitude - that of the emancipated woman, equal to any man - and a new attire of a man's suit to match. She feels that women are repressed in society and need to fight back. Steve and Uncle Joe believe Billie Jo's new outlook is hogwash, whereas Janet, Bobbie Jo and Betty Jo agree with parts of it, but not its entirety. They all find out that her attitude is in part due to a disagreement with Jerry. Billie Jo soldiers on, with her attitude causing...

A man by the name of Norbert E. Thompson checks into the hotel. Everyone soon learns that he is with the Highway Commission, which is planning on constructing a new road through the valley. He is there to determine its route. Steve gets Joe on the idea that there might be some land speculation based on figuring out that new route. As such, Joe, wanting in on the action, decides to try and convince all the residents of the valley to allow him to act on their behalf to get the best deal. That way, Joe will get a commission no matter where the road goes. Joe's idea ...

Selma stops by the hotel. She falls while breaking through the hammock that Joe just purchased at the church rummage sale and just erected. Although Janet can't find anything medically wrong with her, Selma feigns whiplash and a back injury which requires her to be bedridden. As Henrietta is away, the girls and Janet suggest she stay at the hotel while she recuperates. Selma is not only a demanding unpaid guest, but it looks as if she is planning on suing, which could mean the girls losing the hotel. Consulting a lawyer - the wrong lawyer - could mean even worse news ...

With Floyd retiring, the people of the valley have a problem in finding another engineer to run the Cannonball. Having only limited experience doing the job, Joe volunteers regardless. Joe decides to make some changes, most specifically having a rigid schedule that only makes pick-ups and drop-offs at designated stops, which is not the way most of the people in the valley operate. In turn, what that means is that Joe often runs the train without any passengers, much to the anger of the many people who missed the train or who Joe wouldn't pick-up. That may be the least...

The latest idea that Billie Jo brings back to the valley from her time in Chicago is sensory awareness: touching yourself and others in different ways to understand them better and thus truly love them. Most of the men at the Shady Rest believe Billie Jo's idea, about which she is extremely passionate, is just her latest weirdo fad. Those views place a strain especially between Steve and Betty Jo, and Orrin and Bobbie Jo. The men don't want this issue to be the cause of any tension so they try and come up with a way to diffuse the issue. Beyond their plan, Janet ends ...

Janet is getting her hair done and buying new clothes. In the mind of the Bradley girls and Uncle Joe, this can only mean one thing: a man. While Uncle Joe and his band of friends speculate on who the lucky man from town is, Janet confesses directly to the girls and Steve that the man in question is Dr. Peter Marlow, an old beau from her medical school days. Peter is coming to Hooterville to visit Janet, many thinking that Peter is coming to stay and ask Janet to marry him. They are half correct: Peter has indeed come to ask for Janet's hand, but rather than stay in ...

Steve can't sleep as he's worried about the family finances. The crop dusting business is doing well enough, but all his customers are requesting credit while his suppliers are demanding payment. He doesn't want to be heavy handed with his customers since they are all long time friends of the Bradley family and he doesn't want to create an air of conflict within the valley. Betty Jo initially tells Steve to demand payment from his customers, but changes her mind when she thinks about the personal situations of all those individuals. Even though she knows for a fact ...