Rich girls, farm life, big numbers

Perhaps CBS shouldn’t have worried so much about the uproar it sparked 18 months ago when it announced its proposed “reality” update of “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

Just look at the breakout success of another network’s entrant in the rural TV sweepstakes: Fox’s “The Simple Life.” This reverse twist on “The Beverly Hillbillies” concept, placing hotel heiress Paris Hilton and her friend Nicole Richie on an Arkansas farm, struck ratings gold when it premiered last week.

“The Simple Life’s” episodes last Tuesday and Wednesday attracted a total of more than 26 million viewers in two nights. Fox is already discussing a sequel. In addition to tonight’s third installment, the first two episodes will repeat on Thursday, and a mini-marathon of the first four episodes will air on Dec. 30.

That’s a far cry from the response to CBS’ proposed update of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” in which a real-life family, resembling the fabled Clampett clan, would move to a luxurious life in Beverly Hills. Southern politicians and rural advocacy groups accused the network of bigotry and insensitivity. The recruitment drive in the Appalachian region for a family to star in the series stalled, and plans for the show eventually landed on the network’s back burner.

“The Simple Life,” on the other hand, has drawn little furor over its portrayal of rural life and of the Leding family, Hilton and Richie’s hosts. Never mind that the Leding family’s grandmother plucked a chicken by hand in the first installment, and Hilton and Richie were dispatched to the local supermarket to purchase pigs’ feet. Even the use of “Dueling Banjos” (from “Deliverance”) and a folksy narrator has generated far more chuckles than objections.

“We’re just floored with the reaction,” said Jonathan Murray, who created the series with partner Mary-Ellis Bunim. Bunim-Murray Productions has produced several landmark unscripted series, including MTV’s “The Real World” and “Road Rules.”

Said Murray, “It’s so easy to get caught up in the New York-L.A. hype that it’s hard to tell how something will play outside of those cities. But we’re quite pleased with how it’s been received all over.”

Why has Fox succeeded when CBS’ concept hasn’t even gotten off the ground? For one thing, despite all the implied belittlement of farm life, Hilton and Richie remain the prime object of ridicule on the show. Promo ads for the show certainly indicated it would be the city girls who bore the brunt of the show’s barbs. Embarrassing the rich girls gives “The Simple Life” plenty of leeway -- maybe CBS should’ve cast Hilton as Elly May Clampett. And it’s worth noting that “Hillbillies” is being developed by a network known for older, more rural audiences, while “The Simple Life” is from the more youthful, more irreverent Fox.

Enemies of the “Beverly Hillbillies” concept contend that the city folks are coming off worse than the country folks on “The Simple Life.”

In early episodes, Hilton and Richie, stepdaughter of Lionel Richie, attempt to take advantage of the Ledings and other locals. They are fired from jobs at a dairy farm after just one day after bungling several tasks, including filling milk bottles.

Several who complained about the proposed new take on “The Beverly Hillbillies” are aware of the Fox show, which has more than a few similarities to the comedy “Green Acres.” The series has been one of the most heavily promoted shows on Fox’s lineup, and the camera-ready, partying Hilton has been in the center of a media frenzy for months, most recently because of her starring role in a sex tape making the rounds on the Internet.

But advocates say “The Simple Life” is not nearly in the same league as the proposed “Beverly Hillbillies” in offensiveness.

“I have a real problem when poor people are getting humiliated,” said Dee Davis, who runs the Kentucky-based Center for Rural Strategies. The organization used full page ads in the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers in its efforts to torpedo the new “Beverly Hillbillies.” Davis caught “about three or four minutes” of “The Simple Life” last week when he was flipping channels.

Said Davis: “When the children of the rich and famous are electing to put themselves in a situation where they will be humiliated, who really cares?”

In the case of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” producers were searching for “a poor, uneducated family who had never traveled anywhere,” said Davis. “That seemed to be mean and unnecessary, so we had to make a stand.”

Morris Dees, chief lawyer for the Southern Poverty Law Center, who had argued that the proposed “Beverly Hillbillies” illustrated a form of classism, was also unfazed by “The Simple Life.” “Rich people aren’t the subject of bias like those who live in Appalachia.”

Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television in Syracuse University, said Hilton and Richie are the ones who appear foolish in the series, not the Ledings: “They definitely are not displaying noble behavior. They are buffoons. They’re beautiful, but totally self-absorbed. They make the characters on ‘Seinfeld’ look like missionaries.”

Janet and Albert Ledings, who run the farm where the girls stayed, said their neighbors had feared the worst initially.

“A lot of people around town thought this was going to make the town look bad,” said Janet Leding. “If we had thought that would happen, we would not have done it. We think it makes us look good. This is how we live. The town is pretty. We’re nothing like hillbillies. We’re hard-working farm people.”

Added Albert: “There was a lot of concern at first, but the people I talk to are pretty pleased with it.”

The success of “The Simple Life” has not put “The Beverly Hillbillies” back on the fast track at CBS. One executive said the idea is still being kicked around, but has not progressed. CBS Chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves said in April that the show is still under consideration.

Bunim said that with “The Simple Life,” producers were focused on creating a new genre, blending reality TV with comedy. “We’re not trying to create a social statement. It’s just a good, fun show. We want this to be Lucy and Ethel down on the farm.”

Murray and Bunim conducted a five-state search for a family and a town. Said Bunim, “The criteria was that the town had to be less than 2,500 people. It had to feel like a small town. There couldn’t be a Starbucks or anything that the girls would recognize. And the family had to have solid values. With the Ledings, there is an intergenerational base, three generations living under one roof. They are sure of who they are, and they were not intimidated by the experience.”

The Ledings, who were paid an unspecified amount for their participation, have returned to their normal life now that the seven-episode series has finished shooting. Meanwhile Hilton and Richie are even more visible than before as they publicize the series. But Murray said there is an overall arc to the series that will show that the girls eventually gain an appreciation for farm life and hard work.