Want you to meet the family known as the real McCoys. From West Virginia they came to stay in sunny California, there's Grandpa Amos and his favorite boy, his grandson Luke McCoy.The Ozarks comes alive and was never better. Walter Brennan's antics were memorable as he portrayed the irascible grandfather here. With his grandson, the two live like absolute pigs. They need a cleaning girl, not wives.Brennan literally limps along as he portrayed this memorable character. After a world-wind career in films, and 3 Oscars for best supporting actor, Brennan made the transition to television relatively easy here. Right from his Walter Denton role on "Our Miss Brooks," Crenna was right at home with his role as the Ozark-like grandson.

I remember watching this show a a young boy and I remember how it made me laugh. In fact, Walter was the greatest of all time 2nd bananas and was loved by Americans all over. He has won Academy Awards and Emmy Awards for his work. He really touched us with his down home drawl which was the best ever delivered by a New England native.I believe that he had only one movie roll where he played the heavy. Unfortunately the more I learned about Walter Brennan the hard it got for me to truly enjoy his work. He was an unapologetic racist and had true hate in his blood for all minorities. Every time I see one of his movies all I can think of is his hate. He supported Wallace in 1964 and didn't support Nixon because he believed Nixon was too liberal.

The 224 half-hour episodes (all in B&W) of the situation comedy "The Real McCoys" ran from 1957-1963 on ABC and CBS. The show's creators/producers were Irving and Norman Pincus, a pair of brothers with little other claims to fame. But they left quite a legacy with "The Real McCoys" as the series literally changed the direction of network situation comedy. Early sitcoms like "I Love Lucy", "The Honeymooners", "Make Room for Daddy", and "The Goldbergs" were urban in tone and set in downtown apartments in big east coast cities; urban families were the first buyers of televisions. By the mid-fifties suburbia was getting a lot play ("Life of Riley", "Leave It to Beaver") as Americans began moving out to the suburbs. But network executives were resistant to the idea of rural characters in rural setting. Rural families were unlikely to own televisions (or have television stations within broadcast range) and urban sophisticates could not be expected to tune into a show featuring rural rubes. When "The Real McCoys" proved the suits wrong it set the stage for Andy of Mayberry, Jed in Beverly Hills, Kate and the Shady Rest, and Oliver and Lisa in Hooterville. Danny Thomas and Paul Henning who would launch those shows were both involved in "The Real McCoys". The premise of the show is the move of the legendary West Virginia McCoys to a farm in the San Fernando Valley they inherit from their uncle. Given the current value of valley real estate it is amusing that one of the central conflicts of the series is the family's precarious financial position (insert lack of money here). The McCoy family is a bit usual as it skips an entire generation. Grandpa Amos (Walter Brennan) lives with his grandson Luke (Richard Crenna), Luke's new wife Kate (Kathy Nolan), and Luke's little brother and sister (Michael Winkleman and Lydia Reed). Apparently Luke's parents mysteriously died. Like "The Beverly Hillbillies", the comedy comes from watching the family adapt to their new environment and seeing things we take for granted from a fresh perspective. And like Granny on that series, Amos is stubborn and irascible. The beauty of the series is that it finds satirical humor in the unsophisticated way of country folk while demonstrating that their backwoods wisdom often puts them ahead of the curve. Luke and Kate join Oliver and Lisa Douglas of "Green Acres" as television's all-time most "in- love" couples and this dynamic is the shows underlying strength. Crenna and Nolan deliver fine performances throughout the series. Brennan is likewise excellent, managing to make a basically annoying character lovable. Amos is nicely overplayed as a cantankerous old coot full of rural aphorisms and blustering exasperations yet fully repentant when he goes too far. Also notable is Tony Martinez as Pepino Garcia, a Mexican farmhand who just came with the farm. Pepino is a frequent foil for Grandpa, as his more laid-back approach to life often riles up the old guy. They do a nice job of avoiding what could have been a negative stereotype as Pepino is the best adjusted character on the series and second only to Kate in the wisdom department. Kate left the cast after the 5th season, she was missed.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Any show with Walter Brennan is a winner! I was very little when this show aired. Walter Brennan was the epitome of a grandfather to me. I loved the way he walked, arms slightly bent, elbows back and kind of cocking them in the rhythm of his step.Favorite episodes include Grandpa's games of checkers with George (Andy Clyde).Brennan's Grandfatherly persona was showcased in this series. He disappeared for several years after the show's cancellation from television and resurfaced as a tough old hombre in The Guns of Will Sonnet, which was another great series.The show declined over the years with cast members falling off like over-ripe cherries from a cherry tree. It finally died and made way for its successor, The Beverly Hillbillies.When it aired on TNN a few years ago, it made for some wonderful memories of retro-t.v.