Petticoat Junction

Two episodes of Petticoat Junction on MeTV are part of my Saturday television regime. I have a series of shows and films (e.g., Hallmark Channel at 8 P.M.) to check on. Petticoat Junction is on 5 A.M.

If you re-watch and re-read, you pick up things. I see this on Friends, which is syndicated on multiple channels, at times in bunches. Scripts have continuity errors. Certain things don't make much sense.*

Let's put aside that two of the sisters changed actresses. The brunette was played by two actresses and the blonde by three. And, other than being the daughter of a creator of the show, the third being a red-head seems off. How does that work genetically?  

The more notable thing is that the actress who plays the mom, a central role in the show, died mid-series. They then took her out of the theme song and except for once (a brief reference) never talked about her again. She was "away" while being sick. She came back, died off-screen, and then Orwellian-like, it was like she was never there.  

I understand this given the desire not to make a light television show too dark though seems like it would have been okay to reference her death. Did fans like them doing it that way? 

The mom was central to running the hotel, especially her cooking skills. Uncle Joe clearly was not too useful. The oldest daughter eventually was away regularly doing her music career. 

We occasionally see evidence the daughters are cleaning up or the like. One thing rarely shown from what I can tell is their eating together. 

I saw a late-season Thanksgiving episode. Who made the dinner? The youngest originally was a lousy cook. She eventually got better after she got married. The others showed some ability to cook. Did they share cooking duties for guests? 

I'm not overly concerned. It is just something that came to mind and made me go "Hmm."

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* Friends is comfortable watching that can be enjoyed over and over again. I still have various issues with the series. I also think the series kicked into gear mid-second season and dropped off mid-ninth.  

I can go on and on here but I'll just cite one thing. There was one episode where a pregnant Rachel was really horny. Okay. So have sex. It was a thing earlier that she repeatedly had sex on the first date. 

Is there some rule about pregnant people not being able to have sex? She was about four months along and not huge or anything. She's Rachel. People a lot less hot have sex late in the pregnancy.  

She was horrified when Phoebe brought some virgin nebbish over to satisfy her. The show has multiple conservative moments like that including ...

Rachel goes on a date early in her pregnancy and for some reason finds it necessary to tell the guy she's pregnant. It was a first date with a soap opera star. Why the need to be so honest and ruin things? 

She later notes that while pregnant she can't date. This flows into a charming subplot involving Joey. All the same, why not? She's Rachel. People will still date her while she is pregnant!  

Thinking about such things is one of the fun things about re-watching and re-reading. It also remains annoying. People can do the same thing with some Jane Austen novel or something too.