The search for an open mike and free face time on the nightly news has led two more politicians to emulate Georgia Senator Zell Miller by blasting CBS's planned reality-TV update of The Beverly Hillbillies.
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The Associated Press reports that both Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio) and Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky) have publically spoken out against the demeaning stereotypes perpetuated by this show ... even though the show has not been cast and doesn't even have much more than a title and an idea right now.
The AP reports that "CBS spokesman Chris Ender did not immediately return a call seeking comment." It's easy to understand why, since the Congressmen seem to be blasting the original Beverly Hillbillies TV show, which did portray rural folk as "uneducated, barefooted hicks," although they somehow managed to outwit the California sharpies who were trying to separate them from their money. However, that's not the show that CBS is proposing. The new Beverly Hillbillies would be a reality show taking place with a rural family living in a Beverly Hills mansion -- sort of a non-profane Osbournes.
It must require a lot of self-restraint on the part of CBS executives to keep from commenting that people who can't even keep the idea of a TV show straight have no business being in positions of power in the most powerful country in the world. Fortunately for CBS, its executives have been equal to the task so far.