SAMPLES

Like most in their 'forties or older, I grew up with Hee Haw. The most remarkable thing about the show, perhaps, and outside of the fact it was created by a couple of Canadians, is that it featured a very special personality by the name of Junior Samples. As a kid I just thought he was funny with little regard or thought as to who he was.

Hee Haw is out on DVD so there is a chance to watch this program again. I'm sure it is very much of its time. Sophisticated it was not, nor was it trying to be. It was one of those down-home, warm, and happy shows which are rare. The variety show was a staple for years on television: They were a good-times type with jokes, singing and so on... Lawrence Welk comes to mind. What set Hee Haw apart from the pack was that it set up a little fictional world of rural folk -- not in the same way the classic sitcom, Green Acres, did -- but in a more authentic sense. It did have real actors and musicians playing the roles, but some people were just that, people. And there was music from known country artists of the time.

As far as real people in Hee Haw is concerned, Junior Samples is the most memorable. In reality, he was a bit of a backwoodsman who was ultimately discovered when a radio announcer asked Samples about the large fish he had mounted on his pickup truck. Samples' on-location interview, which consisted of him telling a great big story about how he caught the fish, the "Big Whopper", was played by radio stations. Soon enough, these stations were getting requests to replay it. Junior Samples had become a bit of a sensation.

One thing led to another and Samples was signed by Chart Records and taken into the studio to tell more stories. Eventually, five albums were released. The producers of Hee Haw grabbed him to be a regular on their show. As he was not well educated and a novice to the television studio, the neophyte had a hard time using the cue cards. The directors found a way to work with Samples so he could be himself while following a particular skit's theme.

I always looked forward to Junior Samples and his attempts to sell cars, for instance, and his signature phone number BR-549 became somewhat famous. (I also really looked forward to the regular Hee Haw segment about the couple who ran the truck stop.)

When you think about it, there have not been too many television personalities remotely like Junior Samples. These people have a lot more appeal, in many ways, than the fictional characters who populate the many pretentious dramatic shows that fill the airways. Like a live sporting event, they are real... and they are live.

Precious clip: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FeDX6ESys10