The Real McCoys: 1950’s Television at its Best

by Guy Belleranti

In 1957 a new kind of situation comedy hit television. Called The Real McCoys, the half hour TV program was about a family who moved from the hills of West Virginia to a farm in California’s San Fernando Valley.

The program is forgotten by many now, but it was actually quite influential, for it set the stage for future small town/country sitcoms such as The Beverly Hillbillies, The Andy Griffith Show, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres.

The true star of the show was character actor great Walter Brennan. Brennan had added his special touch to movies for several decades prior to this move to a TV series, most notably in such film classics as The Westerner, Sergeant York, My Darling Clementine and Red River.

In The Real McCoys Brennan was the cantankerous, but lovable, Grandpa Amos McCoy. Co-starring with him was a young Richard Crenna as his eldest son Luke and Kathleen Nolan as Luke’s wife, Kate.

I saw most of the episodes as morning television reruns, for I had been a young boy when the program first aired.

My favorite character was definitely Brennan’s Grandpa Amos. I especially loved his distinctive walk where he moved with a bent elbows/jumping shoulders sort of gait. For a time I thought all grandfathers ought to walk that way.

The program ran for six years, the first five being the best. By the final season Kathleen Nolan had left the show, and Luke’s younger siblings, Hassie and Little Luke, were also phased out.

But the first five seasons was comedy television at its best. Episodes stressed family togetherness and doing the right thing.

 

Indeed, The Real McCoys lived up to its title. It was the genuine article.

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