Reuters reports that CBS talent scouts are fanning out across the backwoods of America in search of a rural, rustically telegenic family willing to star in a new reality show inspired by "The Beverly Hillbillies" -- with cement pond (swimming pool) and all. The half-hour, weekly show, tentatively titled "The Real Beverly Hillbillies," is being developed for a mid-season or summer launch next year.
Like the premise of the long-running CBS hit comedy about a poor mountaineer and his kin who strike it rich, the new series will transplant a real-life family from their humble home in the sticks to a mansion in posh, palm-lined Beverly Hills, California. And like the original comedy, the show will capitalize on the strangers-in-a-strange-land dynamics between the family members and their new upscale environs and neighbors. CBS will zero in on the same geographical origins of the sitcom's Clampett Clan, who hailed from the Ozarks. CBS, still owns rights to the "Beverly Hillbillies" title.
For its latest venture, CBS wants a multi-generation brood of five or six -- ideally, parents, kids and grandparents willing to relocate for a year. CBS will zero in on the same geographical origins of the sitcom's Clampett Clan, who hailed from the Ozarks.
CBS spokesman Chris Ender said, "The search will primarily be focused in mountainous, rural areas of Arkansas, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. But we wouldn't rule out a family from other areas of the country as well." Rather than relying solely on the casting technique used for such reality shows as "Survivor" and "Amazing Race," in which would-be contestants apply over the Internet, the new series will use a combination of talent scouts, a Web site posting and a telephone hotline, Ender said.
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