Betty Jo Has Her Baby

The MeTV early Saturday morning run of Petticoat Junction has reached Betty Jo having the baby as well as the end of the line for the mom. The actress was sick with cancer the previous season so "away" a lot, but came back at the end. It was sadly short-lived, and other than use of her voice reading a letter, only an obvious double (we don't see her face) has what amounts to a cameo role. 

The baby episode was overall fun.  I think Betty Jo's belly is a tad too big; they probably should have toned down the baby bump a tad. She married her on air hubby in real life around this time, but it doesn't look like the actress in real life had any children.  

Overall, the episodes with the third sister without the mom around to me lose some of the old charm, though there still are some fun ones.  Also, it just seems weird to have the mother "away," even after everyone knows the actress had died.  (The permanent fill-in will come next week, a lady doctor.)  Given the tone of the show, I can understand not dwelling on it, but they can have things happen off screen, especially for the final season.  

[They eventually took her name off the credits and changed the theme song to have Joe Carson running the hotel and the woman doctor staying there. So, it was pretty blatant in that sense. Wikipedia now notes: " In the 1950s and '60s, it was almost unheard of for a main character on a television show to die, particularly on a situation comedy."  Note the qualifier.]

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I couldn't really get into multiple books lately, but did manage to finish a recent John Grisham (I read a couple of his old novels) short story collection, Sparring Partners.  Quick, easy reading; not that nourishing.  Sometimes, it is good just to finish a book.

The two longer  (about 120 pages each) ones were easy enough to read (broken into little sections of at most a few pages each), but the characters were not really that interesting. The first has an old character of his, but he isn't the primary concern in the story.  The shorter middle story (about a young person about to be executed) was the best.  It focused on the one character and I personally cared about him a lot more.  

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I have noted that Friends has for the last few years been comfort food for me.  I don't know if I watched it weekly when it was first on, but recall being annoyed at the Chandler/Monica marriage proposal two-parter (it was forced), and stopped watching.  

I checked out the 9th Season DVD [the new 25th Anniversary version; not sure what more is provided though the color looks brighter] to see the Christiana Applegate episode. For whatever reason, it is skipped over in the usual Nickelodeon rotation.   The DVDs also provide extras and stuff edited out, especially when there were "supersized" episodes.

She's very good though for whatever reason neither the commentary track or her later interview (10th season DVD) mentions her earlier work with the "Joey" actor on Married ... with Children and his short lived spin-offs.  The season and series sorta dropped off permanently around mid-9th season, but there remains some fun stuff.

I don't like whole Rachel Likes Joey subplot (many don't), but one thing that stands out is Joey's reason/excuse for kissing Rachel in the season finale in the Bahamas (does someone pay for Phoebe? what about her passport issues?).  He sees Ross kiss Charlie, who was going out with Joey. But, Joey/Charlie broke up, and the kiss was only after Ross was told by Charlie.