[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 112 (Friday, July 25, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9989-S9990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            THE ``REAL BEVERLY HILLBILLIES'' IS REAL GARBAGE

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, for more than a century now, national 
commentators of one type or another have stereotyped, mocked, and 
ridiculed the people of Appalachia.
  They continued to do so even as the region and its people were 
savaged by Northeast industrialists, and as economic forces beyond 
their control resulted in massive gaps of poverty in the region. When I 
say ``their control,'' I refer to its being beyond the control of the 
people of Appalachia. The stereotyping of the Appalachian people as 
dim-witted, barefooted hillbillies who thrive on incest and moonshine 
allowed the Nation to laugh at and turn its back on the plight of a 
people who were being robbed of their land and its resources. It 
prompted the Nation to perceive and to dismiss Appalachians as the 
instigators rather the victims of their plight.
  Television has certainly been a part of this Appalachian bashing. 
``Green Acres'' featured farming mountain folks conversing with a 
talking pig. The ``Dukes of Hazzard'' featured stereotypical mountain 
folk jumping into and out of cars, without bothering to open doors, and 
a car horn that played Dixie.
  Even ``The Waltons,''--remember the Waltons?--a series with numerous 
morally uplifting episodes and storylines that promoted hard work, love 
of family, honesty, patriotism, and spirituality, can be faulted for 
its beautifully romanticized version of poverty. It portrayed poverty 
as a way of life that nurtures, rather than inhibits, that builds 
character rather than denies opportunity.
  I have seen poverty. I am one of poverty's children. I have known 
poverty, and poverty has known me. I can tell you that poverty is 
beautiful only if you are not poor.
  In this day and age of political correctness, Appalachians may be the 
last remaining ethnic group that it is still socially acceptable to 
scorn, demean, stereotype, and joke about. If Jay Leno told such cruel, 
bigoted, and slanderous ethnic humor about any number of minority 
groups that he does Appalachians, he would have more than the ratings 
of David Letterman about which to be concerned.
  Incredibly, the Columbia Broadcasting System, CBS, is planning to air 
a new program, ``The Real Beverly Hillbillies.'' For this program, the 
brainchild of the CEO Leslie Moonves, CBS plans to pluck a poor, rural 
family from the hills of Appalachia and plop them down in a mansion in 
Beverly Hills so the Nation can laugh at them as they try to adjust to 
big city life. I have read that CBS is already conducting so-called 
``hick-hunts'' in which they are searching for the perfect stereotype 
Appalachian family to amuse a national audience.
  The insensitivity and mean spiritedness of this plan has already 
aroused protests and criticisms from many segments of American society 
including Appalachian social action groups, labor unions, and various 
State and national legislators.
  The United Mine Workers of America, the Steel Workers Union, and 
Communication Workers have all protested the network's intent to 
ridicule good people and make fun of their lifestyles. Forty-three 
Members of the House of Representatives objected to the proposed 
program, saying it would be ``an insult to the millions of people 
living in Appalachia.''
  While I am outraged, I am even more curious about just what kind of 
brain power went into proposing this show. I cannot help but chuckle 
when I picture these highly paid, supposedly educated television 
corporate executives sitting around in a plush, ornate boardroom and 
thinking of such a stupid program. I am sure most of these fellows earn 
at least a six-figure income. Some of them probably went to Ivy League 
schools. And this is what they come up with?
  It is not even original. It is a plagiarization of an old program, 
only going a step further and using real people rather than actors.
  Highly paid, highly educated television executives sitting around in 
an ornate boardroom and thinking of low-grade garbage such as this. If 
this were my staff, I can tell you that I would be looking for some new 
staffers.
  But these CBS executives think it will be funny for city folk to sit 
back and watch country bumpkins try to blend into the culture of the 
``beautiful people'' of Rodeo Drive. Their anticipation is that 
Americans will tune in and watch and just howl and howl as they watch a 
poor family from Appalachia adjust to the glitz and glamour of Beverly 
Hills, to modern appliances, Gucci shoes, and Rolex watches. Boy, I can 
hardly hold back my laughter, being one of those people from 
Appalachia, being one of those country bumpkins.
  One CBS executive remarked: ``Imagine the episode where they have to 
interview maids.'' Boy, I am sure that episode will be a real knee 
slapper.
  I have to ask, Is this the best they can do? Is this the best 
television has to offer? Unfortunately, it is.

  Just when you think the television standards can get no lower, they 
do. Just when you start thinking these bottom feeders have cleansed the 
bottom and might try to move up the food chain, they find more garbage 
at the bottom to keep them there.
  This is an Appalachian speaking to an Appalachian who sits in the 
chair today and presides over this great body with such dignity and 
aplomb.
  Television has become more than the ``vast wasteland'' FCC chairman 
Newton Minnow labeled it 42 years ago, it has become a waste.
  This is the industry that brings us ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer,'' 
``Fear Factor,'' and ``Jerry Springer.''
  Fox Network has featured those unforgettable, morally uplifting hits, 
``Temptation Island,'' ``Joe Millionaire,'' and now the latest, ``Mr. 
Personality,'' which features the show's hostess, the talented Monica 
Lewinsky.
  (Disturbance in the Visitors' Galleries.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Warner.) If the distinguished leader would 
indulge the Presiding Officer to give the usual admonishment to those 
privileged to sit in the gallery of the Senate, they are not to enter 
into vocal expressions or disaffections.
  Mr. BYRD. I congratulate the Chair on upholding the rules of the 
Senate.

[[Page S9990]]

  Let them laugh. I am laughing, too.
  If these executives are looking for new ideas for television reality 
shows, may I suggest a few. We could take highly paid, well-groomed 
television network executives and relocate them to the sticks, where 
they'd have to try to find a job with health care and pension benefits 
and enough pay to support a family, and adjust to everyday life in 
rural America. Now that would be funny! And, as the president of the 
UMWA, Cecil Roberts, has suggested, we could put them to work digging 
coal from a 30-inch seam in a non-union coal mine. That too would be 
funny!
  I could suggest a program where Americans could watch television 
anchormen trying to get to work on time each day while driving on 
hilly, winding two-lane roads behind huge coal trucks going 5 miles an 
hour up steep hills. We would watch their frustration build and build 
and could take bets on when they would blow their tempers. We could 
watch them get their $2,500 made-to-measure suits dirty as they are 
forced to change tires flattened by huge potholes created by those coal 
trucks. We could watch them pull their cars into garages and get the 
estimates for repairs to the damage those potholes have done. Then we 
could laugh hysterically as they present ``fleecing of America'' awards 
to Senators who try to get those highways improved.
  Or we could watch nightly news programs featuring episodes of 
journalists embedded with a Marine battalion comprised of the sons and 
daughters of Bush administration officials as they are being shot at in 
Iraq and Afghanistan.
  That, of course, would not be funny, but it would make an important 
point that war is a lot more glamorous and macho when it is someone 
else's kid you are sending into combat.
  Television could be such a positive tool in our society and culture. 
It could be doing so much good. It could be a powerful instrument to 
bring out the best in us, rather than appeal to our meanest and darker 
sides. It could be a creative instrument in elevating the standards and 
values of the American people rather than lowering them. I strongly 
urge the executives at CBS to reconsider their plans for the ``Real 
Beverly Hillbillies'' in favor a program that is enlightening, 
educational, and beneficial.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I should not take advantage of my two friends because 
I have been included in the order. I was given 20 minutes. I yield the 
floor.
  Mr. SESSIONS. If the Senator from West Virginia would like to make 
additional remarks, I would suggest that Senator McCain had quick 
remarks he would like to make and I will be glad to have him go ahead 
of me.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. BYRD. I thank the Senator.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona is recognized.
  Mr. McCAIN. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. McCAIN pertaining to the introduction of S. 1461 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from 
Alabama and I thank also the distinguished Senator from Arizona.

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