thumb|right|180px|[[Walter Brennan as Amos McCoy]]

thumb|right|180px|[[Kathleen Nolan and Richard Crenna as Kate and Luke McCoy]]

thumb|right|180px|[[Joan Blondell and Andy Clyde]]

The Real McCoys is an American sitcom starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan. Co-produced by Danny Thomas's Marterto Productions in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's Westgate Company, it was broadcast for six seasons: five by the ABC-TV network, from 1957 to 1962; and a final season by CBS, 1962–1963. Set in California's San Fernando Valley, it was filmed at Desilu studios in Hollywood.

Synopsis

The Real McCoys concerns the lives of a family originally from the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, from a fictional place named Smokey Corners. They relocated to California to live and work on a farm they inherited from Ben McCoy, brother to patriarch Amos McCoy. The family included Grandpa Amos (Walter Brennan), his grandson Luke (Richard Crenna), Luke's new wife Kate (Kathleen Nolan), Luke's teenage sister Tallahassie "Hassie" (Lydia Reed), and her 11-year-old brother "Little Luke" (Michael Winkelman). The double naming of the brothers is explained in the first full episode ("Californy, Here We Come"), when the elder Luke introduces Little Luke to Pepino Garcia (Tony Martinez) and says, "Well, you see, in the excitement of having him, Ma and Pa plum forgot they already had me." Only Crenna appeared in all 225 episodes.

The former West Virginians join the Grange farm association and hire Pepino when he informs them he was Ben's foreman. In the episode broadcast January 8, 1962, Pepino becomes an American citizen and assumes the surname "McCoy." The McMichaels, a brother and sister played by Andy Clyde and Madge Blake in 29 and 21 episodes, respectively, lived on the hill near the McCoys. Amos McCoy and George McMichael, both crotchety old men, sometimes quarreled, often about their games of checkers and horseshoes. Kate is friendly with Flora McMichael, George's sister, and becomes involved with life in the community.

Although still in her 20s, Kate serves as a mother figure for Luke's younger siblings, Hassie and Little Luke. Many episodes have a moral theme consistent with the conservative opinions of Walter Brennan.

On February 23, 1961, while working on The Real McCoys, Kathleen Nolan was thrown from a horse and seriously injured. Her character of Kate was off the series for several months. Hassie left home to attend college, and Little Luke joined the United States Army. For the final season Hassie appeared only in the first episode; Little Luke was never seen again. Amos McCoy did not appear in the last eleven episodes; he was said to be back visiting family in West Virginia. Luke was a widower, and many of the stories concerned Grandpa trying to find him a new wife. This nearly succeeded when Luke met Louise Howard, portrayed by Janet De Gore, a widow with a young son, Greg, played by Butch Patrick, later of CBS's series The Munsters, a relationship which continued through the end of the series.

Guest stars

Jon Lormer was cast seven times as an actor for The Real McCoys during 1959 and 1960, six as the character Sam Watkins. Joan Blondell appeared three times near the end of the series as Aunt Win. Marjorie Bennett was cast three times as Amanda Comstock. Pat Buttram and Howard McNear also appeared three times; they were subsequently cast as Eustace Haney on CBS's Green Acres and as Floyd the Barber on CBS's The Andy Griffith Show. Olin Howland and Willard Waterman appeared five times each as Charley Perkins and Mac Maginnis, respectively.

On June 4, 2012, IMG announced that it would be releasing a complete series set, featuring all 224 remastered episodes. Release of this set never happened, and the rights to the series' home videos later moved to SFM Entertainment, which released the series on August 29, 2017.

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!DVD name!! of<br/>episodes!!Release date

|-

| Complete Season 1 || align="center"|39 || July 24, 2007<br>

|-

| Complete Season 2 || align="center"|39 || October 30, 2007<br>

|-

| Complete Season 3 || align="center"|39 || June 17, 2008<br>

|-

| Complete Season 4 || align="center"|39 || June 29, 2010<br>

|}

Ratings

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Season

! Time slot (ET)

! Rank

! Rating

|-

| 1957–1958 || rowspan="5"|Thursday at 8:30–9:00&nbsp;p.m. || #30 || 26.6 <small>(Tied with The Loretta Young Show and Zorro)</small>

|-

| 1958–1959 || #8 || 30.1

|-

| 1959–1960 || #11 || 28.2

|-

| 1960–1961 || #5 || 27.7

|-

| 1961–1962 || #14 || 24.2

|-

| 1962–1963 || Sunday at 9:00–9:30&nbsp;p.m. || colspan="2"

|}

References

  • Production history and DVD review of Season 1