Editing The Beverly Hillbillies (section)

===1981 CBS film===
In 1981, ''[[Return of the Beverly Hillbillies]]'' television film, written and produced by series creator Henning, was aired on the CBS network. Irene Ryan had died in 1973, and Raymond Bailey had died in 1980. The script acknowledged Granny's passing, but featured [[Imogene Coca]] as Granny's mother. Max Baer decided against reprising the role that both started and stymied his career, so the character of Jethro Bodine was given to another actor, Ray Young.

The film's plot had Jed back in his old homestead in Bugtussle, having divided his massive fortune among Elly May and Jethro, both of whom stayed on the West Coast. Jane Hathaway had become a Department of Energy agent and was seeking Granny's "White Lightnin'" recipe to combat the [[1979 energy crisis|energy crisis]]. Since Granny had gone on to "her re-ward", it was up to Granny's centenarian "Maw" ([[Imogene Coca]]) to divulge the secret brew's ingredients. Subplots included Jethro playing an egocentric, starlet-starved Hollywood producer, Jane and her boss ([[Werner Klemperer]]) having a romance, and Elly May owning a large petting zoo. The four main characters finally got together by the end of the story.

According to viewer consensus, though filmed a mere decade after the final episode of the series, the movie lacked the series' original spirit on many fronts, among them being the deaths of Ryan and Bailey and Baer's absence, leaving only three of the six original cast members to reprise their respective roles. Further subtracting from the familiarity was that the legendary Clampett mansion (the [[Sumner Spaulding]]–designed [[Chartwell Mansion]])—was unavailable for a location shoot as the owners' lease was too expensive. Henning himself admitted sheer embarrassment when the finished product aired, blaming his inability to rewrite the script due to the [[1981 Writers Guild of America strike]].<ref>{{cite web|author=20 maart 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxn4V6p1OYw |title=Paul Henning&nbsp;– Archive Interview Part 8 of 8 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=March 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120824075319/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxn4V6p1OYw |archive-date=August 24, 2012 }}</ref>