Jessica Fletcher, No!

TV Laughs: Laverne & Shirley

TV Laughs: The Hooter-verse

One of the earliest shared universes in the world of entertainment was CBS’ “Hooterverse”, a three series franchise that existed long before Hollywood’s current infatuation with recognizable franchises. The Beverly Hillbillies was the first of the shows to premiere, establishing itself as a major hit. The show spawned two other hot shows- Petticoat Junction and Green Acres.

The shows continued their huge success until 1972, falling victim to CBS’ “rural purge” where the network canceled all of the shows it considered to be outdated regardless of their ratings. It would be one of the rare times that a network canceled such highly rated programming.

TV Laughs