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''Hee Haw'' is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 21-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'',〔 the major difference being that ''Hee Haw'' was far less topical, and was centered on country music and rural Southern culture. Hosted by country artists Buck Owens and Roy Clark for most of the series' run, the show was equally well known for its voluptuous, scantily clad women in stereotypical farmer's daughter outfits and country-style minidresses (a group that came to be known as the "Hee Haw Honeys"), and its cornpone humor. ''Hee Haws appeal, however, was not limited to a rural audience. It was successful in all of the major markets, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Other niche programs such as ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' (which targeted older audiences) and ''Soul Train'' (which targeted African-American audiences) also rose to prominence in syndication during the era. Like ''Laugh-In'', the show minimized production costs by taping all of the recurring sketches for a season in batches, setting up for the Cornfield one day, the Joke Fence on another day, etc. At the height of its popularity, an entire year's worth of shows would be taped in two separate week-long sessions, then individual shows were assembled from edited sections. Only musical performances were taped with a live audience; a laugh track was added to all other segments. The series was taped for the CBS Television Network at its network affiliate WLAC-TV (now WTVF)〔(newschannel5.com )〕 in downtown Nashville, and later at Opryland USA in East Nashville.〔(heehaw.com )〕 The show was produced by Yongestreet Productions through the mid-1980s; it was later produced by Gaylord Entertainment, which distributed the show in syndication. The show's name was coined by show business talent manager and producer Bernie Brillstein and derives from a common English onomatopoeia used to describe the braying sound that a donkey makes. ==Creation and syndication== Much of ''Hee Haw's'' origin was Canadian. The series' creators, comedy writers Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth, were from Canada. From 1969 until the late 1980s, ''Hee Haw'' was produced by Yongestreet Productions, named after Yonge Street, a major thoroughfare in Toronto. Gordie Tapp and Don Harron, both writer/performers on the show, were also Canadian. ''Hee Haw'' started on CBS-TV as a summer 1969 replacement for ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour''. Though the show had respectable ratings (it sat at #16 for the 1970-71 season), it was dropped in July 1971 by CBS as part of the so-called "Rural Purge" (along with fellow country-themed shows ''The Beverly Hillbillies'', ''Mayberry R.F.D.'' and ''Green Acres''), owing to network executives' feeling that its viewers reflected a less appealing, aging demographic (e.g. rural, somewhat older, less affluent, less prone to buy). Undaunted, the producers put together a syndication deal for the show, which continued in roughly the same format for 20 more years (though Owens departed in 1986). After Owens left, Clark was assisted each week by a country music celebrity co-host. During the show's peak in popularity, ''Hee Haw'' often competed in syndication against ''The Lawrence Welk Show'', a long-running ABC program which had also been canceled in 1971, also in an attempt to purge the networks of older demographic-leaning programs. Like ''Hee Haw'', ''Lawrence Welk'' was picked up for syndication in the fall of 1971, and there were some markets where the same station aired both programs. (The success of ''Hee Haw'' and ''Lawrence Welk'' in syndication, and the network decisions that led to their respective cancellations, were the inspiration for a novelty song called "The Lawrence Welk-Hee Haw Counter-Revolution Polka," performed by Clark; the song became a top 10 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart in the fall of 1972.) Mirroring the long downward trend in the popularity of variety shows in general that had taken place in the 1970s, ratings began to decline for ''Hee Haw'' by the mid-1980s, a trend that continued into the early 1990s. In the fall of 1991, in an attempt to win back viewers and attract a younger audience, the show's format and setting underwent a dramatic overhaul. The changes included a new title (''The Hee Haw Show''), more pop-oriented country music, and the barnyard-cornfield setting replaced by a city street and shopping mall set. The first of the new shows aired in January 1992. Despite the attempt to keep the show fresh, the changes alienated many of its longtime viewers while failing to gain the hoped-for younger viewers, and the ratings continued their decline. During the summer of 1992, a decision was made to end first-run production, and instead air highlights of the show's earlier years in a revamped program called ''Hee Haw Silver'' (as part of celebrating the show's 25th year).〔The show debuted as a mid-season replacement in June 1969 and because of this its first season is considered to be those first few months on the summer schedule. Its 24th season is referred to the batch of shows that aired from January through May 1992 when it was re-titled ''The Hee Haw Show''. The fall of 1992 marked the beginning of the program's 25th season on the air.〕 Under the new format, Clark hosted a mixture of classic clips and new footage. The ''Hee Haw Silver'' episodes spotlighted many of the classic comedy skits and moments from the show, with a series of retrospective looks at performers who had since died, such as David "Stringbean" Akeman, Archie Campbell, Junior Samples, and Kenny Price. According to the show's producer, Sam Lovullo, the ratings showed improvement with these classic reruns; however, the series was finally canceled in 1993 at the conclusion of its 25th season. ''Hee Haw'' continued to pop up in reruns (see below for details) throughout the 1990s and later during the following decade, in a series of successful DVD releases from Time Life. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hee Haw」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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