The television programing my exclusive club enjoyed was different back in Christianized America. Take for example, a program called, "The Real McCoys," an ABC TV comedy that hit the airways on October 3, 1957, and ended on June 2, 1963.
The popular show centered around the McCoy family, who had traveled from "West Virgininny" to live in California. Walter Brennan, who was one of the most recognizable voices on radio and television at the time, played Grandpa Amos McCoy. He was an old codger set in his ways. He could neither read or write, which provided many plots for the series. Usually each episode revolved around Amos' stubbornness, but he would see the light and mellow before the end of the show.
In one episode, Amos lets a man promoting a casino in Las Vegas paint his barn. The only catch was that the man puts up a sign on the roof of the barn. However, Grandpa Amos had no idea that his barn would be promoting gambling in Las Vegas, so he consented to having the barn painted.
The McCoys' pastor was coming to visit their home, so they covered up part of the sign to have it say something better. Then the wind kicked up, blowing the canvas off, so that the pastor could see they had a sign on the roof promoting gambling. But he wasn’t upset, saying they had painted his barn for free too and had made a sign he didn’t like either.
The first episode set the tone for the series. It opened with the family, Luke, Kate, Hassie, Little Luke, and Amos arriving in California. Their home was on a farm inherited from the death of Uncle Ben McCoy. It’s then that something happened on the show that I would challenge you to find on any ABC, NBC, or CBS show today.
The family gets out of their dilapidated car they’ve driven from West Virginia, walks through the gate, and pauses to look at the house which is as dilapidated as their car. Amos takes off his hat and without a word, they all bow their heads. Then Amos prays, “Lord, we want to thank you for getting us here in one piece. The house is a mite fancy, but we can fix that. Again we want to thank You. Keep up the good work.” All the family reverently says, “Amen."
It doesn’t stop there. Midpoint in the show, Amos has run into a situation that, in his opinion isn’t a good one. He walks into the living room, takes off his hat, looks heavenward and prays again: “Lord I don’t mean to question your judgment, but are You sure I wasn’t happier back in West Virgininny?”
What's important in all this is that the pastor’s visit on the program is a normal and natural thing. He’s neither a hypocrite or an evil person up to no good. When Amos prays, it too is seen as something normal and natural, not a jarring intrusion into the plot as if there were something wrong, socially awkward, or weird about the family.
That show first aired when those in their 70’s today were in middle school. It’s taken a short time, but reverence for God, prayer, a pastor's visit, and a family's praying on a popular national TV have vanished. Instead, we see families in which the "comedy" consists of the father's being dumb, the children having all the wisdom in addition to being disrespectful, one put-down and insult after another, and the parents are clueless. But in "The Real McCoys, the family did what what was right in God’s eyes. Today, TV families do what’s right in their own eyes.
Back then, Amos, Luke, Kate, Hassie, and Little Luke were The Real McCoys.
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