Remember the saying “There’s no such thing as bad press?” Well, the sentiment doesn’t only apply to journalism. It turns out that some television creators don’t always have a set agenda or a lesson to teach others. Sometimes, the most any creator can hope for is just to make audiences happy.

As far as turning dreams into a reality, Paul Henning was able to get everything he wanted, and then some. Henning was responsible for popular sitcoms like The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction. The outlandish nature of Henning’s productions kept audiences laughing, no matter how many times they’d seen an episode.

Henning was able to share his relatively simple philosophy with readers everywhere.

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“I always say, ‘Get as many viewers as you can by whatever means you can,’” said Henning during an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. “My primary purpose was to entertain and have characters people liked.”

While Henning was able to entertain audiences everywhere, many viewers learned more than a few lessons from his characters, including the Clampett family in The Beverly Hillbillies.

While plenty of characters in the series served a comedic purpose, each had their own set of convictions and opinions that they stuck to.

“I don’t know that Jed Clampett of The Beverly Hillbillies was a strong leader-type that maybe the country was hungry for,” said Henning. “Someone who would say, ‘This is right, this is wrong. Let’s do right.’ The character made a very strong impression.”