# Harper Valley PTA (TV series)

Harper Valley PTA (known simply as Harper Valley during its second season) is an American sitcom television series based on the 1978 film of the same name, which was itself based on the 1968 country song of the same name recorded by singer Jeannie C. Riley and written by Tom T. Hall. The series, starring Barbara Eden who reprised her role from the film, aired on NBC from January 16, 1981, to August 14, 1982.

## Synopsis

The series went on to flesh out the story in the song, as it told of the adventures of Stella Johnson (Barbara Eden), a widowed single mother to teenager Dee (Jenn Thompson), who lived in the fictional town of Harper Valley, Ohio.
The town was dominated by the namesakes of the founder, the Harper family, most prominently represented by the mayor, Otis Harper, Jr (George Gobel).
Mrs. Johnson's flouting of the small town's conventions, and exposure of the hypocrisy of many of its other notorious residents, provided the humor.
Her most notable foes were the wealthy and completely snobbish Reilly family, which consisted of the snobby head of the family, Flora (Anne Francine); her snotty daughter, Wanda (Bridget Hanley); her husband, Bobby, (Rod McCary) and their daughter, Scarlett (Suzi Dean). The stuck-up Scarlett was mainly Dee's nemesis, just as her mother and grandmother were Stella's arch-enemies.
In the show's early episodes, Mrs. Johnson had been recently elected to the board of directors of the PTA and this was the source of most of the show's plots (two of the other members were Vivian Washburn (Mari Gorman) and Willamae Jones (Edie McClurg)); later it was decided that this idea had been carried about as far as was practical and the PTA aspect was dropped from the show, which was then retitled Harper Valley.
During this phase, Stella's relationship with Dee was more prominent and actor Mills Watson joined the cast as Stella's eccentric uncle, Winslow Homer Smith. Nicknamed Buster, he was an inventor whose inventions never worked the way they were supposed to.
Stella still did battle with the Reilly clan on occasion. Her best friend was Cassie Bowman, a reporter for the town's paper (Fannie Flagg).
At various times, Stella had to deal with her evil twin, Della Smith (played by Barbara Eden wearing a black wig), much as she had when she was on her more famous series, I Dream of Jeannie, when she played her evil twin sister, Jeannie II.
The show ran from January 1981 to August 1982 on NBC; it was later released into syndication to local stations briefly in the mid-1980s, even though there were too few episodes made for it to be normally syndicated. Cable television network TV Land showed reruns of the show in 2000.

## Broadcast history

| Season | Time |
| 1980–81 | Friday at 8:00–8:30 |
| 1981–82 | Thursday at 8:00–8:30 (October 29 – November 19, 1981) Saturday at 9:00–9:30 (December 12, 1981 – January 2, 1982; April 10 – May 1, 1982) Saturday at 8:30–9:00 (January 23 – February 27, 1982) |

## Episodes
### Season 1 (1981)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | "To Dunk or Not to Dunk" | Bruce Bilson | Sherwood Schwartz & Lloyd J. Schwartz | January 16, 1981 (1981-01-16) |
| 2 | 2 | "A Husband for Stella" | Alan Myerson | Jordan Moffet | January 23, 1981 (1981-01-23) |
| 3 | 3 | "Mail and Female" | Alan Myerson | Jerry Ross | January 30, 1981 (1981-01-30) |
| Stella poses as an oil-rich real estate investor to get back at Flora Reilly for tampering with her mail. ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Don Juan and Two" | Claudio Guzmán | David P. Harmon | February 6, 1981 (1981-02-06) |
| 5 | 5 | "The Life of Reilly" | Sigmund Neufeld Jr. | Brad Radnitz | February 13, 1981 (1981-02-13) |
| 6 | 6 | "Stella, the Reilly Girl" | Richard Bennett | Joan Brooker & Alexandra Stoddart | February 20, 1981 (1981-02-20) |
| 7 | 7 | "Moonlighting Becomes You" | Bruce Bilson | Gordon Mitchell | March 6, 1981 (1981-03-06) |
| 8 | 8 | "A Tree Grows in Harper Valley" | George Tyne | Warren Murray | March 13, 1981 (1981-03-13) |
| 9 | 9 | "Dirty Tricks" | Claudio Guzman | Dianne & Lou Messina | March 20, 1981 (1981-03-20) |
| When the Reillys accuse Stella of being a hooker, Stella gets back using the theory of letting the punishment fit the crime. ||||||
| 10 | 10 | "Stella and Howard" | Bruce Bilson | Sherwood Schwartz and Lloyd J. Schwartz | March 27, 1981 (1981-03-27) |
| 11 | 11 | "Mayor Bobby" | Sigmund Neufeld Jr. | Jordan Moffet | April 3, 1981 (1981-04-03) |
| 12 | 12 | "My Fair Stella" | Claudio Guzman | Phil Mishkin & Judy Gabriel | April 10, 1981 (1981-04-10) |
| Rumors start flying when Stella works with a handsome and married English teacher on her acceptance speech for an award. ||||||
| 13 | 13 | "Bad Day at Harper Valley" | Claudio Guzman | Richard Freiman | April 17, 1981 (1981-04-17) |

### Season 2 (1981–82)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 14 | 1 | "Make Room for Uncle Buster" | Rod Daniel | William Dial | October 29, 1981 (1981-10-29) |
| Stella's penniless Uncle Buster arrives on her doorstep with his latest invention. ||||||
| 15 | 2 | "Good for the Goose...Sauce for the Gander" | Ron Daniel | Ron Friedman | November 5, 1981 (1981-11-05) |
| Wanda Taylor kicks her husband out, then enlists Stella's help in getting him back. ||||||
| 16 | 3 | "Reunion Fever" | Dick Harwood | Susan Misty Stewart | November 12, 1981 (1981-11-12) |
| At a class reunion, a former schoolmate sweeps Cassie off her feet. ||||||
| 17 | 4 | "$500 Misunderstanding" | Nick Havinga | Malcolm & Amy Webb | November 19, 1981 (1981-11-19) |
| Scarlett Taylor doesn't want to share her winnings when a lottery ticket that she bought with borrowed money pays off. ||||||
| 18 | 5 | "Stella's Scam" | Alan Bergman | Charles Isaacs | December 5, 1981 (1981-12-05) |
| Flora Reilly hits the roof when she learns Stella has been given a job as a receptionist at City Hall. ||||||
| 19 | 6 | "Flora's Dinner Party" | Rod Daniel | Jerry Davis | December 12, 1981 (1981-12-12) |
| 20 | 7 | "I'm Dreaming of a Harper Valley Christmas" | William Asher | Jackie McKane & Joel Tappis | December 19, 1981 (1981-12-19) |
| 21 | 8 | "Low Noon" | Alan Cooke | David Hackel & Steve Hattman | January 9, 1982 (1982-01-09) |
| 22 | 9 | "The Show Must Go On" | Alan Myerson | Jerry Rannow | January 16, 1982 (1982-01-16) |
| 23 | 10 | "Svengali of the Valley" | Alan Myerson | Daid Hackel & Steve Hattman | January 23, 1982 (1982-01-23) |
| 24 | 11 | "Firechief Follies" | Les Martinson | Donald Ross | January 30, 1982 (1982-01-30) |
| 25 | 12 | "Stella Della" | William Asher | Jerry Rannow | February 13, 1982 (1982-02-13) |
| 26 | 13 | "Stella Rae" | William Asher | Judy Gabriel & Philip Mishkin | February 27, 1982 (1982-02-27) |
| Stella and her fellow city workers go on strike. ||||||
| 27 | 14 | "Harper Valley Hoedown" | William Asher | Michael Weinberger | April 10, 1982 (1982-04-10) |
| 28 | 15 | "Grizzly Gap" | Alan Cooke | David Hackel & Steve Hattman | April 17, 1982 (1982-04-17) |
| 29 | 16 | "The Return of Charlie's Chow Palace" | William Asher | Greg Strangis | April 24, 1982 (1982-04-24) |
| 30 | 17 | "Harper Valley Sentinel" | Rod Daniel | Jerry Davis | May 1, 1982 (1982-05-01) |