I've lived in the South for 23 years, almost exactly twice as long as I lived in the Midwest. And I fucking hate it for a variety of reasons but I should probably digress.
I had no idea there was an extended Beverly Hillbillies universe. The author gives a history of the pandering, stereotyping and white washing of the 1960s country folk TV fad which seems pretty good and objective to me. I'd have liked if he offered some observation on how this fictional portrayal has affected perceptions of people who grew up with these shows and younger people who watched the reruns. He flirts with it and spends little time on the reemergence of these tropes in reality shows like Duck Dynasty and what their success says about their viewership. I suppose why exactly people like a thing can't really be broadly pinpointed so you can't offer insight into other opinions like racism. But anecdotally most people I know here who really like Andy Griffith, Mayberry fanboys if you will, are ignorant fucking assholes