Kim Petroski, of Nashville, Tenn., is one of three independent casting directors on a nationwide search for the ideal family to participate in the CBS Television Network's reality-based show, "The Real Beverly Hillbillies." Her counterparts, based in Asheville, N.C., and Little Rock, Ark., are also evaluating video tapes, interviewing families and having conversations with literally thousands of people, Petroski said.

The show format has generated considerable controversy, Petroski noted, because opponents say it perpetuates stereotypes of the mythical "hillbilly" of rural Appalachia. But what producers are discovering as casting teams blanket the country is that "hillbilly" is a state of mind, not a place of origin or residence.

"What the critics imagine, and what they say we are looking for, is a toothless and barefoot and backward family. We are not looking for that. That is not going to make for fun TV. I think those people with the negative attitudes are thinking about all the 'shack on the side of the mountain, grubbing out a bare existence' documentaries they've seen about Appalachia.

"CBS isn't going that way with this. It's extreme television in the sense that a family from a very small place, that has never experienced big city living or incredible wealth, will be put in that situation. The response we're getting proves that at least some folks get the idea.

"We've got a guy that calls constantly from Canada and is convinced he's the ultimate hillbilly," she said. "We've got submissions from California all the way across the country. A whole lot of people like to fancy themselves as hillbillies, and a lot have taken on that moniker for themselves.

"Hillbillies in Canada - who ever heard of such a thing? But the deeper you reach into the pockets of all regions of our country, the more you find out how uniquely different everyone feels, and how they identify with everyone else through their values.

"So many of our callers say, 'Our friends say we would be perfect.' They've got that sense of adventure, those strong family ties, that resourcefulness and that love of life. You can tell when people in a family love each other, are interested in each other, and have a strong sense of who they are and a strong sense of individuality," she said.

While critics are bent out of shape about how the family will be portrayed, Petroski said, producers believe a family displaying these values, filmed day in and day out, has a lot to teach America.

"Ideally, we'll have three generations in the family chosen - a grandmother or grandfather, great aunt or uncle, right down to the youngest members. A lot of people grew up that way in my generation. I was born in Goodlettsville, Tenn., on a 200-acre farm. I grew up with my grandmother, and we had people staying with us all the time, folks that weren't related to us but kind of became part of the family for a time. Those kinds of families have values, ways of relating to each other, ways of treating each other and ways of solving problems that go back to the heart of what America really is," she said.

In contrast to what critics are saying, the story line isn't about stereotypes, about a region or about a culture, she said. It's one of the oldest, and most successful story lines in the entertainment industry.

"It's the whole 'fish out of water' concept. Take the subjects from one extreme situation to another and see how they navigate themselves. Television has been making money off that, and entertaining America with that, for years. Green Acres. Gilligan's Island. Beverly Hillbillies. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was the same idea reinvented - she went from a very small setting and a job in a small office to the big time.

"How do folks make do, how do they interact with all the difficult personalities you find in an urban setting, how do they solve problems, and how do they manage when they go from one extreme to the other? That's the formula," Petroski said.

"It's the internal goings on of a family, the crazy stuff that happens to us every day, the stuff that's always happening with teenagers, peppered in with that older voice of wisdom you get in a multi-generational family. It's pretense versus genuine people.

"Why do you think Ozzy Osborne reality TV is so entertaining? It's easier to identify with this way-out rock star dad trying to figure out how to discipline his kid than it is to identify with the cast of "Friends," a show where nobody works around the house, nobody has a job, nobody worries about money, but they live in an apartment that costs a fortune," she noted.

The producers are going to lease or somehow otherwise obtain a mansion with ballrooms, swimming pools, and the like. Appalachia native Dub Cornett and co-producers Gary Auerbach and Jim Jones aim to get the family selected soon, probably in November, and start production as early as January. "It could last a year. It could be over in 13 weeks. It depends on how the public likes the show, and how they identify with the family," she said.

SATURDAY RESPONSE

Turnout at the Holiday Inn, in Norton, was light, exactly what Petroski said she expected. A few families drifted in during the day - one from Dungannon, one from Big Stone Gap, one from Tazewell, Tenn.

CBS, Petroski said, would automatically disqualify any applicants who allowed their names or images to appear in the media, so interviews with families were not permitted.

Some folks had planned for some time to meet with her, some had arranged for her to meet with them at their homes in late afternoon, and some, such as the family from Big Stone, had come on a whim to see what the process was like, Petroski said.

"None had a problem with being filmed 24 hours a day. I told them to expect that, and all said, 'Okay, we'll do it.' The most inner conflict I've heard is from people who said they were being judged for even talking about being interested in doing the show. Critics are making a fundamental snap judgment - immediately thinking 'documentary style' filming - and taking a negative stand," she said.

One interviewee, approached in the parking lot and interviewed on the condition that he not be identified, was asked about the reaction of family and co-workers to his effort to be on the show, and about concerns that the show would perpetuate the Appalachian stereotype the media has created.

He literally "went off" in response.

"That's really stupid, you know it. Those folks need to get a grip. They need to mind their own business and stop trying to tend to mine.

"You go up to Blacksburg to a Virginia Tech game and about 50,000 fans are in the stands, and leading the cheers is the Hokie Bird, a college kid prancing around in a turkey suit. Do they sit up there and say, 'Isn't that awful that they encourage a college student to dress up like that for money, to degrade themselves like that in front of all these folks and on national television. That promotes a bad image of Virginia Tech.

"No, they think it's just fine. The wilder the Hokie Bird gets, the more they like it. But you let me and my family try to win an all-expense paid trip to California, first plane ride, all the stuff my kids would get to see and do, get to take everybody with us, and that's awful. We're selling out our culture.

"No we're not. We're doing something we want to do. We don't represent this area any more than that Hokie Bird represents the way students act on campus at Virginia Tech. As I said, a lot of folks need to get a grip."