The “aw shucks” Southern charm machine was never turned up higher than in the tales of a young Mississippi-bred girl named Tammy. Based on the novel Tammy Out of Time, written by Cid Ricketts Sumner, the book spawned a successful movie franchise consisting of three films, with Debbie Reynolds playing the title role in the first, and Sandra Dee taking over in the subsequent pictures. And thanks to the popularity of other rural comedy shows like The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres, it was decided that Tammy might be a good mix for television.

Debuting on ABC in 1965, Tammy starred Debbie Watson as the good-natured Southern charmer. She lived with her family on a bayou houseboat, an extended clan that included Uncle Lucius, Cousin Cletus and beloved Grandpa - who imparted plenty of backwoods wisdom on the young girl. Eventually the allure of affluent city-folk got the best of Tammy, and so she ventured out to see how the other half lived. She ended up landing a secretarial position with wealthy plantation owner John Brent and was soon welcomed into their family. Neighborhood snobbery eventually reared its ugly head, when the wealthy Tate family took notice of the young hire and became miffed that a country bumkin was chosen over their certainly better qualified daughter Gloria. But no matter how much they tried to sabotage Tammy’s success, things always seemed to work out just fine for the amiable Southern sweetheart - thanks in no small part to that indispensable rural wisdom handed down from Grandpa.

Sadly, Tammy didn’t manage to win the hearts of television viewers in quite the same way as the motion pictures had. After a single season, Tammy threw in the towel. Debbie Watson would get a chance to follow in the footsteps of the other actresses that played Tammy, however, and get her own turn on the big screen. By editing four episodes of the television series together, 1967’s Tammy and the Millionaire premiered in movie theaters across the country, giving the young actress a chance to see her name in lights as well.