On February 23, 1971, America had a televised identity crisis.

Just before 9:30 p.m., on CBS, Buck Owens and Roy Clark led the cast of “Hee Haw” in the same singalong that closed every episode — “May your days be bright, may your thoughts be light, ’til we meet again” — before signing off, “We’ll see you next week, right here on ‘Hee Haw’!”

Cue the banjo, the shots of the cast laughing, the women in gingham dresses, the men in plaid shirts and bib overalls, the cartoon donkey rolling its eyes around and around. Fade out. A few ads and . . .

Fade up on Archie and Edith Bunker sitting at their piano in Queens, singing in a new episode of "All in the Family."

Boy, the way Glenn Miller played

Songs that made the hit parade,

Guys like us, we had it made,

Those were the days ...

It had been like this all month. CBS went from its silliest show to its most satirical — "All in the Family" talked about race and sex, "Hee Haw" had rubber chickens. But this time, there would be no next week for “Hee Haw.” It was canceled, along with two shows that had aired earlier that night, "Green Acres" and "The Beverly Hillbillies." By 1971, all the other rural-themed CBS shows were headed for cancellation or already off the air: "Mayberry RFD,” “The Jim Nabors Hour,” “The New Andy Griffith Show," “Petticoat Junction” and “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” In their place, CBS would put more shows like "All in the Family," and "Mary Tyler Moore." The ’70s were to be a decade of realism and relevance on TV the same way the ’50s had been a decade of Cold War suburban idealism.

In between, television went South.