Senator fails to see the joke of reality TV's Hillbillies

Zell Miller is a proud man, proud of his roots, pleased to call himself a hillbilly. But don't let anyone else try to address him as such. And don't even dream of poking fun.

The Georgia senator took the floor on Capitol Hill this week to criticise a television company he accused of seeking to mock hillbillies such as himself. "Mr President, CBS Television is currently planning what this great company called a hillbilly reality show," he said, interrupting a debate over a judicial nomination.

"I'd like to say a few words about that as a United States senator who happens to be a hillbilly. I can call myself that – but don't you call me that," he said. "Hillbilly is a term of derision."

Mr Miller criticised CBS for seeking to remake the Sixties hit TV show, which featured fictional hillbilly Jeb Clampett and his family who moved to a Beverly Hills suburb after discovering oil in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas. Researchers for The Real Beverly Hillbillies are combing the poorer, southern states looking for a family prepared to move to a mansion in the glitzy Los Angeles suburb. CBS is convinced the show will be hilarious. "Imagine the episode where they have to interview maids," said Ghen Maynard, an executive with CBS.

But the proposals have angered many people, who say that a little-represented sub-section of American society would be humiliated for public entertainment.

Mr Miller told senators: "Since the beginning of civilisation, there have always been some Homo sapiens who it seems have to have someone to look down upon; some group to feel superior to. For these kind of people, it is as basic to their human nature as the drive to reproduce or the urge for food and water. They were there in the time of the Greeks and the Romans. They can be found all through the Bible."

CBS insists it means no harm with the show, which would "follow the adventures of a large family when they move out of their rural home and settle into a Beverly Hills mansion". Chris Ender, a CBS spokesman, said there was a long tradition of "fish-out-of-water" scenarios and the show may reflect the pretensions of urban living. CBS said yesterday it found Mr Miller's comments "bizarre and unfortunate".