Buddy Ebsen had been alive long enough to know that a smart man never looks a gift horse in the mouth. The actor had been at the forefront of the rural television movement, where shows like Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies became wildly popular.

As the star of Hillbillies, Ebsen understood that success was fickle; it came and went for no reason at all. This lesson was further compounded later in his career, when the actor starred in the crime series Barnaby Jones. After filming a season of work, Ebsen met with a network executive, who was very frank with the actor.

“I don’t understand the success of Barnaby Jones,” said the executive, according to an article in the Star-Telegram. The higher-up followed the statement with “Please come back next season. We need you.”

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With so many years of success under his belt, Ebsen understood that a show’s true potential was important, but indefinable.

“When you’ve been in show business 50 years, nothing surprises you,” said the actor. “But I can’t explain our successes any better than anybody else, and I don’t go poking around for reasons.”

In fact, Ebsen argued that a hyperfixation may ruin the very thing that made you successful in the first place.

“I think when you analyze something like that, you tend to concentrate too much on one element, and your work becomes synthetic,” said the actor. “We just try to do good, believable stories with good actors, and we always strive to do better. Some episodes are better than others. There are some I’m not thrilled with. But we do try.”