Green Acres - General Discussion

[One Tough Cookie]

America --Welcome to Hooterville USA---a town that never sees rain or snow.  Frazzled NYC lawyer buys a ramshackle farm much to his socialite wife, Lisa's dismay but she agrees to give it six months and they will move back to NYC and if she isn't happy they  will move back to the Big Apple.  She's useless in the kitchen, making hotcakes that look and {probably taste} like rubber.  I always wondered why Oliver didn't die of hunger.When she realizes Oliver is so happy she agrees to stay on an intermediate anmoj time; meanwhile she attempts to cook and clean, something she is woefully inept at.  However she does it all while wearing elaborate nightwear and great jewelry, while Oliver must be the only farmer in USA who farms while wearing dress pants, white oxford shirt, ties and vests. And what woman doesn't wear a leopard coat when shopping at Sam Drucker's General Store?  The electricity between them is so real you can feel it 

The fellow citizens of Hooterwille are just what you'd expect--even down to Arnold the Talking Pig whom everyone can understand except--you guess it--Oliver.

Edited November 15, 2020 by One Tough Cookie

[roseha]

Thanks for starting this show thread!   I think Green Acres coming as it did in the late 60s, seemed to miss being noticed at the time for its rural-based surrealism.  It wasn't just Arnold the pig, the "son" of the Ziffels, who would get drafted among other adventures, but one character would come up with a nonsensical word or phrase and everyone Oliver would run into would casually repeat it.  Not to mention Lisa's square eggs, and the episode which opens with her asking Oliver about all the names floating in space above their bedroom (the shows' opening credits).  Certainly this show had an influence down the line to the rural weirdness of Larry, Darryl and Darryl of Newhart, and Hank Yarbo of Corner Gas.    Great show.

[rmontro]

Agree with the above, this show being so surrealistically bizarre is what set it apart.  I've been watching the early episodes on MeTV this week.   I think it's a cute idea for a show though, a city guy who always wanted to be a farmer.  Lisa seems so cheerful and is always laughing at the silliness that is going on, especially considering she's the one who hates living on a farm and wants to return to the city.  Meanwhile, Oliver, who actually wants to be there, seems grumpy and frustrated.

I always thought Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor made such an unusual couple.  I looked up their ages, looks like Albert was 61 when the show started, and Gabor was 46, so there was a 15 year difference there.   

[Egg McMuffin]

It was basically the premise of the Beverly Hillbillies in reverse: city folks move to the country.

Albert and Gabor were an unusual couple, I agree. But it worked. What me laugh was Oliver’s mother, played by the ubiquitous Eleanor Audley, who was the same age as Albert.

[Blergh]

Loved the irony in how the Hooterville folks at best pitied while at worst were annoyed by Oliver  who wanted to live out his idealized version of farm life but stayed a New York City slicker who did his chores in his suit vest, formal shirts, slacks, shoes and neckties but adored Lisa who kept saying she wanted to return to New York- yet despite wearing the finest loungewear and evening clothes to be found, embraced the illogical logic of the place and treated everyone like visiting dignitaries (and was Hungarian instead of US American,to boot). 

Of course, the one thing ALL of them had in common was that Oliver and the rest of Hooterville dreaded Lisa's hotscakes and other cooking products- no amount of idealism or illogical logic could make her cooking palatable.

[rmontro]

I was reading that the man who wrote the theme to Green Acres, Vic Mizzy, also wrote the theme to The Addams Family.  I had been thinking that they sounded similar in some ways.  Specifically there's the "snap snap" in the Addams Family and the "bomp bomp" in the Green Acres theme.

[Blergh]

13 hours ago, rmontro said:

I was reading that the man who wrote the theme to Green Acres, Vic Mizzy, also wrote the theme to The Addams Family.  I had been thinking that they sounded similar in some ways.  Specifically there's the "snap snap" in the Addams Family and the "bomp bomp" in the Green Acres theme.

Not surprising that they'd use the same composer who wrote the theme for  that 'altogether ooky' family to compose the theme for this show taking place in its own rather odd dimension! LOL

[rmontro]

As I said before, I've been watching the early episodes on MeTV.  If my recollections are correct, these earlier episodes are not quite as surreal as the show got in later seasons.  It seems to be focusing on Oliver's failures as a farmer, and more straight up comedy.  I think it got more surreal as it went on.

One other thing I wanted to mention is the opening sequence, when Oliver first drives out in tractor.  The background is so obviously a flat painted backdrop it's laughable.  That's not the only spot with an obvious backdrop, but it's extremely blatant right there.  What, no CGI?

[chessiegal]

3 minutes ago, rmontro said:

What, no CGI?

Nope. Look at all the shows from the mid-60s and earlier. They all use obvious picture backdrops. Think all the Westerns. The same goes for movies. Realistic CGI was used sparingly until the early 1990s.

[Blergh]

4 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Nope. Look at all the shows from the mid-60s and earlier. They all use obvious picture backdrops. Think all the Westerns. The same goes for movies. Realistic CGI was used sparingly until the early 1990s.

Take a look at ALL of Paul Hennings's productions. They virtually NEVER shot anywhere but inside a studio even when the actions were supposed to take place outside. The Beverly Hillbillies visiting Silver City, Missouri on location in 1969 was somewhat exceptional. 

[rmontro]

Speaking of the Green Acres theme song:  Apparently, it is the first show to have its actors sing the theme song.  I was also reading that Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor were good friends in real life and buried in the same cemetery.

Just finished watching the entire first season.  That was my goal, I just wanted to watch the first season (I'm sure I've seen them all when I was younger anyway).  But season two starts Monday, so looks like I will go a little further at least.  Might stop soon, might end up watching them all, who knows?  So far the viewing has bee pretty painless.

I notice there is routine structure to most episodes.  There will be some main story, and at some point Mr. Haney will stop by and do his bit, and Mr. Kimbell will also stop by and do a scene.

The last episode of the first season had Oliver's nephew Chuck show up.  He has long hair, and Oliver clearly disapproves.  Recalls day when our differences seemed more simple.  Oliver is building a fireplace, and he uses some of Lisa's hotcake batter to lay one of the bricks.  There is a loud noise causing all of the bricks to fall - except the one put in place by Lisa's batter lol.

[FaginZorro]

With Green Acres, I love that city-sophisticate Lisa Douglass is essentially on the same mental and emotional wavelength as the denizens of Hooterville. She was never condescending and treated others kindly. She sought to fulfill the role of farm wife with her feeble attempts at making hotcakes.