Anyone else stoked that TVLand is finally carrying Green Acres? I TiVo'd an episode yesterday, the one where Oliver and Lisa finally have phone service installed -- atop a telephone poll planted right outside their bedroom window! This show was absolutely surreal. Oliver working the farm in a tie and vest, Lisa leaving the hen a note about how many eggs to lay, ... hubby and I laughed a lot more than we did during Everybody Loves Raymond.
Green Acres: Farm Livin' Is the Life for Me
Started by
Inquisitionist
, Mar 23 2004 06:07 PM
109 replies to this topic
#1
Posted Mar 23, 2004 @ 6:07 PM
#2
Posted Mar 23, 2004 @ 6:19 PM
We just found the show and watched it delightedly. Wouldn't want a steady diet, but two episodes were fun!
It really was as bizarre in its own way as "Twin Peaks", and much earlier. I always loved how Lisa, for all her resistance, settled into life in Hooterville much more easily than Oliver, and how the Douglases so completely loved each other.
Today's episodes were especially good - Oliver wasn't too humiliated and there wasn't too too much quirky townness.
It really was as bizarre in its own way as "Twin Peaks", and much earlier. I always loved how Lisa, for all her resistance, settled into life in Hooterville much more easily than Oliver, and how the Douglases so completely loved each other.
Today's episodes were especially good - Oliver wasn't too humiliated and there wasn't too too much quirky townness.
#3
Posted Mar 24, 2004 @ 1:40 AM
This was one of the funniest shows ever. I laugh just thinking about it. I loved how they kind of built their own reality that included everyone but Oliver, how he was always so flabergasted....
Lisa says Oliver shouldn't be working because it's some obscure Hungarian holiday, Oliver pish-toshes her away, and then goes to Drucker's store...only to find it closed because it's an obscure Hungarian holiday....
A master criminal is on the loose, and everyone recounting his exploits tells Oliver that he "skiied down the Alps to Paris", despite Oliver's protestations that you CAN'T....
Does anyone but me remember Molly Turgess? God, that episode got inside my head so bad, to this day I can't hear the name Molly without singing "Oh Molly, Oh Molly as ugly can be..." (this does not reflect on the two women who I know as Molly, btw)
Lisa says Oliver shouldn't be working because it's some obscure Hungarian holiday, Oliver pish-toshes her away, and then goes to Drucker's store...only to find it closed because it's an obscure Hungarian holiday....
A master criminal is on the loose, and everyone recounting his exploits tells Oliver that he "skiied down the Alps to Paris", despite Oliver's protestations that you CAN'T....
Does anyone but me remember Molly Turgess? God, that episode got inside my head so bad, to this day I can't hear the name Molly without singing "Oh Molly, Oh Molly as ugly can be..." (this does not reflect on the two women who I know as Molly, btw)
#4
Posted Mar 24, 2004 @ 8:29 AM
My memory is failing on Molly, bigmonster, but I'll be on the look-out. I set the TiVo to record a few more episodes today.
I *heart* Lisa's clothes. They were sophisiticated chic without going over-the-top (at least from what I've seen so far). Carrie Bradshaw could take a few tips.
I'm looking forward to the episodes when Oliver's mother visits the farm.
I *heart* Lisa's clothes. They were sophisiticated chic without going over-the-top (at least from what I've seen so far). Carrie Bradshaw could take a few tips.
I'm looking forward to the episodes when Oliver's mother visits the farm.
#5
Posted Mar 24, 2004 @ 9:06 AM
Funny how well this show is holding up, unlike 'Mr. Ed'. It WAS surrealistic in its own way. Good point.
Glad to see it back. Better than ELR and W&G, that's for damned sure. And there's that wonderful theme song too.
Glad to see it back. Better than ELR and W&G, that's for damned sure. And there's that wonderful theme song too.
#6
Posted Mar 24, 2004 @ 9:55 AM
Oh, I just LOVE this show! If they hadn't began airing it again I would have bought the DVD sets for sure. My favs include the one in which Zeb was trying to win the "Name that song" contest on the radio that played the same music every time but had different titles and any of the eps with that genius kid who got moon rocks.
#7
Posted Mar 24, 2004 @ 10:07 AM
And wasn't there an hilarious pair of repair people (a man and a woman) both named Ralph? Am I remembering this incorrectly?
Wonder who's had the rights to this show for so long that they've kept it off the air?
Wonder who's had the rights to this show for so long that they've kept it off the air?
Edited by stoneyburke, Mar 24, 2004 @ 10:07 AM.
#8
Posted Mar 24, 2004 @ 10:23 AM
And wasn't there an hilarious pair of repair people (a man and a woman) both named Ralph? Am I remembering this incorrectly?
IIRC - and I may not - they were Ralph and Alf, and Ralph was the woman. She was played by Mary Grace Canfield, and there was a memorable episode in which she developed a serious crush on Mr. Kimball. Lisa gave her a makeover. It did not go over all that well, and Ralph went back to her rather androgynous self.
#9
Posted Mar 24, 2004 @ 12:29 PM
Ralph always had the hots for Mr Kimball, but I'm having trouble remembering this ep because I keep thinking of the ep in which Zeb got an acting corresondence course by mistake and glued his eyes shut in the "stage makeup" lesson.IIRC - and I may not - they were Ralph and Alf, and Ralph was the woman. She was played by Mary Grace Canfield, and there was a memorable episode in which she developed a serious crush on Mr. Kimball. Lisa gave her a makeover. It did not go over all that well, and Ralph went back to her rather androgynous self.
#10
Posted Mar 24, 2004 @ 12:40 PM
Dave Foley (Kids in the Hall, NewsRadio) is such an enormous Green Acres fan -- it's his favorite show of all time -- that they wrote his fandom into the character of Dave on NewsRadio.
Hard to believe that this was a semi-spinoff from the bland "Petticoat Junction" -- both shows took place in Hooterville and there were occasional crossovers, but the GA Hooterville was completely insane whereas the PJ Hooterville was cozy and dull.
In many ways, you still couldn't do a show this weird today -- or if you did, it wouldn't last seven years or however long this ran. The first season is out on DVD, but I hope they bring out the later seasons (it got more surreal as it went on)>
Hard to believe that this was a semi-spinoff from the bland "Petticoat Junction" -- both shows took place in Hooterville and there were occasional crossovers, but the GA Hooterville was completely insane whereas the PJ Hooterville was cozy and dull.
In many ways, you still couldn't do a show this weird today -- or if you did, it wouldn't last seven years or however long this ran. The first season is out on DVD, but I hope they bring out the later seasons (it got more surreal as it went on)>
#11
Posted Mar 24, 2004 @ 2:44 PM
It may have spun off from Petticoat Junction, but in spirit, it was like a reverse Beverly Hillbillies with the city folk going to the country.
About 20 years ago my brother suggested the following twist to the Superman story: what if the baby from Krypton had landed on the Douglas farm rather than with the Kents? IIRC, his casting ideas for the inevitable big-budget movie included Robert DeNiro as Oliver and Nastassia Kinski as Lisa.
About 20 years ago my brother suggested the following twist to the Superman story: what if the baby from Krypton had landed on the Douglas farm rather than with the Kents? IIRC, his casting ideas for the inevitable big-budget movie included Robert DeNiro as Oliver and Nastassia Kinski as Lisa.
#12
Posted Mar 24, 2004 @ 9:13 PM
Once Oliver set out to compile a collection of folk music, and asked were there any folk stories around Hooterville. This set a lot of folks to tell him that there weren't any, except "You-Know-Who". YKW was Molly Turgess, who was so ugly even the dogs were afraid of her ("Well, Mr. Douglas, on second thought, the dogs kinda liked her. She was shaped like a bone."). When she died she swore to curse anyone who spoke her name. Eventually Lisa meets the ghost and gives her a makeover, and Oliver is free to write his folk song "Oh, Molly, oh, Molly, as ugly can be..."
Cracks my shit up every time!
Cracks my shit up every time!
#13
Posted Mar 25, 2004 @ 9:09 AM
Thanks, bigmonster. According to TiVo, the Molly Turgess episode is coming up this week -- I'm all set to record and enjoy!
I got my wish to see Mama Douglas last night -- twice. She appeared in the episode about Oliver and Lisa's first wedding anniversary since moving to the farm, which had some great flashbacks to Oliver's first "farm" on his Park Avenue penthouse terrace. Loved the calls to the Dept. of Agriculture: "How come every time I call it's the secretary's anniversary?"
Mama also turned up in Lisa's quest to bring a beauty parlor to "Hootersville." (So sweet how she always puts the "s" in there.) Seeing the ladies of Hootersville in their sky-high teased-up hairdos was too much! Just what did happen in Scranton, I wonder...
I got my wish to see Mama Douglas last night -- twice. She appeared in the episode about Oliver and Lisa's first wedding anniversary since moving to the farm, which had some great flashbacks to Oliver's first "farm" on his Park Avenue penthouse terrace. Loved the calls to the Dept. of Agriculture: "How come every time I call it's the secretary's anniversary?"
Mama also turned up in Lisa's quest to bring a beauty parlor to "Hootersville." (So sweet how she always puts the "s" in there.) Seeing the ladies of Hootersville in their sky-high teased-up hairdos was too much! Just what did happen in Scranton, I wonder...
Edited by Inquisitionist, Mar 25, 2004 @ 1:17 PM.
#14
Posted Mar 25, 2004 @ 9:53 AM
I loved that Ralph character too. Aw, she was so homely looking and was deadpan funny.
My father always got a kick out of Lisa and her terrible "hotcakes". That's what she called pancakes right, or am I remembering wrong?
My father always got a kick out of Lisa and her terrible "hotcakes". That's what she called pancakes right, or am I remembering wrong?
#15
Posted Mar 25, 2004 @ 12:14 PM
Inquisitionist, can you share when re the Molly Turgess episode? This is one I've never seen.
valny, I too always got a kick out of Lisa's cooking.
Amazing how we're all enjoying the return of this show. Again, where HAS it been all this time? Bill Cosby tied up the rights until now? {sarcasm...not so much}
Could it be a reaction to the pseudo-reality-, comedy barren sitcom-, formulaic ad nauseum successful-, sensationalistic crime-, and just all around craptastic- shows currently being fed to us on network television?
Whatever the case, I'll enjoy it until they yank it for being politically incorrect to rich people living in the rural outlands.
valny, I too always got a kick out of Lisa's cooking.
Amazing how we're all enjoying the return of this show. Again, where HAS it been all this time? Bill Cosby tied up the rights until now? {sarcasm...not so much}
Could it be a reaction to the pseudo-reality-, comedy barren sitcom-, formulaic ad nauseum successful-, sensationalistic crime-, and just all around craptastic- shows currently being fed to us on network television?
Whatever the case, I'll enjoy it until they yank it for being politically incorrect to rich people living in the rural outlands.
#16
Posted Mar 25, 2004 @ 2:18 PM
She called them "hotscakes". Don't forget her coffee either.My father always got a kick out of Lisa and her terrible "hotcakes". That's what she called pancakes right, or am I remembering wrong?
Ahh, so THAT'S where she got it!Mama also turned up in Lisa's quest to bring a beauty parlor to "Hootersville." (So sweet how she always puts the "s" in there.)
#17
Posted Mar 25, 2004 @ 11:45 PM
Someone please tell me when the Molly Turgess ep is on?
#18
Posted Mar 26, 2004 @ 12:34 PM
The Ballad of Molly Turgiss is scheduled to air this Monday, March 29 at 3:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m (EST). You can search for schedules by TV show here. TVLand's synopsis:
Just before Molly, at 5:00 is A Pig in a Poke, which I vaguely recall from eons ago:Local Superstition says an old hag named Molly Turgiss, who died twenty years earlier, haunts the valley. Oliver becomes intrigued by the mystery and makes up a folk song about Molly.
Lisa and Oliver unknowingly bring Arnold, the pig, along to Harvard. Oliver is the keynote speaker at the Law Society reunion. Guest Stars: Emory Parnell, Terry Phillips. Note: Actor and Musician Harry Dean Stanton has a small role in this episode.
#19
Posted Mar 26, 2004 @ 6:52 PM
Harry Dean Stanton's a musician? I did not know that.
#20
Posted Mar 27, 2004 @ 7:35 AM
D.C.:
D.C. maybe I am showing my age, but didn't he have some vague connection to the Monkees at some point? Or am I insane?
Harry Dean Stanton's a musician? I did not know that.
D.C. maybe I am showing my age, but didn't he have some vague connection to the Monkees at some point? Or am I insane?
#21
Posted Mar 27, 2004 @ 4:18 PM
The "Harry Dean Stanton as musician" question got to me, and I turned to IMDb. I found this:
He fronts a band called "The Harry Dean Stanton Band" which regularly performs in the Los Angeles area. He sings and plays guitar. The band plays a mix of jazz, pop, and tex-mex styles. The band often plays in Hollywood at 'Jack's Sugar Shack'.
The name of his musical group was originally "Harry Dean Stanton and the Repo Men".
#22
Posted Mar 30, 2004 @ 2:26 PM
Thanks for the heads-up on Molly Turgiss, bigmonster -- that was a hoot, and I don't recall seeing it before. Looks like there is a Green Acres marathon planned for this weekend, starting with the very first episode, which I 've missed so far on TVLand.
#23
Posted Apr 3, 2004 @ 10:30 PM
I'm watching the marathon on TVland and never noticed they have a subtle sense of continuity I never noticed before now. The bedroom gets expanded, they eventually get electricity, etc.
Oh, just saw one of my fav eps, the one in which The Hooterville Players does The Beverly Hillbillies, modified to "make it funny". Hee! I just know there's some interesting stories about that...
Oh, just saw one of my fav eps, the one in which The Hooterville Players does The Beverly Hillbillies, modified to "make it funny". Hee! I just know there's some interesting stories about that...
#24
Posted Apr 4, 2004 @ 1:40 AM
I watched parts of the marathon today and rediscovered my love for this show. Eva Gabor just played Lisa so well and brought the funny to her lines. Love Love Love this show.
#25
Posted Apr 4, 2004 @ 4:24 PM
Not only is this Dave Foley's favorite show, I think the creators of NewsRadio had it in mind when coming up with their show. In the final NR, Dave makes one last mention of GA, and his description of the series sounds just like what NR was trying to do.
The genius of this show is that they took two aspects of '60s TV - childishly dumb comedy and the rural sitcoms craze - and turned them on their head. Instead of unbelievable dopeyness we get inspired surreality. It's amazing that this show has creative connections to The Beverly Hillbillies, as the Hooterville Players one acknowleged directly (they mention Paul Henning by name) - and made fun of ("... only make it funny.")
And the fairly-normal-guy-stuck-with-a-bunch-of-crazies concept (often "fish out of water") found its way not only in NewsRadio, but WKRP and both classic Newhart shows (Oliver Douglas = Bob Hartley = Dick Lounden = Andy Travis = Dave Nelson). I love that kind of comedy.
The genius of this show is that they took two aspects of '60s TV - childishly dumb comedy and the rural sitcoms craze - and turned them on their head. Instead of unbelievable dopeyness we get inspired surreality. It's amazing that this show has creative connections to The Beverly Hillbillies, as the Hooterville Players one acknowleged directly (they mention Paul Henning by name) - and made fun of ("... only make it funny.")
And the fairly-normal-guy-stuck-with-a-bunch-of-crazies concept (often "fish out of water") found its way not only in NewsRadio, but WKRP and both classic Newhart shows (Oliver Douglas = Bob Hartley = Dick Lounden = Andy Travis = Dave Nelson). I love that kind of comedy.
#26
Posted Apr 5, 2004 @ 8:24 AM
Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert were both wonderful, and I second TudorQueen's earlier observation that for all their bluster and occasional insults, it was obvious that Lisa and Oliver deeply loved each other. They looked great, too. Wasn't it nice when middle-aged people didn't have to dress like teenagers on TV?
Re the fish-out-of-water theme, I like that Oliver is a bit loopey in his own way -- established early on by his phoning the family doctor to examine his penthouse corn for borers!
As for where the series is set... though Oliver originally visited Hooterville in conjunction with a business trip to Chicago, he said you had to take two more planes to get there. I always thought it was supposed to be in the not-too-deep rural south, like perhaps Missouri or northern Arkansas.
Edited to make my English sound less like Lisa's.
Re the fish-out-of-water theme, I like that Oliver is a bit loopey in his own way -- established early on by his phoning the family doctor to examine his penthouse corn for borers!
As for where the series is set... though Oliver originally visited Hooterville in conjunction with a business trip to Chicago, he said you had to take two more planes to get there. I always thought it was supposed to be in the not-too-deep rural south, like perhaps Missouri or northern Arkansas.
Edited to make my English sound less like Lisa's.
Edited by Inquisitionist, Apr 5, 2004 @ 1:44 PM.
#27
Posted Apr 5, 2004 @ 1:43 PM
I can't believe I remember this, but in the Return To Green Acres TV movie they mention a zip code in conjuction to Hooterville that coincides with Kentucky. Which seems about right to me.
So much of this weekend went to watching Green Acres. I haven't really watched since I was a child and it was on Nick at Nite. I'm now going to borrow a the first season DVD's.
This show really was ahead of its time, but wouldn't last for ten minutes in the wonderbread sitcom culture currently running network television.
So much of this weekend went to watching Green Acres. I haven't really watched since I was a child and it was on Nick at Nite. I'm now going to borrow a the first season DVD's.
This show really was ahead of its time, but wouldn't last for ten minutes in the wonderbread sitcom culture currently running network television.
#28
Posted Apr 5, 2004 @ 2:04 PM
Odd how much I am enjoying this show. And singing along with its theme song...can't say THAT about any other sitcom currently on television.
Odd how clean the show was. And how funny. And how insanely intelligent and well written and well acted. And how obviously ahead of its time, since I enjoyed it for one reason in the 1960s and am enjoying it for a completely different reason now. And how good Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor were, as well as all the other character actors who dropped in. Hell, even Arnold the pig is better than anyone on Friends or Frasier right now.
Odd how badly America needs a show like this right now, and how so many people here are appreciating it for what it is, and nothing more. No sex, no violence, just well done and funny.
Odd how Dave Foley knew that.
Hateful and sad how sad and hateful today's sitcoms are. I hope all the new brainless wunderkinds out in Hollyweird are tuning in to TV Land and taking note of just how amazing a seemingly dopey show can be if it's done right.
Oh, and finally, just WHERE does the name Green Acres fit in? I thought it was where they lived...is it just a poetic description of their dream place?
What a lovely show. I can't think of a bigger symbol of the America we have all lost right now, even if it was only an America in our minds. All kinds of hell was breaking loose in the real world at that time, but at least we didn't have all kinds of hell and filth and stupidity on television, as we do now.
Odd how clean the show was. And how funny. And how insanely intelligent and well written and well acted. And how obviously ahead of its time, since I enjoyed it for one reason in the 1960s and am enjoying it for a completely different reason now. And how good Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor were, as well as all the other character actors who dropped in. Hell, even Arnold the pig is better than anyone on Friends or Frasier right now.
Odd how badly America needs a show like this right now, and how so many people here are appreciating it for what it is, and nothing more. No sex, no violence, just well done and funny.
Odd how Dave Foley knew that.
Hateful and sad how sad and hateful today's sitcoms are. I hope all the new brainless wunderkinds out in Hollyweird are tuning in to TV Land and taking note of just how amazing a seemingly dopey show can be if it's done right.
Oh, and finally, just WHERE does the name Green Acres fit in? I thought it was where they lived...is it just a poetic description of their dream place?
What a lovely show. I can't think of a bigger symbol of the America we have all lost right now, even if it was only an America in our minds. All kinds of hell was breaking loose in the real world at that time, but at least we didn't have all kinds of hell and filth and stupidity on television, as we do now.
#29
Posted Apr 5, 2004 @ 3:13 PM
I was curious about "Green Acres" as a title as well, but during the marathon the name was referenced in regards to the farm on two different occaisions. Eb made the first reference when Oliver was about to fight the government over...something, and he said about the narrowly averted Seige of Green Acres. Then in the first episode of the last season, City Kids, Oliver references the name.
#30
Posted Apr 5, 2004 @ 4:50 PM
Just rediscovered this show. It's hilarious!
I love Oliver's "American Farmer" speeches.
ITA with every word.Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert were both wonderful, and I second TudorQueen's earlier observation that for all their bluster and occasional insults, it was obvious that Lisa and Oliver deeply loved each other. They looked great, too. Wasn't it nice when middle-aged people didn't have to dress like teenagers on TV?
I love Oliver's "American Farmer" speeches.
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