# Did you like Green Acres? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753 "2017-03-22T13:26:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/41 "2017-03-22T19:35:36Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Now if someone could explain Hee Haw to me… Gloom, despair, and agony on me . . . ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/42 "2017-03-22T19:40:29Z")
Well, it is the place to be. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/43 "2017-03-22T19:44:11Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I dunno, here. The tendency of boomers to go back to worthless pursuits and try and imbue them with mystical, intellectual properties sometimes mystifies me. I watched these shows in the day, and thought they were funny enough, and still laugh at the occasional clip I see, but I don’t feel any need to work complex metaphors into Gilligan or assign “surreality” to GA’s dopey and shopworn kountry humor. You like 'em? Fine, me too, to certain limits. You want to watch them again with all your gray hairs? Go right ahead. You want to put them on the shelf with Shakespeare, Ibsen and Kafka? Uhh… right. I put Stan Lee and Jack Kirby up there with Shakespeare, too. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/44 "2017-03-22T19:52:39Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > I put Stan Lee and Jack Kirby up there with Shakespeare, too. I’d argue that only in the mildest terms. But there’s more genuine artistry in any page of a good Spiderman or X-Men book than in the whole run of GA. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/45 "2017-03-22T20:04:14Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I’d argue that only in the mildest terms. But there’s more genuine artistry in any page of a good Spiderman or X-Men book than in the whole run of GA. Well, looks like we got ourselves a \* reedah\*. /BHicks 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/46 "2017-03-22T20:14:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Eva Gabor was incredible as Lisa. Just terrific. I’m saddened to learn that she not only didn’t win an Emmy for Green Acres, but was never even nominated. she was good, too. and I truly believe them as a couple. whatever goofy thing was going on I felt that they loved each other. it was very sweet, frequently. 🙂 > [@](#): > > one actor (Eddie Albert) in real life was only a year younger than the actress playing his mother (Eleanor Audrey) don’t care > [@](#): > > Now if someone could explain Hee Haw to me… get your own thread. > [@](#): > > Well, it is the place to be zactly ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/47 "2017-03-22T20:22:27Z")
I always got a kick out of Mr. Kimble. He contradicted everything he said. “Hi Mr. Douglas. Nice day today… Well, kind of nice… There’s a few clouds on the horizon… Might get a little rain today… Maybe a thunderstorm…Everybody take cover there’s going to be a hurricane!” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/48 "2017-03-22T20:24:07Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > It’s another situation where one actor (Eddie Albert) in real life was only a year younger than the actress playing his mother (Eleanor Audrey). > [@Orwell](#): > > Eva Gabor was incredible as Lisa. Just terrific. I’m saddened to learn that she not only didn’t win an Emmy for Green Acres, but was never even nominated. She was getting a little long in the tooth to play the role - 46 when the show started, pas 50 when it ended. Not exactly ingenue-wife age, for the time. Rumor hath it that her elaborate hairstyles were wigs (almost certainly) used in part to cover “rubber band” facelift appliances. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/49 "2017-03-22T20:32:36Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > She was getting a little long in the tooth to play the role - 46 when the show started, pas 50 when it ended. Not exactly ingenue-wife age, for the time. > > Rumor hath it that her elaborate hairstyles were wigs (almost certainly) used in part to cover “rubber band” facelift appliances. Don’t understand the complaint, she looked young next to her TV husband and she was 13 years his junior in real life. They weren’t suppose to be young were they? I thought they were a successful middle-age couple in the show? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/50 "2017-03-22T20:42:35Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Don’t understand the complaint, she looked young next to her TV husband and she was 13 years his junior in real life. They weren’t suppose to be young were they? I thought they were a successful middle-age couple in the show? I can’t bring up any substantiation, but I recall Lisa as being presented as much younger than Oliver - a late marriage, implications of a first wife? Maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/51 "2017-03-22T21:07:04Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I always assumed the writers were able to get their hands on some really good drugs. Like the “mari-ju-ana from Tia-ju-ana” – oh, wait, the smugglers were busted because they put the tomatoes under the false bottom and the “mari-ju-ana from Tia-ju-ana” on top. > [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Wasn’t there some sort of explanation as to why everybody was incompetent? Apparently, pretty much everybody in Hooterville got their professional training from a mail-order university that was notorious for sending them materials for something other than the profession they wanted. For example, somebody who wanted an agriculture degree ended up with training for a career in acting. [Season 6, Episode 11.](http://www.tv.com/shows/green-acres/trivia/season-all/2/) "Raise your glass to Clarkwell/Where you study through the mail!’ ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/52 "2017-03-22T21:07:15Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > I always got a kick out of Mr. Kimble. He contradicted everything he said. > > “Hi Mr. Douglas. Nice day today… Well, kind of nice… There’s a few clouds on the horizon… Might get a little rain today… Maybe a thunderstorm…Everybody take cover there’s going to be a hurricane!” A friend described Mr. Kimble as sounding like he swallowed a bottle of correction fluid. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/53 "2017-03-22T21:24:58Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I’d argue that only in the mildest terms. But there’s more genuine artistry in any page of a good Spiderman or X-Men book than in the whole run of GA. Well, that just proves the saying “to each his own”. And “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. I couldn’t disagree more, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/54 "2017-03-22T21:54:18Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I can’t bring up any substantiation, but I recall Lisa as being presented as much younger than Oliver - a late marriage, implications of a first wife? Maybe not. There is one episode where they meet in World War II when Oliver’s plane is shot down and Lisa is in the Hungarian resistance. At one point the radio in London advises Oliver to find Colonel Hogan if he ends up in Stalag 13. One (of the few) good things about creator Paul Henning is he felt that veteran actors who paid their dues, such as Abe’s Bendaret, deserved a chance to star in their own series. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/55 "2017-03-22T22:08:33Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I dunno, here. The tendency of boomers to go back to worthless pursuits and try and imbue them with mystical, intellectual properties sometimes mystifies me (…) Yeah, other people’s nostalgia can be embarrassing, however, I’m not buying that scenario regarding Green Acres. I haven’t rewatched the show, but when it originally aired I couldn’t understand why it didn’t get more praise. It seemed in a different category (inspiration-wise) than Gilligan, Beverly, Munsters, Petticoat, etc. And Get Smart (which had some funny shticks, but ran them into the ground faster.) And the Addams Family (which had some funny weirdness, but again repeated too much). I did get tired of Oliver’s speeches, but loved the general surrealism for several seasons. I suppose I’ll have to do some rewatching. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/56 "2017-03-22T22:15:34Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > There is one episode where they meet in World War II when Oliver’s plane is shot down and Lisa is in the Hungarian resistance. At one point the radio in London advises Oliver to find Colonel Hogan if he ends up in Stalag 13. One thing about the show, I think there were three episodes with flashbacks to how Oliver and Lisa met, and they all contradicted each other. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/57 "2017-03-22T22:57:50Z")
Hated the show, but watched it, as Miss Gabor made my teenage self horny. ---
**Author:** ![D.E.S.K.Top668](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@D.E.S.K.Top668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.E.S.K.Top668)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/58 "2017-03-23T01:08:13Z")
I didn’t spend any time on a farm, but I grew up mainly in small towns and/or the middle of nowhere in Texas and Arkansas before hitting the big city of Wichita Kansas. I liked GA, didn’t love it. I never thought of the Hooterville gang as stupid, that was just Oliver’s perception of them. Many of the episodes, IIRC, ended up with the city-slicker being outsmarted or,at least, worn down by them. I wouldn’t have used the term surreal, but I won’t say (looking back) it doesn’t apply. > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Now if someone could explain Hee Haw to me… Hee Haw=Saturday Night Live for people who had to plan “trips to town” to do all their shopping. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/59 "2017-03-23T02:11:02Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I can’t bring up any substantiation, but I recall Lisa as being presented as much younger than Oliver - a late marriage, implications of a first wife? Maybe not. I think Lisa liked to present _herself_ as being much younger than Oliver, but was closer in age then she cared to admit. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753/60 "2017-03-23T02:50:54Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I dunno, here. The tendency of boomers to go back to worthless pursuits and try and imbue them with mystical, intellectual properties sometimes mystifies me. I watched these shows in the day, and thought they were funny enough, and still laugh at the occasional clip I see, but I don’t feel any need to work complex metaphors into Gilligan or assign “surreality” to GA’s dopey and shopworn kountry humor. You like 'em? Fine, me too, to certain limits. You want to watch them again with all your gray hairs? Go right ahead. You want to put them on the shelf with Shakespeare, Ibsen and Kafka? Uhh… right. Complex metaphors for Gilligan? nah but I will say…Jim Backus has excellent timing and delivery. Alan Hale Jr. does a nice slow burn, and for some reason I only just now realized he breaks the fourth wall a lot. The plots were colorful\* and I won’t even play devil’s advocate for the dream sequences. I flat out loved those. \*I could probably name 20 or so eps by plot…and only 10 or Brady Bunch episodes. If that. I couldn’t name one Green Acres though I know all the characters when they’ve been mentioned in the thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-like-green-acres/782753.md?page=4)