# "GREEN ACRES"-Great TV Show! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2002, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791 "2002-10-11T07:12:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/1 "2002-10-11T07:12:22Z")
I have been watching reruns of this absurd late 60’s TV show-it is hilarious! Hooterville is a town in a sort of time warp-nobody knows (or cares about) the outside world! My favorite line: when the townspeople find out that they have to file income tax returns, Sam (the storekeeper) is talking about Washington DC…“is Hoover still president?” The gentleman farmer (Eddie Albert) is constntly buying worthless crap from Mr. Haney, and his ditzy wife (Eva Gabor) busies herself making inedible “hotcakes”. Can I get videotapes of this show? It is so weird, it’s almost surreal…"Geer Acres is the place to be…😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/2 "2002-10-11T11:43:37Z")
Thanks, now I’m going to be singing that damn theme song in my head all day long. yes, I love that show too. I always hated Mr Haney. Eb rocked. I wish i had that cable channel where that’s on. I wish I had cable. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/3 "2002-10-11T11:55:04Z")
Where have you been, ralph? There are those of us out here who have had a long standing appreciation of just how odd this gem of a show is…welcome to the fold. My favorite scene is Eb commenting on how Lisa’s “hot water soup” is “just like my mama used to make.” Plnnr - who used to call the County Extension Agent he worked with “Mr. Kimball.” ---
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/4 "2002-10-11T11:55:34Z")
You know what’s sad? I was driving past the Green Acres apartments a few days ago, so I started singing the theme song from the TV show. My 7 year old piped up, “Hey! That’s the song from the Old Navy ads on TV!” My favorite was always Arnold Ziffle (or however you spell it). ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/5 "2002-10-11T11:58:54Z")
[Green Acres](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0058808) I see one VHS set for sale but it’s gotten terrible reviews. I LOVE Green Acres. I love their phone on the top of the house. I love how Oliver’s mother is totally on Lisa’s side. I love the pig. I especially loved how everything Lisa did, it worked. She didn’t want to fit in but did. Oliver desperately wanted to fit in but didn’t. And I would kill to have this series on DVD. But there is no word yet. [None at all.](http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/showinfo.cfm?showID=1985)_Pout_ P.S. Old Navy parody commercial? Bad! Evil! Unclean! _shudder_ And their song is so unsingable and annoying it’s like an anal rash mixed with diarreha. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/6 "2002-10-11T12:59:14Z")
Adore that show—brilliant parody of _The Beverly Hillbillies_ and _Petticoat Junction_. And, unlike most shows, it got better and more bizarre as time went on. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/7 "2002-10-11T12:59:35Z")
“Green Acres” was vastly underrated and erroneously thought to be similar to the other Paul Henning comedies (i.e., “Beverly Hillbillies” and “Petticoat Junction”). That’s because of the man behind it – Richard L. Bare It’s one of the few shows that had a single director for nearly every episode (Bare). Because of that, they became the master of running gags. You’d see the same jokes time and time again – Lisa’s pancakes, climbing to the top of the telephone pole to make a call, etc. Bare was also smart enough to show the jokes very briefly, knowing we’d laugh at the reference without having to have our noses rubbed in it. He also would phase out the gag over time. Bare believed in “anything for a laugh.” That often gave the show a surrealistic tinge. One of my favorites was when Oliver was going to Washington. Everyone talks about seeing the sights – the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Eiffel Tower. When Oliver tries to correct them about the last, he keeps getting interrupted. The payoff is when they are in Washington, he looks out his windows and sees . . . yup, the Eiffel Tower. “Green Acres” is one of the great comedies of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/8 "2002-10-11T13:42:45Z")
One of my favorite “Green Acres” moments - It’s the beginning of the show. Oliver and Lisa are sitting in bed together as the credits roll. Lisa is studying them intently. Oliver: What are you looking at? Lisa: The writing. Oliver: The writing??? Lisa: Yes - the writing in the air. But the letters are always backwards! Brilliant!! When “Nick at Night” first started showing the show years ago, it created the perfect “Green Acres” slogan: “It’s not stupid - it’s surreal!” ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/9 "2002-10-11T14:30:01Z")
When the Old Navy commercial came on, I started the argument by proclaiming that Green Acres was one of the best shows ever on Television. It is the reason TV was created…that and Iron Chef. I mean, come on, we’re talking about TV here, the bar’s pretty low. I agree with the Nick ads that GA was very surreal. Kind of like Oliver Douglas in hell. The writers had to be stoned when they wrote it. I also think there is a direct link between Hooterville and Springfield, both in the great state of… Well, long live the kangaroo state! (their state mascot) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/10 "2002-10-11T14:47:08Z")
That’s why I was so disappointed when _Popular_ went off the air a year or two ago. Too many people thought it was just another _90210_—but it was to _90210_ what _Green Acres_ was to _Petticoat Junction_; a brilliant, warped parody. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/11 "2002-10-11T17:15:04Z")
I think Paul Henning realized it was special, as he seemed to have spared it from the excruciating crossovers between his other shows (Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction). Eb appeared on Beverly Hillbillies a couple of times, but it was due to PJ rather than BH. My favorite characters: the Monroe Brothers. I think my current contractors took their Efficiency Course. I also loved the time that Hootervillians couldn’t go to the new Chinese restaurant in Pixley because Uncle Joe (from PJ, but in an appearance on GA) had been thrown out for calling it an opium den. ---
**Author:** ![roadrunner70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/12 "2002-10-11T17:36:56Z")
What the…? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/13 "2002-10-11T18:25:35Z")
Another episode opened with Lisa pouring hotcake batter onto the stove, and on each hotcake a credit appeared. Lisa kept trying to get Oliver to look at the writing on the hotcakes, but he was too distracted by the newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/14 "2002-10-11T18:48:53Z")
Green Acres was a classic. I wish TV Land or Nick at Night would pick it up. Favorite moment: Fred Ziffel is doing something or other for his pet pig, Arnold. Oliver tells him “You pay more attention to that pig than you do your wife.” Fred’s answer: “Have you looked at Doris lately?” ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/15 "2002-10-11T18:49:54Z")
If Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett had written TV comedies, they would have written **Green Acres**. It has always seemed to me to be right in the tradition of the Theatre of the Absurd…breaking the fourth wall…playing with gender…surrealist humor. But because it was on CBS, people at the time dismissed it as a knockoff of The Beverly Hillbillies. Brilliant show. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_of\_Graymatter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/74df32/32.png) [@Baron\_of\_Graymatter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_of_Graymatter)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/16 "2002-10-11T21:26:04Z")
Personally, I want to spend my vacation at the Hooterville Monkey Racing track… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/17 "2002-10-12T00:57:43Z")
Mr. Kimball was one of the greatest supporting characters ever. Well, maybe not ever. ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/18 "2002-10-12T03:21:26Z")
It’s not Hooterville, it’s -Hootersville, dahling-! LOL Never, ever eat one of Lisa’s hot cakes, though. 😉 Favorite character? Definitely Arnold Ziffel! Poor Oliver though, he never fit in, as much as he tried to. LOL Great show, always one of my favorites. Nick-at-Nite and/or TVLand will be showing it again sometime soon, I know. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PRNYouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PRNYouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PRNYouth)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/19 "2002-10-12T03:45:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sampiro \* > **I think Paul Henning realized it was special, as he seemed to have spared it from the excruciating crossovers between his other shows (Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction).** I personally liked the crossovers, but either way, this statement is just wrong – Oliver and Lisa appeared multiple times on Petticoat Junction and at least once on Beverly Hillbillies. The same is true for Eb, and – good lord – look at the IMDb record for [Frank “Mr. Drucker” Cady](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Cady,%20Frank). Look at all those crossover appearances. It’s clear that the three shows were set in the same universe. The Hootervillians just realized the absurdity of it all. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791/20 "2002-10-12T05:27:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tarragon918 \* > **Never, ever eat one of Lisa’s hot cakes, though. 😉** They did make great gaskets though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-acres-great-tv-show/131791.md?page=2)