I am currently in a show (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at Glendale Centre Theatre See link below for tickets). I share a dressing room with another actor the same age as myself. Last night we spoke of the shows we grew up watching and the lineups of the various nights of the week. As good as TV is now, its not the same. I long of the days of good old broadcast network television (ABC CBS and NBC). We all watched the same programs together as families. Each network had something for everyone. They didn't each cater to a different audience. They all shared one big audience together.
Glendale Centre Theatre Tickets
But I digress. Today, I would like to talk about one particular classic television series. And state my case for why I love it. That show, wait for it, is Green Acres. Yes, you heard me right Green Acres, Not Mary Tyler Moore, Seinfeld, Lucy, MASH, Cheers, All in the Family., Dick Van Dyke, Friends, Fraser. Green Acres.
Now, I know the tendency is to lump this show with the 1960s CBS rural comedies, Beverly Hillbllies and Petticoat Junction in particular since they were all from the same producers and crossed over with one another. In fact, Green Acres was a sort of skin off of Petticoat Junction taking place in a neighboring town and sharing a couple of supporting characters. Beverly Hillbillies, as popular as it was in its day, and it was HUGELY popular. Its ratings still rank among the all time highest ever for episodic TV. It does not continue on in syndication like Lucy, Seinfeld, Andy Griffith or The Golden Girls. And its not that great. I'm not a fan. And Petticoat Junction never did anything for me. Its kind of lame.
But Green Acres is a different. And I recently converted a friend after having this conversation. There are sone great running gags. And the show was kind of ahead of its time. You heard me right. Ahead of tits time. Why? They broke the fourth wall. There were inside jokes. That was not common on TV shows in the 1960s. Its common now. There episodes that start with the characters noticing the opening credits floating in front of them. There's one where the written by and directed by credits are spelled out on the pancakes (or as Lisa called them, hotcakes) that Lisa is cooking on the grill.
In another one, Eb is lip synching to Eva Gabor singing the opening theme song as he goes about his chores.
In another running bit, every time Oliver starts to wax poetic about the American farmer and working the land, there's patriotic music playing underneath and the men in Drucker's Store comment on the fact that there is music coming from somewhere.
In addition, the show has a real absurdist sense of humor to it. Things work backwards. The house is never finished. The phone is on top of a telephone pole. Only a couple of kitchen appliances can be plugged in at one time and you can't mix up the outlets. The Ziffels pig Arnold is treated like their son and in one episode goes off to Hollywood to be a movie star.
My favorite characters: Mr. Haney and his shyster ways. Somehow always having for sale exactly what the Douglases need when they need it and for a price. The carpenters, the Monroe Brothers Alf and Ralph (who is actually a woman but they are afraid they won't get any business if they call themselves brother and sister. Talk about sexist!) who never get the job done. Mr. Kimball and his constantly going off course in the middle of a sentence and forgetting what he was saying in the first place is probably my favorite character of all.
And then there's that theme song. I mean c'mon. Who hasn't sung that theme song? Its right up there with Gilligan and The Brady Bunch.
I'm telling you have to give this show another shot. Its better than you may remember. I think it ranks close behind Get Smart in its humor. So there you have it. I love Green Acres. I own the first three seasons on DVD. Unfortunately, they stopped with three. We need the remaining three! C'mon Shout Factory or MPI. Do like you did with so many other classic TV shows that the studios stopped releasing. Pick up the rights to Green Acres and give us the full six seasons.
No comments:
Post a Comment