DVD
Review | Green Acres (Season 1)
Written by: Kage
Alan
Moving to the country; it’s every city person’s
nightmare. Pauly Shore showed us how in “Son-In-Law,” but before
that, there was “Green Acres.” It was the place to be because farm
living was the life for…someone whose name doesn’t rhyme. I could see
me one day being hit with the need to get away from the traffic, the
people and…let’s stick with those two. It would be then that I would
have completely become my father. And my partner? He wouldn’t be the
ditzy socialite that Eva Gabor was, but he’d fake it just to annoy
me. It’s what we do to each other.
Harvard graduate and successful New York City
attorney Oliver Wendell Douglas (Eddie Albert, “Dreamscape”) decides
that his penthouse terrace just isn’t cutting it to be able to grow
wheat, corn or carrots. Much to his wife’s (Lisa, “Gabor”) dismay, he
buys a farm in Hooterville and ships them off to live the great American
dream. This goes over like a lead pipe to the head, at least with Lisa
and their pet dog. She wants luxury and Oliver wants simplicity. What
they end up with is even less than that. It seems shady salesman Mr.
Haney (Pat Buttram) has sold them a house that is literally falling
apart, has no running water, electricity or phone. Oops. I guess they
won’t be watching “Fear Factor” anytime soon.
In dealing with all these difficulties, the
Douglases are introduced to a zany cast of oddball and zany characters
like farmhand Eb (Tom Lester), Fred (Hank Patterson) and Doris (Barbara
Pepper) Ziffel, their pet pig Arnold, Newt Kiley (Kay Kuter), Hank
Kimball (Alvy Moore), local storeowner Sam Drucker (Frank Cady) and
more. Let’s not forget how Oliver’s mother keeps popping up trying to
convince Lisa to move back to NYC and chastising Oliver for making his
wife learn to cook and (gasp!) clean. Those are just evil things for
socialites. I know. I’m a slave in my household too.
What makes “Green Acres” a great deal of fun are
the actors. The scripts are all pretty simple and fairly cliché, so the
talent has to make it interesting for us on screen and they do. Gabor’s
deadpan nonsense deliveries are hysterical I even have to wonder if
Eddie Albert didn’t mispronounce a few things without realizing he was
doing it because of her. Astounding too is that there are 32 episodes
in this first season as opposed to the standard 22-24. They must not
have taken much of a break between seasons. It’s either that or they
worked 18 hour days. I’d actually be interested in finding out.
MGM has released “Green Acres (Season 1)” in its
original Full Screen format. Considering that this show started in
1965, it’s only natural that the quality is going to be a bit iffy.
Well, it is, but not nearly as horrible as one might think. The audio
doesn’t fare too badly and the overall combined experience is definitely
a wonderful and nostalgic one. As for extras, this is where this disc
set disappoints. There’s nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I’m not even
going to get into what might have been included, but I will say that I
hope the studio considers adding a little something extra in the future.
Of the shows that are being released on DVD, I was
pleasantly surprised to see this one. Perhaps I naturally assumed that
more recent shows would be out before older titles, but variety is the
spice of life. Visiting “Green Acres” again, especially from the
beginning, is something worth savoring. I can’t wait for Season 2!
Season Rating:
A-
DVD Special Features: N/A
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