Even though I thought Green Acres was really funny, I was wondering was Oliver always crabby and grouchy? He seemed to yell at everybody, from Lisa to Hank Kimball. He's one of the grouchiest sitcom characters before Ed Brown on Chico and the Man and Dr. John Becker.

The answer seems to be 'Yes,' he was 'always' crabby. From the pilot episode, he is shown as a man who can never be satisfied. He comes home to his Park Avenue apartment and says, "I hate it!" He mocks the pretentions of the high class parties he is continually invited to and which Lisa loves, and he prefers to work his "farm"-- corn and tomatoes grown in pots on his terrace. So then he makes the choice to leave the sophistocation of the big city, preferring the simple life of a farmer in small farming community and he bemoans the lack of knowledge and sophistocation of his new neighbors, and he assumes his farming problems cannot be his own fault, since he does everything 'by the book,' ignoring that farming is based far more on experience than upon booklearning. So he hates big city sophistocation and he turns off those who love it, and then he hates rural ignorance and he turns off those who live in it. A man who can't win and can't be satisfied is likely to be "crabby."

No,he wasn't crabby while giving his speeches while Yankee Doodle plays.That was always one of my favorite parts

http://www.billgoldberg.com/IntheRing/jackhammer.gif

Oliver was not only very crabby, he took everything too seriously. He never had a sense of humor. I'm surprised that nobody, even Lisa, had ever told him that he takes everything too seriously.

Yes he was crabby and thats what made him so funny. He just could never lighten up.:lol:

I just thought he ranted and raved for he couldn't understand all the nitwits he had to deal with.

The only times he wasn't grumpy were when things were going his way. Plus my mom once told me I sometimes act like that:lol:

Yes he was crabby and thats what made him so funny. He just could never lighten up.:lol:
:yeahthat

Even at his crabbiest, he was still funny. I'd be crabby too after moving into that wreck of a farmhouse.

Yeah he was pretty much crabby at all times.........makes you wonder how he was ever able to be a lawyer, Irene, do you think a man that miserable could kiss up to the judges enough to be successful? ;) :lol:

Did they ever reveal which branch of the law Oliver worked in?

I'd say that he was crabby 99% of the time. Every once in a while he did get into the weirdness of the situation and seemed to go along with the gag in good spirits. Like when the hotel clerk said of Arnold - "that's a pig !" Oliver just went "What did you expect ?" When the Indians wanted to buy Lisa with an offer of animals, Oliver said "I'd be cheating you - I only paid 2 goats and a sheep for her." Remember when Oliver sent the scarecrow out to get him a hamburger, after Lisa packed no food for their picnic. Though rare, the scenes where he lets his guard down, and becomes a real part of the nutty town, add to the show's surrealism........

The biggest joke in Green Acres was that Oliver was so inflexible he refused to learn even from repeated experience...

...Lisa, even though her life experience and viewpoint totally made her a fish out of water, just accepted everybody as they were and got along a lot better.

Did they ever reveal which branch of the law Oliver worked in?
Cant say that i recall anything specific, but, he was a big-time lawyer in NY, so, if I had to venture a guess, id say, a corporate lawyer, perhaps? :confused:

I hate to admit it, but I watched this show and a few others from the 60's when they were originally on TV. Even as a kid I noticed Oliver always so serious and the butt of all jokes from everyone. There was always someone from each show that HAD to learn something....and in this show, it was him.

Even though he made a lot of sense, and looked at life like many people do...sometimes it's just best to go-with-the-flow. I don't think he ever learned that, even though a few episodes he came close. Like when he took Arnold the Pig to Hollywood. Now, how many people would put up with that? And he did, and actually just let it roll. That's the only episode I can think of that he did that!

Eddie Albert played a great straight-man in this show. Everyone else got the laughs, and he got a few by being the stuffed-shirt, know it all lawyer. He was really fantastic in the role.

By the way, my nine year old daughter caught me watching this show recently and asked "Dad, why does that guy alway wear good clothes and a tie and ride that tractor?

Of course he was always crabby. I get that way too when I'm surrounded by nothing but nutjobs. :lol:

I would feel the same way too, Bensonfan. But HE wanted to live there, didn't he? Lisa was the one who wanted to stay in New York, and she ends up relating to all of them. Odd.

Sometimes,but not always.In thefirst season very early episodes,for example,Lisa ,who was against at first their moving to the farm,was the irritable one,but she was not as irritable as Oliver was later on.In almost every other episode beginning with second season,he WAS irritable.He was really nice in first season's "Furniture,Furniture,Who's Got The Furniture?",and "What Happened in Scranton".

I'd say that he was crabby 99% of the time. Every once in a while he did get into the weirdness of the situation and seemed to go along with the gag in good spirits. Like when the hotel clerk said of Arnold - "that's a pig !" Oliver just went "What did you expect ?" When the Indians wanted to buy Lisa with an offer of animals, Oliver said "I'd be cheating you - I only paid 2 goats and a sheep for her." Remember when Oliver sent the scarecrow out to get him a hamburger, after Lisa packed no food for their picnic. Though rare, the scenes where he lets his guard down, and becomes a real part of the nutty town, add to the show's surrealism........

Good point. Those moments all seemed to be in the earlier shows. Was he always crabby? Well, yeah, and more so in the later seasons, but it worked out great. The show needed someone who was serious most of the time because no one else was. It also added to the idea that maybe he was just as insane as everyone else was there, but just in his own subtle way. He moved to Hooterville expecting everything to work out perfectly and when it didn't, he wouldn't change his ways. Without him, the show wouldn't be nearly as funny.

Well, I'd be crabby, too - if I had to climb up a telephone pole to answer my calls only to have it stop ringing as soon as I reached the top, that the "Monroe Brothers" have taken over 5 years to repair my house and every time something goes wrong, Mr. Haney shows up. So I really can't blame poor Oliver. :eek: :lol:

Having watched every episode, I tend to think of Oliver as eternally frustrated. When a character like Hank Kimball becomes increasingly spaced-out, it takes real patience on the part of Oliver to deal with him.

Another thing is that in terms of acceptance, Oliver is never really met with the same love as Lisa is, and of course he can't understand what Arnold is saying -- an example of his not fitting in, through no fault of his own.

Eddie Albert played the character masterfully, and of course without the constant annoyances, the premise of the show would just not be the same. Casual fans tend not to remember how much hard work Oliver put into the house and farm (he worked on rebuilding the fireplace himself, for example, and was in constant battle with the tractor). In that regard, he becomes a character who earns our respect and a short fuse can be overlooked to some extent.