AntennaTV just showed the final episode of the series this past Friday. It's the dumbest final episode I've ever seen. :mad: It did not have anything to do with the show or its regular cast. Only Eddie Albert appeared briefly as he spoke on the phone to Elaine Joyce, who played his ex-secretary. This episode focused on Elaine Joyce as if they were trying to do a spin-off series for her?

Richard Deacon was her new boss and Emmaline Henry (aka Amanda Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie) also were in this show.

Why wouldn't the producers have filmed a final episode where either Oliver and Lisa threw in the towel and decided to move back to New York or one where Lisa finally admits to Oliver that she likes living in Hootersville (her pronunciation!). Either one of these would have been a more appropriate final episode.

Surely the producers must have known that by 1971 with the "rural purge" of tv shows on CBS that this might be their last season?

AntennaTV just showed the final episode of the series this past Friday. It's the dumbest final episode I've ever seen. :mad: It did not have anything to do with the show or its regular cast. Only Eddie Albert appeared briefly as he spoke on the phone to Elaine Joyce, who played his ex-secretary. This episode focused on Elaine Joyce as if they were trying to do a spin-off series for her?

Richard Deacon was her new boss and Emmaline Henry (aka Amanda Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie) also were in this show.

Why wouldn't the producers have filmed a final episode where either Oliver and Lisa threw in the towel and decided to move back to New York or one where Lisa finally admits to Oliver that she likes living in Hootersville (her pronunciation!). Either one of these would have been a more appropriate final episode.

Surely the producers must have known that by 1971 with the "rural purge" of tv shows on CBS that this might be their last season?


Hi Michael :wave: I just saw that episode too. Also one right before it Lisa and Oliver take a trip to Hawaii (same thing, nothing to do with Green Acres at all, totally focused on the characters in Hawaii, nobody from Hooterville)!:confused: I didn't find either episode to be that funny either!:rolleyes: I researched it and found out they were actually two new pilots for new shows, that never got picked up after all!

Like you, I was hoping they would do a final episode revolving around Lisa, Oliver and the Hooterville folks!

Thanks for your reply, Bonniegirl. I'm glad to see that at least one other person feels like I do about the final episode!

The final episode was just weird. I like Elaine Joyce, Richard Deacon, and Emmaline Henry, so I would have watched that show. I can remember when the series ran for the first time, I thought it was so stupid (I was 17 when it went off) I would never try to watch it. NOW I have come to my senses, so I'll be watching it for sure. I have a few VHS releases I've never looked at, but I wasn't going to leave them at the store either.

right, those final 2 episodes were "back-door pilots" that never made it to series. I forget what the first one was titled but the second one was "The ex-secretary" and you're right; it was stupid!

AntennaTV just showed the final episode of the series this past Friday. It's the dumbest final episode I've ever seen. :mad: It did not have anything to do with the show or its regular cast. Only Eddie Albert appeared briefly as he spoke on the phone to Elaine Joyce, who played his ex-secretary. This episode focused on Elaine Joyce as if they were trying to do a spin-off series for her?

Richard Deacon was her new boss and Emmaline Henry (aka Amanda Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie) also were in this show.

Why wouldn't the producers have filmed a final episode where either Oliver and Lisa threw in the towel and decided to move back to New York or one where Lisa finally admits to Oliver that she likes living in Hootersville (her pronunciation!). Either one of these would have been a more appropriate final episode.

Surely the producers must have known that by 1971 with the "rural purge" of tv shows on CBS that this might be their last season?
Maybe they were expected to return and by the time they found out it was too late. I hate episodes that do back door pilots.

What is the last episode of Green Acres with a Hooterville setting?

Jack

Lisa The Psychologist.

I think if they were given the opportunity to have a proper series finale they should have brought back John Daly from the first episode and do a similar mockumentary type episode to bookend the series. Except this time it's Oliver who hates the country life and Lisa who wants to stay. This would highlight the character development throughout the series and how they did an almost complete 180 compared to day 1.

Of course, they wouldn't actually leave. This time, Lisa would get her way, in an ironic twist to the first episode. They could have all the townsfolk assemble and have a semi-sentimental scene where they talk about what the Douglases mean to them and Oliver might finally realize how he fits in to this strange community.

There was a scene somewhat like this in the reunion movie but I expect it would work better if it had good writing.

PhoenixAcres, that is a great plot for the series finale. The producers really missed a bet when they didn't end the series like this. As you stated, it would be a nice right bookend to the series. Wish they had done that.

PhoenixAcres, that is a great plot for the series finale. The producers really missed a bet when they didn't end the series like this. As you stated, it would be a nice right bookend to the series. Wish they had done that.
Thanks. :)

I really wish they had the chance to draw some kind of closure to the series. My belief is they didn't know they were canceled until after the sixth season finished filming in early 1971. Even if the writing was on the wall at CBS I doubt any of the producers, even Jay Sommers, knew for sure what their fate was, so they shied away from anything too ambitious.

The power of the network over these highly successful shows always bothers me. Every show deserves a finale but usually the narrow-minded networks (especially in those days) never give them the chance. :mad:

right, those final 2 episodes were "back-door pilots" that never made it to series. I forget what the first one was titled but the second one was "The ex-secretary" and you're right; it was stupid!

The other backdoor pilot, called "Hawaiian Honeymoon", starred Don Porter & Pamela Franklin as a father/daughter pair (shades of Gidget) who own & run a hotel in Hawaii. I doubt any of it was filmed there, other than stock background footage. The transition music was somewhat catchy though, written by Vic Mizzy.

The vast majority of shows it back then did not have any kind of special final episode. In many ways I think that is good, because many of the shows I have seen that did have final episodes, that episode was a disappointment.
I like how most the series back then had self-contained episodes, unlike today with the more serialized approach.

"THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW" and "THE FUGITIVE" were the rare exceptions. "I DREAM OF JEANNIE" was going to have one but NBC was forced to move some episodes around that last season of "IDOJ" and that episode was one of them.

This may not be the thread for this statement (sorry if it isn't), but isn't it ironic that after CBS's "rural purge", they started showing the Waltons, and on NBC Little House on the Prairie?

This may not be the thread for this statement (sorry if it isn't), but isn't it ironic that after CBS's "rural purge", they started showing the Waltons, and on NBC Little House on the Prairie?

It is kind of ironic. I think they realized pretty fast that the purge was a mistake. CBS, less than a year after bidding farewell to its perceived rural image, commissioned the Waltons which is about as rural as you can get.

The "reasoning" behind their removal of Green Acres and the other shows was always a little questionable. First they assumed that only farmers watched farmer shows. Then they decided that these viewers are not valuable because they're too old and won't buy advertised products. Of course, the massive success of the Waltons and the continued syndication of all the canceled shows proved that the fanbase of these shows was much wider.

The Waltons wasn't any more sophisticated than Green Acres, but it was an hour long drama as opposed to a half-hour of absurd comedy (with characters written realistically rather than comically), so at the very least it was something different in a then-detested rural setting. That is why I believe CBS was more open to having it on their schedule.

It is kind of ironic. I think they realized pretty fast that the purge was a mistake. CBS, less than a year after bidding farewell to its perceived rural image, commissioned the Waltons which is about as rural as you can get.

No, they never thought that - they raked in the $$$ and ratings with the change, from All in the Family to Newhart to Mary Tyler Moore to....on and on.
Waltons was a far more realistic, mature drama than the mindless escapades of Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, etc.....

CBS never looked back and never regretted a minute.

Hi Michael :wave: I just saw that episode too. Also one right before it Lisa and Oliver take a trip to Hawaii (same thing, nothing to do with Green Acres at all, totally focused on the characters in Hawaii, nobody from Hooterville)!:confused: I didn't find either episode to be that funny either!:rolleyes: I researched it and found out they were actually two new pilots for new shows, that never got picked up after all!

Like you, I was hoping they would do a final episode revolving around Lisa, Oliver and the Hooterville folks!

Just caught both of those this week on ME-TV, agreed, awful stuff, using Green Acres to try and sell these other two (non-rural) shows.

Just found out they were attempted pilots that were to never be.

An interesting thing about the last episode, did you notice it was the Beverly Hillbillies kitchen just remodeled into a living room, the sec's parents house

Just found out they were attempted pilots that were to never be.

An interesting thing about the last episode, did you notice it was the Beverly Hillbillies kitchen just remodeled into a living room, the sec's parents house

Yes, looks like they were trying to get in on the "urban" thing the network wanted.

I saw the last episodes this week on CHCH. I would like to tell you a little about them and clear up any confusion that you might have.

The last Hooterville episode which featured the original cast was "Lisa The Psychologist", where Lisa becomes an expert on psychology after taking only a few lessons, and instantly solves everyone's problems (even Arnold's) except for Oliver, who is still a failure as a farmer. This episode is simply hilarious and proves without any doubt that the show was just as great in the end as it was in the beginning.

If only they could have left it alone and stopped right there, but there were still 2 episodes left. These served as backdoor pilots for future series but they did not get picked up, resulting in producer Paul Henning immediately retiring from television. Both tried to capitalize on CBS's new urban image but failed because they weren't very good.

The first one was "Hawaiian Honeymoon" where Lisa talks Oliver into taking a fifth honeymoon in Hawaii. The hotel where they are staying is run by the owner's daughter who has promised the honeymoon suite to both the Douglasses and another couple who just got married. This episode is nothing like most "Green Acres" episodes but instead comes off looking like "Gidget Goes Hawaiian", even hiring Gidget's TV father Don Porter to play the hotel manager. The daughter isn't a very good actress, using a heavy English accent than is less believable than Lisa's. As a bonus, instead of Arnold the pig, you get Arnold from "Happy Days" (Pat Morita) playing a very unfunny and annoying waiter. At this point, this is where I decided it would be wise to check out of the hotel if I had actually been there although I did manage to watch until the end.

This brings me to the next episode, the second of the two pilots, and the last official "Green Acres" episode which is called "The Ex-Secretary". I like this episode a little better than the previous one, only because of the presence of the always stunning Elaine Joyce. She plays Oliver's ex-secretary who one day receives a phone call from him where he asks her to remember the name of a man that once repaired his watch when he lived in New York. She never does figure out the right name much to the dismay of her sister (the equally lovely Emmaline Henry of "I Dream Of Jeannie") and her no-nonsense boss (the perfectly cast Richard Deacon). Despite the impressive cast, the episode goes nowhere and falls flat and again bears no resemblance to any previous episodes. So the series ends on a sour note but that should not take away from what a great show it was before the "pilot" lights went out on the farm.

I know shows were not huge on finales in those days, usually the final episode was just another episode.... BUT I think a perfect finale for G.A. would have been an ending of Lisa and Oliver over looking the farm and Lisa admitting that she has kinda come to feel at home there as they embrace..... maybe a caption appears that says, "And they lived happily ever after" when it pans out to some of Oliver's lousy crops with a caption saying, "Sadly this was not the case for Oliver's crops" lol I think a romantic, sweet mixed with comedy would have been a perfect ending

I don't think most TV sitcoms did farewell episodes during that time because most sitcoms never left the air voluntarily. Even when Danny Thomas announced the end of the Danny Thomas Show (a/k/a Make Room for Daddy) after 11 seasons the final episode was still just a normal episode.

I know shows were not huge on finales in those days, usually the final episode was just another episode.... BUT I think a perfect finale for G.A. would have been an ending of Lisa and Oliver over looking the farm and Lisa admitting that she has kinda come to feel at home there as they embrace..... maybe a caption appears that says, "And they lived happily ever after" when it pans out to some of Oliver's lousy crops with a caption saying, "Sadly this was not the case for Oliver's crops" lol I think a romantic, sweet mixed with comedy would have been a perfect ending

Instead of captions they could have brought John Daly back to narrate the last episode, just as he had the first.

Instead of captions they could have brought John Daly back to narrate the last episode, just as he had the first.

Yes! I was actually just thinking that!!!

"THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW" and "THE FUGITIVE" were the rare exceptions. "I DREAM OF JEANNIE" was going to have one but NBC was forced to move some episodes around that last season of "IDOJ" and that episode was one of them.

I knew the Fugitive had a tie up episode for it was a ratings boom when it aired. But Dick Van Dyke, what tie up episode did they have then ?. Years later a 2 hour tv show was made to say what happened to the friends.

[QUOTE=Sal;5996186]I saw the last episodes this week on CHCH. I would like to tell you a little about them and clear up any confusion that you might have.



The first one was "Hawaiian Honeymoon" where Lisa talks Oliver into taking a fifth honeymoon in Hawaii. The hotel where they are staying is run by the owner's daughter who has promised the honeymoon suite to both the Douglasses and another couple who just got married. This episode is nothing like most "Green Acres" episodes but instead comes off looking like "Gidget Goes Hawaiian", even hiring Gidget's TV father Don Porter to play the hotel manager. The daughter isn't a very good actress, using a heavy English accent than is less believable than Lisa's. As a bonus, instead of Arnold the pig, you get Arnold from "Happy Days" (Pat Morita) playing a very unfunny and annoying waiter. At this point, this is where I decided it would be wise to check out of the hotel if I had actually been there although I did manage to watch until the end.

Coffeecups thoughts. Pamela Franklin very well could have been born in England. She did do a bunch of TV movies of the late 1960's to mid 1970's in America . I think she was in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie which starred Maggie Smith and I believe the movie was filmed in England.

I saw for the first time last week the Hawaiian episode. It was not very good. However the Douglas' were in it a lot more than I thought they would be. They saved the episode. I have never seen the final episode.

This Classic 6-Season Sitcom Was a Ratings Smash, but Then It Got Cancelled for a Bizarre Reason (https://collider.com/green-acres-cancelled-rural-purge/)

Not even a pig could save it.

Oink Oink!

Elaine Joyce was cute and a fun actress in here ways - too bad she didn't catch on !