Green Acres character development

[Herbert T. Gillis]

I watched the first season episodes in order back to back over the weekend and noticed how interconnected the early episodes really are, as well as how the characters around Oliver all went from being relatively normal to surrealistically whacky.

Oliver started as an idealistic dreamer whom the citizens of Hooterville all considered a sucker for buying the Haney place. Lisa was a sophisticated urbanite with a slyly sarcastic side. Gradually, Oliver became the normal guy surrounded by oddballs.

The biggest character change, after possibly Lisa, was Hank Kimball, who did not start out as an absent-minded scatter-brain. He was a serious guy with things to do. That familiar business Alvy Moore always did of searching for the right words began when Oliver asked him in an early episode what he thought of the farm. Hank didn't want to be rude so he hemmed and hawed and muttered, trying to be tactful.

It is around the 10th episode that things become settled and the jokes get a little more other-wordly, with gags like Lisa saying "shooping list" or "solk fong" and then other characters repeating the mis-spoken phrases, though they were not present when she said them.

[PhoenixAcres]

Originally Posted by Herbert T. Gillis

Oliver started as an idealistic dreamer whom the citizens of Hooterville all considered a sucker for buying the Haney place. Lisa was a sophisticated urbanite with a slyly sarcastic side. Gradually, Oliver became the normal guy surrounded by oddballs.

Judging by his behavior in the first few episodes, I truly believe Oliver was insane to some degree. His subsequent character development was spurred by the unique flavor of insanity offered by the Hootervillians, and his own inability to accept their reality as valid. Confronted with people who operate on their own logic, he unfortunately embraced the lawyer in him, looking for some sensible explanation for their behavior and becoming frustrated when he couldn't find it. Whereas Lisa read the room and fully embraced her quirky side.

Interestingly, Oliver retained at least some of his original character for the duration of the series. His unmitigated fervor for growing crops, insistence on wearing formal attire around the farm, and limitless optimism were there until the end. He's still insane, it's just not as obvious because the people around him take it to an even more absurd level.

[PracTz]

I liked seeing how quickly Lisa went from being a bit standoffish, if not snobbish to the Hooterville locals to treating them like visiting royalty AND joining in their zaniness with them adoring this 'foreigner Hungarian' while barely tolerating her 'Amurrican city slicker' husband. Although, it's not surprising they'd like her MORE (despite her openly claiming to want to return to New York) since his own MOTHER liked her better than him!

[Herbert T. Gillis]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAcres

Judging by his behavior in the first few episodes, I truly believe Oliver was insane to some degree. His subsequent character development was spurred by the unique flavor of insanity offered by the Hootervillians ...

The Hootervillians aren't insane in the first few episodes, though. Joe Carson and Mr. Haney were always on the make, Sam Drucker was a sensible businessman, Alf and Ralph were bad carpenters who always seemed to be on a five, Hank Kimball was humorless, and Fred Ziffel thought Oliver was a kook. They all did.

Gradually, Oliver became the normal one, though he never farmed in overalls, and the townspeople became quirky.

[Herbert T. Gillis]

Originally Posted by PracTz

I liked seeing how quickly Lisa went from being a bit standoffish, if not snobbish to the Hooterville locals to treating them like visiting royalty AND joining in their zaniness with them adoring this 'foreigner Hungarian' while barely tolerating her 'Amurrican city slicker' husband. Although, it's not surprising they'd like her MORE (despite her openly claiming to want to return to New York) since his own MOTHER liked her better than him!

Lisa was friendly to the locals, I think. She just didn't like the house. She promised in the first episode to give it six months, and over the course of the next several weeks we see her struggling with farm life and making jokes at Oliver's expense, but the townspeople find her very interesting and she enjoys their attention.

Episode 22 marked the six month point and was devoted to her decision. Will she stay, or won't she? Her decision was to leave, and it was only to save Eleanor the cow, and Alice the hen and her chick daughters from slaughter that she agreed to give it another six months. By that time her sophisticated side was less and less apparent.

[PhoenixAcres]

Originally Posted by Herbert T. Gillis

The Hootervillians aren't insane in the first few episodes, though. Joe Carson and Mr. Haney were always on the make, Sam Drucker was a sensible businessman, Alf and Ralph were bad carpenters who always seemed to be on a five, Hank Kimball was humorless, and Fred Ziffel thought Oliver was a kook. They all did.

True. The supporting cast in the earliest episodes are still in the style of Petticoat Junction (which Jay Sommers wrote and produced the previous season). They were more conventionally funny until Sommers went his own way with his series.

[forn]

This isn't character development, but the main thing that strikes me about those early episodes is how Lisa laughs at the jokes. One of the other characters will do or say something silly, and she smiles and laughs. She really looks like she is having fun. But at some point very early on, she stops doing this. I wonder if the directors or producers told her to stop. It's within the first handful of episodes.

But in the season three, 25th episode "Oliver's Jaded Past" (that I made a thread about), Lisa decides that Hooterville is home, and she would rather live there than in New York. That's a pretty big jump in character development. Although part of it is she doesn't like the way Oliver embraces the NY nightlife. I don't know if they stay consistent with that for the rest of the run, I've been rewatching them all, I'll have to see.

[PhoenixAcres]

Originally Posted by forn

But in the season three, 25th episode "Oliver's Jaded Past" (that I made a thread about), Lisa decides that Hooterville is home, and she would rather live there than in New York. That's a pretty big jump in character development. Although part of it is she doesn't like the way Oliver embraces the NY nightlife. I don't know if they stay consistent with that for the rest of the run, I've been rewatching them all, I'll have to see.

Agreed, that was a pretty big moment for the series. After this episode, Lisa never expressed a desire to move back to New York. There was an episode in the sixth season where she goaded Oliver into having another vacation in New York, but from "Oliver's Jaded Past" onward (and even a little before), it's clear that she considers Hooterville home.

[forn]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAcres

Agreed, that was a pretty big moment for the series. After this episode, Lisa never expressed a desire to move back to New York. There was an episode in the sixth season where she goaded Oliver into having another vacation in New York, but from "Oliver's Jaded Past" onward (and even a little before), it's clear that she considers Hooterville home.

Wow, surprising continuity. Thanks for the info. Nice to see there are people paying attention.

[TheLittleFaerie]

I heard originally Mr. Kimball was supposed to be one of the more normal ones in the show, more like Mr. Drucker. He went from that to being an all out moron you can't even converse with lol

Also I noticed Lisa had no trouble pronouncing "electricity" in the early episodes.

It almost seemed like a switch, in the early episodes all the other characters seemed normal and Oliver was the zany one

[forn]

Originally Posted by TheLittleFaerie

I heard originally Mr. Kimball was supposed to be one of the more normal ones in the show, more like Mr. Drucker. He went from that to being an all out moron you can't even converse with lol

You could practically see him degenerating as the series went on lol.

I thought he was rather mean spirited sometimes, in the way he would laugh at Oliver's lack of farming skill. The other characters ridiculed Oliver too, but Mr. Kimball seemed to take special delight in it. Which seems wrong, considering his position as county agent places him there to help the farmers.

[TheLittleFaerie]

Originally Posted by forn

You could practically see him degenerating as the series went on lol.

I thought he was rather mean spirited sometimes, in the way he would laugh at Oliver's lack of farming skill. The other characters ridiculed Oliver too, but Mr. Kimball seemed to take special delight in it. Which seems wrong, considering his position as county agent places him there to help the farmers.

I thought everyone treated Oliver like crap. I watched the show when I was little and I just remembered people driving Oliver crazy with their bizarreness, but I don't remember everyone being so flat out NASTY to him, as I'm seeing now watching the series.

Many times Oliver doesn't even have to say anything and new people he meets will instantly take a disliking to him. I've often theorized that Oliver somehow slipped into another reality and everyone there senses there is something "off" about him

[stevea]

Originally Posted by TheLittleFaerie

I thought everyone treated Oliver like crap.

Even his own mother.

[forn]

Originally Posted by TheLittleFaerie

I thought everyone treated Oliver like crap. I watched the show when I was little and I just remembered people driving Oliver crazy with their bizarreness, but I don't remember everyone being so flat out NASTY to him, as I'm seeing now watching the series.

Agreed. Sometimes it interferes with my enjoyment of watching, because it seems so meanspirited.

On the other hand, everyone treats Lisa well, even though she was the one who originally didn't want to live there, and Oliver did. But Lisa buys into their bizarreness, unlike Oliver, or more accurately she seems to be part of it.

[biffbronson]

I think that kind of treatment of Oliver is most evident when there's any organized meeting of the townspeople. There seem to be wacky explanations of why his speaking is out of order, and of course when Lisa is there, equally wacky as to why hers is not...!