Walking Back What I Wrote

[cd637299]

Hey

As MeTV is in Season 6 as I write, I must say that I am rather disappointed, now that I stand back and look at the big picture of GA.

I had maintained that GA was one of thise rare shows that got funnier as it went on. Now that I think of it, it seems to me that Season 6 seemed to be where the writers either ran outta ideas, or mailed it in…..

It’s possible that the “softer” S6 laugh track might have influenced me… but the plots just don’t seem as funny, or as surreal, as the prior season (cough Beeping Rock cough).

The City Kids/Lori angle, the Drobny angle…oh yeah, the Wheelers angle…. just doesn’t get much of an LOL outta me. And of course I’m not even gonna count the two backdoor pilots.

Maybe the staff was hinted-at, about the “rural purge” early on?

Anyway, comments welcome.

PhoenixAcres?

cd

[Alan Brady's Hair]

Maybe the staff was hinted-at, about the “rural purge” early on?

I think that a lot of the rural shows were doing their own purges for several years before the network brought down the chop. They toned down the country thing and became more small town, became younger, and reduced the roles of outlandish characters for somewhat blander ones. Green Acres started off with such a loose structure it'd be tough to refashion it.

[PhoenixAcres]

I echo much of your sentiment, but I still think this is a "good" season overall. Broadly speaking, I rank the seasons like this (best-to-worst):

3 5 4 6 2 1

Six is kind of middle-of-the-road in terms of quality. I will say the gulf between good and bad scripts became most pronounced this season. In other words, when it's weak, it's painfully weak. Some episodes, like the one with the kids, are borderline dreadful. While I find Mr. Wheeler really funny, I can't stand Darlene Wheeler. She's way too real and reasonable to be in a show like this. The scenes she's in move slower than molasses and aren't memorable at all.

One issue on the creative front was the reduced involvement of Jay Sommers. Previously, he and Dick Chevillat wrote about 90% of all the scripts, but this season, their collaborative effort was closer to 50%. The remaining creative power was tasked to Dan Beaumont, who previously contributed a handful of scripts in seasons 3 and 4. The more disjointed writing staff probably had a hand in the more uneven feel of this season. There were plenty of fun, imaginative premises, though. "The Free Paint Job" and "King Oliver I" are Green Acres at its absurd best.

Some have posited that Sommers' distancing was the result of him learning in advance of the coming Purge, and devoting all his time to creating potential pilots for the new season (thus ensuring he would have a job next season). That's a valid theory, but I don't know how true it is. It's possible he was just tired of doing the same thing for five straight years and wanted something different. The Beverly Hillbillies was cancelled the same year, and from my understanding the cast and crew all expected to return in the Fall of 1971, so I don't know why CBS would inform Sommers but not inform Paul Henning. All we know for certain is he abandoned his old series to shoehorn in some new, hip(?), hilarious(?) backdoor pilots that CBS definitely loved(?).

There is a definite drop in energy in many scenes this season. This can be attributed in part to the more subdued laugh track, as you mentioned. It's also worth noting the cast was getting older and would occasionally lose the spark to perform at the top of their game. In Steve Cox's Green Acres book, he interviewed Richard L. Bare, and he explained one of the challenges in directing the later years was to excite the actors enough to deliver more high-energy performances. There are a few scenes, both in this season and the previous one, where it's struck me just how bored Eddie Albert looks. He is one of the best actors of all time, and throughout all 6 seasons he could deliver powerful, frenetic performances of bemusement, fury, shock, and love, but occasionally...he just looks really disinterested.

One of the frustrations of being a fan of a show is having to confront how imperfect the work can be. On the other hand, that just makes it all the more human and relatable. I think I gain a richer appreciation for a show by acknowledging all its strengths and flaws.

[cd637299]

Thanks both of you. Yeah King Oliver I does stand out. And there was one where Arnold led a sit-down strike at school, right? And wasn’t that s6?

I don’t recall Oliver making any of those speeches with the fife in the background in s6 either….

Interesting, PhoenixAcres, how you arrange the seasons. You give it much more thought than I do….

cd

[PhoenixAcres]

Originally Posted by cd637299

Thanks both of you. Yeah King Oliver I does stand out. And there was one where Arnold led a sit-down strike at school, right? And wasn’t that s6?

I don’t recall Oliver making any of those speeches with the fife in the background in s6 either….

Interesting, PhoenixAcres, how you arrange the seasons. You give it much more thought than I do….

cd

Thanks

The school protest was in "The Confrontation", season 5, episode 20. That's one of my all-time favorite episodes.

Oliver made only one fife speech in season 6 and it was, coincidentally, in "King Oliver I".

[cd637299]

I saw s6’s “The Star Witness” last week. Very well-written ep, funny too, maybe not as surreal as other episodes.

It didn’t hurt to have Grandpa Munster in that one either!

cd

[cd637299]

Bump, sorta…

My favorite GA episodes generally deal with politics/bureaucracy—basically the little irritations that get Oliver going.

The Beeping Rock is of course my favorite episode…but any of the ones that feature Lyle Talbot (whether as Lyle Talbot or Gov. Carstairs) have that extra “oomph” skewering society as a whole. Whether it’s “The Road,” “King Oliver I,” or the Hooterville Monkey Track, they all go to show that politicians are politicians.

I guess my #2 ep all time is “The Road” (another s5 gem) with Lyle as Lyle. Fred Ziffel’s means of protest is gold—having his wife block the bulldozer path (“Lie down, Doris!”)! That would never be done today! And never mind that Fred was more worried about Lisa joining in!

cd

[biffbronson]

Originally Posted by cd637299

the Hooterville Monkey Track

Release the banana!