Negative Reaction to Green Acres - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Perderabo · 11-24-2000, 05:05 PM

There are a number of sitcoms that I don't like very much and Green acres in one of them. Normally I wouldn't post a "I hate this posting", but this is kinda unusual.

You see, I don't really know for sure why I dislike this show! It could be that I'm just crazy. Oddly enough, I do like its cousin, Petticoat Junction.

So I am wondering if I am alone, or do any of you somehow get a negative feeling from this show that's hard to pin down.

rjrane · 11-25-2000, 05:23 PM

I liked the show.Petticoat Junction was good too,but in a different way.

Then again,they had different writers.Charles Stewart,who'd written for Andy Griffith before,was content with down-home humor.On the other hand,Jay Sommers delighted in the surrealism that was the show's trademark.

My parents didn't like Green Acres-but they weren't Eddie Albert fans.

ShermanW · 01-11-2001, 11:01 PM

Granted, "Green Acres" isn't for everyone. It has a bizarre, loopy sense of humor that many describe as "surreal." It didn't try to be all things to all people, like so many sitcoms. As a result, some love it and some hate it.
To me, when the show was at its best, it was as funny as any show of the '60s. Albert and Gabor had a great rapport. The supporting cast was wonderful.
And the scripts by Jay Sommers and Dick Chevillat had a strange, off-the-wall quality that just defy description. No jokes -- just strange, twisted, funny dialogue. And lots of clever touches no one at the time seemed to notice. Characters acknowledged it was just a TV show, 20 years before "Moonlighting." The opening credits might show up on hotcakes or the back of a bathrobe. Clever stuff for 1965.
I will grant the show's critics one thing: it did go downhill. In the last couple of seasons, the energy level seemed to drop like a stone. It just seemed to be on autopilot in seasons five and six. Sadly, I think some of the episodes from its last season are downright unwatchable.
It's a shame, because in seasons one through four, the show is absolutely hilarious at times. If the show had ended in 1969, it would be one of the best sitcoms of all time. It's still a favorite of mine, though I agree it's not for everyone.

ThomasE · 01-20-2001, 03:26 AM

I loved the show. Especially if characters from Petticoat Junction appeared on it.

cp · 01-25-2001, 10:33 PM

I loved the seris Green Acres. But i hated the very last 2 episodes they were very very poor and had nothing to do with Hooterville at all. I think they were pilots for some seris which never surfaced.

Pitooey · 02-17-2001, 01:08 AM

I enjoyed watching the show. Especially when the pig (Arnold) would come.

tdr · 04-02-2001, 02:18 AM

< So I am wondering if I am alone, or do any of you somehow get a negative feeling from this show that's hard to pin down. >

The only "negative feeling" I ever got from GA was in just knowing how we have to *lower* ourselves or our standards to enjoy this kind of comedy, and knowing that we ARE enjoying it means we are successful in this lowering of standards. Actors and production people want to create successful shows, but many of them have before admitted a "negative feeling" about how they must lower the believability and sophistication in order to produce something that will work.

04-10-2001, 08:06 PM

Maybe your dislike for Green Acres is because that all of us are like Mr. Douglas in a way. To us, we have an idea of how the order of the world is supposed to be. Yet in Hooterville, Mr. Douglas is made to be the insane one.

Many times I tell my kids the right way to do something, and they look at me like I'm an idiot.

06-27-2001, 04:15 AM

Green acres is one of my 10 fave shows of all time.

07-30-2001, 01:09 PM

I always liked Green Acres, as the "goofy, surreal, sitcome" when I watched it as a city dweller. It wasn't until I moved to the country that I realized that it actually was a documentary.

NAN ELIZABETH · 08-01-2001, 11:06 AM

I'll admit that I didn't like a lot of the fifth season episodes of "GREEN ACRES". The very last two episodes of the show were actually pilots for two other series which never even came through, and I didn't even like them.

During that particular season, which was the 1969-70 season, it was on Saturday nights at 9 o'clock, and I just can't picture it being on Saturday nights. It was on Wednesday nights in the beginning, and in it's last season, 1970-71, it was on Tuesday night. to me, it was always a Wednesday night show and that's that.

Most of the episodes that I like were from it's Wednesday night run, and it was during this time period when Eva Gabor was at her most glamorous.

But still, "GREEN ACRES" is still my all-time favorite show.

tdr · 08-04-2001, 08:34 PM

< It wasn't until I moved to the country that I realized that it actually was a documentary. >

So, are you are a real-life Oliver Wendell Douglas? What did you find in the "country" that leads you to say GA was a "documentary?" Did you have to climb a pole to use your phone? Did you buy a 2nd-hand tractor (or mower) and its wheels would fall off if you pointed at them? Did it take you 6 months to get electrical power after you applied?....

sar · 08-27-2001, 12:04 PM

Green Acres is one of the all-time best sitcoms ever. It was loaded with crazy characters- Mr. Haney(my favorite), Hank Kimball, the Ziffels, the Monroe brothers and Eb. Even Lisa was good. And in the midst of all that insanity was the best straight man in the world, Oliver Wendell Douglas.

The writing was hilarious, the music great. I really love this show.

goldie · 09-03-2003, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ShermanW
Granted, "Green Acres" isn't for everyone. It has a bizarre, loopy sense of humor that many describe as "surreal." It didn't try to be all things to all people, like so many sitcoms. As a result, some love it and some hate it.
To me, when the show was at its best, it was as funny as any show of the '60s. Albert and Gabor had a great rapport. The supporting cast was wonderful.
And the scripts by Jay Sommers and Dick Chevillat had a strange, off-the-wall quality that just defy description. No jokes -- just strange, twisted, funny dialogue. And lots of clever touches no one at the time seemed to notice. Characters acknowledged it was just a TV show, 20 years before "Moonlighting." The opening credits might show up on hotcakes or the back of a bathrobe. Clever stuff for 1965.
I will grant the show's critics one thing: it did go downhill. In the last couple of seasons, the energy level seemed to drop like a stone. It just seemed to be on autopilot in seasons five and six. Sadly, I think some of the episodes from its last season are downright unwatchable.
It's a shame, because in seasons one through four, the show is absolutely hilarious at times. If the show had ended in 1969, it would be one of the best sitcoms of all time. It's still a favorite of mine, though I agree it's not for everyone.

Well said. It was so strangely clever, I think that's a point a lot of people fail to realize or understand.

I enjoyed the entire series, but it probably should not have run as long as it did - that is true of every television series.

Peace ~

Mr. Television · 09-03-2003, 10:48 PM

I love Green Acres. I think rural comedies have gotten a bad reputation and I don't know why.

11-24-2000, 05:05 PM	#1
Perderabo Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 28, 2000 Location: Rockville, Md, USA Posts: 171	Negative Reaction to Green Acres There are a number of sitcoms that I don't like very much and Green acres in one of them. Normally I wouldn't post a "I hate this posting", but this is kinda unusual. You see, I don't really know for sure why I dislike this show! It could be that I'm just crazy. Oddly enough, I do like its cousin, Petticoat Junction. So I am wondering if I am alone, or do any of you somehow get a negative feeling from this show that's hard to pin down.

04-10-2001, 08:06 PM	#8
Zippy the Pinhead Guest Posts: n/a	Maybe your dislike for Green Acres is because that all of us are like Mr. Douglas in a way. To us, we have an idea of how the order of the world is supposed to be. Yet in Hooterville, Mr. Douglas is made to be the insane one. Many times I tell my kids the right way to do something, and they look at me like I'm an idiot.
Zippy the Pinhead Guest Posts: n/a

06-27-2001, 04:15 AM	#9
Devastation26 Guest Posts: n/a	Green acres is one of my 10 fave shows of all time.
Devastation26 Guest Posts: n/a

07-30-2001, 01:09 PM	#10
RobertAdams Guest Posts: n/a	I always liked Green Acres, as the "goofy, surreal, sitcome" when I watched it as a city dweller. It wasn't until I moved to the country that I realized that it actually was a documentary.
RobertAdams Guest Posts: n/a

09-03-2003, 10:48 PM	#15
Mr. Television 23 Years at Sitcoms Online Forum Icon Join Date: Jun 06, 2003 Location: Somewhere you're Not Posts: 62,133	I love Green Acres. I think rural comedies have gotten a bad reputation and I don't know why.
	__________________ Sonny

11-25-2000, 05:23 PM	#2
rjrane Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Oct 05, 2000 Location: Cleveland,Ohio-U.S.A. Posts: 99	I liked the show.Petticoat Junction was good too,but in a different way. Then again,they had different writers.Charles Stewart,who'd written for Andy Griffith before,was content with down-home humor.On the other hand,Jay Sommers delighted in the surrealism that was the show's trademark. My parents didn't like Green Acres-but they weren't Eddie Albert fans.

01-11-2001, 11:01 PM	#3
ShermanW Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jan 11, 2001 Location: Winchester, KY, USA Posts: 7	Granted, "Green Acres" isn't for everyone. It has a bizarre, loopy sense of humor that many describe as "surreal." It didn't try to be all things to all people, like so many sitcoms. As a result, some love it and some hate it. To me, when the show was at its best, it was as funny as any show of the '60s. Albert and Gabor had a great rapport. The supporting cast was wonderful. And the scripts by Jay Sommers and Dick Chevillat had a strange, off-the-wall quality that just defy description. No jokes -- just strange, twisted, funny dialogue. And lots of clever touches no one at the time seemed to notice. Characters acknowledged it was just a TV show, 20 years before "Moonlighting." The opening credits might show up on hotcakes or the back of a bathrobe. Clever stuff for 1965. I will grant the show's critics one thing: it did go downhill. In the last couple of seasons, the energy level seemed to drop like a stone. It just seemed to be on autopilot in seasons five and six. Sadly, I think some of the episodes from its last season are downright unwatchable. It's a shame, because in seasons one through four, the show is absolutely hilarious at times. If the show had ended in 1969, it would be one of the best sitcoms of all time. It's still a favorite of mine, though I agree it's not for everyone.

01-20-2001, 03:26 AM	#4
ThomasE Member Moderator Forum Fanatic Join Date: Apr 04, 2000 Location: New York, New York, U.S.A. Posts: 10,857	I loved the show. Especially if characters from Petticoat Junction appeared on it.

01-25-2001, 10:33 PM	#5
cp Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Nov 10, 2000 Location: MN Posts: 359	I loved the seris Green Acres. But i hated the very last 2 episodes they were very very poor and had nothing to do with Hooterville at all. I think they were pilots for some seris which never surfaced.

02-17-2001, 01:08 AM	#6
Pitooey Member Forum Star Join Date: Feb 15, 2001 Location: Rocking in Transylvania. Posts: 15,042	I enjoyed watching the show. Especially when the pig (Arnold) would come.

04-02-2001, 02:18 AM	#7
tdr Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 23, 2001 Posts: 1,454	< So I am wondering if I am alone, or do any of you somehow get a negative feeling from this show that's hard to pin down. > The only "negative feeling" I ever got from GA was in just knowing how we have to lower ourselves or our standards to enjoy this kind of comedy, and knowing that we ARE enjoying it means we are successful in this lowering of standards. Actors and production people want to create successful shows, but many of them have before admitted a "negative feeling" about how they must lower the believability and sophistication in order to produce something that will work.

08-01-2001, 11:06 AM	#11
NAN ELIZABETH Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jul 06, 2001 Location: Upper Darby, PA USA Posts: 43	I'll admit that I didn't like a lot of the fifth season episodes of "GREEN ACRES". The very last two episodes of the show were actually pilots for two other series which never even came through, and I didn't even like them. During that particular season, which was the 1969-70 season, it was on Saturday nights at 9 o'clock, and I just can't picture it being on Saturday nights. It was on Wednesday nights in the beginning, and in it's last season, 1970-71, it was on Tuesday night. to me, it was always a Wednesday night show and that's that. Most of the episodes that I like were from it's Wednesday night run, and it was during this time period when Eva Gabor was at her most glamorous. But still, "GREEN ACRES" is still my all-time favorite show.

08-04-2001, 08:34 PM	#12
tdr Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 23, 2001 Posts: 1,454	< It wasn't until I moved to the country that I realized that it actually was a documentary. > So, are you are a real-life Oliver Wendell Douglas? What did you find in the "country" that leads you to say GA was a "documentary?" Did you have to climb a pole to use your phone? Did you buy a 2nd-hand tractor (or mower) and its wheels would fall off if you pointed at them? Did it take you 6 months to get electrical power after you applied?....

08-27-2001, 12:04 PM	#13
sar Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jul 08, 2001 Location: South Florida Posts: 391	Green Acres is one of the all-time best sitcoms ever. It was loaded with crazy characters- Mr. Haney(my favorite), Hank Kimball, the Ziffels, the Monroe brothers and Eb. Even Lisa was good. And in the midst of all that insanity was the best straight man in the world, Oliver Wendell Douglas. The writing was hilarious, the music great. I really love this show.