We can get there by strolling but the best way is to hop in a pick up truck or get on the train, we are heading on over to....
"Greeeeen Acres is the place to be, Farm living is the life for me…"
CBS was having such a rip-snortin' good time with its "hick folk to rich folk" comedy The Beverly Hillbillies that it decided to pull the ol' vice-versa switcheroo. And lo and behold, out came Green Acres, every bit the side-splittin' sitcom classic as that other countrified show.
Actually, Green Acres shared more in common with Petticoat Junction than it did with Jed and Jethro, including the rural town of Hooterville. That fictional setting for Petticoat Junction was the closest town to the new farm home of Oliver and Lisa Douglas, two New York socialites transplanted to the sticks, and it was the well from which much of the show's comedy was drawn.
Green Acres, television's 160-acres of city vs. country fun, aired on CBS from 1965 to 1971. It was the brainchild of writer Jay Sommers and creative writer/producer Paul Henning.
Henning was the inspired force behind the hit series The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, and his clout with CBS was such that in 1965, while Henning's schedule was jam-packed with supervising nearly every aspect of Hillbillies and Junction, CBS President James Aubrey offered Henning a half-hour primetime slot to produce whatever he wanted. According to "The Hooterville Handbook, A Viewers Guide to Green Acres", by Stephen Cox (St. Martin's Press), "the meeting went like this: James Aubrey (sometimes known as "the smiling cobra") told Henning CBS would air whatever he handed in. No pilot necessary. Just do it."
Writer Jay Sommers had the concept for what would eventually become the surreal word of
In 1965, when Hemming was given the green light to produce anything that suited his fancy, Sommers was well ensconced as a television writer, working on shows such as Ozzie and Harriet and Petticoat Junction. Interested in getting a show of his own on the air, Sommers approached Hemming with his old Granby's . . . scripts. Hemming saw the opportunity to cross-pollinate the hicks-in-reverse show with his existing series, and Green Acres sprung up like a crop of summer corn.
Oliver was the one who wanted to get away from it all, leaving his Park Avenue digs and his lawyer job to buy a farm—sight unseen—from local yokel Mr. Haney. Glam queen Lisa wasn't keen on the rural life ("Darling, I love you, but give me Park Avenue"), but she felt it was her wifely duty to tag along. That didn't stop her from looking and dressing fabulous, of course, and she did her best to gentrify the Hootervillites.
The farm, it turned out, was a bit of a wreck, but handyman Eb Dawson and carpenter siblings Alf and Ralph Monroe (the latter a female) were there to give the old spit and polish treatment to the new Douglas place. Also on hand in Hooterville were storekeeper Sam Drucker, agriculture man Hank Kimball, and that perpetual salesman Mr. Haney, among others.
But the most famous resident of Hooterville wasn't even human. That honor belonged to Arnold Ziffel, the smartest darn pig you ever seen. Cute little Arnold quickly became the darling of Green Acres, winning fans of his very own. Such was the down-home charm of this six-season sitcom, delving into the comedic underbelly of small-town life (and the unsuitability of city folk for that very life). Several Petticoat Junction cast members popped up every so often to add a few laughs, and the Green Acres cast returned the favor on its sister program.
In 1971 CBS wanted to revamp its image and canceled Green Acres and the other shows on its roster set in rural environs. Nevertheless, the show lived on in syndication and in the hearts and imaginations of its devoted fans. In other words . . . the pig stays in the picture.
The folksy humor of Green Acres kept it high on the hog for several seasons, but CBS decided to end its rural affiliations at the start of the 1970's. People still loved the Douglases and their wacky neighbors, however, and the show became a favorite of sitcom syndication. That continued popularity led to a 1990 TV movie reunion, Return to Green Acres, and fans of the show still swear by the charm of the farm today.
I'm a huge fan and used to play a game I made up of Green Acres trivia with my friends. This was 20 years after the series ended! Of course I was the one asking the questions and knew all the answers! I mean really.... who doesn't know that Alf's brother Ralph was a woman?
It's been fun for me sharing this stroll with you now let me go see if I can find an episode of Green Acres on one of the 5000 cable channels I have, this has gotten me in the mood!
In case you aren't singing along with the theme song by now,
here are the lyrics:
Green Acres is the place to be, Farm living is the life for me
New York is where I'd rather stay
The Chores
And for now... I'll stay in New York
