Syl
Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor play a city lawyer and his wife who wants a quiet life in the country. They buy a farm in Hooterville (never mention a state). Eva (Zsa Zsa's sister) is a delight and hysterical as Lisa, his wife. Eddie's Oliver Wendell Douglas always means well. He wanted to get out of the rat race in New York City. Arnold, the pig, is a delight. He watches television shows and gets drafted by the army. Mary Grace Canfield played Ralph, the female carpenter and sister. Things always go on in Hooterville and it's not as boring as it seems. Life seems rather interesting on a farm than in the city. Lisa and Oliver always get into trouble but always manage to get out of it with laughs galore. Eb, the farmhand, thinks of him as surrogate parents. The locals are just as much fun especially the older couple who treat Arnold like a son than a pet. He lives like a king.
Bryce Kingswell
Green Acres was a very very weird show. It was about this rich guy who really wanted to move back to rural America and live on a farm which is the environment that he grew up in.The problem is he was married while he lived in the big city, I think New York City, he married a European woman who is very materialistic and was born wealthy and is used to the high life, who really hates the idea of living in the country and on top of that has a horrible allergy against hay.They have a pet pig and some weird neighbours and they do really bad jokes that are somehow so bad and they all seem so weird that it kind of works.
Bolesroor
"Green Acres" is a surrealist, subversive sitcom classic... one of TV's greatest comedies. Eddie Albert is Oliver Wendell Douglas, the big-city lawyer who escapes the rat-race with his wife Lisa to live the "simple-life" of a country farmer. The trouble is everyone in the small town of Hooterville is insane.Tom Lester is Ebb, the twenty-something farmhand who seems almost intentionally obtuse. He insists on calling Oliver & Lisa "Mom & Dad" in spite of the fact that they are not his parents. This infuriates Oliver who frequently reminds the boy that they are not related. Ebb is a gangly innocent, so lanky that he can get a laugh just by standing up straight. His Adam's apple is constantly in the act of escaping his neck, and will one day surely succeed.Alvy Moore is Hank Kimball. Well, he's not REALLY Hank Kimball- he just plays him on TV. Well, not ON the TV... more like IN the TV box. Well, not really IN the box...Pat Buttram is Mr. Haney, the king of charlatan salesmen, always ready to sell Oliver a completely unnecessary item at a reasonably outrageous price. He takes a pride in gouging Mr. Douglas that borders on perverse.Arnold Ziffel is the TV-loving pig with human parents who had a brief career as an actor in Hollywood. Long-story...And don't forget Eva Gabor as Lisa Douglas, a Hungarian princess who never met a word she couldn't shlaughter...This show is painfully funny... listen for the fife and drums every time Oliver gives his "American Farmer" speech. Enjoy the brilliant sight gags and the sweet pride that Fred & Doris have for their pig-son. Watch Eddie Albert go six seasons without ever finishing a sentence... the delirious insanity of "Green Acres" paved the way for future TV towns like The Simpsons' Springfield.If you haven't seen "Green Acres" it is worth seeking out. I suggest watching at least 2-3 episodes at a time... it's funnier that way. But when it starts making sense it's time to take a break.GRADE: A
justincward
All I remember about Green Acres is that I used to hate it, but I couldn't remember why until I caught a few episodes recently - after 40 years. Eva Gabor is great, Eddie Albert is funny enough even though for somebody supposed to be eternally cheerful he always looked very peevish to me, and all the supporting cast, Tom Lester in particular, are as good as any in Cheers or the like. Even the scripts, compared to contemporary US sitcoms, are inventive and fairly sparky. But that laugh track! It's absolutely TERRIBLE! Did TV runners really allow shows to go out with that awful noise attached? Green Acres must have been the peak of laugh track sitcom, before they realised what they were doing. It's painful! It actually slows the comedy right down, and completely spoils what could be an amiable comedy of manners. Take out the laugh track, speed the playback up a notch, and it could stand re-release, but as it is it's almost unwatchable.