Cheap Green Acres - The Complete First Season (DVD) (Richard L. Bare, Bruce Bilson (II), Ralph Levy) Price
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To be truly cool, one must genuinely understand the uselessness of logic and reason in a world gone mad.... Eddie Albert (ostensibly sane) spent six seasons appealing to the whacked out citizens of Hooterville to behave in a rational and orderly manner. Naturally, he got just what he deserved--the gradual erosion of his own mental stability. Aficionados of this show like to call it surreal. I call it real life.All one can add to that, to paraphrase the classic title song, is that DVD is the place for Green Acres to be. Hooterville may have been condemned by critics as a vast wasteland, but as the first season demonstrates, it provides fertile ground for bizarre behavior for a gallery of classic characters who rival the residents of Twin Peaks. "Oliver Buys a Farm," the series pilot, is a comparatively tame episode that gives little hint of the weirdness to come. Lawyer Oliver Wendell Douglas (Albert), weary of life in New York ("It's a rat race, and the rats are winning!" he declares), buys the Haney place to the horror of his socialite wife Lisa (Eva Gabor), whose ditziness has yet to be established. Look for appearances by Petticoat Junction denizens Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchannan), Sam Drucker (Frank Cady), Hooterville Cannonball engineer Floyd Smoot (Rufe Davis), and everyone's favorite wonder pig, Arnold Ziffel.
Among the season's other episodes, in "The Day of Decision," all of Hooterville wonders whether "she will" or "she won't" as Lisa chooses between life on the farm or returning to New York. In "Never Look a Gift Tractor in the Mouth," Hooterville is beginning to look like Peyton Place when Doris Ziffel (Barbara Pepper) becomes convinced that her husband Fred (Hank Patterson) and Lisa are having an affair. "Lisa Bakes a Cake," in which Lisa lists Oliver in the phone book as an attorney, is about as flat and heavy as one of Lisa's infamous creations. --Donald Liebenson
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Richard L. Bare, Bruce Bilson (II), Ralph Levy |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 15 September, 1965 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| MPAA RATING: | NR (Not Rated) |
| FEATURES: | Color |
| TYPE: | Television |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 2 |
| UPC: | 027616898005 |
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Customer Reviews of Green Acres - The Complete First Season
Unjustly Maligned Cult Masterpiece Gets Royal Treatment Despite a complete lack of editorial input (no featurettes, behind the scenes pieces, trivia, etc.) this collection of the first season of a truly eccentric '60s TV sitcom is a long-overdue gem.
Some of the more astute reviewers have mentioned the show's meta-satirical tendencies, its surreal sight gags, oddball characters, and such. Always a big fan of the GA thing, it was great to refresh myself with the sly absurdity that governs the universe of this show.
One GREEN ACRES 'tic' that I truly love is the repetition of a certain phrase, such as in the second episode, in which one character is taking bets for a pool to guess how many days Oliver and Lisa will stay in Hooterville. One character scoffs at the "fool pool," and soon everyone is referring to the pool as "the fool pool." Such wordplay accelerates the tempo of the show, and I admire the blend of visual and verbal nonsense at the heart of GREEN ACRES.
Having watched just the first 2 episodes, I anticipate the many hours of mind-mangling pleasure ahead for me with this set. I really do wish they'd done at least a short documentary on the creators of the series. I'd love to know how Jay Sommers and Dick Chevillat, the best writing team on the show, came up with the dynamic absurdity in their characterizations and dialogue. With at least some of the show's stars still alive and well, it would have been easy to interview them about their memories of being a citizen of the hayseed Hellzapoppin' that was Hooterville. Perhaps future sets will have some extras.
I really don't mean to carp. Getting 13+ hours of this insanity for such a low price is a real treat. I hope they'll do the entire run of the show. It got weirder and weirder in passing seasons. Does anyone remember the episode about the beeping rock from outer space that makes Oliver's life hellish? Or the show in which Oliver keeps seeing an irate shotgun-wielding hillbilly, played by Percy Helton, who may or may not be real? Or Lisa's duck? Or am I just having a Hooterville hallucination??!?!?
A great show
My wife and kids (ages 2, 4 and 7) have spent many evenings together enjoying this great comedy. The dialog could almost work as an old time radio show (which Green Acres actually was years prior). I really get a kick out of themes and jokes that get carried over into later episodes, sort of like inside jokes. You can really see how the series hit its stride mid-way through the season.
The film transfer is wonderful. I can really appricate the DVD picture quality when I compare it to the less-than-spectacular quality on DirectTV. My guess is this DVD looks better than the show did when origianlly broadcast. (Thank God these old shows were filmed rather than video taped!)
MGM, I know I'm going to have a very disappointed family if you don't release season two before summer. Rest assured we'll be repeat customers. (Thank you for the great entertainment at a such a terrific price!)
As good as I remembered
I remember watching this show in the 60's and loved it. I am happy to say that it is just as funny as it was back then. The writing for this show is superb. It seems everyone is in on the joke except Oliver which makes it all the funnier. Eddie Albert is the perfect straight man and Eva Gabor's fractured English is icing on the cake.