Beckett in Bucolia: The Absurd Delights of “Green Acres”

Tony Maietta:
Hey, Brad. Before we start today, how'd you like to play a little game with me?

Brad Shreve:
Oh, with trepidation, I am gonna say okay.

Tony Maietta:
It's not really a game. Do you remember when you were a kid, do you remember this thing on Sesame Street? This song it was actually a song called 1 of These Things Does Not Belong Here.

Brad Shreve:
Oh, of course. 1 of these things is not like the other.

Tony Maietta:
1 of these things does not belong here. 1 of these things is not like the same. See, I had to sing. I had to get my singing in. Well, I'm gonna play that game with you.

Brad Shreve:
Okay.

Tony Maietta:
I'm gonna name 4 things, and you have to tell me which one of these things does not belong here.

Brad Shreve:
Okay.

Tony Maietta:
Which of these things is not like the same like the others?

Brad Shreve:
Alrighty.

Tony Maietta:
Okay? Samuel Beckett, Jean Paul Sartre, Green Acres, and Eugene O'Neil.

Brad Shreve:
Oh, I'm trying to think of the connections. I'm gonna say Eugene Gene O'Neil.

Tony Maietta:
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. You're right. You're right. Because what do the other 3 have in common? They are absurdist.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. They are absurdist. So, yes, Green Acres, humble Green Acres is up there with Jean Paul Sartre, with Harold Pinter, with Samuel Beckett. I mean, that's pretty amazing.

Brad Shreve:
And, you know, I agree with that.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, yeah.

Brad Shreve:
I have talked about doing Green Acres for some time now. And you've never said no, but you kind of always changed the subject. So then you go on vacation with a friend who talks to you about Green Acres, and all of a sudden you come back from vacation, you're like, we should do Green Acres.

Tony Maietta:
Well, no. Here's the thing.

Brad Shreve:
I'm glad your mind was opened up.

Tony Maietta:
I thought it was interesting. But my friend my friend John, who I'll give a shout out to in in West Virginia hey, John. Wheeling, West Virginia. Loves Green Acres. And he was always getting me to watch Green Acres even before, you know, you and I for for as long as I've known him. He's talked about how brilliant Green Acres is, how, you know, how absurdist it is, how it's very much in the same line as these, like, these authors. I just their works, like Waiting for Godot, like No Exit, like The Birthday Party. And I'd be like, really? I mean, I know it has a talk it has doesn't have a talking pig.

Tony Maietta:
It has a pig as a character. But I was like, really? And then I watched them, like, and the more I watched it and the more I watched the episodes which you assigned to me to watch, I was like, wow. This really is out there.

Brad Shreve:
Oh, yeah.

Tony Maietta:
I agree. So, listener, what we did was Brad wanted to talk about, what is it, 3 episodes of Green Acres. 4. Four episodes of Green Acres. But I watched the first episode as well. Mhmm. And that's what we're gonna do that's what we're gonna do today.

Brad Shreve:
Because the first and second episode kinda go together. It's almost like they had 2 pilots. One kind of a unusual pilot, which was kinda fun, and then they finally got there.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. You're right. But, you know, here's something interesting. It's kind of like, one of these tie ins to the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Actually, not to correct you, but there were no pilots. CBS gave Paul Henning, who is the creator of Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, free reign. He said they said, here's a half hour. Make a sitcom.

Tony Maietta:
So he didn't have to make a pilot. He didn't have to make anything to test anything. He had it already wrapped up. So the first episode, which I know we're not gonna talk about today, wasn't one of the episodes, but I found it fascinating. I thought it was kind of like a precursor to The Office or to Modern Family because it's in the style of a mockumentary. Right? Yes. I found that fascinating.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. They were being introduced by the I can't think of the his name. Apparently, it was John Daly.

Tony Maietta:
He used to host What's My Line.

Brad Shreve:
That's what I knew.

Tony Maietta:
Years. Yes.

Brad Shreve:
He they were being introduced by John Daly on a monitor, and they were talking to him responding. At the same time, they were responding to each other.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. It was very strange. I wonder why they just did that in that one episode and why I guess it would be kinda tiresome to try to do it through all a 170 episodes of the series.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. It would have been a whole different show. Been a whole different show. Since Petticoat Junction wasn't that way, I guess they still could have done it because it kind of eventually became totally different universes.

Tony Maietta:
There's nothing absurdist about Petticoat Junction. I mean, Petticoat Junction is a standard rural sitcom just like Beverly Hillbillies is a standard rural sitcom. So I think it's really amazing that this series you know, because you're not alone. As I said, my friend John loves this series. There's a whole cult, a whole Green Acres cult out there, that just find this this series brilliant. And I gotta tell you, after watching these episodes and doing doing some research, I have I have really newfound respect for Green Acres and for what they accomplished in this in this crazy series.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. Let me read a quote to you. As you know, this show began in 1965, and it ran for 6 seasons.

Tony Maietta:
Yes.

Brad Shreve:
It was canceled in 1971 as part of the rural purge

Tony Maietta:
that we've talked about. Our good friend, the rural purge.

Brad Shreve:
Yes. And Pat Buttrum, who plays mister Haney, he is credited with saying it was the year CBS canceled everything with a tree.

Tony Maietta:
It's true.

Brad Shreve:
So it had the royal purge that they got rid of we've talked about this before. They got rid of Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Mayberry RFD, Hee Haw. They say, Petticoat Junction, but it actually canceled the year before. It it really went downhill bad.

Tony Maietta:
Well, after b after b Benederett died, it just Yeah. Could never

Brad Shreve:
really matter. Musical show, and the music was bad.

Tony Maietta:
And Beverly Hillbillies. I mean, you know, the grandfather the grandfather of them all was but it, again, like Pedego Junction, had pretty much run its course.

Brad Shreve:
Yes. And but here's something that this is from Noel Murray, who's a TV reporter and critic for The New York Times. He wrote this. In retrospect, Green Acres was hipper than Silverman thought and maybe didn't deserve to be lumped in with all the other country shows.

Tony Maietta:
I oh, I I think that's kinda true. I do.

Brad Shreve:
I agree.

Tony Maietta:
They got 6 seasons out of it. You know, it's pretty good. I mean, 6 seasons, I Love Lucy ran 6 seasons. You know, Mary Tyler Moore ran 7.

Brad Shreve:
I did look to see if there was an episode, in the 6th season that would be good. And there is one that was kind of absurd because I chose the one of the episodes because it was just over the top. Mhmm. None of the others were all that good. It it was time to go. It was time to go.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. I think well, I think the unfortunate thing about that, I don't think that it's necessarily had was cut too short. I think that there was no final episode. But you know what? That was not that common. We're so used to final episodes now because, you know, they're such huge ratings getters. You know? I mean, look at MASH. I think MASH still holds the record for last episode. And, of course, you know, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, iconic last episode.

Tony Maietta:
Seinfeld, god knows. But back in the day, there there weren't always final episodes. There was not a final episode, like, wrapping everything up of I Love Lucy. There was not a wrapping up episode of Dick Van Dyke, you know, where the characters moved away or someone got a new job. And, I mean, we're so used to that now, we have to realize that was not a common practice back then.

Brad Shreve:
And I'm okay with that. You know, what's really sad, the final two episodes that aired of Green Acres were backdoor pilots for 2 other shows.

Tony Maietta:
I hate that.

Brad Shreve:
The first one, yeah, the first one was Hawaii Honeymoon. Lisa and Oliver go to Hawaii, and they stay in a hotel. And it was a pilot for a sitcom that was about the people that worked at the hotel. Yeah. Now that was the second to the last one. And then the last one was called the ex secretary. And Oliver has to get in touch with his old secretary to find out where she got his watch fixed years ago. And, she's living in Los Angeles with working for a real estate developer at that time.

Brad Shreve:
That was a spin off, not really a spin off. It was a pilot for a show that was gonna be about her. So it is kinda sad that the last two episodes were really not Green Acres episodes.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
But I am glad that they did not have a final episode because, you know, it ended in 71. I I like to think that everything just continued as it was. You know?

Tony Maietta:
Well, yeah, I think that's the nice thing about not having to have this final episode where some character either moves or gets a new job or gets fired. I mean, it's just like because you can visualize them continuing in their life. You know, those castaways were never rescued off that damn island until, you know, the reunion

Brad Shreve:
Oh, yeah.

Tony Maietta:
When they could be rescued off the island. So I think that's true. Someday you and I should do a show about backdoor pilots, because I think they never I they rarely work backdoor pilots. I think the only one I can think of off the top of my head is, the Anthony Griffith Show. There was it was on the Danny Thomas Show. It was a backdoor pilot Yeah. From Danny Thomas Show. But, honestly, other than that and if anybody has any ones they wanna text us, email us because I'd like to know, because I'm just making this blanket statement right now.

Brad Shreve:
Empty nest off of Golden Girls.

Tony Maietta:
But that was not the same premise. See? That that it was the same house, but totally different characters, Rita Moreno and Paul Dooley

Brad Shreve:
Oh, yeah. You're right.

Tony Maietta:
Were in that backdoor pilot, which was not Richard Mulligan and Diana Manoff and Chrissy McNichols. Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. You're right.

Tony Maietta:
So the idea was sort of there, but that was a bad that's a bad episode.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. It was terrible. So, anyway, I like to think that when Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert died

Tony Maietta:
Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
They would have been on the form 30 to 40 years. And I like to think that's how they lived out the rest of their life. They're in crazy Hooterville.

Tony Maietta:
And she was only gonna stay 6 months. Yes. 6 months.

Brad Shreve:
So we should begin that.

Tony Maietta:
We should. Before we do that, there's something talking about about things that that we researched in this file. I wanna say something here because this is a little pet peeve of mine. Okay? Mhmm. And I think we talked about this before. So I'm re I'm doing some some of my research for Green Acres, and I'm seeing and the Internet a couple times, you know, the first time that characters in a in a TV show sang their theme song. And this kind of stuff drives me crazy. Because when I was doing way back in the stone age, when I was doing DVD commentaries and I think I told you this before.

Tony Maietta:
I mean, we had a legal department we had to answer to, and we had to, like, cite, like, 2 or 3 instances in order to say anything on these DVD commentaries. Warner Brothers had a legal department. 20th Century Fox had a legal department. Mhmm. Now anybody can put anything they want on the Internet, and everybody thinks it's true, and that drives me crazy. Yes. And what drove me crazy about this is I'm, like, really? Have you never heard of a show called the Roy the Roy Rogers Show? Have you never heard happy trails to you? I mean, come on. And how about, hey, hey, we're the monkeys?

Brad Shreve:
You didn't say what the rumor was. No.

Tony Maietta:
I did. Yeah. That this was the first time TV characters sang their theme song, and, that's not true. I said, Roy Rogers, happy trails to you. Hey Hey We're the Monkees, which was actually the same year as Green Acres, but still then give the credit to the Monkees. So that kind of stuff drives me nuts. However, I think the reason people do it is because that song, it's such an earworm. I mean, my god.

Tony Maietta:
It's still going through my head. I mean, it's a great it's a great song.

Brad Shreve:
It also tells a story.

Tony Maietta:
It does.

Brad Shreve:
If you've never watched the show before and you pick it up in season 3, it tells you what you're going to.

Tony Maietta:
That was a big thing in the sixties. Think about Gill the Gilligan's Island theme is perfect example of that. Oh, yes. They wanted these they wanted these theme songs which told the story of the sitcom. The Brady Bunch, hello, another legendary theme song. You know? And then when they got into the seventies eighties, you know, it was kinda a little more esoteric. Like, you know, who could turn the world on with a smile? Or la la la la la la la la la la la as you did on our road episode. But, anyway, that's my little tangent for today, for now.

Brad Shreve:
It's a good tangent.

Tony Maietta:
It is. It is. Yes.

Brad Shreve:
Before we get started with talking about these specific episodes, I'd like to go back in time and talk about how this show the genesis of this show.

Tony Maietta:
Please do.

Tony Maietta:
Now I've heard for many, many years that it was based on, old radio show called Granby's Green Acres. But the way I'd always heard it was it was kind of an idea, and they fleshed out the idea that nothing really was similar. Well, I did a little research, and I actually listened to some episodes of Granby's Green Acres, and it is the same show. And Granby Green Acres was produced, written, and directed by Jay Summers who did Green Acres, mostly did almost every episode of Green Acres. So the deal with Granby's Green Acres, it came out in 1948 and only lasted 8 episodes. It didn't do very well. The record reviews weren't all that good.

Tony Maietta:
I believe it was a summer series. It was it was only Was it? Yeah. It was only destined to be 8 episodes. I mean, and it it had a life on it, but some but Oh. But, yeah, I think it was only supposed to be 8 episodes.

Brad Shreve:
Oh, I didn't know that. Okay. Well, that makes a difference. But one of our favorite stars is on there, Gail Gordon, who we know from Lucy.

Tony Maietta:
Yes.

Brad Shreve:
And he plays a banker in the city that wants to move to the country. Mhmm. And b and you have to pronounce her last name for me. I always get it

Tony Maietta:
wrong. Benaderet.

Brad Shreve:
B Bennett Benaderet. She played the banker's wife, Gail Borden's wife.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brad Shreve:
What's funny is she later was hired to be Kate Bradley on Petticoat Junction, which Green Acres was kind of a spin off of.

Tony Maietta:
Sister sister show.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. It's a sister show more than that.

Tony Maietta:
Well, here's what's here's what's interesting is and I don't know if you found this in your research, but, you know, Gail Gordon and Bea Benedara were on Lucille Ball's radio show, My Favorite Husband. And they took those same characters to create Granby's Green Acres. So there's a Lucy tie in here. Of course, there is. There's always a Lucy tie. So these characters from My Favorite Husband, which was the precursor to I Love Lucy, were on the radio together. And, of course, you know, I've said this a 1000000 times, Lucy wanted Gail Gordon and B. Benederet to play the Mertzes when I Love Lucy was created, but they they couldn't because they were tied up with other B Benaderet was on George Bernard's Gracie Allen, and Gail Gordon, was on RMS Brooks.

Tony Maietta:
So they couldn't do it, so we got Vivian Vance and William Frawley. Thank god. Not that I don't love B Benaderet and Gail Gordon. But so that's also interesting that there's a Lucy connection to Green Acres.

Brad Shreve:
It really is. I actually would have liked to see them as Fred Nethal, except for the problem that we would lose Vivian Vance.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. Yes.

Brad Shreve:
I could do without William Frawley. But I think they would have been really good together as as the team, but then we wouldn't have Vivian Vance, and and we love her. So

Tony Maietta:
We wouldn't. We we yes. We have to.

Brad Shreve:
Couldn't imagine Lucy without her. No. I said that it was exactly the same. I'm gonna play something for you that I really found interesting. This is gonna be from the first episode of Granby's Green Acres. Oh, wow. Bee Bernadette's character is asking Gail Gordon why he wants to go to a farm.

Tony Maietta:
Love it.

Intro Clips:
What are you trying to say?

Brad Shreve:
Well, that I want to have the feeling of accomplishing something. On a farm, I'd have that feeling. I'd I'd take a seed, a tiny little seed, and I'd plant it

Tony Maietta:
Wow.

Brad Shreve:
Now that is from the first episode of Granby's Green Acres, a 1948 radio show. Now this next one is from the first episode of Green Acres. Lisa and Oliver talking in their penthouse.

Intro Clips:
You have everything a man could possibly want. A beautiful home, a wife who loves you, a a successful law practice. Let you throw it all away to move too far.

Intro Clips:
You're a

Brad Shreve:
darn way, high one. Why? Because a a farm would would give me a feeling of of accomplishing something. I'd take a little seed, a tiny little seed. I I I plant it in the ground. I'd put some dirt on it. I'd water it and pretty soon do you know what I'd have?

Intro Clips:
A dirty little wet seed.

Brad Shreve:
That sounded kind of sim similar there. It

Tony Maietta:
did. Although I have to say the live studio audience gave a much bigger reaction than the canned laughter for Eva Gabor's line. So I don't know.

Brad Shreve:
So, yeah, that is where the idea came from. And as you said, Paul Henning was the creator of Beverly Hillbillies. Now you mentioned how Green Acres just do the show.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. Kinda carte blanche because yeah. Here's a half hour. Go make a

Brad Shreve:
show. I actually was told that's the way Petticoat Junction came across too. I don't know if that's true because I couldn't find the information. Probably. But I always heard that Beverly Hillbillies was such a huge hit. They said make us another show. We don't care what it is.

Tony Maietta:
Well, that's also that also has to do with B. Benadera. You know, B. Benadera played cousin Pearl on the Beverly Hillbillies. Yes. And she was a wonderful character. So they're like spin I know. Not really a spin off, but, you know, give her her own show.

Tony Maietta:
So that's how Petticoat Junction came about. But I believe it because Paul I mean, the Beverly Hillbillies was, hit isn't even the right word. You know, it just was massive. I mean, there are episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies which are still among the top rated shows ever of all time on television. So, you know, The Beverly Hillbillies was massive. So I'm sure CBS is gonna be like, go do what you want to, Paul. Just make another hit.

Brad Shreve:
And we will get to breaking the 4th wall, but there is an episode where a Beverly Hillbillies where they go to Hooterville Yeah. And she looks at Kate and says, you're the spit image of cousin Pearl.

Tony Maietta:
It's that's see, that's no yeah. The absurdist stuff is crazy. They did because they mention and I'm we'll get to it in the episode. Haney mentions Beverly Hillbillies in one of these episodes.

Brad Shreve:
There's an episode called the Beverly Hillbillies where they do the play. They they wrote Right.

Tony Maietta:
No. Exactly.

Brad Shreve:
And ask for a screenplay so they could do a a local play to raise money.

Tony Maietta:
But even before that, there's an episode where mister Haney mentions Beverly Hillbillies. It's the TV episode we're gonna talk about. And I'm like, okay. Hello, Meta. Like, 4th wall. Like, this is crazy. It's it's just crazy.

Brad Shreve:
One of my favorites is there's an episode where Ebb is sitting on the bed watching an episode of Petticoat Junction. Yes.

Tony Maietta:
It's just come on. Alright. So we get shall we get into these episodes that that we wanna talk about? Because, well, I'm sure we'll have more fun facts as we talk.

Brad Shreve:
Absolutely. The first episode that I gave you is just so we have the pilot. We know how the story began. It's actually the 2nd episode of the show because it got a little more in-depth of Hooterville. It's season 1 episode 2, Lisa's First Day on the Farm, and it aired September 22, 1965. You care to take over?

Tony Maietta:
I just know well, basically, it's Lisa being introduced to the luxuries, air quotes, as you say, of Hooterville and the the farm, and it's just I love this episode. I gotta tell you. What's interesting to me about this episode is Eva Gabor. Now we didn't talk much about, you know, the actors in this, and we will probably get to that. But, you know, Eva Gabor, her character changed a lot as did Eddie Albert's character. And I think that I kinda love this Avigah Bor because this Avigah Bor is kind of she's much more sarcastic and dry in her humor. And Oliver, Eddie Albert was much more oblivious. And as the show went on, those kind of reversed.

Tony Maietta:
Lisa, Eva Gabor, became oblivious. Yes. And Eddie Albert was just perturbed and frustrated by everything. But it's I've really kind of liked her being the sarcastic, having the sarcastic asides and the eye rolls and just, you know because when they want when they come into the house, Haney has basically wiped them out. There is nothing. There's not a toilet. There's not a sink. There's not a bathtub.

Tony Maietta:
He's taken everything out of his house.

Brad Shreve:
He said the deed said you got a house. That's what you get, a house.

Tony Maietta:
It's just it's hysterical. It's hysterical. So they go into this I mean, first of all, here's what my question was always. Oliver hello. They had a penthouse. She just adores a penthouse view. They had this gorgeous penthouse on the I think they said by this time they were living on Madison or was it Park?

Brad Shreve:
They lived on Park Avenue.

Tony Maietta:
Park oh, yeah. Give me Park Avenue, of course. Duh. This is the best that Oliver can buy in Hooterville? And then the guy's got 1,000,000. And this is the house he buys? That's just kind of like, I don't know about that.

Brad Shreve:
He was too excited. They showed that in the very first episode. He was just because he was a little mad about wanting a farm. I mean

Tony Maietta:
Crazy.

Brad Shreve:
He saw this land, and he bought it. You know, they go to the house, and he thinks it's great, which is, yes, it's ridiculous, but it's green acres.

Tony Maietta:
Well, it's absurdist.

Brad Shreve:
There was an episode where they were gonna tear down the house and build they had this plans for a beautiful new home. Mhmm. And it fell through because Haney had it stopped because the house was a historical landmark. It was the home of the first governor of the state, Herbert

Tony Maietta:
Hooter. Of course, that was his name. Hootersville. Just Lisa call it let me try to remember. Does Abigail Gebour call it Hootersville? Hootersville?

Brad Shreve:
Hootersville.

Tony Maietta:
Hootersville. Yes. Yes.

Brad Shreve:
Hooters. She puts the s

Tony Maietta:
in there. Hootersville. But I really like this episode. I gotta tell you. I really I watched the first episode with this episode because I thought, it made sense to do that. I I thought first of all, they go into the bathroom, and I'm I think this has to be the first toilet joke ever I agree. On network television. You think so?

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. I every time I watch it, I'm like, wow. They never showed a toilet before. Granted, we don't see the stool.

Tony Maietta:
They never show a toilet. And they don't show the they show the commode part of the toilet. The and and they don't know what it is because it's got a big chain on it. And Eddie Albert pulls the chain and, of course, the water comes down and he goes, it's a shower. And I'm like, oh my god. The first toilet joke ever. But there's no bathtub. There's no sink.

Tony Maietta:
Amazing. I thought I thought it was a great episode. I really enjoyed it.

Brad Shreve:
What do you think of Albert's mother?

Tony Maietta:
Oh, I love her. I love her. Eleanor Audley. I love her. I love the fact that she that Lisa's more her child than Oliver is. And it's just it's just one of the it's one of the brilliant things about this episode. Because when she comes in, you know, she's she's comforting, Lisa, comfort a Gabe to go, boy, and you know and then then Oliver finally says, but you're my mother. I I love it.

Tony Maietta:
It's just that's that's that's another one of the brilliant things about this. Well, you know you know, for people who don't know, Eva Gabor is one of the infamous I don't know if infamous or famous Gabor sisters. If you know who Paris Hilton is, you know who the Gabor's are. They are she was from Hungary, and she was the 1st Gabor. Her sisters were Zsa Zsa and Magda. And she was the first one to immigrate to the United States in 1937 by getting married, which she did four more times. So it's in the Gabor blood. And probably her most famous appearance before this before Green Acres was in Gigi.

Tony Maietta:
Now we keep coming back to Gigi for some reason on this podcast. I don't know why. But she plays Louis Jourdan's cheating girlfriend fiance in Gigi. But I think she probably was, like there's no argument. No. There's no argument. Definitely the most successful of all the Gabor sisters because, I mean, she worked from the forties to the nineties, and she did all those cartoon voices, the Aristocats, the rescuers. So, I mean, I think she was she was pretty much the most successful of all the Gabor's.

Tony Maietta:
Zsa Zsa, more notorious. Yes. Eva, as I said before, was the nice Gabor.

Brad Shreve:
Zsa Zsa was mainly known for marrying rich man. I Eva may have done the same, but Zsa Zsa was more known for

Tony Maietta:
And slapping cops.

Brad Shreve:
And slapping cops. Yes. Yeah. But here's the interesting thing about Eleanor Audley played Eddie Albert's mother. She was born in 1905. Do you wanna guess when Eddie Albert was born?

Tony Maietta:
Oh, I know when Eddie Albert was born, but you go ahead and tell everybody.

Brad Shreve:
1906. She's 1 year older, and she's playing his mother.

Tony Maietta:
That's great. I love that. They did that a lot, though. I mean, come on. Yeah. It's like it's like it's like Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman, you know, when when she was missus Robinson. She wasn't that much older than Dustin Hoffman was. I mean, it's it's very funny how they do that.

Tony Maietta:
But but she you know, it's her appearance. Yeah. You know, she looks she looks older. It's funny. When I again, what strikes me most about this episode is how their characters are different. Not totally different, but they're definitely they're definitely different takes on these characters that changed and progressed over the years.

Brad Shreve:
Oliver doesn't change nearly as much as Lisa does. There's a couple ways they could have gone with it. One, she could have been the straight person because he was kinda nutty in the first episode.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brad Shreve:
The other is they both were the straight people and were trying to adapt. I kinda liked it like it that Lisa changed. I think they changed her too much. I mean, in season 1, she was this high society lady and she acted she was but she was still very she was she didn't wanna live on the farm. She loved her penthouse. She loved shopping, but she was also very gracious when she met the people at the drugstore, all the farmers. She was very sweet, witty, and so she was elegant. In season 2, she started to loosen up and be a little more fitting in.

Brad Shreve:
And then after season 2 or maybe during season 2 is when she really even though she kept saying if she wanted to go back to New York, she was just as Hooterville as the rest of Hooterville. Yeah. And she she acted almost like she had a learning disability. She didn't act smart anymore. And I think it would have been funny if she did become more Hooterville like, but they didn't make her so dumb. Well, she's just oblivious Yes.

Tony Maietta:
To everything. And, I mean, it's, you know, and it's it's it's spelled out in these, future episodes we're gonna talk about, almost to the point of annoyance. Yeah. I actually prefer her her kind of smarter Lisa, her kind of sarcastic Lisa. I don't know if that how well that would have worked in as the series progressed, because, obviously, they changed the character. So she became just this kind of silly, you know, oblivious character who just took everything at face value and just ran with it. But they all they all did that. And then Eddie Albert had to counter that and become instead of being this gung ho, you know, I'm gonna have a farm and just he had to become frustrated with everybody and everything.

Tony Maietta:
And that, to me, that got a little tiresome by the time we got to the 4th episode. I'm like, this poor guy, I mean, why doesn't he just leave? For Christ's sake, he can't get a straight answer from anybody. Everybody's always trying to is pulling a fast one on him. So that got a bit annoying. I I I wonder why they did that, why they didn't feel that Eva Gabor was was strong enough in that original characterization. It's kind of like the sarcastic, you know, okay. I'm gonna be here for 6 months because I love you, but your your days are numbered, buddy. I don't know why they did that.

Brad Shreve:
You know, I really like that it went the way it did. Because to me, what I the brilliance of this show, other than this this episode, and we have another episode that I chose just to be wacky. To me, what Green Acres was all about was bureaucracy. Mhmm. Oliver wanted to get away from the rat race. He moves to Hooterville where there is more red tape and bureaucracy than anywhere else in the world.

Tony Maietta:
I know. It's crazy.

Brad Shreve:
He is constantly dealing with it, and I like the fact that he was the one that wanted to go there. He still wants to be a farmer, but he is the one that is constantly, like he never really left that. Is is he's trapped still inside that world he wanted to leave. Whereas Lisa is the one that kind of we're here. Yeah. Yeah. I wanna go back to New York, but we're here. I like that.

Brad Shreve:
I just wish they didn't make her so out there.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. Well, yeah, she it got ridiculous. It got rid It

Brad Shreve:
still worked for me.

Tony Maietta:
After she was.

Tony Maietta:
But this episode, we were introduced to well, we're really in the first episode, but the carryover is they did mention that they were staying at the Shady Rest, which is the hotel in Petticoat Junction. They didn't show it. I believe in Petticoat Junction, they're they were in the hotel one episode. I don't know for sure. We did have Joe Carson, so there was a tie in with that. Of course, we had Sam Drucker who wound up he was almost like this weird you know, you had Petticoat Junction, which was a more traditional rural comedy, and then you kinda go to Drucker's store. And then when you leave Drucker's store and go towards Green Acres, it becomes this surreal land.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. It's kind of odd, isn't it? It's kinda strange. It's like I mean, there have been other characters who've straddled more than once. Here, look at Lisa Kudrow. You know? But she was playing a different character on Mad About You, though. She was not she was not Phoebe. She would appear as Ursula on Friends, but it wasn't a regular thing. This was a regular gig for him.

Tony Maietta:
This guy was working. I mean, you know, thank god they filmed these series in the same studio, so he would just go from set to set, you know, and and and film these but, yeah, he Sam Drucker, he was he was doing double duty. Frank Cady, he was doing double duty for that guy.

Brad Shreve:
And he did some episodes of Beverly Hillbillies when he went to Hooterville.

Tony Maietta:
When he went to Hooterville.

Brad Shreve:
Is that drives me crazy. We'll get to that later. Yeah. But so this episode introduced it introduced characters from Petticoat Junction that were kinda side characters. Fred Ziffel was was an occasional character on Petticoat Junction. Newt Kiley is a farmer who was an occasional character or at least referred to. And then we have the 2 guys that run the cannonball. The train.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. They were in this episode. Well, Newt continued to be a secondary partial, you know, walk on, walk off kind of character now and then. Whereas Fred Zephel went from being just an occasional character to a regular.

Tony Maietta:
Well, because of Arnold.

Brad Shreve:
I'm not sure. Because of Arnold.

Tony Maietta:
Because of Arnold. Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. It's a good episode. It's a good episode.

Tony Maietta:
I I enjoyed this one. This is probably this was probably well, we'll get to the other ones too. We'll get to the other ones too. So should we go on to episode 3, which I kind of understand the 3rd episode that you or the 2nd episode you gave me to watch, which the minute I saw it, I was like, well, I know why you signed me this one. Just the title, Water Water Everywhere. Do you think this was really the inspiration for for Robert Towne to write Chinatown? It wasn't all those things that I cited when we did our Chinatown episode. It was this episode of Green Acres called Water, Water Everywhere, which is about water rights.

Brad Shreve:
They could have done a spin off murder mystery.

Tony Maietta:
Could have. My sister, my pig. My sister, my pig. It could have been a whole it could have been a whole other thing. This was a funny episode. This was fun. I mean, just for the the Chinatown allusions, I thought it was hysterically funny.

Brad Shreve:
Tony, you and I get excited when we get messages and emails and texts from listeners that tell us how much they enjoy the show.

Tony Maietta:
We do.

Brad Shreve:
But, you know, I think we should push it a little bit and ask them to go a little bit further.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, challenge.

Brad Shreve:
If you enjoy this show, let others know. Five stars are great. Whatever you wanna give except 1 star. If if you have 1 star, say, you know, this show is not for me and move on. We accept that.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. You don't need to don't give us 1 star. Be just say, no. Not for me. Just skip it. Or tell your friends. That's the best way too. Right? Tell your friends, hey, I have this great fun podcast with these 2 kooky guys who talk about movies and TV.

Tony Maietta:
We run the gamut. We have everything.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. We're all over the place.

Tony Maietta:
We're all over the place is a better way to put it.

Brad Shreve:
But in a good way. So do it right now before you forget. This was season 2 episode 2, as Tony says, water, water everywhere, September 21, 1966, almost exactly a year later. So tell us, what it's about, Tony.

Tony Maietta:
Well, basically, it's about the water rights in Hooterville. Because every time somebody, taps them into a new well now I'm not I'm not a farmer, so I don't know the technical words for those. They tap into somebody's water line, and their water goes out whenever somebody digs a new well. Is that correct? Am I am I getting that tech I don't know the technology of it. I'm a city boy. I don't know about wells.

Brad Shreve:
I think this is stretching the believability. But Well, yeah. You know, they tap when when they dig a new well, they end up tapping into one of the neighbor's wells, and that the neighbor's well runs dry.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. Exactly. So when mister Haney needs a new well, he taps into Oliver's well, and Oliver's water runs dry. So Oliver taps into a a new well, and it taps into the Ziffel's water, and his water runs dry. So it's just this constant, like, who owns the water? It's the Owens Valley and Los Angeles. Who owns the water here?

Brad Shreve:
When the Ziffle dig a well, it, Sam Druckers runs dry.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. That's crazy. Oh my.

Brad Shreve:
I chose this shit episode for two reasons. 1, it deals with the bureaucracy. Mhmm. And 2, it has Barbara Pepper, and I wanted you to see Barbara Pepper.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, yes. And she looked good. She looked okay in this one. She she wasn't she I don't she maybe was just sick, but she looks she looks pretty bad in some of the upcoming episodes. You can tell she's sick. But, yeah, it was good to see her. You know? We talked a bit about Barbara Pepper when I was on Queer We Are. She was a she and Lucy came out to Hollywood together when they were showgirls.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah.

Tony Maietta:
So she's not looking like a showgirl anymore, unfortunately. What maybe what what really highlights me, because I'm looking I'm thinking about how Lucille Ball looked in 1960 6, and she looked fabulous in 1966. Stunning. And Barbara Pepper. I mean, Barbara Pepper obviously had some personal issues, which which led to her not which eventually led to her death. But it's interesting. Yeah. So there's a Lucy another Lucy connection there, and it was fun to see her.

Tony Maietta:
I'm glad that you, you recommended this one.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. Barbara Pepper played Doris Siffel. If you can picture Doris Siffel, if you're familiar with the show. As a showgirl, she was at one time, and she did have some abuse problems. And Lucy and she were friends, and Lucy stuck by her. She appeared on several episodes of I Love Lucy because Lucy always took care of her.

Tony Maietta:
Right. But she never had a she never had a solid character.

Brad Shreve:
No. You know, for a

Tony Maietta:
while, they thought of her as Ethel Mertz. Oh, really? Yes. But Dessie was like, I mean, she just wasn't reliable. So and that's we're talking 1951. So the fact that she would have little bit parts on I Love Lucy and walk ons on I Love Lucy, you know, but she was never she never had a featured role in I Love Lucy like she has here. This is a character that she played. And then she sadly got sick and and died, which is Yeah. Which is unfortunate.

Tony Maietta:
You know? But she's fun. She's a good she's

Brad Shreve:
She looked the part. She was cantankerous. She acted like a woman that would be married to Fred Ziffel. Yeah. She was replaced when she died with Fran Ryan who just didn't cut it.

Tony Maietta:
She and Hank Patterson made a good a good team. I thought they made a good couple. You know? They were kind of like Fred Neffle Wirtz, kind of like in a weird Hooterville way. In the in the weird Hooterville universe, they were kind of like Fred and Ethel.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. There is an episode in the final season that I really like where the Oliver tries to get the road paved that they live on. And I wanted it to have it, but Fran Ryan was playing Doris instead of Barbara Pepper, and I just didn't wanna do that.

Tony Maietta:
They really were like the Fred and Ethel Mertz and Hooningville, except they had a child. Well, he was a pig, but he's a child, which I love seeing Arnold. This was this was, you know, seeing the the mythic Arnold Ziffel. Do you know that there was an episode of Green Acres, that actually made the, TV guy did a list of the greatest TV episodes of all time? And it's so funny because there's an episode from season 3, I think, called A Star Named Arnold, and it ranked number 59 on TV Guide's list of the 100 greatest TV episodes ever. Not just sitcom episodes, greatest episodes ever. I think was it a 2 part episode, I think?

Brad Shreve:
Yes. It was. Arnold's first big episode was the one right after this. It's called I didn't raise my pig to be a soldier. Fred and Doris do a second honeymoon much to dismay of Fred. They go to Niagara Falls. And so Oliver and Lisa have to babysit Arnold, which Oliver is not very happy about. And during this time period, Arnold is drafted.

Brad Shreve:
And so Oliver has to try and convince them that Arnold is not a draft dodger, that he is a pig. And I think Oliver actually ends up in jail in that one.

Tony Maietta:
He's a pig. He's not a draft dodger.

Brad Shreve:
He's a pig.

Tony Maietta:
That's very funny.

Brad Shreve:
That is his first big role.

Tony Maietta:
But Kinda topical. Topical for for Green Acres.

Brad Shreve:
Yes. It was. In fact, I think they even mentioned that they didn't want him to go to war.

Tony Maietta:
That's That

Brad Shreve:
was never mentioned. If you think of, Gomer Pyle, I don't think they ever mentioned in Gomer Pyle there was a war going on.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, god. No. God. No. I'm not a big fan of Gomer Pyle anyways.

Brad Shreve:
No. No. I'm not either. It was awful. What is Oliver's plan? Where did the red tape come in? Oliver wants to tap he wants to build a reservoir. The way the story progresses is Oliver is Oliver is fed up with everybody having to dig a new well every time somebody else digs a new well. So he proposes, let's build a reservoir, and he has to explain to the citizens of Hooterville how a reservoir works and and that the government helps pay for it. I love this line.

Brad Shreve:
He says he says, well, you know, it would cost us money, but the the federal government will give us some money to pay for it, and the state will give us some money

Tony Maietta:
to

Brad Shreve:
pay for it.

Tony Maietta:
Yes.

Brad Shreve:
And Fred Ziffel says, why don't we just take their money and build a cheaper one?

Tony Maietta:
That's right. Yes.

Brad Shreve:
Well, it turns out that the the only place to put a reservoir would be on the Douglas Farm.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brad Shreve:
Right. And so so the idea is to put in a pipeline to the Pixley reservoir.

Tony Maietta:
It's Chinatown. Yes. This is crazy. It's Chinatown. I'm watching this thinking, this is Chinatown. Forget it.

Brad Shreve:
But when they turn on the pump to bring the water from Pixley, the power goes out in the whole valley because it it takes too much power to run the pump. So they shut the whole thing down, and they create a new law so no one can change the water rights world.

Tony Maietta:
I love it. I love it. It was a fun episode. It's a fun episode. Yeah. Cool. Alright. So moving on to number 3, which is an episode the 3rd episode, which is an episode called how to succeed in television without really trying, which was fun.

Brad Shreve:
This was January 24, 1968, and I chose this one specifically because I wanted Tony to see one that was just wacky.

Tony Maietta:
Oh my god. It's insanely wacky. It's insanely wacky, and I thought you chose it because we get to see Eddie Albert's bare chest when he's doing his sound. He was

Brad Shreve:
quite the strappy man.

Tony Maietta:
Eddie Albert was a looker. We didn't really talk much about Eddie Albert. But when his younger days, I mean, he's a 2 time Oscar nominee for Roman Holiday and the Heartbreak Kid. Good looking guy. Good looking guy. His Yeah. Career was unfortunately derailed by the Red Scare, in the fifties, just when he was beginning to to get some momentum. His son, Edward Albert, who died 1 year after his father, was in Butterflies Are Free, also a very good looking guy.

Tony Maietta:
So these were some they were good looking guys. But, yeah, I love that. I love when he's doing his calisthenics and he's bare chest, and I'm like, you go, Eddie, Albert. Alright. You go. You look good. But this is the episode where mister Haney mentions Beverly Hillbillies. He says because Yes.

Tony Maietta:
It is. Give the premise of this episode because it's so it's so convoluted. It's so complicated that I would just mess it up. So you go ahead and give the the synopsis of this episode.

Brad Shreve:
Okay. The premise of this show is there is a kid in the town that is kind of a kid genius, and he wants to expand his business. He he basically wants to make it so a farmer can, run his farm just by pushing buttons.

Tony Maietta:
Automated. An automated farm. Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
So while Lisa and Oliver go quickly out of town to the state capital, which by the way, did you know what state they're in?

Tony Maietta:
Missouri. No. That's where Hooterville is, what, 500 miles from Chicago? They say that in the second first episode?

Brad Shreve:
To get to Hooterville from New York. Because Lisa Oliver says he he went there when he went to Chicago. And Lisa's like, is it near Chicago? He says, kinda. You have to change planes twice, take the bus from the county seat to Pixley, and take the little train from Pixley to Hooterville.

Tony Maietta:
But isn't it documented that it's it's in Northeastern Missouri? Hooterville is in Northeastern Missouri? That's what I I Yep. Are you sure about that? Because I read that.

Brad Shreve:
Yes. I'm absolutely certain of that. Okay. It is like Springfield on the Simpsons.

Tony Maietta:
But what Springfield, Missouri.

Brad Shreve:
But it is not Springfield, Missouri.

Tony Maietta:
No. I know it's not spring I know it's not Springfield, but is it it's is it in Missouri, or is it in Illinois?

Brad Shreve:
They never say the they never say it. They purposely had all the different accents. People that had southern accents had different dialects from different parts of the country.

Tony Maietta:
Well, and Alf Monroe Yeah. Was clearly from New York. That's another thing.

Brad Shreve:
They purposely had people from New York. Jay Summers said he based it on a farm town in New York, and it had been hinted at even though it seems like the South. It had been hinted at among the many other things that was hinted at Mhmm. That Hooterville was in Northern New York. However, there is an episode where Toll Oliver tells a former coworker that, no. We are not in upstate New York because that's where the coworker think they moved to. So, no, it is it is kind of hinted that they are in the Midwest, in the Ozarks, in the Appalachians.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brad Shreve:
Granny and Beverly Hillbillies kinda always hinted that she was from Tennessee, which suddenly, all of a sudden, they're from Hooterville, which

Tony Maietta:
Well, Granny's from Bugtussle. She's not from Hooterville.

Brad Shreve:
Well, she was from Bugtussle until all of a sudden

Tony Maietta:
And then she's from Hooterville.

Brad Shreve:
68 when they were from Hooterville.

Tony Maietta:
I think we can agree that Hooterville is in a universe all its own. So Yes. You can't it's it's like you can't find it on a map. You can't find it on a map. It's a state of mind. It's like Chinatown.

Brad Shreve:
It is a state of mind. Yeah. And the two hints they give you as to what state it is is Oliver has to go to the state capitol to meet with the governor for something. I don't remember what it was. And the governor's gives him a stuffed kangaroo because for his visit because they're in the kangaroo state. In addition, the state flower is the ragweed. So if you look up what state those are, then you will know what state

Tony Maietta:
That's just Goodrville is in. Is crazy. It is it's it's in a universe all its own. All its own.

Brad Shreve:
Yes. So, anyway, back to this episode. Boy, we went off on a tangent. Yeah. Well, at least Oliver are at the state capitol. This boy hooks up their house and does all kinds of stuff to it. But the biggest thing he does is he puts the barn door so that it has a moo it's moo activated.

Tony Maietta:
Moo activated.

Brad Shreve:
Eleanor the cow can open and close the door. And when the door closes, the camera turns on because he created this camera, which was a little ahead of its time, that would beam to the television what was going on in the barn so they could keep their eye on Eleanor. Now why they would need to keep their eye on the cow, I have no idea.

Tony Maietta:
No idea.

Brad Shreve:
So Oliver's frustrated. They're they're trying to get the barn door open, and they're mooing into the lamplight, which is where the hidden microphone is. Yeah. So they're all pretending to be cows. Finally, Elmer shows up and moves. Oliver goes into the barn, and the door shuts behind him, and the others leave. So now the camera is on, and Oliver is trying to make cow sounds to get the door open up. And after as he's doing this, he is being broadcast throughout the valley.

Tony Maietta:
They're also nonchalant about it. They're also accepting it, but, oh, it's it's Oliver Douglas' TV show. Exactly. TV show now. And it's just so funny. And then when he takes the camera, when he finally gets out of the barn and takes the camera into the bedroom and puts it down, he doesn't know it's recording him. Right? And he starts to get undressed, and this is what we were talking about. He's doing his calisthenics.

Tony Maietta:
And Sam Drucker is sitting there in the general store watching him on his TV, like, oh, yeah. No. It's at Oliver Douglas. Oh, now he's getting undressed. It's just they're so nonchalant about it. That's what's so funny about this show is that they're all just it's farce. You know? It's it's farce. It's a farce.

Tony Maietta:
They exist in their own reality.

Brad Shreve:
I love that scene in Drucker's story because Sam is sitting there watching Oliver take off his shirt, And Fred walks in and he goes, what you watching, Sam? And Sam said, I'm watching mister Douglas. He's taken off his shirt. Fred, does he have an evening show too? Because what is it? Sam says he just takes off his shirt. I don't know why anybody would wanna watch that.

Tony Maietta:
I hope it's better than this afternoon show. I'll tell you right now.

Brad Shreve:
Yes. It hit

Tony Maietta:
it would They're just so blase, so nonchalant. Yes. So of their own reality. It's it really is. It's it's absurd.

Brad Shreve:
And when Sam says he doesn't know who wants to watch the show with mister Douglas taking his shirt off, Fred says, well, I think

Tony Maietta:
the women may like that. And a few of the men. And again Few of the men in Hooverville.

Brad Shreve:
Bat and die.

Tony Maietta:
I think, you know the thing that struck me about this episode is that this was the episode that's really pointed up to me how Lisa is just annoyingly oblivious to everything. I mean, she's just the whole $28 investment into this company of EBS and these kids and how she's just she I don't know how Oliver doesn't strangle her at this point in the series because she's so annoyingly oblivious. And I love Ava Goren. Don't get me wrong. She's a she was such a wonderful actress. But the character is just so oblivious. You're like, come on. This is ridiculous.

Tony Maietta:
But, again, absurdist. That's the whole point.

Brad Shreve:
It is. And this will lead us into the the 4th episode that we're talking about. There is a running gag on, for lack of a better word, I'm gonna call it a gag, on Green Acres that really is emphasized in the the last episode that we're gonna talk about.

Tony Maietta:
Okay. That's and that's when that one is how to get from Hooterville to Pixley without moving.

Brad Shreve:
Yes. And this is from season 4, episode 12, December 25, 1968. So this is 3 years after the show began.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. It's it's it's it's quite a way into the run. And when I was watching it all, you know, when my only note is about this episode

Brad Shreve:
What's that?

Tony Maietta:
I was watching it. I wrote, Oliver is incredibly exasperated and frustrated by the people of Hooterville, which could basically be the synopsis for any episode of Green Acres.

Brad Shreve:
That is true. That is true.

Tony Maietta:
Tell the people what this episode's about.

Brad Shreve:
The Monroe brothers, Ralph and Alf, who have been working on the house the expand the bedroom since the beginning well, almost since the beginning of the show.

Tony Maietta:
Do you think you should say who the Monroe brothers are?

Brad Shreve:
Yes. Yes.

Tony Maietta:
I think that's kind of important.

Brad Shreve:
Alf and Ralph Monroe are the Monroe brothers. Now Ralph is actually a woman, and I they do in one episode say why she got a boy's name. I don't know if it's I think it's because they wanted a boy. She actually became a lesbian icon on point.

Tony Maietta:
She did. Here's here's the thing about Mary. It was played by Mary Grace Canfield, who did a lot of episodes. She was on a Bewitched episode. She played when when Alice this is another tangent. When Alice Pierce got sick and she could no longer work on Bewitched as Gladys Kravitz, she played Gladys Kravitz's or she played she was a substitute for Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched. She was her sister. She was on an episode of, of Andy Griffith where she played Gomer's date, a very, quote, unquote, attractive girl.

Tony Maietta:
I hate to use that word. But so she was not a looker. Okay? And that was her character. And I believe that Ralph Monroe is TV's first non binary character. What do you think? Don't you think so?

Brad Shreve:
That it you are correct. You are correct.

Tony Maietta:
So the thing is, yes, is that Alf and Ralph, the reason that he always refers to her as his brother because nobody would wanna hire a female, you know, a female, construction worker, which hello. It's 1966, 67. So give us a break.

Brad Shreve:
So their their company is the Monroe Brothers.

Tony Maietta:
Right. So they they they refer to each other as their brother even though she's she's a woman. She's clearly a woman. And Alf Monroe is played by Sid Melton, who was a character actor. He was probably most well known for being on the Danny Thomas Show, he's the one with the New York accent, the New York dialect. So it's so funny because you're in the middle of Hooterville, and there's this character clearly from

Brad Shreve:
Brooklyn. Totally. And nobody ever questions it.

Tony Maietta:
Nobody ever questions it. Never ever questions it.

Brad Shreve:
They don't try to hide it. It's just as the way it is. So anyway, Oliver is fed up because he wants them to finish this bedroom, which I will tell you, by this time the show ended, 1971 was still not done.

Tony Maietta:
No.

Brad Shreve:
Because when they first move into the house, it looks like a closet. And it's really ridiculous how squeezed it in they are for the first several episodes. But they've expanded the bedroom and it it it's just a mess and they never finish it. But Oliver is fed up. He says, you've got to finish this. I'm not gonna pay you till you finish it. And it comes up that they need a license. They said they forgot the lice they forgot to get a license.

Brad Shreve:
So Oliver says, I will take care of it. So he and Lisa go into the county seat. They want to get a building license and he gives them the he tells them that he's at the old Haney Place, which is the address. The guy opens up the map, and he sees that the barn is in Hooterville, but the house is in Pixley Mhmm. Which causes confusion. And so Oliver gets the permit, and he goes back, and he tells the Monroe Brothers that he got the permit. And they look and they say, wait. It says this is in Pixley.

Brad Shreve:
He's like, yeah. Because we found out the house is in Pixley. Well, they pack up their stuff and leave because they belong to the Hooterville union Carpenters Union, not the Pixley Carpenters.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. That's so funny. Isn't the welcome wagon the welcome wagon shows up from Pixley. This is what is so absurd about this episode is everybody finds out immediately that the that this has happened. So next thing you know, suddenly the the welcome wagon is at the house, and they want back taxes. Right? Yes. Like, minutes later, they're there the tax assessor's there to get back taxes from Oliver. And Oliver's like, what the hell? I I just found out about this, you know, but everybody go and Lisa goes along with it.

Tony Maietta:
She doesn't go, wait a minute. He just we just found out. She's like, well, you need to pay your taxes. It's just it's the absurdism is it can be a little frustrating, be to be honest.

Brad Shreve:
The guy was saying your tax says, Oliver's, no. I don't. And Lisa said, well, we're in, Pixley. And Oliver says, yes. Well, you shouldn't have moved to Pixley.

Intro Clips:
So to

Brad Shreve:
her, it makes sense. We're in Pixley now, so we shouldn't have moved. And everybody keeps saying you shouldn't have moved to Pixley. Now it's like I didn't move to Pixley.

Tony Maietta:
That's yes. Yeah. That's the whole thing. It's like Eddie Albert is incredibly irritated and frustrated with these people as he should be. He's living in reality, and everybody else is living in la la land. It's just it's just yeah. It's it's it's a bit for me, personally, it's a bit it's a bit much. I love it.

Tony Maietta:
I love I get it. I like it. But I'm, you know, I'm like, oh, come on. But it is funny. It's so funny.

Brad Shreve:
And in the end, we'll tell you that the house is in Hooterville, but the barn is in Pixley. However, the rest of the farm is in Crabwell Corners. So they are moss mighty big towns apparently, at least land wise.

Tony Maietta:
That's kinda true. You know, I grew up you know, I didn't grow up when I grew up in a small town, but my parents moved to a farm and, you know, they're they're the townships very they're very serious about that stuff. You know? What township lines are and where you're I mean, it's true. It's true. It's true. And that like, that when sir when that surveyor's out there trying to survey and get the land, that's the way they are because that's their job.

Brad Shreve:
Yep.

Tony Maietta:
You know what I mean? And this is it's very important to these people in these small towns. You know? Here, we don't know where we live. I mean, I'm in Hollywood. I'm in Los Angeles. I'm in West Hollywood. Who the hell knows? But very, very important, these townships. And that's I I I did like that about this episode. I thought it was very funny.

Tony Maietta:
It was the it was a it's a very funny funny episode, but it just it it was it was starting to make it was starting to wear me out. I'm like, if one more thing happens to this poor guy, poor Oliver, why is he still there?

Brad Shreve:
Because he wants to be a farmer.

Tony Maietta:
Does he have any joy in it anymore? That's the thing. His life is just one headache after another, and his wife is no help She's not. Whatsoever.

Brad Shreve:
No. She's not. You know, that was just the premise of the show.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. I guess it was. I guess it was. So this was its next to last year. Right? And it had one more season?

Brad Shreve:
No. No. This was the 4th season, and there were, 2 more. It's 6 seasons.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, there were 2 more seasons. So then the Beverly Hillbillies came to visit in, what, 1968?

Brad Shreve:
This was on the Beverly Hillbillies, and this is what drives me crazy. They always went home to bug tussle. That's where they from day 1, that was the big city. Yeah. Well, all of a sudden, 1968, granny wants to go home to Hooterville to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. Exactly.

Brad Shreve:
And she knows Sam Drucker. She has a crush on Sam Drucker. So Sam Drucker showed up in 3 different TV series, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and Beverly Hillbillies. And, actually, I guess that could be true of, most of the major cast members because they did all crossover.

Tony Maietta:
Well, here's what I think what I think is crazy is is that, now I have never seen the episode where the Beverly Hillbillies visited Petticoat Junction. But I I assume that Bea Benaderet was no longer alive.

Brad Shreve:
I think that may have been her last year.

Tony Maietta:
Okay. Because didn't any of them think, my god, you look an awful lot like our cousin Pearl?

Brad Shreve:
Yes. That's the one where granny says, you you were the spitting image of my cousin Pearl.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, okay. See, I haven't seen that one. So I have to I I I don't know that. I don't know all of TV history. I haven't seen that one. I'll have to watch it because at least they acknowledged it. I mean, that's one of the funny things about this show are the meta moments in them. But I just think it's so funny that they refer to the Beverly Hillbillies, and then the Beverly Hillbillies are on the show.

Tony Maietta:
And it's just this constant absurdism.

Brad Shreve:
And there's been talk about whether or not this is the first TV series to break the 4th wall. And examples they give, well, may maybe it wasn't because you had Jack Benny and you had Burns and Allen and even Dobie Gillis. Yeah. But they kinda stopped and they talked to the audience. Whereas this show, it was a constant running gag where, you know, Lisa is making breakfast and she pulls out the toast and it says directed by Bear. And then the next piece of toast is written by. And the next piece of toast said, you know, also written by. And that is a total running group.

Brad Shreve:
Sometimes they're picking up the eggs in the yard and the names the credits are on the eggs. There's a great episode where Oliver is in the bedroom, and they're running through the credits, and he's not really looking at them. But they're he's there while the credits are running, and he run he walks over to the closet door, which whenever he slides the closet door, it goes off the rail and falls down. So when Oliver does that, it slides over, it falls down, and it says it says carpentry by the Monroe Brothers. And Eddie Albert looks and goes, they don't get credit, and then goes on about his day.

Tony Maietta:
It it's it's just it's it's astounding to think that do you think this went over people's heads? I mean, no. It couldn't have. I mean, I don't know. I just I just find it really funny that that it get that it just goes so far into this just absurdism. And then you understand why people, why visit there's cults for this TV show, because it really is so incredibly absurd. The situations, the the characters are just mind bogglingly, frustratingly absurd. For me, it gets to be a bit much. But, you know, I guess, because I like my sitcoms to have a dose of reality.

Tony Maietta:
I don't mind a little absurdism. I I find it humorous. But by the end, I'm just, like, going, come on. Give this poor guy I feel bad for Eddie Albert, basically. I just I feel bad for him. I'm like, this poor guy just wants to have a farm and have a simple life, and these people are driving him nuts. But hey.

Brad Shreve:
There are a lot of running gags in this show. Yes. And one of them is Oliver's speeches about why he wants to be a farmer.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, I know this one. Yes. Yes.

Brad Shreve:
And, originally, he did it in the very first episode, and I think he did it in the second episode. And he did it throughout season 1 and in season 2. But all of a sudden, he continued to the end of the series. But in season 2, I think, definitely season 3, whenever he did his little speech, a Fife would play. Yes. And here's an example of his speech in breaking the 4th wall.

Intro Clips:
Do you always live on a farm?

Intro Clips:
Oh, no. I used to live in New York. I was a lawyer.

Intro Clips:
Why'd you move out here? Were you dis barred?

Intro Clips:
No. I came out here to get away from the rat race of the city. Out here where I could breathe the pure air, work the fertile soil, or a man can plant his seeds and watch him shoot upward toward the sun

Brad Shreve:
and the sky just as our forefathers did.

Intro Clips:
The farmer is the backbone of America. It's his gnarled hands, an aching back that gives America its great strength. Without the farmer How

Intro Clips:
do you do that?

Brad Shreve:
Do what?

Intro Clips:
Talk and play the pipe at the same time.

Tony Maietta:
And they all look around for where the fife is coming from, where the music's coming from.

Brad Shreve:
Well, he's always like, what fife? And he's

Tony Maietta:
the only one who doesn't who doesn't hear it. That's so funny.

Tony Maietta:
And one of my favorite of the opening credit actually, it is my favorite of the opening credit, 4th wall breaks, is Fred Ziffel, Hank Kimball, who is the county agriculture agent, and Sam Drucker are in Drucker's store, and they're discussing something. I don't whatever they're discussing, it's it's the MacGuffin for the series, for the for that episode. Mhmm. And they're talking, and the credits are showing while they're talking. And finally, I think it's Sam that says, hold it. Hold it. Nobody's gonna pay attention to us while those credits are running. And all 3 of them plopped down, like, on a pickle barrel, went on a seat, and they plopped down and wait till the credits are over.

Brad Shreve:
And Fred goes, okay. That was the last one. And then they get up like nothing happened and continue with the conversation.

Tony Maietta:
It's Oh, it's so funny.

Brad Shreve:
To me, it's brilliant.

Tony Maietta:
I love it. It's so funny. It's so funny.

Brad Shreve:
And ahead of its time, I think.

Tony Maietta:
It is. It is. And, you know, and it and it's it's beloved by by people. I mean, there was the the reunion in 1990. Right? Which I think every no. Oh. Oh. We we got a sigh from Brad about the reunion.

Tony Maietta:
19 nineties return to Green Acres?

Brad Shreve:
Yes. And here's the thing about return to Green Acres. After Eddie Albert signed on, unfortunately, apparently, he did not read the script or there were changes. He then went to his attorney and said, how do I get out of this? And his attorney said, just do it and get it over with. That's how bad the script was. It was Aw. That's a shame.

Tony Maietta:
That's a shame. Awful. But, you know, these 2 were such a great couple together. Do you know that Eddie Albert and, Eva Gabor actually did a play together? They were on Broadway together in a revival of You Can't Take It With You.

Brad Shreve:
No. I didn't know that.

Tony Maietta:
And yeah. Which is great. I mean, because if you think about it because they really were wonderful together. There's a wonderful they're wonderful. And there's a character in You Can't Take It With You. There's a countess. So Eva Gabor was perfect for that character. But but they're, you know, they're so linked in this one show, which ran 6 seasons.

Tony Maietta:
But, I mean, I think there's such goodwill and good feeling about these two actors together, particularly. They have wonderful chemistry, you know. And they obviously enjoyed each other very, very much.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. They were friends till the day she died. She died first. Think about this was 1965. They had one bed. They shared a bed, which was that was very new then. I don't know. I don't think they were the first.

Tony Maietta:
Yes, by the way. Absolutely.

Brad Shreve:
And also, they touched each other all the time. There was a lot of intimacy between us. You believe this is a couple. Yes. As crazy as the show is, you really they kiss a lot. They they touch each other a lot. They you really believe this is a married couple?

Tony Maietta:
No. I think they have no. They have they have wonderful, wonderful chemistry. And I think that that you know, that's something that can't be faked. I think that's probably the reason why the one of the reasons why the show worked so well is because of these two people who just who had who had wonderful chemistry. And and it obviously carried on, you know, throughout the rest of their careers.

Brad Shreve:
I do wanna ask you if you knew one thing about the script.

Tony Maietta:
Okay.

Brad Shreve:
Ed Labien was never allowed on this show.

Tony Maietta:
Well, I got it.

Brad Shreve:
They were required to stick to the script verbatim with no changes. They were never allowed to make a change.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. I'm I'm sure. Because when something's so tightly constructed yeah.

Brad Shreve:
Yes. All the actors I've seen interviewed about, they said they had no problem with it. They said there's nothing we could have done to make it any better.

Tony Maietta:
No. I think that's I think that makes a lot of sense. I don't know that there was a lot of ad libbing period in these one camera, shows. I just don't think it was I think they were so tightly constructed, and they were on such a schedule that it was very difficult. I I I I think that was probably standard operating procedures in shows like, you did not adlib on Lucille Ball's show. I'll tell you right now unless you wanted to be off of Lucille Ball's show. So, you know, they were they were tightly run machines, and that is for good or bad, for better or for worse, that's the way they were run.

Brad Shreve:
And I do have one other pet peeve in addition to them making Lisa too dumb. Mhmm. And that is continuity. During the fierce season, it was very strong continuity. Obviously, there's a little few things here and there. And, you know, that's a lot back in this back in the fifties sixties, they there were no reruns, so they didn't really pay that much attention to it. Star Trek was the one that had a had a book, and even they failed at it. They had a very strict book that all writers were supposed to read.

Brad Shreve:
Green Acres in the first season really stuck to the continuity, and time moved pretty much in real time. 2nd season a little bit, but after that, you could pick up a episode anywhere. Nothing was

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. Not

Brad Shreve:
there was no continuity whatsoever. Yeah.

Intro Clips:
We talked

Brad Shreve:
Just like the the Clampus going back to Hootebill instead of Buck Dustle.

Tony Maietta:
No. I think that that's something that again, that's something that we get because we see reruns, and we see them over and over again. You know? And we're like, wait a minute. That doesn't make sense. But then again, you're asking, there's no sense to this whatsoever.

Brad Shreve:
Well, that's what I'm saying. I also think they didn't care. This is, like, this is weirder than Oz.

Tony Maietta:
They didn't care. But I can you can kinda forgive it. You know what? I can forgive it in Green Acres, which is an absurdist sitcom. Whereas, you know, with The Lucy Show, when she by the by the 4th, 5th, and 6th season, she forgets she has kids. Yeah. You know? I think I think her son is has one appearance, and he's mentioned one other time, and it's not even the right name. And so, you know, when when the show is grounded in reality and they do that stuff, that's one thing. But with the with the Green Acres, I guess I can kinda forgive it because the whole show is absurd.

Tony Maietta:
I'm amazed we didn't if there had been a final episode, I bet it would have been Oliver waking up in his Park Avenue penthouse saying, I just had the craziest dream, and his wife would be Zsa Zsa.

Brad Shreve:
Go back and watch this despite Tony's frustration. Watch it Man. With an because you probably have always thought that's a stupid show, and it is, but it's a genius stupid show.

Tony Maietta:
No. I I really appreciate it. I I I'm glad you I'm glad you wanted to do it. It really did because I always heard this. Like I said, my friend is a big fan, and I've always heard that it wasn't like a it's not as it's it was a lot more intelligent than people remember. And, unfortunately, it does get lumped in with these rural sitcoms, like the Beverly Hillbillies, like Petticoat Junction, because they all got canned at the same time. Hee haw. But it's not.

Tony Maietta:
It is. It's it's it's very it's absurdist as I just said. You know, Jean Paul Sartre, the you know, Harold Pinter. I mean, come on. So I absolutely I recommend watching the first the first two episodes, definitely. And then maybe the, the one, the TV one, because I think that's just hysterical. I think it's just such a funny, funny episode.

Brad Shreve:
Definitely watch the first season. If you don't like Too Wacky, I mean, it's wacky, but it really goes into hallucination land after the first

Tony Maietta:
season. It does. It does. It's like an Ellis it's like an acid trip.

Brad Shreve:
An acid trip. In

Tony Maietta:
Hoonerville. So

Brad Shreve:
I quoted the thing that was written by Noel Murray with the New York Times. I wanna finish that thing. This is TV reporter and critic for the New York Times, Noel Murray, and here's the full thing that he wrote. In retrospect, Green Acres was hipper than Silverman thought and maybe didn't deserve to be lumped in with all the other country shows. After all, Summers never expressly indicated Hooterville's location. It's been variously pinpointed as the Midwest, the Ozarks, Appalachia, and Upstate New York, and the cast deployed a range of accents from blue collar redneck to New England innkeeper to Chicago ward boss.

Tony Maietta:
That's nice. That's a nice thing then. So it gets its it gets its due. It really does get its due.

Brad Shreve:
Yes. Sit back and enjoy time in the kangaroo state.

Tony Maietta:
With ragweed is the is the state flower. Well, I guess there's just one more thing to say, Brad, which which I don't wanna say. So let's not say goodbye. Let's just say.

Brad Shreve:
Darling, I love you, but no, let's say goodbye.

Tony Maietta:
Goodbye, everybody.

Intro Clips:
This has been a Filmways presentation, darling.

Tony Maietta:
My sister, my pig. My sister, my pig.