Green Acres, People!

There are few sitcoms of which I would put their first 2 episodes above the first 2 episodes of Green Acres, so you can imagine my surprise to see that neither of those episodes are in Green Acres’ Top 10 highest-rated episodes according to IMDB….as a matter of fact the pilot doesn’t even show up until #74!!! And the second episode, which was the funnier of the two, is at #93!!!!!!!!! So of course I assumed that these shows rated higher MUST all be amazing, so I decided to watch the #-highest rated episode. 

Here’s a few random thoughts while I watched.

The Case of the Hooterville Refund Fraud
Feb 28, 1970
Season 5, Episode 21

The technicolor of the era is just fantastic; everything makes me think of the old Disney Sunday night shows.

Green Acres really cornered the market on “generic sturdy 59 year-old white businessman in generic matte gray suit” guys.

Wait – so these hicks are smart enough to constantly bamboozle Oliver out of whatever they want out of him every time they see him but they’ve never heard of getting an income tax refund, even if only so they can bamboozle the US government of which they spend plenty of time of the show skewering as being made up of nothing but incompetent bureaucrats? 🤔🤷‍♂️

Fascinating that Lisa isn’t even remotely envious of or threatened by the hick ladies potential newfound wealth; in fact she seems to revel in them now being able to match her re: diamonds/furs etc.

Speaking of whom, Eva Gabor as always is incredible in that she somehow bats a thousand while also seeming to be on a different tv show entirely, or not even aware she’s on a tv show at all. Fantastic.

And let’s take a minute to put our mitts together for Mr. fucking Haney; speaking of batting a thousand, this fat shuckster hick is nothing but guaranteed LOLs from the second he rolls up onscreen until the second he rolls back off-screen. Incredible. And unlike all the regulars hanging out at Drucker’s Store who are supposed to constantly be teaching us re: the elites’ book learning being no match for good ‘ol folks’ common sense, this slimy-ass motherfucker just wants to talk you out of all the cash in your pocket at any moment, god/country/family honor code be damned. Beautiful.

Overall, I was a little bummed this episode didn’t really jump out as being anything special, it just seemed like any other episode of Green Acres. Which is to say it was hilarious and satirical and a joy to watch, but not necessarily to any degree higher than any other episode. Which I’m happy to declare to be a result of just how rock solid/consistent the writing on this show was.

WATCH GREEN ACRES, PEOPLE!!!