"He been suffering from lassitudinessness?"
"He's been lastiduinising all over the place."
Hooray! We get a Whole Lot Of Eb in this episode and it is very, very cool. Eb turns out to be very good at treating sick animals. So, the Douglases (mainly with pushing from Lisa) send him to the local college to become a vet. Of course, he comes right back in the end without a degree but I don't want to ruin everything. The "Sending" is the important part of this episode.
And, it is one of the funniest. (That's saying something in a show like this.) I always forget how funny it is until I sit down and watch it. But, starting with the "Shneaking" around the house to get away from Lisa's new breakfast recipe to the closing scene in the barn (with Lisa's charming laugh over the closing shot of the barn itself), this episode has a very high Funny Factor to it. In fact, it was tough to pick one quote. New ones kept popping up every couple of minutes. Everyone shows up and does their thing and everyone is funny.
The scene with Mr. Drucker is a great example. ("He should go to college so he can become a vegetarian."). Lisa is on a Super Roll. She's becoming very insistent that Eb must go to college and her varying English is steamrolling across the conversation. One of my favorite things that the show will do is underplay the laughs on the laugh track. She says some very funny things. And, Oliver's reactions are wonderfully dry but they never overdo the laughs. Restraint on a sitcom? Who would have guessed?
As always, the Douglases are good people. And, the people of Hooterville are nice & a little loopy. The show now seems to be right in the spot where it needs to be. It isn't entirely crazy yet but it's getting there. Bits like Mr. Kimball preparing his coffee in a test tube ("It makes it more scientific.") could have seemed like standard silly sitcom behavior but the writing here is sharper and the actors are game. When something is actually funny (as opposed to forcing it), it's funny. The comedy just flows.
That's the Green Acres that I love. An energetic, silly, funny show filled with a lot of heart and characters who make me want to visit their town. This is a great episode. I would say that it's perfect for a first viewing but I always get those things wrong. Make it your third viewing of the show after the first two episodes... enjoy.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
1.26: Double Drick
"Number 7? Does anybody have Number 7?...Number 8?"
I think the kids at the County Seat may have been walking of with some numbers.
Sweet, sweet Double Drick. I believe I've mentioned this before but: When I first started watching GA, I began with a run on CBN (5PM EST, M-F) that was at the second half of Season Six. I loved the wit, the charm, the characters, the love between Oliver & Lisa and the weirdness. When the show started over, it was very different. I watched (and loved) the episodes you've read about here. But, it was this episode that well & truly made me sit up and say "Ahhh! Here's the that weird show I've been watching."
And, DD does it in a GA-standard plotline. After 7 months of struggling without electricity and Haney's degenerator (always in 7's), Oliver goes to Drucker's to find out what the hold up might be... and it turns out Sam forgot to mail the application. So, the episode is about Oliver finally getting electricity (more or less) for the house. That's it. It's not a new bedroom or livestock or land... they just want electricity on their farm in early-1966 America. It's a fantastic episode.
Why? We finally say good-bye to the generator. Just at the point when the 7's might be bordering on repetitive, we wish it farewell. We get to go to the Hooterville Power, Water & Gas Company. (That may not be in the right order.) They do have a Pick A Number system. And, the scene of Oliver sitting in the empty waiting room as the man at the counter says "Number 4...Number 4...Sir, do you have number 4?" "I have 22!" is a scene that never fails to make me laugh.
After seeming a little off in The Deputy, Mr. Kimball comes back large. Lisa acts like Hank, briefly, which is awesome. And then, they have a wonderful rambling conversation... Lisa is now matching Hank and these are two very funny characters running in tandem. To hear them both reference hooking up the"electrical" is smile-causing. Haney gets a great scene. Even after all this, he has one more zing up his sleeve. Oliver loses one more time. But, this time, it's not so bad because of the impending power.
Lawlor the Installer is here. But, we never do get to meet Peter Greeder the Meter Reader. Sight gags, wordplay, witty lines and insanity: this episode is filled with all of it. I will admit that I watched this episode last night and laughed out loud more times than I could count. I adore the show up to this point. This is the episode that makes me love it. And, retroactively, makes me love the previous episodes.
And, I didn't mention my two favorite bits as a child: First, there is a Batman parody and it is awesome. (I'll let this gag surprise you.) Second, the gag about the Northeast Blackout of November 1965 gets a freeze frame and narration. (We haven't had a narrator appear since the first episode.) This show is cool.
I think the kids at the County Seat may have been walking of with some numbers.
Sweet, sweet Double Drick. I believe I've mentioned this before but: When I first started watching GA, I began with a run on CBN (5PM EST, M-F) that was at the second half of Season Six. I loved the wit, the charm, the characters, the love between Oliver & Lisa and the weirdness. When the show started over, it was very different. I watched (and loved) the episodes you've read about here. But, it was this episode that well & truly made me sit up and say "Ahhh! Here's the that weird show I've been watching."
And, DD does it in a GA-standard plotline. After 7 months of struggling without electricity and Haney's degenerator (always in 7's), Oliver goes to Drucker's to find out what the hold up might be... and it turns out Sam forgot to mail the application. So, the episode is about Oliver finally getting electricity (more or less) for the house. That's it. It's not a new bedroom or livestock or land... they just want electricity on their farm in early-1966 America. It's a fantastic episode.
Why? We finally say good-bye to the generator. Just at the point when the 7's might be bordering on repetitive, we wish it farewell. We get to go to the Hooterville Power, Water & Gas Company. (That may not be in the right order.) They do have a Pick A Number system. And, the scene of Oliver sitting in the empty waiting room as the man at the counter says "Number 4...Number 4...Sir, do you have number 4?" "I have 22!" is a scene that never fails to make me laugh.
After seeming a little off in The Deputy, Mr. Kimball comes back large. Lisa acts like Hank, briefly, which is awesome. And then, they have a wonderful rambling conversation... Lisa is now matching Hank and these are two very funny characters running in tandem. To hear them both reference hooking up the"electrical" is smile-causing. Haney gets a great scene. Even after all this, he has one more zing up his sleeve. Oliver loses one more time. But, this time, it's not so bad because of the impending power.
Lawlor the Installer is here. But, we never do get to meet Peter Greeder the Meter Reader. Sight gags, wordplay, witty lines and insanity: this episode is filled with all of it. I will admit that I watched this episode last night and laughed out loud more times than I could count. I adore the show up to this point. This is the episode that makes me love it. And, retroactively, makes me love the previous episodes.
And, I didn't mention my two favorite bits as a child: First, there is a Batman parody and it is awesome. (I'll let this gag surprise you.) Second, the gag about the Northeast Blackout of November 1965 gets a freeze frame and narration. (We haven't had a narrator appear since the first episode.) This show is cool.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
1.25: The Deputy
Lisa: Is that how you spell shopping, with one "o" and two "p"'s?
Oliver: Mmm-hmm.
Lisa: I always spell it with two "o"'s and one "p"?
Oliver: That's shooping.
Lisa: You mean all this time I've been "shooping" instead of "shopping".
Oliver: I guess so.
Lisa: Funny nobody noticed it.
Even the title clues you in, with this episode we're heading back to a more normal world of sitcom than Molly Turgis would have implied was our future. Mr. Drucker is going on vacation for two weeks. He tricks Oliver into becoming the deputy. That's the first act. The second act is general faffing around as Oliver gets his Deputy kit (more like a Deputy bag) and tries to give Mr. Charlton (?) Haney a ticket. Then, in time for the third act, he handcuffs himself to Lisa and that takes the wacky to the end.
Eisner & Krinksy's Television Comedy Series has an appendix that lists "Standard Classic Sitcom Plots", including meeting a person who is identical to one of the lead characters, a picnic or family trip of some sort and other great ones. One of them is "characters get handcuffed together". Lisa & Oliver's handcuffing isn't as funny as Kramden & Norton on the train. But, it's still darn good. The fact, however, that this plot line is in the "Standard Classic etc" list meas 1) GA is a Classic Sitcom & 2) there's a good chance that this episode isn't all that crazy.
You're right on both counts.
After the regular episodes of the house & farm being assembled and Lisa's decision day, the show would need to settle into a familiar groove. Something that people would want to tune into week after week. Something a little different each week but not terribly different. That's just the way sitcoms worked back then. So, the last third of this season is the show manoeuvring around as it finds its niche. Molly T. implies that the show is going mad. And, in fact, it will. This is the direction it followed. The Deputy shows the program as a Standard Sitcom. The structure might still be a bit strange but the storytelling is pure Classic Sitcom. Another route the show could have taken.
And, luckily, Jay & Dick are so good at what they do that this is a viable avenue for the show to take. Once the Second Season begins, it will be the rare episode that is as standard as this. There are wonderfully individual moments, pure GA: The shooping list, Wyatt Earp talk, "Let me see your credentials...Oh, you've got a whole bag of them" and talk of The De-Putty. Mr. Kimball is the sign that something isn't quite matching up, however. He seems rather out-of-place in his scene. His weird antics at the train tracks feel off here. But, setting that aside, the show could have run like this for years, (possibly with a toned-down Hank) telling regular stories with touches of strange wit & odd humor.
But, the show didn't go this way. It is still early enough in its run that it can play around with what it's doing and it's great to see. Many shows go down one route and then abandon it for something else. (For example: the first 12-ish episodes of The Munsters are far more macabre than the remainder of the show. And, frankly, I think it loses something.) GA has two types of Green Acres running alongside one another...I wonder if folks originally watching would have noted this? It's pretty cool to see. And, obviously, with each episode we draw closer to the Firm Green Acres Style set in stone.
Oddly enough, the next episode by production order (I've decided that's the way I'm doing it) is about fixing up the house in some way but it is loaded with the oddness to come. Stay tuned.
Oliver: Mmm-hmm.
Lisa: I always spell it with two "o"'s and one "p"?
Oliver: That's shooping.
Lisa: You mean all this time I've been "shooping" instead of "shopping".
Oliver: I guess so.
Lisa: Funny nobody noticed it.
Even the title clues you in, with this episode we're heading back to a more normal world of sitcom than Molly Turgis would have implied was our future. Mr. Drucker is going on vacation for two weeks. He tricks Oliver into becoming the deputy. That's the first act. The second act is general faffing around as Oliver gets his Deputy kit (more like a Deputy bag) and tries to give Mr. Charlton (?) Haney a ticket. Then, in time for the third act, he handcuffs himself to Lisa and that takes the wacky to the end.
Eisner & Krinksy's Television Comedy Series has an appendix that lists "Standard Classic Sitcom Plots", including meeting a person who is identical to one of the lead characters, a picnic or family trip of some sort and other great ones. One of them is "characters get handcuffed together". Lisa & Oliver's handcuffing isn't as funny as Kramden & Norton on the train. But, it's still darn good. The fact, however, that this plot line is in the "Standard Classic etc" list meas 1) GA is a Classic Sitcom & 2) there's a good chance that this episode isn't all that crazy.
You're right on both counts.
After the regular episodes of the house & farm being assembled and Lisa's decision day, the show would need to settle into a familiar groove. Something that people would want to tune into week after week. Something a little different each week but not terribly different. That's just the way sitcoms worked back then. So, the last third of this season is the show manoeuvring around as it finds its niche. Molly T. implies that the show is going mad. And, in fact, it will. This is the direction it followed. The Deputy shows the program as a Standard Sitcom. The structure might still be a bit strange but the storytelling is pure Classic Sitcom. Another route the show could have taken.
And, luckily, Jay & Dick are so good at what they do that this is a viable avenue for the show to take. Once the Second Season begins, it will be the rare episode that is as standard as this. There are wonderfully individual moments, pure GA: The shooping list, Wyatt Earp talk, "Let me see your credentials...Oh, you've got a whole bag of them" and talk of The De-Putty. Mr. Kimball is the sign that something isn't quite matching up, however. He seems rather out-of-place in his scene. His weird antics at the train tracks feel off here. But, setting that aside, the show could have run like this for years, (possibly with a toned-down Hank) telling regular stories with touches of strange wit & odd humor.
But, the show didn't go this way. It is still early enough in its run that it can play around with what it's doing and it's great to see. Many shows go down one route and then abandon it for something else. (For example: the first 12-ish episodes of The Munsters are far more macabre than the remainder of the show. And, frankly, I think it loses something.) GA has two types of Green Acres running alongside one another...I wonder if folks originally watching would have noted this? It's pretty cool to see. And, obviously, with each episode we draw closer to the Firm Green Acres Style set in stone.
Oddly enough, the next episode by production order (I've decided that's the way I'm doing it) is about fixing up the house in some way but it is loaded with the oddness to come. Stay tuned.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
1.24: The Ballad of Molly Turgis
Yes. According to my copy of The Hooterville Handbook, this episode aired as the 26th. But, according to the DVD, it is the 24th made. Hmmm...As I don't have stuff ready for The Deputy, I'm going to put Molly here and we can deal with Orders of Things later.
"Oh, shed a tear for Gertrude!
At the bottom of the sea!
Oh, shed a tear for Gertrude!
And shed a tear for me."
This is the first of the completely loopy episodes. That's possibly why they postponed it a bit.
Molly Turgiss is a local legend in Hooterville. The locals call her "You Know Who". If you say her name, something will fall off the wall, shatter or...something will fly across the room and hit you in the behind. Mr. Douglas nails it: "Poltergeist". Molly was an ugly girl who grew up to be an ugly woman. Apparently, the townsfolk taunted her out of town. Now, her spirit punishes the people of Hooterville through random annoyances. I love how she keeps driving people's cars away and parking them illegally in different towns. Such a very simple but oh-boy-funny! idea.
I started watching this show back in 1985 in the middle of the sixth season. When the show looped back to the start, I still loved it to pieces but...this was the first episode I watched where I thought "Oh, here's that show I started watching." And, after watching the world of GA go up around the Douglases, I was as with it and as invested as they were. So, when they mention a "legend" and a possible ghost...I was anxious to see what happens.
It's not a hoax. Not an imaginary story. This isn't Molly's daughter doing something. It's Molly. The ghost of a very ugly woman who throws things at people who say her name. I'm glad Jay & Dick followed through and made it a real supernatural thing. Although, should I have expected less?
Lisa saves the day by applying an inordinate amount of make-up to Molly. In the end, she leaves town and goes wherever...maybe to haunt Crabwell Corners? But, a thought always occurs: The folks in Hooterville are good country folk with an odd bend to them. Did they really hound this woman so horribly so long ago that she left town and, possibly, killed herself because of it? (They don't say that but that's where these stories generally end.) Could you see Mr. Kimball's dad or grandad laying into Molly? Maybe Mr. Ziffel or his dad but not Mrs. It's a casual bit of legend that adds a touch of darkness to the town. Could Hooterville have been a much darker place that changed its ways after the Molly Debacle? "Hooterville: The Early Years" Well, we do know how the town started but that's another episode...
Solk Fongs! Mr. Douglas collected folk legends and made them into folk songs throughout college. He used to travel around the country and get them down for posterity. That is awesome! But, for a man who loved the countryside and farming so much, should we have expected anything less? I love Lisa's general confusion (in fact, everyone's) over why Oliver would do this. One of the few times that Oliver is actually completely right. Those legends should be preserved. Maybe Oliver's songs aren't the best but he's trying. I love the thought that he's planning on doing a small impromptu concert of his solk fongs for the folks over for dinner...including his song for Molly. Which isn't very good but not without its charms.
Solk Fongs get their own credit in the closing roll! Excellent. The playing with the credits has now commenced.
I think this episode shows off the charms of GA at its most effortless. The scenes flow and the show moves. There are laughs and lovely bits of weirdness. (And, Molly's appearance in the mirror for Oliver is rather frightening.) Great episode. Brings me a lot of joy.
"Oh, shed a tear for Gertrude!
At the bottom of the sea!
Oh, shed a tear for Gertrude!
And shed a tear for me."
This is the first of the completely loopy episodes. That's possibly why they postponed it a bit.
Molly Turgiss is a local legend in Hooterville. The locals call her "You Know Who". If you say her name, something will fall off the wall, shatter or...something will fly across the room and hit you in the behind. Mr. Douglas nails it: "Poltergeist". Molly was an ugly girl who grew up to be an ugly woman. Apparently, the townsfolk taunted her out of town. Now, her spirit punishes the people of Hooterville through random annoyances. I love how she keeps driving people's cars away and parking them illegally in different towns. Such a very simple but oh-boy-funny! idea.
I started watching this show back in 1985 in the middle of the sixth season. When the show looped back to the start, I still loved it to pieces but...this was the first episode I watched where I thought "Oh, here's that show I started watching." And, after watching the world of GA go up around the Douglases, I was as with it and as invested as they were. So, when they mention a "legend" and a possible ghost...I was anxious to see what happens.
It's not a hoax. Not an imaginary story. This isn't Molly's daughter doing something. It's Molly. The ghost of a very ugly woman who throws things at people who say her name. I'm glad Jay & Dick followed through and made it a real supernatural thing. Although, should I have expected less?
Lisa saves the day by applying an inordinate amount of make-up to Molly. In the end, she leaves town and goes wherever...maybe to haunt Crabwell Corners? But, a thought always occurs: The folks in Hooterville are good country folk with an odd bend to them. Did they really hound this woman so horribly so long ago that she left town and, possibly, killed herself because of it? (They don't say that but that's where these stories generally end.) Could you see Mr. Kimball's dad or grandad laying into Molly? Maybe Mr. Ziffel or his dad but not Mrs. It's a casual bit of legend that adds a touch of darkness to the town. Could Hooterville have been a much darker place that changed its ways after the Molly Debacle? "Hooterville: The Early Years" Well, we do know how the town started but that's another episode...
Solk Fongs! Mr. Douglas collected folk legends and made them into folk songs throughout college. He used to travel around the country and get them down for posterity. That is awesome! But, for a man who loved the countryside and farming so much, should we have expected anything less? I love Lisa's general confusion (in fact, everyone's) over why Oliver would do this. One of the few times that Oliver is actually completely right. Those legends should be preserved. Maybe Oliver's songs aren't the best but he's trying. I love the thought that he's planning on doing a small impromptu concert of his solk fongs for the folks over for dinner...including his song for Molly. Which isn't very good but not without its charms.
Solk Fongs get their own credit in the closing roll! Excellent. The playing with the credits has now commenced.
I think this episode shows off the charms of GA at its most effortless. The scenes flow and the show moves. There are laughs and lovely bits of weirdness. (And, Molly's appearance in the mirror for Oliver is rather frightening.) Great episode. Brings me a lot of joy.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010
1.23: A Pig In A Poke
"Don't worry. My husband will get you son the pig out of trouble in no time at all."
A whole lotta Arnold!
The Ziffels state, unequivocally, that Arnold is their son. Well, they say that if they had had a son...he would have been Arnold. Close enough. The World of Hooterville has now fully absorbed Lisa. Oliver will never quite get in. The fact that Arnold is so smart and that he can turn on the TV will always confuse Mr. Douglas. The love the Ziffels have for the pig and the affection everyone else has for Arnold will always elude him.
But, when Mr. Haney sells a sofa to the Ziffels and it turns out to be junk and Haney attaches Arnold in lieu of payment, Oliver talks to Haney about it. Although, he thinks the Pig Love is madness, he will fight for the people that Haney has bilked.
It all becomes quite goof-filled after a while. Arnold hides out at the Douglas place. Oliver gets trapped under the bedroom floor. He gets his pants pulled off. He gets sprayed with water. All kinds of very funny stuff happens. And, in the end, when Oliver and Lisa go to NYC for a Harvard Alumni Society Meeting, Arnold has stowed away and joins them at the dinner. The whole episode, in fact, is a story told by Oliver to the Alumni Society to demonstrate some points of country law.
Oliver, yeah, he gets flustered. Lisa, however, is perfectly in sync with this world now. All of her malapropisms and confusions work for Hooterville now. Oliver keeps his composure through a lot of eye rolling and some wisecracking. He also tries to stick by the law to keep him sane. Unfortunately, the law gets as goofy as Hooterville.
It's a lovely episode. Possibly a good one to show someone if you can only show them one. Everybody gets a bit. There are some laughs and it actually has a plot. Not that it needs a plot but it can work against you to show an episode where nothing really happens. I love 'em meandering and goofy but some folks like plots.
That place I kept saying that we were working towards...that Mythical Green Acres Super-Cool spot is, pretty much, here. The house is, more or less, as good as it's going to get. Lisa is here to stay. Oliver is farming as good as he will get. The elements of the world are all here now. It's a good world. Immerse me.
A whole lotta Arnold!
The Ziffels state, unequivocally, that Arnold is their son. Well, they say that if they had had a son...he would have been Arnold. Close enough. The World of Hooterville has now fully absorbed Lisa. Oliver will never quite get in. The fact that Arnold is so smart and that he can turn on the TV will always confuse Mr. Douglas. The love the Ziffels have for the pig and the affection everyone else has for Arnold will always elude him.
But, when Mr. Haney sells a sofa to the Ziffels and it turns out to be junk and Haney attaches Arnold in lieu of payment, Oliver talks to Haney about it. Although, he thinks the Pig Love is madness, he will fight for the people that Haney has bilked.
It all becomes quite goof-filled after a while. Arnold hides out at the Douglas place. Oliver gets trapped under the bedroom floor. He gets his pants pulled off. He gets sprayed with water. All kinds of very funny stuff happens. And, in the end, when Oliver and Lisa go to NYC for a Harvard Alumni Society Meeting, Arnold has stowed away and joins them at the dinner. The whole episode, in fact, is a story told by Oliver to the Alumni Society to demonstrate some points of country law.
Oliver, yeah, he gets flustered. Lisa, however, is perfectly in sync with this world now. All of her malapropisms and confusions work for Hooterville now. Oliver keeps his composure through a lot of eye rolling and some wisecracking. He also tries to stick by the law to keep him sane. Unfortunately, the law gets as goofy as Hooterville.
It's a lovely episode. Possibly a good one to show someone if you can only show them one. Everybody gets a bit. There are some laughs and it actually has a plot. Not that it needs a plot but it can work against you to show an episode where nothing really happens. I love 'em meandering and goofy but some folks like plots.
That place I kept saying that we were working towards...that Mythical Green Acres Super-Cool spot is, pretty much, here. The house is, more or less, as good as it's going to get. Lisa is here to stay. Oliver is farming as good as he will get. The elements of the world are all here now. It's a good world. Immerse me.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
01.22: The Day of Decision
"Darlin', I love ya...but give me Park Avenue."
I know...What is a quote from the theme doing in the spot where a quote from the episode goes? Well, it'll make sense in the end. A little harbinger of "Things To Come" for the series involves this quote. But, we'll talk about that at the end. Other things are of importance now...
Today, Lisa decided if she stays in Hooterville or goes back to New York. The 6 months are up. Oliver is nervous. The whole town of Hooterville, including Uncle Joe, are on tenterhooks waiting for her answer. And, for a show that has had such endearingly slim plotlines, this one is the slimmest. The whole episode hinges around one woman making one decision....and it's a good one.
A good episode, I mean. Lisa's choice is her own.
(Although, the slimness of the plotline does seem to get to the writer's slightly. The episode has several flashback scenes, mainly to the first two episodes. Either they were having trouble filling up the episode or they were reminding viewers (and cluing those who hadn't watched in) of what occurred several months before. I believe it is the latter.)
A little viewer's context:
GA - A Day of Decision aired on February 23, 1966. The show itself premiered on September 15, 1965.
That week:
Batman - That same day (2/23/66) the 13th episode aired - The Thirteenth Hat. The first appearance of the Mad Hatter. The one that ends with Batman getting covered in Super Fast Hardening Plaster.
The Beverly Hillbillies - Same Day - The Great Jethro - Episode 23 of Season 4. Jethro wants to be a magician with hilarious consequences.
Petticoat Junction - The day before (the 22nd) - The Invisible Mr. Dobble Episode 23 of Season Three
Get Smart - Later that week, 2/26/66, the 23rd episode aired - I'm Only Human The one where Fang's bark (I believe) will trigger a KAOS bomb.
And, across an ocean...2/26/66, Bell of Doom, the 25th episode of the 3rd Season of Doctor Who. The Doctor and Steven in Paris. The year is 1572...and another adventure is reaching its conclusion.
That's all the stuff I have handy right now but it gives you a feel for Pop Culture on TV at that moment.
It's a beautiful episode, The Day of Decision. From the opening scene, where Eb tells Elinor what day it is through to all the townsfolk and their worrying to the lovely decision scene to the closing moments...that echo the closing moments from Episode 2...it works. The sign of good writing is knowing when to complicate things and when not to. Extra plotlines can be fun but they can also get in the way. When you have a large cast, if you keep the focus on one man (a la The Great Gildersleeve) then you can focus on one plotline. If you have a show like The Simpsons and everyone needs something to do, you split the focus and can lose sight of the main story. Doesn't happen here and it is stellar.
Olive spends his time rambling around. Meanwhile, off camera, Lisa sits and dwells upon her choice. As she says, if they go back to NYC, she's happy but Oliver isn't. If they stay...you know. And, she does think about it and it wracks her mind...The joke about the noises in Lisa's head is a funny one and the follow-up is funnier but the great thing is that the jokes aren't the important element here...even the laugh track seems to know it. There are things that other shows would have tagged as a "Big Gag!" but GA, here, downplays it...especially during the Decision scene. The laugh track lies low and a very good choice that was.
We see how much the townspeople like The Douglases in this episode. Mr. Kimball's scene with them, in particular, is very affecting. And, during the final moments, we see how much Lisa has been changed by the farm, although she wouldn't admit it. And, after Lisa has made her decision, we see how much being on the farm hasn't really changed Oliver. (He's still rather uptight.)
SPOLIER TOWN!
OK, well, obviously, they stay. If they left, the show would have been very different. "A NYC couple leave their Park Avenue penthouse and move to a farm. Halfway through Season One, they move back to the city and never return to the farm." Doesn't quite grab ya in the same way...unless they moved in with Jimmie "J.J." Walker.
But, the wonder of the show is that you don't quite know what the Decision will be until it is made...Once Lisa asks Oliver to sit with her in the bedroom, you know the decision is made and you know they are going back to NYC. Eva Gabor's finest moment? Possibly. She plays the scene so lovely. She even has a malapropism that fits perfectly. I will say that this scene always waters up my eyes a bit. I always believe that Oliver's Dream is over and they're heading back.
Yeah, the Final Act reverses that but it does so in a completely believable manner. Lisa decides to stay another 6 months because Alice and Elinor will get killed and eaten if they go. 6 months before, NYC Lisa wouldn't have changed her life for a chicken and a cow. Now, Hooterville Lisa does and it feels like the dramatic punchline for a bit that has been building for 22 episodes.
Lisa now belongs in Hooterville. That's why, in 6 months, we don't have another episode like this. She belongs. Oliver, well, that's another story.
And, the opening quote? As Eb strolls to the barn with the milk pail, he "do do do" 's the Green Acres theme and, when he reaches the opening quote, he turns to the camera and sings the line...just like Lisa...in fact, it is Lisa. And, it is very odd and it is where the show shall bend shortly...
A beautiful episode. Let the show continue...
I know...What is a quote from the theme doing in the spot where a quote from the episode goes? Well, it'll make sense in the end. A little harbinger of "Things To Come" for the series involves this quote. But, we'll talk about that at the end. Other things are of importance now...
Today, Lisa decided if she stays in Hooterville or goes back to New York. The 6 months are up. Oliver is nervous. The whole town of Hooterville, including Uncle Joe, are on tenterhooks waiting for her answer. And, for a show that has had such endearingly slim plotlines, this one is the slimmest. The whole episode hinges around one woman making one decision....and it's a good one.
A good episode, I mean. Lisa's choice is her own.
(Although, the slimness of the plotline does seem to get to the writer's slightly. The episode has several flashback scenes, mainly to the first two episodes. Either they were having trouble filling up the episode or they were reminding viewers (and cluing those who hadn't watched in) of what occurred several months before. I believe it is the latter.)
A little viewer's context:
GA - A Day of Decision aired on February 23, 1966. The show itself premiered on September 15, 1965.
That week:
Batman - That same day (2/23/66) the 13th episode aired - The Thirteenth Hat. The first appearance of the Mad Hatter. The one that ends with Batman getting covered in Super Fast Hardening Plaster.
The Beverly Hillbillies - Same Day - The Great Jethro - Episode 23 of Season 4. Jethro wants to be a magician with hilarious consequences.
Petticoat Junction - The day before (the 22nd) - The Invisible Mr. Dobble Episode 23 of Season Three
Get Smart - Later that week, 2/26/66, the 23rd episode aired - I'm Only Human The one where Fang's bark (I believe) will trigger a KAOS bomb.
And, across an ocean...2/26/66, Bell of Doom, the 25th episode of the 3rd Season of Doctor Who. The Doctor and Steven in Paris. The year is 1572...and another adventure is reaching its conclusion.
That's all the stuff I have handy right now but it gives you a feel for Pop Culture on TV at that moment.
It's a beautiful episode, The Day of Decision. From the opening scene, where Eb tells Elinor what day it is through to all the townsfolk and their worrying to the lovely decision scene to the closing moments...that echo the closing moments from Episode 2...it works. The sign of good writing is knowing when to complicate things and when not to. Extra plotlines can be fun but they can also get in the way. When you have a large cast, if you keep the focus on one man (a la The Great Gildersleeve) then you can focus on one plotline. If you have a show like The Simpsons and everyone needs something to do, you split the focus and can lose sight of the main story. Doesn't happen here and it is stellar.
Olive spends his time rambling around. Meanwhile, off camera, Lisa sits and dwells upon her choice. As she says, if they go back to NYC, she's happy but Oliver isn't. If they stay...you know. And, she does think about it and it wracks her mind...The joke about the noises in Lisa's head is a funny one and the follow-up is funnier but the great thing is that the jokes aren't the important element here...even the laugh track seems to know it. There are things that other shows would have tagged as a "Big Gag!" but GA, here, downplays it...especially during the Decision scene. The laugh track lies low and a very good choice that was.
We see how much the townspeople like The Douglases in this episode. Mr. Kimball's scene with them, in particular, is very affecting. And, during the final moments, we see how much Lisa has been changed by the farm, although she wouldn't admit it. And, after Lisa has made her decision, we see how much being on the farm hasn't really changed Oliver. (He's still rather uptight.)
SPOLIER TOWN!
OK, well, obviously, they stay. If they left, the show would have been very different. "A NYC couple leave their Park Avenue penthouse and move to a farm. Halfway through Season One, they move back to the city and never return to the farm." Doesn't quite grab ya in the same way...unless they moved in with Jimmie "J.J." Walker.
But, the wonder of the show is that you don't quite know what the Decision will be until it is made...Once Lisa asks Oliver to sit with her in the bedroom, you know the decision is made and you know they are going back to NYC. Eva Gabor's finest moment? Possibly. She plays the scene so lovely. She even has a malapropism that fits perfectly. I will say that this scene always waters up my eyes a bit. I always believe that Oliver's Dream is over and they're heading back.
Yeah, the Final Act reverses that but it does so in a completely believable manner. Lisa decides to stay another 6 months because Alice and Elinor will get killed and eaten if they go. 6 months before, NYC Lisa wouldn't have changed her life for a chicken and a cow. Now, Hooterville Lisa does and it feels like the dramatic punchline for a bit that has been building for 22 episodes.
Lisa now belongs in Hooterville. That's why, in 6 months, we don't have another episode like this. She belongs. Oliver, well, that's another story.
And, the opening quote? As Eb strolls to the barn with the milk pail, he "do do do" 's the Green Acres theme and, when he reaches the opening quote, he turns to the camera and sings the line...just like Lisa...in fact, it is Lisa. And, it is very odd and it is where the show shall bend shortly...
A beautiful episode. Let the show continue...
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